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Well, did you have
some connections?
Yeah, I had connections.
I was able to do some soundtracks. But I had a very,
very low overhead too. I had an Upper West Side
apartment with six roommates. It was $125 a month. I
had friends who were doing computer graphics at the
time and got into a little circle where I was able
to do soundtracks using the early synthesizers. So
that’s when I got into synthesizers, which continue
to be a big part of my life. I did that for about
six years. But then I had a fifty-year-old family
business that was always waiting there, and so at a
certain point you just decide how long you can
tolerate poverty. (Laughs) Then I had the Charles
Ives model in the back of my mind. He went to an
insurance company every day and he did music. And he
had a certain freedom about his music that came from
not caring about the outcome of his compositions.
There was no financial gain to be had, no prizes or
commissions to win. There was nothing at stake in
his writing. Reminds me that Virgil Thomson said he
could tell the source of funding for a composition
when hearing it.
You eliminate that
fear factor, and something comes out.
Right, but a lot of
composers have to depend on competitions and grants
and commissions and that really influences their
writing. Sometimes for better, sometimes for worse.
That’s true.
So, what was the
question? (Laughter)
Well, the question
was making a living and graduating from Boston U.
Oh, yeah.
I guess in Boston
University you probably opened up more, had more of
a social setting.
Oh sure. Music school
was one of the greatest times of my life.
You met people like
yourself there? People that are serious?
Oh yeah.
Some of us are hoping
for music that wins back audiences, that is less
“academic” and more accessible, even to the extent
of being mixed with popular elements. Is this in
your mind when you compose, or do you just consider
yourself a natural part of the new scene and simply
go with the flow in terms of general style?
No, I’ve always written
music like my current style, and I’ve always been
writing under cover. But now there’s a chance for
this kind of music to be heard. So, if you keep
writing in your style—any style—your day will come,
if you don’t die first. (Laughter.) In fact, even
“academic serial music” will come back. Bach was a
severe academic as the “gallant style” came in. The
pendulum seems to swing between severe and relaxed
music across the centuries.
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