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Interview with Jason Wingate
March 20, 2011
Jason Wingate is a composer, cellist, and poet. For information about his work, visit www.jwingate.org.
Tibbetts: How long have you composed, and what made you decide to become a composer?
Wingate: My mother was an opera singer, so my first composition was naturally a song cycle written for her when I was seven years old. My primary motivation at the time was to coax her into singing those beautiful high C's and D's of hers that thrilled my childish ears. But I was also fascinated by the logistics of the craft, in which I could create this elaborate sonic puzzle which could be put together by anyone who could read music, even if its creator were not there... Rather like spending hundreds of hours making an animated film, and finally enjoying the rush of seeing it projected for the first time...all of the detail work amalgamating into a new life form with a speed of life beyond itself...an autonomous and kinetic artistic entity. Plus being a composer seemed like such a delightfully old-fashioned and anti-capitalistic "profession" to pursue. It was either that or I would have had to be a poet or a painter or a philosopher. Or all of these.
Tibbetts: What inspires you?
Wingate: I am inspired by the epic mystery of love and how this tends to show us our connection to the universe and its energies...connections that we are too blind to see as a matter of quotidian course. And I am inspired by the very existence of music itself, and the bridge it gives us to the realm of emotion, communicating the ineffable to us without even trying. I am constantly annoyed by the limitations of verbal language and its attempts to clothe the mysteries of life in its specious raiment of words. For years I have had a recurring dream in which I visit an "Island of Singers"...a people whose "language" is pure music without the burden of semantic data. And it is this island that I seek to visit in waking life as I compose. I wish to inhabit the heart of Siegmund, who without hesitation rejects his invitation to Valhalla in order to stay with his beloved Sieglinde...I wish to understand love in the way that the great French writer Hélène Cixous does, from its pith. I take inspiration from all the arts, from all the Earth's natural wonders, from the beauty of a simple tune, from the stars...
Tibbetts: Of all you have done, what do you consider your best work, and why?
Wingate: My best work is always my next work to be written...that undiscovered music...the potential that lies in secret slumber in all of us. I am very pleased with my Second Symphony ("Kleetüden"), but only as one would be proud of the achievements of one's offspring, since most of my pieces write themselves, and my role seems to be merely one of nurture.
Tibbetts: What is your "typical day" like?
Wingate: Playing through Bach cello suites or The Well Tempered Clavier in the morning...anything to create an immediate connection to the great achievements and energies of those that came before us. Some sketching, some orchestrating, some lazy listening to contemporary pieces I haven't heard before. Some tracking down of a moment from a symphony by so-and-so that I haven't heard in ages but that seems wildly pertinent to my current project. Some lallygagging. Then some massive interruptions to attend to teaching or day jobs, etc. Then other arts in the evening...museum visits, some Montaigne before bed, or long dinners with friends. Many concerts. Some meditation time. Some long walks or runs to process everything I am doing away from my workspace. Sleep filled with dreams of unheard musics.
Tibbetts: Do you have any words of wisdom to offer to aspiring composers and musicians?
Wingate: Aspire to practice your craft during every spare waking moment of your life. This will not happen, but the energy of this desire will linger. Absorb everything that inspires you and give the energy back through your work. When Malcolm Gladwell speaks of those ten thousand hours, he is not far off. But make it one million hours before you leave this life. I've seen many aspiring composers who like the idea of "being" a composer more than they like composing itself. Don't "be" a composer; compose.
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