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Interview with Beth Wiemann
March 28, 2011
Beth Wiemann is a composer and clarinetist. For information about her work, visit her website.
Tibbetts: How long have you composed, and what made you decide to become a composer?
Wiemann: I've been writing since high school, when I began composing short pieces for my church choir. It was cheaper for me to arrange music for this group than it was for the group to buy a lot of SATB publications, so the choir director was happy to have me try out composing for different parts of the Mass, using the English texts. After doing this for a while, I began to attempt short pieces for band and chamber orchestra, though I did not get a chance to hear these pieces with live performers. When I heard my choral works in concert towards the end of high school, that experience made me think that I wanted composing as my main career.
Tibbetts: What inspires you?
Wiemann: It can be a story or a picture, or a sound from the natural world, but often it's a bit of some other composer's music that inspires me. I may hear a particular motive or harmony that is especially attractive, or haunting, and I will take that nugget and work with it in my own composition.
Tibbetts: Of all you have done, what do you consider your best work, and why?
Wiemann: I have several favorite works, which are often in that category because I associate them with particular performers or concert venues. I hope that my best piece is ahead of me, as I try to be clearer with every composition that I write. At this point, my "best" composition may be Erie, on the periphery, for clarinet and piano -- this was performed in New York City several years ago by Ben Fingland on clarinet and Marilyn Nonken on piano. It has a basic lyrical overall mood, but still has contrasting percussive sections in the last third of the work.
Tibbetts: What is your 'typical day' like?
Wiemann: This depends on the time of year. During the fall and spring semesters, I have to schedule composing around my university teaching. This means that most weekdays I'm at school, teaching clarinet and composition lessons along with some music theory courses. When I'm on break either in the middle of the semester or between semesters, I can work on composition more as a full-time thing. Scheduling composition time for pieces that are bigger in scope or have special circumstances (such as requiring multimedia) is something I think about for during these semester breaks.
Tibbetts: Do you have any words of wisdom to offer to aspiring composers and musicians?
Wiemann: Listen to a LOT of music, even things that you don't find interesting right away. Get to know performers and treat them well--they are the people that you will rely on later when you need to hear how your compositions sound "in real life." Don't get hung up on writing the most perfect or most impressive piece--it's better to finish one piece, learn from it what you can, and start on the next piece from a fresh perspective.
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