Aileen Sweeney, composer & accordionist

Who or what are the most significant influences on your musical life and career as a composer?

I can just about remember my first ever concert when I was around 3 or 4 years old. My parents took me to see a local fiddle orchestra and I just flippin’ loved it. Whenever I went to concerts when I was young, I just remember absolutely lapping it up, being completely buzzing and thinking “I want to do that” – simple as that! Now in my music, I just try and write things that make me feel as joyful as I did then.

What have been the greatest challenges of your career so far?

Working through a negative headspace or mentalities. The most difficult thing is balancing the critical part of your brain (which is needed to make sure you craft a well-written, coherent piece) with the creative part (where you need to be open and playful when trying things out). I often find the critical part takes over very quickly and becomes far too dominant. Recently, I’ve been having more open conversations with other musicians and this seems to be quite a prevalent issue. We need to be much more open and honest regarding creative processes. At the end of the day, we are only ever presenting the finished product on social media or at a concert which paints a very glossy picture and doesn’t reflect the real behind the scenes processes.

What are the special challenges/pleasures of working on a commissioned piece?

Well, the simple pleasure is that someone is going to play your music and folk are actually going to listen to it. That’s pretty crazy when you think about it because there’s so much music out there and someone is going to play yours. That, for me at least, brings a pile of pressure which I do struggle with but at the end of the day, if I didn’t have pressure, I might not write anything at all so it’s a necessary evil I think!

What are the special challenges/pleasures of working with particular musicians, singers, ensembles or orchestras?

To be honest, working with particular musicians doesn’t really change the process for me at all. I’ve written pieces for orchestras that I don’t know, musicians who are good pals, amateurs, school kids and even a piece for my fiancé and sister to play. For me, the piece has to stand alone from whoever is performing it. The real challenge is writing something that could be picked up by another musician on the other side of the world who I’ve never met and they could still access the piece just as easily as the person it was initially written for. If you write a piece that’s too specific to one musicians particular skill set, there’s a good chance it will just sit on your hard-drive after the premiere!

Of which works are you most proud?

Probably the first large orchestral piece “Above the Stars” which I wrote as part of the London Philharmonic Orchestra’s Young Composer Scheme in 2019/20. I was pretty apprehensive about the whole process as this felt like the biggest, most high stakes thing I had done at that point. I spent 6 months (on and off) working on this piece so hearing it finally come together, played amazing, was a really emotional moment. The piece is a real coming together of all my favourite things. It incorporates folk music, lush orchestration, epic filmic climaxes and doesn’t shy away from that. It was made even more special when the piece won an award at The Scottish Awards for New Music in 2021.

How would you characterise your compositional language?

Ummm…modal/tonal, programmatic, kinda folky and not too serious? I’ve started trying to learn jazz recently (which is really bloody difficult) but I’m trying to keep learning new things and new styles so that they can keep feeding into and refreshing my current language. So maybe when I am asked that question in a couple of years time, my answer will be very different!

How do you work?

I like to try and find my title first. Normally that’s by reading about things completely unrelated to music such as astronomy, philosophy and Celtic mythology, things like that which interest me. Normally a word or a phrase will jump out as me as a potential title and that will be my gateway into the piece. I find starting a piece can be quite daunting because there are literally endless possibilities to choose from. Having the title narrows down a lot of the decision making and makes starting the piece a little more straight forward. Simple things like the speed, atmosphere, register, tonality, dynamics all start to fall into place. I tend to think programatically, as if I’m writing music for a story or film, and almost always write chronologically. I find getting the opening is the hardest part. Once I have that is set in stone, I normally get on a bit of a roll and can follow the natural, musical narrative I hear through to the end. (Easier said than done of course!)

As a musician, what is your definition of success?

You have to sacrifice a lot to be a musician so happiness and feeling fulfilled has to be the main motivator (cause it certainly isn’t the money!) I think the path to happiness as a musician is eventually realising that having a healthy work-life balance is key. Because music is a passion, sometimes a romantic narrative can be spun around the profession and it can feel like you should be doing it 24/7. I love music but more and more, I realise I need to make time for friends and family and having fun doing fun stuff and hopefully, my music will be better for it.

What advice would you give to young/aspiring composers?

Write music you like. It sounds silly to say but if you’re learning in an environment where you feel like you need to admire certain composers/styles/music then you can end up trying to write in a style you feel is expected. Do your own thing but it can be difficult just to stay in your lane. I’m still reminding myself of this advice every day I write music.

What do you feel needs to be done to grow classical music’s audiences?

That’s a good question! I have quite a lot of strong opinions about this, too many for this blog, but I think a lot of it is to do with how it is presented. Orchestras playing in old fashioned dress attire in fusty halls where you have to know where it’s deemed appropriate to clap (or cough!) Think about other genres where it’s much less formal. You get a pint, head down to the gig, the artist has a bit of banter with the audience, you’re free to move around the space, you can have a laugh…I’ve spent 8 years training to become a classical musician but at the end of the day, I’d rather spend a Saturday night relaxing with a drink and some pals at a gig than sitting in a concert hall unless there’s something I really really want to hear, but it’s not Beethoven’s 5th programmed for the umpteenth time… Harsh I know but that’s my tuppence worth!

What’s the one thing in the music industry we’re not talking about but you think we should be?

In terms of music generally, all the adult things. Parenthood/parental leave, pensions, sick pay etc. Specifically within classical music – classism and elitism.

Tell us about your upcoming premiere at Cheltenham Music Festival this year?

I was writing for recorder consort which was a first for me! I’ve also used some quarter-tones which another new thing I haven’t done before. The music had to have a connection to William Byrd so I was reading through the score for “Sing Joyfully unto God” and a little snippet of text “In the New Moon” jumped out at me and became the title from which the piece unfolds. The New Moon is the first lunar phase where only a sliver of the moon can be seen. Sometimes, the light from Earth dimly illuminates the dark side which is reflected back to us, allowing us to see the lunar night hemisphere glowing gently.

Hear ‘In The New Moon’ at Cheltenham Music Festival this year at Byrdwatching (9th July), a unique musical tour of the town’s historic drawing rooms. Tickets / info: https://www.cheltenhamfestivals.com/music/whats-on/2023/byrdwatching

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Aileen (b.1994) is a Scottish composer, accordionist and arranger based in Glasgow and enjoys a varied career as a freelance musician. Her music is cross-genre, infused with the ornamentation, energy and colours of the Scottish folk music she grew up playing learning the accordion. Her music is often influenced by nature and folklore, as well as finding inspiration in current social and political affairs she is passionate about such as climate change, equality and politics.

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