A Conversation with Terence P. Minogue – HuffPost 4.23.12
Mike Ragogna: Terence, you’ve arranged Jim Croce recordings, produced rockers like Crack The Sky and the cult favorite Spider-Man: Rock Reflections Of A Superhero, created an orchestral version of reggae music as Orchestra Montego, and scored the movie with Melanie Griffith and Tippi Hedren, Roar, among other musical adventures. Now you are writing symphonic music, most recently for your project American Voices. Are there no limits to your musical sorcery, sir?
Terence P. Minogue: (laughs) Well, I’ve explored all types of music, for film, TV and choirs. As I mature as a musician, symphonic composition feels like a more complete way to express myself.
MR: Is there an overall statement in your latest CD, American Holidays?
TPM: It seems that Americans are politically divided and polarized now more than ever.American Holidays celebrates the things we all agree on. For example, all of our wars since World War II have been highly controversial, lots of argument and disagreement over whether we are fighting to the best of our ability or if we should even be fighting at all. On the other hand, everybody agrees that war is tragic and frightening, and we should honor our fallen heroes. That’s why the piece “Memorial Day” has sections that are patriotic, nightmarish, and melancholy. Another example is that families are more complicated now than in the past. There are a lot of “ex” and “step” families to visit on Thanksgiving. No matter who we’re with, we’re probably eating turkey, and we can all agree that Thanksgiving is a peaceful time of gathering, longing, and nostalgia with deep feelings all represented in the “Thanksgiving” piece.
MR: Let’s chat about “Memorial Day.” It’s full of bugle calls, and there is a section that sounds particularly Asian. Can you tell us what your musical approach was here?
TPM: At the time I wrote “Memorial Day,” I was reading Laura Hillenbrand’s bestsellerUnbroken, a true story of World War II hero Louis Zamperini who spent the war flying terrifying missions and trapped in Japanese prison camps. I also thought about my father, who fought in the U.S. Navy in the Pacific during World War II. To capture some of the nightmarish quality of these experiences, I used the Hirajoshi scale. This is the Japanese 5-tone (or pentatonic) scale that we are most familiar with in the west, and it tends to conjure up images of Asia. Unfortunately, wars seem to send our soldiers to exotic but frightening places. The bugle calls are a combination of “To The Colors,” “Retreat,” and “Taps.” At the end of the funeral dirge in the climax of “Memorial Day,” the trumpeter sneaks in with “Battle Call” showing that war is part of human nature and may never end as long as there are people.
MR: Can you go into “Independence Day”?
TPM: Well, “Independence Day” is our country’s birthday party, and the music is very happy and celebratory. There are images of fireworks and parades. There is a section in the middle where I quote a passage from William Shields’s song “Norah, Dear Norah.” This was a very popular tune at the time of the Revolutionary War, and it was George Washington’s favorite song. It’s a minuet, a waltz that is, and makes me think of Colonial times and powdered wigs.
MR: Excellent. What about the source music in “Thanksgiving”?
TPM: There are two pieces quoted briefly in “Thanksgiving.” One is On My Journey Homeby William Walker. It comes from his collection, The Southern Harmony Songbook, which was the most popular book in America in the 1840s. It sounds early American, and has religious “hellfire preaching” overtones. The title carries the message that we all want to be on our journey home around Thanksgiving, as we saw in one of my favorite films Planes, Trains, and Automobiles. The Southern Harmony music carries the message that Thanksgiving is a religious holiday and God wants us to be thankful for what we have. The other tune quoted is “We Gather Together,” a Dutch hymn brought to Plymouth Rock by the Pilgrims, which was sung at the first Thanksgiving feast. It is played several times by the orchestra chimes, which sound like church bells.
MR: Beautiful. And you also have a piece about Labor Day. The sounds–I guess appropriately–remind me of factories, steam engines, and whistles.
TPM: Yes, I tried to capture the essence of a day at work using industrial sounds and factories. I was influenced somewhat by the group I brought out of Pittsburgh and into the music business, Crack The Sky. They had a sound reminiscent of the machinery in the steel mills–lots of clanking and hammering. There is also a peaceful part in the middle of “Labor Day.” It is a fugue that’s sort of a more complicated version of a “round.” The clarinet starts a melody, and it is echoed by another clarinet, then a flute, and then a bassoon. The parts all fit together, showing that the Labor Day celebrates Americans working together.
MR: Terence, you create from a very deep place. What is your creative process? How do you go about writing?
TPM: Well, it’s very emotional, and also can be tedious at times. The trick is to keep going, whether it’s working or not, and get the piece done. You can always go back and fix it once it is finished. I found the hardest part of writing seven-minute pieces was to keep up the focus, energy, and interest through the entire piece. It takes a lot out of you.
MR: Terence, do you have any advice that you’d like to give to new artists?
TPM: Keep at it and don’t stop writing. The writing will get better. Also, always make sure to arrange for your music to be performed. Your most valid criticism will come from the people performing your music. They will keep you honest. Try to set up in a deadline situation. Writing to a deadline will sharpen up your chops.
MR: Terence, thank you much for coming to spend time with us.
TPM: Thank you so much for having me, Mike.