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Edward Ficklin
US based
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Interview: 10 questions
1. When did you start making music, what is/was your motivation to do it?
I started creating music at around age 15, even though I had been studying and playing for many years before that. There was no specific event, need or cause that made me start—it simply felt like the natural thing to do.
2. Tell me something about your living environment and the musical education.
My living environment is very quiet, but surrounded by a constant tumultuous urban chaos (i.e. New York City).
3.Is making music your profession? What is the context in which you practice music nowadays?
Making music is not my sole professional activity. It is one of several, some related to art and some technology. American culture and society does not highly value the creation of new music that is not commercial entertainment, thus composers and sound artists must find other ways to “make a living†while continuing to practice their craft for minimal or no remuneration.
4. How do you compose or create music or sound? Have you certain principles, use certain styles etc?
My process is largely intuitive and generally the desire to express and emotional state or quality or convey a narrative drives the compositional choices.
5. Tell me something about the instruments, technical equipment or tools you use?
The majority of my music is scored for acoustic instruments and the voice, and there my primary tools are pencils and staff paper. For the sound art, my tools are Tracktion, Reaktor and sometimes Audacity. While not terribly sophisticated, these have served me well up till now. In the coming months, I want to explore sound transmission through wireless devices, so perhaps my toolbox will need to grow.
6. What are the chances of New Media for the music production in general and you personally?
Chances are good. The convergence of art and technology is important for both art practice and practitioners, but also for the society the created and uses the technology in the first place. For me personally, new media is a part of what I explore and am motivated by, but my heart will always be drawn to writing for the stage.
7. How about producing and financing your musical productions?
Resources are scarce this side of the Atlantic. Other types of work, mostly non-creative, subsidize the music creation.
8. Do you work individually as a musician/soundartist or in a group or collaborative? If you have experience in both, what is the difference, what do you prefer?
Both. Both have their rewards and difficulties, and I will continue working both ways. I can’t say I prefer one over the other, rather I see them as opposing forces necessary to keep me in balance.
9. Is there any group, composer, style or movement which has a lasting influence on making music?
Musique Concrete, French Impressionism, American Minimalism
10. What are your future plans or dreams as a soundartist or musician?
Wireless technologies offer a whole new realm of creative exploration for me—and many others I hope. And I’ll always continue to write opera. Whether to the interests converge or not is yet to be seen.
Can works of yours experienced online besides on SoundLAB?
Where? List some links & resources
http://soundbiting.org
http://edwardficklin.com