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Compiled and edited by michael.

Interview with Stephen Barber

-World reknown composer
-Grammy Awards winner
-Co-wrote tracks and played synthesizer for Eric Johnson in "Ah Via Musicom"
-The keyboard player who you see playing with Eric in the G3 concert

1. From reading your bio, it is easy to see that you were destined for the music business. Although there are many talented people in the field of music, so many do not reach the level that you have in your profession. What would you credit as having been one of the most beneficial relationships/experiences that provided you the necessary skills to help you attain your level of success?

Every musician has a different story. From my personal experience,the most beneficial relationship was playing all over creation in rock / pop bands. It offered a creative freedom to experiment, to discover how to make music though trial and error, creative discoveries through accidents, the alchemy of what gives the desire to simply make more music. It also was extremely beneficial in the development of a very crucial relationship - and that is the relationship between the performer and the audience.

2. Of course, hard work and practice is an obvious requirement for any musician to "make it" in the music business, but there are many who are left to find work outside of the field, simply to pay the bills. You are indeed, one of the fortunate few that can rely upon your work in music as your full time employment. I know many will be interested to read what you might suggest to those who would like to work as a full time musician but don't know where to start. Reality bites! Let's get real. What are the chances for that to happen and what would you suggest to our readers that are needing a "golden opportunity"?

If one thinks about ratios regarding " what my chances are of making it in the music business " it is like trying to catch a tsunami in a bucket. The industry is all too overwhelming. The nature of the business is a giant casino.

TO START : First, learn the mechanics of music, whether it is spinning a turntable, or the dynamics of playing trumpet, piano, etc. If it happens to be a orchestral instrument....learn to read...learn technique...learn to improvise...to open the possibilities of being recognized as a master of one's craft.It builds self confidence and self control. This is very important!

Second, engage with your colleagues and to your listeners....produce music ...play music to an audience as much as possible. You are going to learn more from your failures than from your triumphs. Do NOT be afraid to make mistakes. Rest assured, you will be making them the rest of your life. Get use to it.

Third, do not deny that this is a business. It is an art as well, but never forget that this is going determine how you are going to be earning a living. Read about the industry, whether it be magazines or books. Familiarize one's self who are your competitors. Fourth, the odds of luck to come your way will often be in a city where the action is. In the U.S. it is NYC, LA, Nashville. not that one has to be in the big city to get the break.....It makes since that closer that one is to the industry, the chances render to be in ones favor of a break to occur.

3. What is your background and experience in music? What was your first clue that music was to be your destiny in life? Do you have musical parents? What role, if any, did your parents play in helping you reach your goals?

My background in music is very diverse, both academic and from the streets.. I knew that I was going to be a musician in my very early years....definitively by 12 years old and even much earlier now looking at the whole arc. My family on both sides loved music. My mother was a very fine pianist and got her degree in piano from the University of Texas. Her family was very musical : pianists, violinist,songwriters. On my father's side there were musicians, as well. My grandmother was an organist and an archivist of old 78's LP's. She introduced me to Ragtime Music....the likes of the " Dill Pickle Rag " and Shape Note Music. My parents and extended family were very supportive with my musical endeavors.Music was considered to be very healthy source of happiness. I was very lucky.

4. Do you have a technique that you can share with readers that you attribute to your attaining your success? Is there such a thing as a self made musician or is being musical simply a gift that one is born with?

This can be answered in very few statements...LUCK and VERY HARD WORK !! The musicians that you have to fear are the ones that are gifted and with a fierce work ethic. This is what New York City gave to me. There was a quote by Thomas Edison and although I have forgotten the percentages it was something like 6% inspiration and 94% perspiration.........I would add that there is a pinch of luck thrown in to the caldron, as well.

5. What would you consider a "Key Contact" and how important is it in the process of becoming a full-time musician? How did you make the necessary "key contacts" in the music business.

There again, it is getting ones self out there...Meeting the people in the business is a very important element. Familiarize yourself with the people that can facilitate problems for you when and if they should occur. As I have said before, this IS a business. This element determines how the key contacts are made. One can learn a great deal from the work force that make the music machine work.

In closing:

When one has both feet in the game of making music. There will be times of exuberance and times of adversity. Under times where there is a tremendous wave of resistance do not forget to remember WHY you originally picked up your instrument...to play music...to produce joy and fulfillment for yourself and the ones listening.....the ones who pay for a ticket to listen.The ones that want that note to make them feel that nirvana is taking off on the 2 o'clock plane.

DO NOT EVER FORGET !!

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ABOUT STEPHEN......

Stephen Barber has received commissions from the Meridian Arts Ensemble, the Czech Radio Orchestra, the Folk and State Ensembles of Plovdiv, Bulgaria, the American Boys Choir, and chamber musicians from the New York Philharmonic, and the London Sinfonia.

Barber received a 1984 BBC Wild Screen Award for best score for "Islands of the Fire Goddess," produced by the BBC/National Geographic series "The Natural World" and the PBS series "Nature." He was the staff composer for Shelly Duvall's Showtime Network production "Faerie Tale Theater." His score for "The Three Little Pigs" received an ACE nomination for best score, and the series was honored with a 1985 Peabody Award.

He first studied formal composition with Russell Riepe at Southwest Texas State University in San Marcos. While absorbing the works of 20th Century composers such as Ives, Barber, Penderecki, Messiaen, Berio, and Crumb, he has remained close to the country, folk, jazz, and rock music around him and which influences part of Barber's own eclectic musical style. While in college, he was a founding member of The Electromagnets, a legendary Austin art jazz-rock group that Frank Zappa once described as "a Mahavishnu Orchestra with a sense of humor."

In the spring of 1977, Barber left the Electromagnets to compose classical music in New York City. With a recommendation from Gideon Waldrop, Dean of the Julliard School, Barber worked with the renowned composer John Corigliano. For three years, the two met for intensive lessons and conversations. In many ways, Barber's music springs from the same musical passions and shared appreciation for the opus of American music, both popular and classical, as Corigliano's. His compositions, based on personal experience, are accessible without being simplistic and, although distinct, are fundamentally American in style, arising organically to help make the complexities of our culture intelligible and more human.

Barber has composed, arranged, produced, and performed for recordings and concerts of Josef Zawinul, Willie Nelson, Jubilant Sykes, the Vancouver String Orchestra, Shawn Colvin, Me'Shell Ngegeocello, Salif Keita, ZZ Top, Trakia Folk Ensemble, Keith Richards, Natalie Merchant, David Byrne, Arto Lindsay, Eric Johnson, Steps Ahead, Ute Lemper, Chris Whitley, Alejandro Escovedo, Christopher Cross, Todd Rundgren, Jennifer Warnes and Harry Belafonte (with the London Symphony Orchestra). As recording engineer assistant to Louise De Lafuente, Barber helped record the 1988 New York Philharmonic tour of Russia.

He continues ongoing recording projects with Keith Richards and has formed working relationships with several members of Peter Gabriel's Real World Studio, and has assisted as creative director for a recording with the Vienna Philharmonic written by Joe Zawinul.