Kevin’s item
I had to think about this and I was trying to think of something that would be of use to the most… aspiring composers. And it's probably a bit archaic, because there are now far more modern ideas. I think the humble cassette recorder - which was what was to hand - was for me instrumental in my development, and this is for a number of reasons. I could record records and I could play the same bar - you know: rewind it, play it, learn what that chord was, try to crack the puzzle of the harmony, you know, trying to work out those chords… what's the voicing?
When you finally got it, it was so satisfying. So that, the ability to record material and zone in on a particular sequence to try and analyse why it made you feel that way. What was it in that Shostakovich symphony that made you felt like the ground was falling out from under us?
Without getting the dots, you can just go and get the score and then that's fine, but actually working out yourself teaches you so much and develops your ear.
Kevin’s advice
It's something that Dru Masters said and he denies it. Well, he doesn't even remember saying it, but he says: try and learn as many instruments as you can up to about the equivalent of grade three, so you can play a few scales on them. Because it's very easy to make stuff in the box, as we call it, in the computer using fancy software and all these things. And after a certain time you hear a lot of this and it all kind of sounds the same. And it's not about being virtuosic. You don't have to be a virtuoso on something, but if someone's recorded something, if I can hear a slightly badly played clarinet on it or something, I think they've committed to that clarinet. I can hear the intention there. You know, I can hear that. Not well recorded, but it leaps out of the speakers in the field of music by the yard. A lot of media music is by the numbers kind of stuff. But if you can experiment with these real sound sources, you know, whether it's instrument or whether it's just found recordings and things like that, try and make your own sounds. That's what's going to make you stand out. And if you haven't got a job, spend the time making it. The experiments and recording them. And does any of this instrument play a clarinet by a flute, find a flute in a charity shop or something like that. And use sound source this way. Just to create a fresh palette and make the people who might be hiring you just make their ears prick up a bit better.
