Steven Cravis

What does music mean to you personally?

Music is one of the universal energies that transcend all perceived boundaries and connect people from all walks of life. It also means to me personally that I get to do and share a part of myself with the world in a way that adds to the meaning of life for others, while supporting me and my family.

Do you agree that music is all about fantasy?

No, sometimes music comes from very real experiences and feelings. And some of the emotions listening to a piece can bring up for the listener are about very real life situations. Sometimes music can be an escape, and I work with, and appreciate the magical and fantasy aspects of music too. But music is not all about fantasy.

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

I would have either been an artist, magician, computer programmer, psychologist or therapeutic body worker.

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

No, I’m not at all worried about the future. I’ve had people from younger generations than mine give me feedback about how my music has moved them, so I don’t think the appeal of this music is going away with one, a few, or any generations.

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?

I envision music becoming highly integrated with health and healing, where music/sound vibrations will be used more and more officially and purposely for healing and balancing specific physical and psychological conditions. I think music is going to become more immersive through technology. For example people will be able to feel like they’re at a concert that’s far away, with both more surround sound and holographic technologies. Musicians will be able to sell holographic concerts that people project at home (or anywhere) on a device, the way in the past they’ve played their digital audio or video concerts. Music and musicians will become more omnipresent through this or similar technology, and for a bigger role of balancing out the unbalanced chaotic state of the world and environment.

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

The musician today needs to stay as authentic and true to their own tastes and style of music as possible. Creativity for me is often coming up with several different styles of music, as I’ve enjoyed many genres of music my whole life, and at different moments I often feel inspired to create different styles of music. And extreme example of this is a song I recently created called ‚Miracle in the Cave‘, which is really for guitars, bass, drums and synthesizers and is a fusion of jazz, rock and world music. http://www.smarturl.it/mitc

Do you think we as musicians can do something to attract the younger generation to music concerts? How would you do this?

Actually I see this already being done quite well through the streaming services such as Spotify, YouTube, Pandora and more, where concert information is coming up alongside the artist profiles or song plays, or as notifications to the users from the services.

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

One of my favorite pieces I’ve written, that many people don’t even know about is, "Epilogue“. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YxWbhcVbESc This started as I was walking on the street, in San Francisco, and out of nowhere started hearing in my head, and then humming the melody. Since it’s easy to forget an idea like that, I recorded myself singing the melody quickly and later worked on it as a piano piece.

https://stevencravis.com/store/epilogue-pdf-sheet-music

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

Young people are already the experts in finding any information they want online. My advice would be for them to search various famous classical composers, and notice when they especially like the composition style of one or a few of those composers, which they can tell if they feel good while listening to it. By ’feel good‘ I mean, they feel present, and present with their feelings, as they listen, including an emotional connection or association they may experience with that piece. It would also be good for them to attend concerts and turn their phones off(!), and allow themselves to be very present with live performances.

Do you think about the audience when composing?

I really don’t. My music is for everyone, so I work on a piece until it is very satisfying to me to hear or remember as if it’s playing afterward in my mind. If it’s very memorable and satisfying to me, I trust that it will reach the right audiences later, who gravitate toward the sound of that specific piece.

What projects are coming up? Do you experiment in your projects?

I’m currently working on a full album of piano improvisations, which is very experimental. I also am going to release some originals with a female singer. More news about these and other projects will be sent on email to anyone who joins my newsletter at http://www.stevencravis.com/newsletter

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