Who or what are the most significant influences on your musical life and career as a composer?
I have three great influences on my career – and my life. They are my mother, Gini Sweeten; my piano teacher and Russian born concert pianist, David Sokoloff; and my husband, Randy Yoder.
What have been the greatest challenges of your career so far?
An underlying issue in most of my life has been the loss of my mother when I was 18. She died the year after I graduated from high school. She was my greatest supporter and best friend. She took me to all my lessons and researched my teachers so I would have access to the best. When I lost her, I lost my compass, and I have been finding my way ever since, largely, through music. In my high school yearbook, my quote next to my picture was from The Sound of Music: “Climb every mountain, ford every stream, follow every rainbow, till you find your dream.” Who could have known how intensely prophetic that quote would be for my life and my career?
My mother supported my dreams to the utmost, and when I lost her I felt like I was drowning. Music became my life raft. At Smith College, in Paris and throughout my studies, a grand piano was always there for me.
The year 2002 changed my life again as I was diagnosed with Breast Cancer for the first time. As you might imagine, battling cancer for over 20 years with complications has presented challenges of all sorts. However, all through both breast cancer surgeries and recoveries, and now Leukemia with its chemo drugs and a litany of side effects, I turn to my piano to express the pain, the fear, the loss, but also HOPE.
As I was using my music to help me through the process and to heal, it turns out that I was helping others do the same. Countless fans have written and shared their own personal stories of illness, loss, and other issues and have told me that my music helped them through, as well. Sharing their stories with me really comes full circle, and this has to be the greatest gift I could receive from my own music!
What are the special challenges/pleasures of working with particular musicians, singers, ensembles or orchestras?
Since working with Will Ackerman [Founder of Windham Hill Records and a Grammy-winning producer], I have had the joy of working with some of the best musicians on the planet! These folks don’t carry around big egos with their instruments either. They are a wonderful bunch, fun to work with and laugh with, to share in the art of creation. I’ve produced nine albums so far with Will Ackerman. With co-producer Tom Eaton on board to mix it all up, magic is made, every time!
Of which works are you most proud?
Each of my 17 albums represents a significant chapter of my life beginning with my debut CD, Prism, in 1997. Each time, it’s like sending out another child for the world to embrace. Wouldn’t it be nice to have a favorite? They are all special in their own way and as I said, represent major milestones in my life.
My newest album – Still – is at the top of my list of favorites. As an artist, you hope that you continue to grow and evolve as the years go by, and in that light you want your newest to be “better than before.” It means that you are moving, you are not “stuck,” and that you are still master of your own game.
How would you characterise your compositional language?
I have been composing since 1989. My compositional language is complex. I’ll try to explain why.
With David Sokoloff, I studied the great classical masters: Brahms, Beethoven, Bach, Liszt, Grieg, Rachmaninoff, Chopin, Debussy, Satie. I’ve always preferred romantic and impressionist composers. I danced ballets composed by Tchaikovsky and Chopin. As a singer/dancer/actress in musical theatre, I performed Sondheim, Bernstein, Rodgers & Hammerstein, Kander & Ebb. The latter greatly imbued a strong melodic and lyrical component to my music. I don’t really fit into any traditional category and folks have said as much. When I started out, artists had to be placed in the “right bin” at the Brick & Mortars, and New Age was chosen for me.
I also am greatly influenced by nature and the environment both in inspiration but also in rhythm. One of the key things that is different in my composition style is that I “bend rhythms” which I think better mimics what you would hear in the natural world. And I guess I enjoy pushing the boundaries of traditional classical structure. It’s not necessarily a conscious choice, just that it comes out of my love and respect for nature and nature’s ways. An example: Rain doesn’t fall in three-quarter time; it changes multiple times in a storm. All of these things really helped form what would become my signature style.
In today’s market, I feel I would be better suited for Neo-Classical or Classical Crossover.
How do you work?
With composing, sometimes I start with a walk outside on a beautiful Fall day. This sparks words, which form into poetry in my head. I try to jot them down and later they begin to flow into a melody; an example of this is my song “Autumn’s Child.” Other times, I will be sitting in my kitchen on a cozy Winter afternoon with snow coming down, and I jump to my piano when what’s happening outside inspires a mood that takes off. Examples of this are my songs “December Snow” or “A Winter’s Reverie.”
When Randy and I are talking and a particularly interesting phrase comes into the conversation, it gives us pause: “That might be a great title for inspiration!” It sits as a note on my piano; it may be used on the next album, or five albums later, I never know.
Sometimes lyrics pop up as I’m writing, and they become part of the liner notes. Other times, I just feel the need to sit down at my piano and I’ll experiment with different phrases. Lyrics may come right away, it may take a half hour, but once I’ve got an opening few phrases, the process starts and the adventure begins. Sometimes I can write an entire piece in an afternoon, other times I’ll revisit it several times before feeling its path. I never push the process. If it’s something you love, you take care of it, nurture it and let it come naturally, organically. I have written on Baby Grands, Spinets and Synthesizers – if the inspiration is there, it’s going to come even if it’s not on my Steinway Baby Grand
As a bonus, my dogs have always loved to surround me as I play, compose or rehearse – it doesn’t seem to matter as long as they get to hear me!
As a musician, what is your definition of success?
I believe if you are doing what you love and you’re making a living AND you are happy doing it, then you have attained success. Touching people’s lives while doing music is a real bonus!
What do you feel needs to be done to grow classical music’s audiences?
For my part in performance, I have always broken the fourth wall, as it were, to share stories, inspiration and poetry I have written pertaining to the music during the concert program I’m performing. As an actress, I’m comfortable doing so and it invites the audience to gain a more intimate understanding of the artist and the emotional and intellectual layers behind the music. As such, my audience feels included, they have “inside track” knowledge so to speak, and they really like that.
What’s the one thing in the music industry we’re not talking about but you think we should be?
We should be talking a lot more about Intellectual Property Rights! ASCAP, SoundExchange, BMI and others are all working to get laws passed to protect artists’ IP rights AND get paid appropriately. But we’re still not being compensated at the percentage in line with music’s value. It seems as soon as one law is passed, technology comes up with a new way to sneak something by. Progress at the current rate just can’t outrun technology fast enough.
Streaming pays RIDICULOUSLY low. They can argue all they want that they reach more people but when, for example, for 100 performances/streams, Pandora pays out .086 in royalties, well, anyone can do the math. It’s not the download world, that’s for sure and compensation needs to be stepped up. Pandora is a billion-dollar company and other companies are just as guilty of taking a free ride on the artists’ coattails.
What advice would you give to young/aspiring composers?
I tell young aspiring composers “Follow your dreams, and don’t give up! Believe in yourself and trust your instincts. Hold onto passion. It will save you!”
What do you enjoy doing most?
There are many enjoyments when you love life passionately. I could never do music 24/7 for example. I have too many other happiness pursuits but as such, these enjoyments play a big part in the process of creating music too. Hikes in nature, walks in the woods, playing with my dogs, going to the beach with my husband, sitting on my patio on an early Spring day with the sun warming my face, boating, drinking wine, laughter and thoughtful talks with friends, and every day with my Randy!
Ann Sweeten’s latest album ‘Still’ is available now.
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