Home

About

Audio

Video

Photos

Live

Conversations

Quotes & Reviews

Airplay

Gear

Mailing List

Ordering

Contact & Lessons

Links

Conversation with Jeff Bjorck

"Most people don't realize that music
can be 'intensely
soft and soothing.'"

- Jeff Bjorck

Jamie: I started out my musical training on the piano, but I was drawn to
the guitar. I find I think like a guitar player -- I don't know if that's a good or
bad thing! How does playing the piano affect how you make music? Does
it change the way you write?


Jeff: I agree that one's primary instrument can shape the way one
composes. I also think that this can be a good thing and a bad thing for
me. It is good because I compose from my "strength" when I compose
within the framework of a piano's characteristics (e.g., percussion
instrument, acoustic sounds, chords). It is bad because, if I am not
careful, it can limit the range of possibilities. For example -- as you
know -- as a percussion instrument, the piano does not lend itself
readily to long sustained notes like a woodwind or brass instrument
does. If I want a note that runs for more than a few beats, I am at the
mercy of the sustaining pedal!

I like to try to push beyond these constraints, however, as a way of
exploring creativity. So, for example, I work at creating large spaces in
some of my pieces--using the notes and the space between them--to
stretch the boundaries of the piano. Repeatedly playing one note with
one finger, for example, certainly defies technical merit (!), but it also
challenges me to be as expressive as I can be emotionally
and artistically.

One last point about how the piano influences my thinking: I do tend to
think of my compositions as "the entire orchestra". If I were a trumpet
player/composer, I doubt that I would think in this way. Again, I also
think that this mindset can be a strength and a weakness, so I try to
hit a balance. What about you? For example, how much does
improvisation play a part in your actual studio recordings
and/or in your live performances?


Jamie: I improvise on every tune. I think improvisation has a certain
"energy" that you can't get any other way. The studio probably has less
improv in an overall sense than live music, for me. I improvise in the studio,
but I also use all kinds of modern studio techniques to make my music.
I love jazz and feel that my music has a lot of jazz influence in it, but
when I'm recording I try to make the best possible piece of music that
I can. If that means improvising for the entire tune then that's fine. If it
means cutting and pasting for the entire tune that's fine too. I really
have no rules in the studio other than try to make a great track!

How do you write music? Do you sit at the piano with score paper,
record into a computer or tape machine, or memorize your music?


Jeff: As to how the piano influences my writing, I must confess that I never
write anything. I simply play and use a crude tape recorder to help aid my
memory when themes emerge that surprise and/or please me. By the time
I am ready for the studio, I have a pretty good idea of what I will play. But
even then, it is never exactly the same twice. This is freeing for me and
allows me to be as expressive as I can. On the other hand, on those rare
occasions when I perform, I actually need to listen to my CD to "learn"
some of my pieces! Now, since you write out your compositions, I have
a question for you. What does a score look like when you are playing so
fast like on "Haze" (one of my favorite tracks off your latest CD)? I envision
a sheet of music covered with millions of little black notes all crammed
together! How DO you play so fast? :o)


Jamie: HaHaHa! You know, I don't even really think of it as fast. Some
things are easier for some people than for other people. My music is an
extension of myself -- of how I think and feel about music. But I have to
admit my playing has "jumped" up in the last year or so. I don't think I
would have written "Haze" for my debut album -- it wouldn't have
felt natural.

A lot of people have asked my about how I wrote that tune. To be honest,
that piece, for the most part, just came to me. I had almost all of the
opening line in a very short period of time. I put that line into Logic (my
computer music software program), listened back and then changed a
couple of notes. Many of my other pieces I have to really sweat over,
but "Haze" was relatively painless!

I know some composers spend a long time working on their music and
some are more spontaneous. Where would you say you fit in on that
spectrum?


Jeff: I am somewhere in the middle, towards the "undisciplined" end of the
spectrum! I like to compose spontaneously, and so it takes some time for
me to collect enough pieces for a CD. I confess that I don't play the piano
every day, but when I do play, it is almost always emotional. When I have
decided that I have enough "raw material" for a CD (i.e., roughly a dozen
"first drafts" of compositions), then I get more disciplined and I may play
for an hour or two every day for a couple of months, as I hammer out
details of pieces, etc. The other obvious reason I do this is so that I
have enough endurance to make it through recording sessions when
the time comes!

But as I said above, even then virtually nothing is in stone. As a result,
my recording time is quite short compared to other people I have spoken
to. For my more recent CD, I did all the recording roughly in ten hours
across two days. When I record, some pieces are almost completely
spontaneous, and many pieces are based on a theme that was
spontaneous. Rarely do I try to compose a piece formally from scratch,
although I bet the discipline would do me good! I also have "composed"
pieces after leaving the studio by cutting and pasting. For example, my
arrangement of "Be Thou My Vision" from my first CD was pieced together
from a variety of meanderings that I had done in the studio while warming
up to record. "Remembering Gramma" virtually popped into my head on
my way home from work fighting L.A. traffic one night (probably because
I was wishing for an era before traffic!).

While my spontaneity is part of what makes playing so enjoyable for me,
it also frustrates me that I do not have the technical skills and training that
most musicians do. I know that many classically trained musicians say
that they wish they could improvise, but conversely, I sure wish I could
sight-read and play Chopin or Debussy whenever I wanted to do so! My
formal training was limited to 4 years of piano lessons from my mom,
who had only had around four years of lessons herself. How about you?
I assume that you are formally trained?


Jamie: I guess you could say I have formal training, but I think I've learned
as much from jamming with other musicians as from school/lessons. I'm in
no way denigrating studying music in a formal setting -- I've done quite a bit
of teaching myself. I think that the knowledge that my teachers passed on
to me has been (and continues to be) invaluable.

But for me, it's always been about combining different musical elements.
So while I was studying electro-acoustic composition, I was also playing
in a New Wave cover band. While I was writing for independent films, I was
also playing freely improvised music. I don't claim to be an expert in every
style (I'd have to live 100 lifetimes!), but I do try to keep an open mind and
push myself to explore new areas of music. I guess it's really just simple
curiousity, and I believe that there's something to be learned from everyone.

Do you draw from other styles of music? What records are you
currently into?


Jeff: Well, I must admit that I don't spend a great deal of time actively
listening to music. I actually have a ton of other interests (e.g., hang
gliding, weight lifting, step aerobics, photography, hiking, travel, etc., etc.)
so my "music" time is mostly devoted to making music vs. listening to it.
However, when I get the chance, I do enjoy listening to other acoustic
piano artists for inspiration, including quite a few other independent artists
that I have met via the internet (e.g., Zola Van, Karen Fitzgerald, Loren Gold,
Erich Chapelle). I have always liked George Winston too. On top this, I have
enjoyed listening to some of the jazz greats from days gone by, particularly
Art Tatum. Unfortunately, Art Tatum always sounds like two people at once,
and listening for too long makes me want to chop up my piano and take up
fishing! Finally, I also enjoy listening to NON-new age type piano, and I
enjoy playing other styles too (e.g., rock, honky tonk, etc.). To that end,
I always loved listening to the percussive, energetic piano of Keith Green,
a contemporary Christian artist from the 70s, who was tragically killed in
a plane crash in 1982. How's that for diverse tastes? :o)


Jamie: That's pretty diverse! Personally, I feel that having a wide range of
interests is the best possible thing an artist can do. I've never been able to
focus on just one thing -- musically or otherwise. I'm not knocking artists
who pursue a more traditional route, but for me I need to experiment and
search.

You say that you're into different physical activities. I work out and I've
played quite a few sports growing up, but I don't know if I'd be brave enough
to try hang gliding! Do you think that hang gliding and weight lifting affect
your music or is it something completely separate?


Jeff: You don't have to be brave to try hang gliding....just informed! :o) Here
is a link to a great site put out by a shop where I live (www.windsports.com).
They have online videos of launches, etc. Unfortunately, hang gliding is
dragging around a 15-year-old bad reputation. It is now a relatively safe sport
(safer, for example than being in a motor boat or jet ski of any kind), and
hang gliders are built stronger than planes. As for how hang gliding affects
my music....since early childhood I have always been inspired by flight and
motion. Now that I have made that dream a reality through my hang gliding
(since 1994), I feel that I have an even greater grasp on these experiences.
I particularly hope that a sense of flight, freedom, space, and motion come
through, for example in my piece "Soaring Mesa Cliffs" which is meant to
depict flight in this way.

As for weight lifting, I am a pretty intense, hyper, energetic person. This
comes out more when I am just jamming by myself. At such times, my
piano can be very percussive, and fast and furious. The closest thing to this
kind of energy is "Living Waters" from my first CD. But my published music,
in general, reflects my appreciation for another type of intensity....intense
calm, intense quiet, intense peace. Most people don't realize that music
can be "intensely soft and soothing." That is an objective of mine on my
two CDs. Someday, I might record a CD of more typically "intense" (i.e.,
loud, fast, furious) pieces, but I don't think there is a real market for "the
acoustic piano equivalent to caffeine"! :o) What about you? Do you feel
that any of your non-music pursuits affect your music?


Jamie: Yeah, I do. On a purely physical level, I think using your hands
(and body for that matter) for something other than music is a smart thing
to do. Some people don't need to do anything but play music and they're
fine. I find that when I'm fit I play better and with less tension. I can sit or
stand for longer periods of time before becoming tired and that lets me
concentrate more on the music. Also, for me, I just generally feel better
when I work out which I think translates into making more positive music.

What are you working on now? Anything exciting coming up?


Jeff: Well, I am starting to compose again, but nothing tremendously
exciting is in the immediate future (i.e., no CD releases or concerts).
Like you, my most recent release is not quite a year old yet. I do
hope to begin recording again sometime soon though.

I did just attend a fantastic event in Hercules, CA, where Kathy Parsons,
a terrific piano teacher and CD reviewer, hosted a workshop in her home
with David Lanz. She had all her students play his compositions in front
of him, and David then gave them feedback. Can you imagine that? What
a tremendous opportunity for those students. I am sure they don't know
how lucky they are to have such a great teacher. I really enjoyed the experience, particularly because afterwards, a number of us who are
pianists (David Lanz, of course, Kevin Kern, Patrick Hebert, Janie
Campbell, and Craig Casey) sat around the piano in her living room
and played for each other. It was a truly unique and wonderful
experience of sharing music!

What about you? What is in the works for you in the near and not so
near future?


Jamie: First of all, I'd just like to say that I totally agree with you about
how amazingly lucky those students are. I've done a lot of teaching in the
past and I'd really like to start doing more in the future. I think passing
along your knowledge is one of the most rewarding things you can do --
especially as an artist. Kathy Parsons seems like a wonderful teacher.

My future goals are really simple. To make the best, most sincere music
in whatever settings I find myself. Oh yeah, and to have fun!

Thanks for taking the time to talk with me -- it's been great!


Jeff: Likewise! Thanks for keeping me updated on your latest news through
your newsletter! Based on how well you are doing, I look forward to seeing
you on the cover of guitar magazine one of these days!

back to top