Michael Horsphol
The Music of Michael Horsphol
Composing music that has something unique, something that is different yet easily recognisable has been a great challenge for me, and being brought up with the classical masters ringing in my ears, there was the question "how can I also do this without access to great orchestras and choirs". That's when the new music software technology came into focus. It gives inspired artists like myself the chance to do what can be done acoustically, but without having to spend tens of thousands of dollars for hiring the New York Philharmonic! I'll let you the listener be the judge as to whether I succeeded or not.
My influences are many; too numerous to mention, but 2 fellow composers stand out and they are Howard Shore with His outstanding modern classical giant,"Lord of the Rings" trilogy and Rautavaara a Finnish contemporary classical composer.
I was fortunate to be born into a family where music formed as much a part of my childhood as food and play did. Being immersed in the music of the great classical composers led me to begin learning the piano at an early age, studying traditional piano techniques to obtain performance and teaching diplomas from Trinity College and, later, an honours diploma in composition from the Academy of Musicology (Qld.). But my main love was always composition and I began to focus more directly on this with my first CD ‘ISIS’ in 1993 and later ‘The Cradle Mountain Suite’ in 1996.
Moving from the Hunter valley in N.S.W. to Northern Tasmania in 1994 brought me into contact even more with the untamed freedom and beauty of nature and my music is always an attempt to interpret this - on one or many levels. The wild nature of this beautiful planet we inhabit is always my inspiration.
The availability of new technology in the field of digital multi-sampling of acoustic orchestral and ethnic instruments and choirs has brought new possibilities for composers and I find it a never-ending process of learning and experimenting, hopefully with an end product which listeners will enjoy. (Most of my music is also scored for live performance.) My compositions draw on many styles of music – from classical, sacred and impressionist to elements of world music and jazz.
I compose, play, mix and produce my own CDs. I have also done some soundtrack work for small productions, and would love to do more of this type of work.
"Stella Matutina" took me 3 years to compose, score and produce. It is an invocation to the Divine Feminine Spirituality using the revised sacred Latin text.
I am currently working on a new CD "Luella Unveiled". A cinematic musical journey of an Angelic Being who is helping to heal and transform the planet through the power of Harmonics and Love
This music is new and exciting; using a large orchestral palette with world ethnic instruments and percussion. It is basically music for an unseen movie.
Please check my web site for it's upcoming promotion soon.
Interview with Michael Horsphol
Q. Your music is very orchestral so why aren’t you getting orchestras to play your music.
M.H. That very reason is a monetary one. In order to have your composition played by any orchestra you have to have an up-front fee that can go into the tens of thousands. This includes rehearsal fees etc.
A good example of this is in Europe where a certain Orchestra will rehearse, then master record your music for a fee of 450 Euros a minute. So for a work like my “Stella Matutina” which runs for around 50 mins., this is out of the question!
Q. But surely there are competitions for composers like yourself where, if you win you can have your work played for free.
M.H. Yes that’s correct but it is a catch 22 situation. Firstly to enter a competition you really need to have some recognition. In my case I have some with “The Australian Music Centre” which helps in promoting Australian composers and their works. There are 2 divisions in this. The first is what is called “Full Representation”. You can only achieve this status if you have had a work performed or recorded commercially. So that’s the first catch 22.
The second division, which I have, is partial Representation where you can submit 5 works and they are stored in the Centre’s Library for other people to look at, if they know you exist at all.
My point is that this process is out of date and has too many limiting factors. The best form of promotion for your music is on the web, and this is where music software technology is a great tool in helping that promotion. Let me give you an example from my personal experience with all of the above.
In 1996 I had written and scored a large orchestral piece called “The Cradle Mountain Suite”. I went to the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra and asked them would it be possible to have this work performed. The answer was only if I could afford to pay them up to $50,000. I returned home with my tail between my legs and wondered what was to become of my musical career. It was at this point that I stumbled across computer music software. At that time it was still in it’s infancy but it did the job of allowing me to score for instruments, record, mix and produce a CD master which was good enough for people to listen to and buy. It took me 6 months to learn how to do it but in the long run it was worth it. Rather than that music sitting on a shelf, people where able to buy the CD and I ended up selling over 500. That was a great start!
Q. But surely these sampled sounds of orchestral instruments are no match for the real thing!
M.H. Since 1996 musical instrument sampling has improved enormously with multi-mic. positioning, surround panning etc. I challenge anyone to tell me that an East/West bassoon sample is nowhere as good as the real thing played in an acoustic hall. Don’t get me wrong about this. I will always feel that my music would sound the best performed live by an orchestra simply because the energy of everyone there would impact on the work and the performance and make it into something really special. However the chances of that happening in the near future are slim, and in the mean time I really want to get my music heard around the world, and the best tools for that are a great music software platform, the best samples money can buy and good skills in composition and orchestration.
The bottom line is that if you are serious about wanting to write good orchestral music in the soundtrack genre then you need to go and listen to all the current composers who are successful in this trade. Buy their CD’s and study there methods, and above all experiment and don’t limit yourself. If it’s in your heart to do this you will succeed.
People with this desire who are new to the music technology can feel free to contact me for any advise.
Q. What is your musical platform of choice.
M.H. I use Logic Studio 8 with an intel iMac 2.4ghz with 4 gig of ram.
My sample sound library consists of a selection of East/West orchestral / choir and solo Stradivari violin, along with ethnic and orchestral loops from Apple.