| "Buddy Holly’s 'Listen to Me.' No one has caught up to it. Perhaps they never will. That’s why rock ’n’ roll will always be the music of the future." Frank Lee Sprague |
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pop buhdge
have you heard the words?
How They Do It
Pop musicians laid bare
This time: Frank Lee Sprague
I was asked by Alan Haber to write an article for his buhdge web site, wherein I would describe my music and how I weave my “influences” into it. I thought this a little strange, since Alan knows my motto is “influenced by none, inspired by many” However, I will attempt to put down in words how my music came to be.
It begins in the beginning; I heard music in the womb. It was wonderful, symphonic music. I repeated the melody inside me after the music would stop, and then would hear it start up now and again. Looking back on it, I would say that was when I started using the process of composing. I changed the music around, no doubt, in between the “concerts.” When I was a little over a year old, I used to love to hear my mom’s music box, which was also an ash tray. I remember it was round and had blue felt. It played the same melody I had heard before being born.
By the time I reached two years old, my mom was playing records for me and I had my favorites. The one I liked to hear the most was the “Polvotsian Dances” by Alexander Borodin. It was the melody that I heard in the beginning of my life... Strangely enough, Borodin turned out to be my favorite composer.
By the time I was three years old, I had too many musical inspirations to list in this article. My parents had quite a record collection, and all of the albums by Frank Sinatra were firmly implanted in my musical self. I had memorized and sung all the words to all of his numerous songs before I had any idea what the words meant.
I was into rock ’n’ roll at an early age. My favorite records were “The Witch Doctor” and others I heard on the radio, everything from Buddy Holly to Sam the Sham and the Pharaohs. Rock ’n’ roll is music of the future. Case in point: Buddy Holly’s “Listen to Me.” No one has caught up to it. Perhaps they never will. That’s why rock ’n’ roll will always be the music of the future.
The music that I write, record, and perform comes naturally. I think people recognize this when they hear it. When I write a song like “Forever and a Day” or “My Luck is Bound to Change,” or compose a work such as my “Concerto for Violin and Orchestra,” I’m not thinking of pleasing any particular audience. I could just as well be on an uninhabited island with no chance of anyone ever hearing my work. I compose for the glory of God, and also because I have to. It is in me. It is in my blood. I have received many rave reviews, but it would not change anything for me if I received the worst reviews in the world 365 days a year.
My satisfaction comes with the completion of the work—when I play it the next day, and possibly after recording it. Anything after that is out of my hands. I’m glad so many people have taken a liking to my music, but it was never crucial.
I think that the things that have developed the talent given to me musically are things that no one else would consider relevant. There were, for instance, times like when I was three years old and riding in the back seat of my parents’ car crying my eyes out for whatever reason, and I noticed that by slightly closing my eyes I could use the tears to make various star shapes and move them with my eyelids. There was music on the car radio, of course. I thought of applying this sort of technique to music, so I would change the songs from the radio around in my mind and sort of “develop” it.
I later learned that “development” was one technique of composing.
There were countless other experiences in my life as I grew ever older and so many non-musical events that I absorbed into my music. So, to make a long story short, I would say that my music is the music of life.
I answer to my soul. I am never untrue to the talent that I have been given. I would consider that to be unnatural, and we already have too many people pouring unnaturalness into music today as it is.
As far as live performance goes, I think there has been much written about how music today is served to people by the powers that be, being more for the eyes than the ears. There is a down-spiraling in the talent and performing of music, due much to the gratuitous virtuosity being favored over the sound and feeling put out by the musicians themselves. A neighborhood band I heard at a 7-Eleven when I was a kid played with more soul and purity than the “artists” you see giving concerts to mass audiences nowadays.
I have been more inspired by reading and playing music of past composers such as Sor, Carcassi, etc, than by live performances I have attended. There is a personal connection with music you read and reenact yourself that you don’t necessarily get watching someone dance around like a court jester, singing out of tune.
Listening to music can be an art. I hope that people who listen to my music don’t do so superficially. There are many aspects waiting to be discovered underneath the seemingly simple surface. I never put out a record without doing something on it that has not been done before. This could be a new chord progression, a new kind of tension/repose, etc.
Since my music comes naturally, I don’t really differentiate between the pop and classical, other than that I acknowledge that in order to produce a classical work one must have a thorough knowledge of the craft, while it is not as necessary in pop. The analogy of an architect designing a building versus a person building a patio deck comes to mind. Both are within my grasp.
When I compose, the process does not start with me thinking “Now I’ll write a pop song” or “This will be a suite for cello.” It’s more like, “Oh, this is coming out like this type of composition. OK, time to get to work.” I wrote an entire Merseybeat-style album of songs last week which I’ll be recording and releasing in fall 2006, God willing. But it takes me around six weeks to write a string quartet, and around three months for a symphony.
Music has been my life, my whole life long. I could have easily chosen not to study music and develop my talent on my own, but I feel that is like burying something that is given to you and wasting it. I have come into contact with people who have an entirely different motive behind their music making. If I had to describe my music in one word, it would be “pure,” and I don’t wish to add impurity to what I have been given.
As far as different styles within rock ’n’ roll are concerned, I think rock ’n’ roll is a melting pot. If you form a group to perform only rockabilly or surf, for example, then you are not really playing rock ’n’ roll. I’ve written over 1000 songs. I went through the list and chose some I’ve written that sounded like Merseybeat, but that doesn’t mean that I have put myself solely in a particular genre. In fact, any thinking person would see that the Beatles’ records contain a variety of song styles, from rockabilly to psychedelic.
My goal with the Merseybeat and Cavern LPs was to reestablish the connection between Texas and the British Invasion, such as when Buddy Holly went to England and performed on television, inspiring the British music to come. My next LP will consist of mostly acoustical recordings of my more personal songs. I plan to release LPs in the future with songs that are not tied to any genre at all.
So I hope that since people have had positive reactions to my records on Hightone, and my Merseybeat LPs and classical recordings, that they will see the common thread that runs through all of my work, namely that all of my music is one composition that will never be finished.
Party on.
Frank Lee Sprague
January 22, 2006
Go to: Frank Lee Sprague