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Marlene Moore

composer, pianist and recording artist

Canada / USA

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About

Marlene Moore is a Canadian composer living in Southern California. She is a composer, pianist and recording artist. Her original music is heard internationally over FM radio . Much of her music is licensed for film and television. The BACK TO BASICS PIANO METHOD CURRICULUM BOOKS took 10 years to write. It took another 10 years to write the BACK TO BASICS companion books that deal with composition, sight reading, practice, rhythms and theory.There are 22 books all together in this series. Teachers and students find the books to be logical, uncluttered and very interesting. Marlene started off as a school teacher for 5 years. This was followed by several years of performing. Eventually she performed many recitals of her own music. Marlene has played on cruise ships and has conducted many workshops on PERFORMING WITHOUT FEAR. She taught piano for 50 years and has trained many new piano teachers. Marlene is also a landscape artist. She is now semi-retired and she divides her time between painting landscapes, composing new music and marketing the BACK TO BASICS PIANO METHOD CURRICULUM BOOKS. She lives in Southern California with her husband, Michael Wulf.

https://1-marlene-moore.pixels.com/

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Interview

What does music mean to you personally?

It has been my whole life since I was 3 years old. I began playing with both hands, by ear at age 3. I was born knowing music.

Do you agree that music is all about fantasy?

No. It is not Fantasy, but reality. It expresses the inner life of the composer. The performer expresses the reproduction of this reality. The music is how the soul speaks and how the spirit understands.

If you were not a professional musician, what would you have been?

I probably would have been a landscape artist and a writer. But I am also a visual artist and a published author. So who knows? I am a creative soul.

The classical music audience is getting old, are you worried about the future?

No. And I do not agree that it is getting old. As long as there are Piano teachers, we will hear Beethoven and the boys.

What do you envision the role of music to be in the 21st century? Do you see that there is a transformation of this role?

There will be more composers, more computerized music and some robotic music. But this will not replace Classical music. In some ways, New Age and Instrumental music will merge together more. Perhaps this will become a new musical genre. However, it will not replace true Classical music.

Do you think that the musician today needs to be more creative? What is the role of creativity in the musical process for you?

Yes. Definitely. The musician must learn how to SPEAK the language of music. This is an auditory language. Every student ( and teacher) needs to know how to experiment, how to improvise, how to compose a basic melody and harmony...how to memorize a piece. Mostly what students are taught is only how to sight read. This is not enough. Because I am a composer, my approach is to do the work via my inspiration...whether I am teaching or writing or learning...the inspiration must be there.

Do you think we as musicians can do something to attract the younger generation to music concerts? How would you do this? I think this has happened already because of You Tube. All concerts are available at their fingertips. One thing music teachers can do is the have a group performance class once a month whereby all the students play for one another. Then she can let them watch a You Tube Classical concert for 15 minutes. She could also take them to live concerts twice a year.

Tell us about your creative process. What is your favorite piece (written by you) and how did you start working on it?

I am an INTUITIVE composer. This means that the new music simply arrives in my head. I don't try. It just happens. Sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night with full symphony orchestra going in my head. During the day, I could be doing the dishes and suddenly I hear piano and flute. The piece is completely finished in my head. I go to my acoustic piano and play it until I get it right. Then I record it on my electronic piano. Later on I write out the notation by hand with pen and paper. This is the hard, frustrating part...because I am an auditory learner. It takes a ling time to do this. When it is finished, I send it to Russell Olesh, my music engraver, who does perfect notation on his computer. He sends me the pdf. I send the piece into my publisher. My favorite piece is Magnus Opus. It is the longest.I conceived this piece the same way as all other pieces....like a radio being turned on in my head.

Can you give some advice for young people who want to discover classical music for themselves?

LISTEN. LISTEN LISTEN.Develp your ear. Listen to all the Classical music you can. HEAR IT. Don't just sight read the notes. Understand the music before you ever look at the score.

Do you think about the audience when composing?

No. Never. Not once. I just compose what arrives in my head. If it ends up being a piano piece for children, it goes into one of my piano books called Back To Basics Piano Method.

What projects are coming up? Do you experiment in your projects? I just made a list of everything I have to do for the next year. I have to do the art work for the covers of some of my pieces that will go on You Tube. I tend to be more experimental with visual art than with music. Probably because the music is always finished when it arrives in my head. I also want to get some of my music on Soundcloud and Spotify etc. I tend to plan far into the future...but I am also very good at procrastinating. Somehow, it all works out for the best.