So Stefano, did we hear that you recently received an important Los Angeles Music Award? Tell us something.
SG I recently returned from Hollywood where I received an award as "Best Instrumental Album of the Year" ai Los Angeles Music Awards.. on my return also the Municipality of Naples, which learned of this Neapolitan victory, gave me a recognition on December 4th from the councilor Alessandra Clemente. I don't tell you how happy he is!
AC How did your career as a composer start?
How did you get your first business contact?
SG It all started with animation about 2 and a half years ago, in a village in Sicily. I was with my digital piano and I composed an unreleased melody for two dancers. This music pleased a woman (Maddalena B.) and together with my village chief, to whom I owe a lot (Agostino S.), the opportunity was proposed to write an entire orchestral musical show for the Andos women of Turin. Before that I had always played the guitar and other instruments in a self-taught way, here it was serious.
I simply said "YES" despite my musical gaps. The audacity paid off with its fruits. It was a great show, from music to ballet to acting. “The Chrysalis and the Butterfly”. From there, contacts, collaborations and Music Festivals opened!
AC How are your music born?
SG My music is mostly born from imagining a scene, a world, a situation that takes you away, or simply from listening to a sound that is heard in the street.
In other circumstances, when I write music for images, I am clearly influenced by the scene, but it often happens that I perceive the musical message that that scene is giving, without ever emphasizing it ... an example, there was a video in black and white , audio only, where some Italian prisoners were taken chained by German soldiers to be shot. I left completely musical silence at that point, I gave space to the noise of chains, footsteps, breathing and the grave silence of the Italians, I wanted this anxiety to be transmitted in a human and natural way, only after the shooting when the camera made the tracking shot on the bodies, on the bloodstained wall and towards the sky, I opened a sad but liberating music ....... "
… I just let myself be carried away (really).
AC I know you play various instruments: guitar, piano, bass, violin, flute, ukelele and small percussion.
Do you prefer to record these instruments that you know how to play or do you use virtual instruments at the time of composition?
SG Look it depends on the Mood or on the orchestration .. Example if I have to do a less orchestral work then with guitars, mandolins, violin, bass, acoustic and melodic percussion, I prefer to play them live they have a warmth that cannot be explained. While if I have to do an Elfman or Williams style orchestral work, I rely on the libraries of virtual sounds, modeling them a lot to make them as less synthetic as possible. Obviously dividing the sections, strings, brass, percussion, 1st violins, 2nd violins, violas, celli, double basses, flutes, trombones, oboes etc.etc, distributing them in a balanced context (I have a organization chart can be downloaded easily from the web of how an orchestra of 40 or more elements is positioned) so as to give a stereo sound to the listener and not tire the ear.!
AC When composing, are you inclined to adapt to the needs of customers or do you mainly accept jobs in which you feel comfortable and in which you know you can keep your style?
SG In truth I am a very hungry person to learn, improve, know .. so if the project tempts me (I am not talking about the economic budget, but prestigious, because it is what remains over time) I do not care if it is, absolute classic, soundtrack, rap, metal, folk, dance. Music has a single language, passion, and as long as it is present in all of us then human abilities have no end. But it is clear that I have my own preferential Mood which is the one related to the soundtracks of Williams (Star Wars) or Elfman (Edward scissor hands)!
AC How do you proceed once you get inspiration? Do you design your own composition or do you act on instinct?
SG How do I proceed once the idea is developed? Unfortunately it would be wonderful to create a structure, a guideline, but having not studied composition or harmony, I play a lot on instinct and on the simplicity of the melody, unconsciously I will follow musical dogmas, but I can't tell you.
AC Who are the composers you feel particularly attached to, those who have had the greatest influence on your style?
SG My influences are really many, but in a more direct way I am influenced by Danny Elfman, John Williams, Morricone, Mozart, Vivaldi. But I listen to rock, metal, punk, folk, ethnic, jazz 🙂 NO ITALIAN MUSIC hahahaha! No kidding, but I really listen to Italian music very very very little.
AC Can you give some advice to guys who like you want to go into this field (for example where to get information, sites or similar things)?
SG Be ambitious, never get discouraged in negative results, always learn to say "It can be done" and believe in yourself and do it with a passion never for the cowardly
money. Not to set limits, but above all to be hungry. For sites? But look, I search the Web, I see the most important and most prestigious ones, and I participate in them. "
AC What are your plans for the future?
SG We often think about the past and our lost opportunities, we project ourselves into the future to understand what life offers us, that we do not enjoy the present ... yesterday was a dream today a goal and tomorrow a reality, so I can tell you my goal, that of to be able to work for an important Italian and / or foreign film production, and then have the chance to have a nomination and win the Oscar.
Thanks Stefano and good luck
Thanks to you!
USEFUL INFORMATION
Best Instrumental Album of the Year 2014: A waltz beyond the oceans of time.
Sito: Stefano gargiulo
