Additional Information
After a very captivating performance of his piece of La grande accélération: Symphonie no. 12 at the Saint-Joseph Oratory, we at PAN M had the chance to correspond with Tim Brady and ask him about the development of his career, his writing process, his aesthetic preferences, and more.
PANM360: During the artistic explanation you gave at the M/NM concert you mentioned that the inspiration/significance, at least partially, of “La Grande Acceleration” came from historical events and their tendency to unfold very quickly. Did you write the piece with our current era in mind, or rather history more generally?
Tim Brady: When I started writing the piece in 2018 I had just started to really notice that the nature of our society was starting to really change. On one hand, we were becoming more interconnected through the Internet, national identities seemed less important, the climate issue involves every one. On the other hand, right wing forces were starting to gain strength – Brexit happened, the 1st Trump presidency. So my idea was that things are changing – fast. The original title was “Because Everything Will Change” but then I stumbled upon the term The Great Acceleration (often defined as 1950 – 1980 – when there was the huge growth of the middle class in the West). It seemed to me that we are going through a new Great Acceleration – history is moving fast. And, for now, not in the right direction.
PANM360: I don’t think it’s too controversial to say that many of your works contain nods to the shredders and rockers of old. Are there any rock artists that you’ve been enjoying lately? Any that you’ve been revisiting?
Tim Brady: There are so many amazing players on YouTube – that is where the guitar world has migrated, away from radio or streaming. Folks like Gutherie Govan, Matteo Mancuso, Julian Lage – these are great players, and there are hundreds more. And female players are finally starting to have an impact – about time! I am very unsystematic about listening to players – I just see what is on YouTube when I’m in the mood for some guitar shredding. Let the algorithms surprise me.
PANM360: I understand that some formative portions of your career were spent in Montreal, Toronto, Boston, and London. What was it like to pursue an artistic career in those cities during the 70s and 80s? Were there aspects that were harder, or easier, compared to working in music now?
Tim Brady: Things were very different – as you can imagine. Musical aesthetics were much more rigid. There was a right way to compose, and a wrong way to compose. Musical borders were very clearly defined – this was jazz, this was classic, this was blues, etc. Composers were much more dogmatic. When I started doing new chamber music for electric guitar (not jazz or rock or blues) around the early 80s, many people were offended, many did not understand. “It is simply not done!”.
Things are much, much more open, aesthetically. Which is great, but also is challenging. With so many options, how does an artist choose? Making art is never simple, regardless of the era. But maybe it is not meant to be?
The technical changes are also major. Almost every composer / performer now has access to a multi-track studio in their laptop. Samples sound great. You can get stuff out there via the Internet. This afternoon I have a Zoom rehearsal with a group in Baltimore who are giving the US premiere of my piece “This one is broken in pieces: Symphony #11”. Unimaginable in 1980.The specific challenges have changed, and will continue to change. But making music and focusing on creativity will never be the easiest job in the world, I suspect.
PANM360: One-hundred electric guitars is certainly an orchestration choice not often seen. What are some other sound or instrument combinations that you enjoy using in your compositions? Any personal favorites?
Tim Brady: I pretty much enjoy composing for any instrument. Each instrument has its beauty and expressive nature. But if I look at my catalogue, the things that keep coming back are: electric guitar (obviously), bass clarinet, violin/viola, orchestra and vocal music. I have curiously written almost no solo piano music since the early 1980s – it seems to be just not my thing.
PANM360: Is it true that you were largely self taught until your late teens? If so, what factors helped you decide the information or knowledge you would seek during your self taught period? Where would you look for new ideas with respect to the guitar and songwriting?
Tim Brady: Yes, I only learned to read music at 19, when I took my first “Introduction to music theory” class at Vanier College (now CEGEP). But from 16 to 19 I was teaching myself by ear as much as I could about harmony and scales. I was listening to lots of fusion, modern jazz, Debussy and Stravinsky, trying to figure it out. So by the time I started formal music education, I actually had a pretty good ear. So when the teacher said: “This is what Tonic to Flat Submediant sounds like”, I said to myself “Oh, that’s just E major to C major – I know that”. So much of my music theory training was just learning the accepted terms for things that I already had in my ear. I tended to get marks like 98% or 100% on my theory tests, I won’t lie.
PANM360: I imagine that with a catalog of compositions as large as yours, you must also have techniques for dealing with writer’s block, or tricks for productivity. Do you implement anything special when you know you have writing to do?
Tim Brady: I almost never have writer’s block. I’m not sure why. My guess is partially my nature – composing music is just what I do. But most days I also spend at least 15 – 20 minutes improvising on guitar (sometimes more). This keeps the pathways open – it makes the act of making music a daily activity, so you don’t get that fear of “Oh no! What will the next note be???”. I also very recently found a quote from French author André Gide which I think is very powerful: “Yes, It’s all been said before, but nobody was listening. So we have to say it again”. How many Ab or F# notes have been composed in the past thousand years? Literally millions. So why do it again? Because we have to keep listening.
PANM360: And finally: What are some of your favourite venues or spaces? (Could be past or present!)
Tim Brady: For my crazy huge spatial pieces – St. Joseph’s Oratory works really well! And the Complex Desjardins is cool for more “popular” 100 guitar events. Probably the best concert hall I’ve played is in Thunder Bay, Ontario – they have an insanely good 1,200 seat venue there! With electric guitar and effects, you can kind of bring your own “acoustic” with you, so one is a bit less dependent on room sound than, say, with viola. For acoustic music, Salle Bourgie is great – and I have a concert there on June 4th with the Warhol Dervish String Quartet, who are playing my string quartets number 3, 4 and 5. Note: this is a shameless plug for that concert!
The best concert hall is the one where people are really listening, where there is that sense of music as a connection between musician and listener. Good acoustics help, but the quality of the listening is really the goal.
