I provided the following responses to an online interview. You may find some of this interesting. It is long, so there’s no need to read it at one sitting.
28 April 2008
How old were you when you got into playing music?
PFP: I began piano lessons in the first grade after “breaking” the violin my father had rented for my use. The problem occurred very early on when I tried to tune the violin because it sounded awful and accidentally snapped off the fine tuners. No, it wasn’t actually broken, but my father thought it was and was afraid of what it would cost to repair it. We owned a Lester spinet, and so I segued immediately to it. It was much harder to break, apparently.
Why did you get into it (music)? Cite an early influential experience that led you to want to make music.
PFP: Taking lessons was just expected for my older brother and me. I remember playing something called “March of the Toy Soldiers” for a first grade recital. It was several pages in length and I memorized the whole thing. I have no idea how big the audience was, but it was exciting to play and that sort of sustained me…at least for a while. I still have the sheet music and occasionally pull it out, wondering how I ever learned it as a six-year-old. I dutifully learned all my scales and some rudimentary theory, but eventually came to hate the lessons by the time I was 11 or 12. Baseball and swimming became much more interesting. I quit [taking lessons] entirely when I was 14 and have not taken any since. That was nearly 50 years ago (in case you were wondering).
Previous bands/experience, schooling/study, career highlights, music highlights?
PFP: If the truth were told (and I guess I am telling it here!), my formal music training stopped when I entered high school. But my informal training also began then, too, and it was musically more potent. My teacher was a marvelous organist (he’s 89 now and pretty arthritic…but sharp as a tack) and my head was filled up with his amazing improvisations as well as the Bach organ works he’d play in our school’s chapel. Eventually, he asked me to join the school choir (an all boy’s school), the only 9th grader in the group. I was thrilled. The summer after my freshman year, I composed my first piece, a Latin mass. I have discarded most of the early things I composed, but still have that manuscript. For some odd reason I wrote it in red ink! When I played it for my teacher in the fall, he just said (and I remember his words precisely), “Maybe we can sing that sometime.” We never did. It was, I admit, just awful and I would be embarrassed to play it for anyone today. But from that moment—maybe I was 15 at the time—until now (quite some years later), I have not stopped writing. When I was a junior, my first choral piece was performed by the choir at our school. I’ve never looked back. I did my “formal” study, though, on my own, reading/studying Piston’s “Harmony” and scores I was able to find in the library. And, of course, I learned to play the organ, honing my performance skills by accompanying for services at a local church, sometimes four or five times on any given Sunday. It was an education in music by the seat of my pants—just about literally. Another teacher supplied me with recordings of classical music. The acquisition of a reel-to-reel tape machine allowed me to hear the classics over and over again. I still remember the first time I ever heard stereo sound through a headset (yep. That’s what we called ’em in those days): the Beethoven Symphony No. 6. I stayed up all night listening perhaps eight or nine times, and then did something similar for many nights following. I couldn’t get enough of the sound! (I don’t know if this is even remotely interesting, but to me it was something that radically changed my life.)
I ended up graduating from college with a degree in philosophy, but immediately began looking for a way to study music. I had been working as choir director and organist for a few years by then, but I felt compelled to learn more in the hope that I could teach music and maybe make a living in that way. Meanwhile, I was writing and had the good fortune to publish a few simple hymn tunes. I even teamed up with a young woman who ran a small ballet company, and I wrote three full-length ballets for her students to perform. They were scored for two pianos and we played for several thousand school children over the course of a couple years way back in the late 60’s-early 70’s. It was an exciting time. Eventually, I entered a university program as a graduate student, sailed through classes that seemed too easy, and found myself a music teacher at a local high school directing the choir and orchestra and running a musical production program. … And so it went. I worked for a publishing company for a number of years editing and arranging and recording music, making cassette tapes, learning about orchestration, and so forth. … There were many adventures along the way, but it would take too long to tell the story.
First song ever written: good or bad? Title? What did it sound like? Could you play it now if you had to?
PFP: See above
TM: Current band and/or music venues/activities (both on and offline).
PFP: I quit the school music program after 11 years, devoting my time to journalism and English for the last 25 years. I retired from the music director position at my church in 2001 after a 35 year run. It was time to do something else. I occasionally will give a concert or recital in my local area, but have always done so by presenting my own music entirely. I have some friends who are professional musicians and poets and I’ve collaborated with them off and on, but always my own compositions. And today I have the happy circumstance of sharing my music on the internet with friends and especially with the Macjams.com community. I have published a good number of liturgical pieces, most notably with J.Paluch/World Library Publications, Hinshaw Music, Lorenz Music, The Curtis Music Press.
What do you do for a "living"?
PFP: How funny you should ask. I don’t know many (any!) musicians who make their entire living making music, especially composers. I have been a high school teacher for 36 years: 11 as a music teacher, 7 as a journalism teacher, and the balance as an English teacher. I’ve been fortunate to have taught at the same school for all these years, but to have also had the opportunity to have several careers within that school.
How old are you; where/what country do you live in; does your current circumstance affect your music in anyway?
PFP: Well, if you are trying to add up the numbers, you have no doubt guessed that I am not a youngster. (Hey, just look at that photo!). I’m 60 [now 69] and live in the U.S. With my own children now grown and out on their own (I have 5 grandchildren), I now have time to pursue writing with some renewed vigor and sufficient time and resources to record in my own home at my leisure. I am having a blast, but admit to being not much of a “technical guy.” My son-in-law keeps my hardware going and another friend fixes my software when I install it incorrectly. All I really want to do it write, and they both know that. (I retired from teaching in June 2009.)
Something that most people might not know about you (hobby/inspiration/favorite thing to do)?
PFP: I swim a mile every day….at 5:30 a.m. Most of my colleagues find that insane, but I love it and rarely miss a day. I also love hiking, though I am decidedly not a camper. Body surfing and boogie boarding are passions in which I indulge when I can. And I care for 53 rose bushes I have planted at my home. I have been married for 37 (now 38) years to Theodora (Greek for “gift of god”). She is my inspiration every single day.
Aspirations/goals for you and/or your music?
PFP: When I retired from my church job in 2001, I had a modest vision of just recording some of the music I had written over the years and also in once again writing some strictly piano music. Little did I know that I would be several thousands of dollars into midi this and Roland that and ProTools and, and, and…But I am fulfilling my dream of capturing the things I think about musically. I wanted mainly to share this with family and friends. But now I have expanded my thinking considerably to include my “virtual” friends on the internet. Through the encouragement of many of them, my first commercial CD A Corner Of My World (http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/paulfpage3) was produced last August (2008) and is being distributed by The Lost Records of the World (now cdbaby.com) and is also available on iTunes. Pump Audio (https://secure.gettyimages.com/Music/PumpAudio) has accepted some of my music into their catalogue, too, and that is exciting. I’ve got an all-instrumental CD and an all-piano CD just about ready for release, too, and expect that to happen by the summer of 2008. They will be distributed by cdbaby.com online and also on iTunes. I am not particularly interested in making money, and it is unlikely that I will make much, but you never know with the music business, eh? What does interest me, though, is finding ways to share my compositions and my recordings with others. If it can have a positive effect, then all my efforts will have been worthwhile. I have met a lot of other composers online who give me all sorts of wonderful encouragement. And my work seems to garner positive remarks from rockers and classical piano enthusiasts alike.
Any people you've worked with we might recognize?
PFP: I have not ever worked with any famous people. Well, I take that back. As a teenager, I once sang in a chorus in Arthur Fiedler’s summer pops when he came to town. I did this for three or four summers running and it was quite a thrill to work with him. But, really, I don’t know anybody famous and they probably don’t know me, either. I’m mainly just a solo writer who now has the possibility of using the Internet to share his music.
What obstacles have you overcome in your musical career/endeavors? Have they affected your music? How?
PFP: I know some of you who are reading this may think this following statement is strange, but it is absolutely true: my biggest obstacle is my fear as a keyboardist/performer. I know. I know. It seems like I just rip off these piano inventions without a care in the world, but I am constantly aware of my skill level and my limitations. It all goes back to quitting piano (lessons) at 14. Had I continued, I’d really be able to play today. But I have developed ways around my insufficiencies. Just don’t put me in front of a real pianist or teacher because I don’t think I will make the grade! Other than that, I feel fortunate to have always found myself in circumstances where I could write and play just about whatever I wanted. I remember in school (my high school) that I was given the opportunity to write something for the choir every single week to sing for services in our chapel. What a challenge, and what a great place to learn. Ever since then I have always sought out opportunities to perform, and always on my own terms. Often this has been with amateurs, both instrumental and vocal, but the experiences have been altogether satisfying and I feel lucky to have had them. I don’t feel I have any unusual training or particular skills, but I do have a knack for melody and musical symmetry and I have tried to develop these through the years with a lot of practice and listening. I started rather late with university training in music (all post-graduate, eventually earning an M.A.), and am just now discovering an ear for orchestration, though I believe it is primarily on a rudimentary level. Having the computer and a small recording studio at my beck and call has started to open doors I never imagined just a very few years ago. What a marvelous digital age we live in!
Recording process info?
Main instrument, secondary instruments? Gear used (hardware, software, studio setup, favorite plug-ins, etc. Any recommendations?)
My main instrument is the piano.
I use a Roland RD 700 midi keyboard with weighted keys in my studio for recording. My little studio is powered by a MacPro duel processor computer with a lot of memory. I have a couple of Roland sound modules that are sort of ancient but still have some excellent stops. I use Synthogy’s Ivory keyboard plug-ins and the Garritan Personal Library of plug-in instruments. I have my eyes on some plug-ins from ILIO—the Vienna strings and winds—but keep procrastinating because they are quite expensive. Maybe tomorrow…About 6 months ago I got into DigiDesigns ProTools and now do all my mixing on the computer screen. I don’t do anything that’s remotely fancy with levels and other parameters. I just don’t understand that much. But I do leave most of this to my ears which don’t fail me too often. One day I will know more about the whole process, but most people who listen to my recordings now seem to like them quite a bit. I must be doing something right.
How do you record/mix/master (details please)?
PFP: I use ProTools and am lost most of the time. I have learned only the rudiments of this system, but I at least am no longer afraid of it. My ears are my biggest asset in recording, but especially so in my “thinking” about recording. Having unlimited access to a recording environment allows me the luxury of playing around with a lot of things because I know I can just delete them whenever I want with nothing of particular value (except time) lost. I have no doubt that a professional studio technician would find all sorts of problems with my manner of recording, but for now it suits me just fine. The digital world is pretty forgiving when one listens carefully to one’s work. I sort of know what a “loop” is, but am not in the slightest interested in working this way. I usually just plod along track by track, layer by layer. Piano is always my foundation, though I have just written a couple of things recently without it. I am trying to learn how to be a woodwind specialist at the keyboard, techniques of “breathing” and phrasing that need to sound authentic and reasonable if they are to be completely successful. I think I am doing okay, but the process takes constant vigilance. It is so easy to forget that a wind player needs to breathe once in a while.
Identify what you do musically as your strongest point.
PFP: I think my strongest attribute musically is that I think a lot about what I am going to write and how I am going to record BEFORE actually doing anything. However, often when I actually set the pen to paper or the fingers to the keyboard, I come up with something totally different than what I had imagined. That doesn’t bother me too much. I usually chalk it up to the muse who seems to run my musical imagination with a mind of its own. I almost never become “attached” to anything I write and often just forget about it once it’s happened. I am usually just thinking about the next thing I might compose. I don’t know if that sounds strange, but it’s just how I function as a composer. I don’t dwell on the past; I usually just worry if I’ll ever write anything else again. I think every writer’s biggest fear is the blank page.
Your weakest point and how you get around it?
PFP: While most people who know about my writing think I am driven at a furious pace, I view myself as something of a procrastinator. I play all the time; I write something down every day; I can sometimes stay at it for many hours at a time without a break. But I am simultaneously distracted by other things that fly through my mind and my fingers and often as not am writing two or three things concurrently on separate pieces of paper on in separate recording files. It seems like there is a musical train running through my head all the time, even when I sleep. It is distracting in my teaching, sometimes causing me to pause and jot down a random phrase I don’t want to forget. I don’t ever seem to “get around” this nuisance, and so I have just given up and given in. After all these years, I just figure that’s how my mind works. I do, though, have stacks of papers with remnants of something or other that I think I might work on some day. Yet whenever I try, something new gets in the way and I always take the path of least resistance. I may, actually, just be a musical mess. It is a pretty organized mess, however, both in my head and in my stacks of files. I don’t forget much.
How do you come up with a song (lyrics come first/last)? Do you alter the music as you record? Do sounds you choose determine melody lines?
PFP: Yes. And yes. And yes. It all depends on the song, the day, my mood, etc. I write mostly ancient-sounding love songs that might have been popular in the 60’s and 70’s but are no longer. I still like them, though, and now and again I will pull one out or write a new one that I share with my family or friends or the MJ audience. People seem to like them, though they might just be humoring me. I’d like to write for the stage some day, but it’s not a likely prospect. My songs are all strictly structured, unlike most of my piano and instrumental music. And, so, I guess they are predictable. There is some comfort in that, though. Vocal music actually drives everything I write. I always hear a song and a voice no matter what instrument is playing.
Tips for others (musically and recording wise)?
PFP: I don’t have any magical tips on anything musical. The magic happens when one just tries…and tries…and tries. There are so many books on the market that advise how to record this way or that way or to write songs that will be commercially viable. I don’t have any use for a formula. If one’s heart doesn’t show the way, then the musical composition/experience will come out as inauthentic, insincere, contrived, overly planned, and just plain bland. But I am a strong believer in solid musical theory. There is infinite room for experiments and new expressions and new melodies. No one ever really knows when they’ll write something moving or profound or evocative until they have actually done it. I guess, then, my “tip” would be to let one’s heart sing and don’t think of anything else except the music itself. Your head and ears will help drive the train, but your heart has to be the fuel to rev the engine and keep the balls spinning in mid-air. Like the theatre producer in “Shakespeare in Love” said, “I don’t know…It’s a mystery.” How fun to be living in the dark when there is such hope for a passage to the light. That is what drives my writing.
Your Macjams/Internet experience?
PFP: I joined Macjams in Nov. of 2006. I immediately felt so welcomed into this community of musicians. The feedback on my postings has encouraged me to write things I never would have thought possible a couple of years ago. I have always (well, mostly) found people from around the world who really enjoy the kind of music I write, even though they may write in a completely different medium or style. The comments are generally very positive and I feel energized and encouraged by a good number of other contributors to the site. The general experience has heightened my awareness of the necessity for details and precision and I think I have become a better composer and performer because I know my work will be scrutinized. I have also experienced a number of really exquisite writers and performers whose works, like mine, would never have been heard literally “around the world” were it not for MJ. I think this is quite an awesome site and I am proud to be a small part of it.
MJ (MacJams.com -- a composers’ website) experience that was helpful/inspirational to you or led to some sort of insight musically, technically and/or personally?
PFP: I think the general experience of hearing from musical colleagues here in itself has inspired me on all levels: composing, performing, recording. There are a couple of my “virtual” friends who do not write anything like what I write who have been so very kind in their comments and suggestions and criticisms. I always feel like those who listen to what I have written really enjoy what I have done, and it makes me happy as well as giving me a certain feeling of humility. (When someone says they are going to load you into their iPod so they can take you with them…well, that gives me a special feeling, to be sure.) I am also encouraged by the opportunity to collaborate with just a few people, too. That they would have the confidence in me to fiddle with their original tracks is very nice indeed. I am not particularly clever at all of this collaboration business, but if I can help add a small element to someone else’s track, that makes me feel valued and useful. And a few folks have given me kind advice regarding one thing or another, either technical or in the realm of promoting my music to a broader audience. There is no shortage of encouragement at Macjams.
MJ song you are most proud of, why?
PFP: The last song I uploaded…always! I sort of feel I don’t own the musical children I create, so the further away from me they get, the more I tend to concentrate on the newest addition to the family. Those new “children” get all of my attention and I try to take care of them as best as I can: getting them ready to show to the world; putting them on display in appropriate clothing; taking them out to see the world for the very first time. It’s always scary, but I can’t help myself but to show them off. The older tunes can pretty much take care of themselves.
How has the Internet changed your music goals, your way of creating music, your time management/allocation, etc.?
PFP: As I explained above, I really had very simple goals of just recording some of my piano music when I first got into this digital/home studio business about five years ago. But now I am starting to see the potential for reaching a much broader audience than just my family and some close friends. It is still astounding to me that I can post a song one minute; Feter will send me a note the next; and a couple of hours later I will have messages from England, Germany, Sweden, New South Wales, and any number of places in the U.S. I must admit to now devoting much more time than is reasonable to the pursuit of writing and recording because I know I can communicate with so many more people in such a hurry via the Internet.
Any additional comments, anecdotes, interesting stuff?
PFP: When I write my autobiography (which will probably be never!), I will include my many musical experiences in those pages. My choir singing one of my songs in St. Peter’s Square for then Pope John Paul II has to be a highlight. That will take at least a whole chapter. But also writing and then singing a duet with the leader of The Young Communists League on a stage in the Ukranian city of Novorysisk in 1989 to a packed house was also something I will never forget. A trip to Japan got me writing a song for the City of Miyakanojo in Miasaki Prefecture, a tune that was subsequently adopted by the local school district in that area as a sort of theme song was also a memorable musical event. And I will never forget having to transpose Bach’s “Sheep May Safely Graze” from Bb to A because every Bb pipe on the organ was out of tune provided me with one of my more harrowing adventures. And the list goes on and on and on. There are many funny stories and, fortunately, hardly any that I regret.
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