Malcolm Bruce interview
Malcolm is a composer, multi-instrumentalist and producer. He has worked internationally as a performer and recording artist alongside figures as diverse as Karl Jenkins, Eric Clapton, Ozzy Osbourne, and his father Jack Bruce. As a composer Malcolm has written music for theatre, television and numerous recordings, developing a highly distinctive yet accessible style as songwriter, 'classical' composer and improviser. Recent work includes producer for the band The 3rd Degree (with Aaron Johnson, producer of The Frays), composer and producer for television advertisements and BBC documentaries, composer and performer for The Librarians' Joke (UK tour funded by Arts Council, England) and the European Storytelling Marathon for the British Council (2006 and 2007). Early Years work includes music, movement and story telling sessions nationwide, creating a DVD for Mapledene Children's Centre and a CD for a First Steps project in Somers Town. Malcolm composed the music for the Music Start CD that accompanies the storybook in the Music Start pack, which is funded by Youth Music.
What was your brief from Youth Music for Music Start?
They already had the story about Chickpea, the little bird, and the brief was to write music that was creative but very accessible. It wasn't a brief to write children's music as a genre - it was more to write something that was accessible to parents as well as the children. It needed to draw parents in and give them something that they were excited about doing with the children.
You read the story, written by Miriam Moss before you started composing - did you see the illustrations as well?
It was all coming together at the same time. The first illustrations I saw were sketches of Chickpea the bird and then there were a couple of spreads - the first one was the Indian spread. From a visual point of view it was coming together around the same time as Miriam was putting together the first draft. I'd started working on some musical ideas, but I held off until we had a first draft of the actual story. It was all happening at the same time as we had quite a short amount of time for the project. I wrote for about 2 or 3 weeks and it was about 16 days in the studio from start to finish.
What was the biggest challenge about putting the music together for the CD?
At the point when I was starting the writing process, and when Miriam was still getting the first draft together, I was sourcing musicians. We ended up using about 26 musicians and at that point we'd agreed on the different countries that would be featured in the story before the first draft came through. That was a bit of a challenge - some of the musicians I'd worked with before, but a lot of them I hadn't, so I got a list of the countries together and thought about what would be of benefit musically and what kind of instruments should I write for. That was a very big process and Sophie Mathias [Music Start's project manager] and I worked on that together. Once that came together, there was a bit more of a vision in terms of what kind of music could emerge.
Part of the initial brief was also to have popular music that was accessible to all and had a flavour of different cultures and musical genres. So, I put a core band together: a drummer, a bass player and myself, and then brought in the specialist musicians. That was a big challenge to source the right musicians for the job, and the next challenge was coming up with something for them to play! It was fun - it's a challenge to write lyrics and to keep it simple but still try to make it something that isn't patronising. With the creative process, a lot of it is intuitive and you fly by the seat of your pants! You start off with some vague notions about what it is you want to do, but the character of a piece starts to emerge once you actually get in there and start making it happen.
What did you enjoy most about the project?
I loved all the aspects - certain things were easier to do than others! It was a great pleasure to work with all the wonderful musicians. To have the opportunity and a budget to put together something where people of that calibre can come together and play something was really enjoyable. Also to be involved in a project that was multi-media based, and working with a really great team with a lot to contribute was great.
The illustrations must have been quite inspirational?
Yes it really helped actually when they started coming through, because they were full of character and humour and full of life. It was definitely an influence although I didn't want to be too literal. The brief wasn't to be too literal with the story or the images, it was really to do my own thing, but for it tie in somehow. I hope that's what all of the resource is - broader and not just simple and straightforward - there are quite a lot of layers to it, which I quite like.
If you could travel the world like Chickpea, where would you go?
Well I'd love to go to India because I still haven't been there and I love the culture, but all of the places really - I've never been to Poland or Gambia. Australia I'd love to go to - so all of them! India really stands out because there's such a depth of culture and that's always fascinating.
For more information on Malcolm Bruce and his music, visit: http://www.malcolmbruce.com
Youth Music
Youth Music exists to facilitate and fund high quality and diverse musical experiences for young people up to the age of 18, particularly those living in areas of social and economic need.