Matthew Peter Gough, composer

Who or what inspired you to pursue a career in music?

As a toddler, I would secretly climb up onto the piano stool of my Mum’s old, battered, white painted piano, look at the squiggles and dots in front of me and pretend to play them, making up my own music. That’s where it all started, right there.

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

The piano tuner would periodically arrive, and I would watch him intently – engrossed as he dismantled the casework to reveal the innards. He would encourage me in my interest and show me all the hammers and the incredible moving parts. Seeing this early fascination, my mum arranged piano lessons with local teacher Dulcie Smith and later Peter Hodgson, himself a composer, who has been a great influence. I still play and enjoy many of his arrangements. Also, the hypnotic magnetism of Einaudi, the heartbreaking emotional pull of Chopin, the heavy depth and concepts of Pink Floyd and the melodic melancholic simplicity and key changes of Jeff Lynne. These people have saved my life. Certainly, the old piano tuner must have had an effect because after school I actually went to college and became a qualified piano tuner myself! That was my real job.

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

Getting ‘out there’! It’s so difficult to reach a wide audience without using social media every day. I have a brilliant record company that puts out my lullaby music, but all the other work is self-released. It seems I’m forever on my phone. Making videos, reels, registering and publicising. Composing and producing the work seems like the easy bit.

How do you work? What methods do you use and how do ideas come to you?

My initial melodies often come along at 3am in the morning. I know it’s a cliché but for me it’s true that I dream them. I sleepily reach for the portable recorder by my bed and ‘la’ the ideas very badly into a portable recorder by my bed. When I play them back in the morning they sound dreadful and make me giggle. A walk in the countryside often expands the concept which I then take to my trusty ‘real’ Yamaha U3 piano to develop the melodies and chords further. When I have a finished piece, I take it upstairs to my studio and realise it is not yet finished. I use ‘Logic’ software to help me craft and produce my work. Then I often start again.

How would you characterise your compositional language/musical style?

Everything is about images and feeling for me. I try to convey a countryside scene or a story and the feelings that come with them. A title will often come through imagined lyrics in the melody which can help me further in creating a scene in my head. I suppose its programmatical, in the way Beehoven’s 6th (pastoral) had descriptive scenes. My new album ‘The Piano Field’ is like that. In the track ‘Mice Playing in the corn’ you can imagine mice gradually appearing once the coast is clear, hares leaping about or birds singing. Mice Play in the Corn from ‘The Piano Field’

Of which works are you most proud?

My new album ‘The Piano field’ is a collection that makes me genuinely proud. It’s the best thing I’ve done to date and to have it on vinyl is amazing. Each piece is inspired by a particular aspect of nature that the listener might find in their own beautiful piano field, where they can relax and chill in their own imagination – their own special place. My piano field is a buttercup field which is near my house. When it blooms in the spring it seems to set the whole world yellow. It’s joyous and the whole album is based on it. The videos for the title track ‘The Piano Field’ and also ‘Buttercup Field’ were filmed in it. We had to move one of my pianos into the middle of the field. It was really heavy! It also created some interest amongst the locals when they saw it being wheeled amongst the buttercups. Someone said ‘where on earth are you going with that’? I said ‘into the field’! Buttercup Field (Official Video)

As a musician, what is your definition of success?

That people connect with my music. I am lucky that my lullaby music has been streamed millions of times and that so many people use it to relax. That’s connection. It’s so much more important. That means the world.

What advice would you give to young or aspiring composers?

I think two things that I’ve learned the hard way. Don’t take criticism badly. It can really help you. Even if its harsh, accept whatever truth you know there is in it and use it to improve. Secondly, in the end it’s what you really love doing that will work best. I tried to be a pop star, then a commercial writer for decades, then music for the media. It’s only when I finally went back to the piano and reignited what was in my heart that I found some connection with people and a little success. People can tell when you’re faking it.

What’s the one thing we’re not talking about in the music industry which you really feel we should be?

Now money isn’t the most important thing, I know that – but I do think that streaming rates are dreadful. If you sold 100,000 copies of an album 20 years ago in the UK, gross income would likely be around £100,000 and you would get a gold disc and be in the charts. These days you would be lucky to see £500 from 100,000 streams. We do it for love but it costs 😉

What next? Where would you like to be in 10 years time?

For my piano music to be widely known and enjoyed.

What is your idea of perfect happiness?

Having a picnic in a beautiful ‘piano field’ by a river with those I love.

What is your most treasured possession?

My piano of course! A real acoustic one, a rare walnut version of the Yamaha U3. I actually have a second U3 has a different deeper tone. We used that one in the videos because it has a posh glossy black case. The walnut one is my favourite though.

‘The Piano Field’ album by Matthew Peter Gough is available from Spotify, Apple Music, Bandcamp and all music streaming sites.

The Vinyl and CD are available here: https://elasticstage.com/matthewpetergough/releases/the-piano-field-album

Matthew Peter Gough – official website