Music I Am #44 – Woody Harris, Composer, Guitarist, Music Editor

The moment when you knew you wanted to be a musician:

Not sure, no one individual or moment.

An important skill for a career in music that does not have anything to do with an instrument or making music:

Sense skills: listening, observing, tasting, feeling.

Two ways you stay motivated:

Constantly examining the textural sonorities I produce, their color, form and relationship to previous and following tones.

Latest Project:

‘Coming To My Senses’ is my most recent album, however I am working on a new album.

 

 

 

 

 

What inspired it:

If this question follows on the previous one, I would say the sound world of previous works inspires me to search for new ways to work with open forms and to search for an even more intense balance between open harmonies, melodic fragments, polyrhythms and colors – to follow my instincts. The results hopefully expand the vocabulary and syntax of the guitar and in retrospect build a bridge between modern classical composition and the traditional American genres of jazz and blues. This form of expression I refer to as ‘intimate jazz’.

Who’s on it:

Me – at the moment

How do you discover new music?

For many years (decades) I have frequented contemporary classical music concerts – which are generally sparsely visited and ‘traditional’ jazz clubs. Additionally I listen to music friends produce and recommend. Having said this I admit to generally not listening to much music other than the music I am presently working on – it is enough. I work best in isolation. Having studied classical guitar, composition and musicology, and having worked as the senior editor of scholarly chamber music and orchestral music at the German music publisher Bärenreiter for over 25 years, I have had the privilege of working with autographs and primary sources of Bach, Mozart, Schubert, Mendelssohn, Debussy and Ravel among others, and working with these sources has revealed to me the general insecurities EVERY composer has in finalizing and fixating sounds. This is humbling work and helps me to see music with other eyes, and has helped me in the search for expression and growth in my music.

One living and one dead musician that deserves more attention:

  • Dead: Composer Charles Ives, guitarist Wes Montgomery
  • Alive: Italian Vito Palumbo and George Benjamin

Where can we find you online?

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