A short, informal question and answer interview with Ronan Guilfoyle.
Copyright ©2003 Contemporary Music Centre, Ireland. |
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What's it like to be Ronan Guilfoyle?
1. How and when did you get interested in composing?
I began composing when I first began playing in jazz groups. I always had a desire to write music from the beginning. In jazz the composed material is used as a basis for the improvised material, so sometimes it was a desire to have a vehicle for a certain type of improvising that would be the impetus for the composition.
2. Is composing your 'day job' or do you do something else as well?
It's part of my day job -- I write, play and teach music.
3. Where do you mostly get your ideas?
I find my life as a player, as a jazz improviser, to be very stimulating to the act of composition. The opportunity that jazz gives for creativity in real time, so to speak, is very beneficial to the creative impulse in writing music. Usually the musical ideas are abstract, in that I almost never write programmatically. That 'think of a tree; now write a piece of music inspired by that', type of composing doesn't really work for me! Usually my compositions will come from small musical ideas I hear in my head, which are then developed further through the composition process.
4. What are you working on at the moment?
A concerto for saxophone and double orchestra -- this is a combined jazz and symphony orchestra. It will be performed in New York in January by the Manhattan School of Music Jazz Philharmonic Orchestra, with Dave Liebman as the sax soloist. The sax part will be partially improvised.
5. Describe your typical working day.
There is no typical one. I write, play and teach, so if I'm at home writing, I'll usually write from about 9.00 am till anything up to 11.00 pm, with a few breaks. Or I may be teaching in the afternoon, in which case I'll write in the morning, or I may be touring as a player, in which case I won't write at all.
6. What is it like hearing a new piece played for the first time?
Great! Though there are differences in my reaction depending on whether I'm performing or not. Often I will perform in my own pieces and so I am involved in playing and feel very much part of the piece, and in control of at least part of it. If I'm not performing, I feel a bit more helpless but can also enjoy the whole piece more since I can give it my undivided attention and not have to worry about my part.
7. What has been the highlight of your career so far?
I don't really see it like that. I consider it to be a series of highlights. Each experience builds on the last one and is important in itself. Having said that, there have been memorable moments. Having one's pieces performed by an orchestra is always a thrill, so the performances of my violin, guitar and piano concertos were very special. Other real highlights have concerned my activities as a player -- getting a chance to play with great improvising musicians is always wonderful. And travelling through music is always great too -- my trips to India being a real standout.
8. What has been the lowlight of your career so far?
Nothing really, in the sense that I've had disappointments like everyone else, but nothing that I look back on with horror, or real sadness. Even the bad experiences teach you something, so though they may not have been fun in themselves, they were probably all beneficial in the long term. I suppose I must be an optimist!
9. What is your greatest ambition?
To keep developing as a person, and using music as a means to explore that development, and play and write music that represents the things I discover. I know that might possibly sound a little pretentious, but it's the simplest way I can explain what I believe about the act of music making.
10. Which musician in history do you most admire and why?
Again there is no one musician, there are many. But if I had to single out specific musicians who achieved real greatness, I would pick J. S. Bach, Bela Bartók, Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, Thelonious Monk, John Coltrane, Hermeto Pascoal, and Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. With all of these (and several others), I think they have one thing in common. They identified some essential truths about humanity that are beyond culture and historical place, and they placed those truths in their music for all to hear. True artists.
11. Which present-day musician do you most admire and why?
Steve Coleman because he is, to my way of thinking, the most original musical thinker active today -- and his modes of expression, through his discoveries, keep getting deeper and deeper.
12. Which period of history would you most like to have lived in and why?
I would like to have been active as a musician in the period of 1930 - 1970. I would like to have witnessed the bebop revolution in jazz at first hand, heard Bartók's music at first hand as it was written, seen Rachmaninoff play the piano -- and many other things. This was a great period for music.
13. What is the best thing about being a composer?
Writing music! Sounds flippant, but it's not. Having the opportunity to express myself through music is something I am grateful for on a daily basis.
14. What is the worst thing about being a composer?
Nothing -- it's a privilege.
15. If you weren't a composer, what other career might you have chosen?
Performer for sure. I can't countenance any life which doesn't include musical activity. I am interested in food though, so if an act of parliament were passed forbidding me to be involved in music, then maybe I'd work with food in some way!
16. What is your concept of heaven?
Playing great music, with great musicians, for a great audience who want to share in the experience.
17. What is your concept of hell?
Playing bad music, with bad musicians, for an audience who don't want to know!
18. What is your favourite food?
Indian food.
19. If someone gave you three months off with unlimited travel and living expenses, what would you do?
Go to Cairo and study Arabic classical music for the entire time! I love that music and want to check it out in the society from which it springs -- and one day I will.
20. If you could have one thing in the world that would really help you as a composer, what would it be?
Unlimited access to a great orchestra and soloists.
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