SCENEPR: So, Tell Us, How did you get into Music? What makes it your passion?
ROB SBAR: ?I have been deeply dedicated to music as my main form of artistic expression for most of my life.? From a very young age, music fascinated and excited me creatively, emotionally and intellectually.
When I discovered the ability to manipulate and compose sounds I realized how sublime an art form it is, influencing the listeners emotions beyond the scope of any other form of expression.? Music is completely abstract, diachronic, requiring a balance of practical skills and techniques with inspiration and creativity.? According to the 19th century German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer, music surpasses the phenomenal or real world and exists without the world itself, stepping beyond it. Music is a representation of the abstract world of Platonic ideas. In effect, music is a very elusive language and in order to speak it in the most fluent and unencumbered manner, one must understand all levels of its vocabulary and grammar.
SCENEPR: Is your family musical?
ROB SBAR: I come from an arts background.? My grandmother, whom I never had the chance to meet, was a talented opera singer.? My mother is a visual artist (painter, sculptor, etc.) and a writer.? As a result, the arts have always been a significant component of my life since birth.? When I showed an interest and talent at an early age, my family enthusiastically encouraged me.? Many of my earliest memories are spending time at art museums, libraries, concerts, etc.? My passion for music was always the central focus of my creative concentration; however my varied interests through all the arts have given me a wide foundation of understanding and sensitivity, preparing me for my collaborative goals of composing music for film.
SCENEPR: What?s you?re earliest recollection of being musical?
RS: Art and culture have been a significant part of my life since early childhood. It has always been clear to me that I would pursue the arts; I just had to find my paintbrush. Music composition became the central passage from which my other art forms radiate. My deep and abiding passion for music as a form of expression has always been part of me.
I have carried a guitar on my back since I was old enough to walk.? As a very young child, I discovered my enthusiasm came from the satisfaction I felt by manipulating notes and pitches to achieve a composition of my own.
SCENEPR: Who or what has the most influence on you professionally?
RS: Throughout my musical development there have been many people, experiences and events that have influenced me along the way.? I have been fortunate to have studied, observed and performed with many great, highly influential musicians, including Pulitzer Prize winning composers Charles Wuorinen and Aaron Jay Kernis, jazz legends Wynton Marsalis, Herbie Hancock, Max Roach and Pat Martino, guitar greats Greg Howe and Frank Gambale,? as well as Hollywood orchestrator Scott Smalley.? Each of these musicians has had a significant influence on me although the most significant influence on my compositional development was mentored by composer Matthew Greenbaum during my undergraduate studies.? His encouragement was a catalyst to my further development.
SCENEPR: Do you have a favorite type of music and does it differ from what you do as a performer/composer?
RS: My musical interests are greatly varied.? I listen to a wide range of music and find things that I enjoy in all genres. That being said, my artistic direction has split into specific tracks:? orchestral film scoring, contemporary classical, modern jazz and virtuosic guitar instrumental.
Growing up, much of my musical influence came from alternative and indie rock bands like H?sker D?, The Replacements, Sonic Youth and The Cure.? Later, when I began to develop my musical and guitar skills, I became interested in many virtuosic guitar players who had an experimental or cerebral approach to the instrument like John McLaughlin, Shawn Lane, Steve Vai and Allan Holdsworth. These artists made their mark on my aesthetic sensibilities. In the years that followed, I began to more fully explore and examine my compositional development and became interested in such jazz composers as John Coltrane, Eric Dolphy, Chick Corea and Herbie Hancock; contemporary chromatic composers like Elliot Carter, Stefan Wolpe and Edgar Varese; and film composers like John Williams, Jerry Goldsmith, Howard Shore, Ennio Morricone, Bernard Hermann and Alan Silvestri.
SCENEPR: What do you feel has been the highlight of your career so far?
RS: I have been fortunate to have had opportunity to work with many talented filmmakers and score many exciting projects, including having my music featured on MTV, VH1, NBC, CBS, Discovery, History Channel and PBS.? I have had my chamber and orchestral music performed worldwide.? I have performed in venues throughout the U.S.? I have been interviewed and featured in many publications and websites worldwide, including Guitar Player, Guitar World, 20th Century Guitar, among many others.? I was selected as a Top 5 Finalist in the 2006 North American Rock Guitar Competition, presented by Guitar Player magazine and Gibson guitars.
SCENEPR: In a perfect world, what musical project would you want to do? Score an Oscar Nominated Film? Compose a number one hit? Mentor a brilliant musician? Something else?
RS: My goals as an artist, composer and performer have always been to achieve personal creative fulfillment and, while doing so, to satisfy my professional and practical commercial needs.? As an active film and television composer, I am always seeking ideal collaborations with filmmakers.? Apart from my musical life and passions, I am also a devoted film fan.? The perfect collaboration for me is always to work with talented filmmakers who share filmmaking, storytelling and musical aesthetics with me and, of course, to ideally win the Oscar for best original score.
SCENEPR: If you had the chance to change something about the music industry, what would it be?
RS: The music industry should probably experience an entire overhaul, but for the sake of brevity and with the intention of having mercy on those with any sense of originality and good taste, I would first abolish television reality-based talent shows and karaoke contests.? Then at least we can begin to rebuild from a much cleaner cultural slate.
SCENEPR: How do you cope with major obstacles that come along with being an artist?
RS: Living the life of a professional artist requires one to find balance between creative fulfillment and commercial viability.? This requires that you discover the intersection between your creative goals and a practical setting for your art, often taking a step outside of yourself to view the work from the audience?s perspective.
I believe that one?s art should center on not only your own personal satisfaction, but also achieving your expressed philosophical and practical goals. When others appreciate your work, it is incredibly gratifying; however, I imagine that it would be an empty result or pyrrhic victory if one was to achieve recognition or appreciation through work that was either not genuine or made for the intended result of satisfying others. Satisfaction comes from achieving your existing personal artistic goals. The bonus is having others see what you honestly feel and, on some level, understand it.
SCENEPR: How do you balance your music with other obligations ? mate, children, job?
RS: The issues that arise from balancing my musical career with my personal life generally require a great amount of cooperation and understanding from the people in my life.? Living the life of an artist offers its complexities, personally, professionally and psychologically.? It?s important that the people in one?s life respect and fully understand the obstacles and challenges that you face and are supportive of your work and the stresses and time constraints that accompany them.
SCENEPR: Do you teach as well??
RS: I have taught guitar, music theory, composition, arranging and orchestration privately, in music schools and at the college level.?? I have developed my own personal teaching concepts and methods for improving technique and chord/scale theory for various styles and genres of music.
My intention is to inspire each student?s own sense of creativity and individuality by enlightening them to all the possibilities musically, technically and conceptually.? I aim to mentor and guide each student, enabling them to find themselves artistically and their individual voice with the aid of a full sense of concept and creative spectrum as well as technically and theoretically.
As a teacher I carefully customize the lessons to each individual student?s interests so that stylistically, technically as well as at the experience level, I accommodate the student appropriately. That way, the lessons are always geared toward the exact interests of the student, enabling them to get the most out of the experience.
SCENEPR: As an instructor, what is some advice that you give to students pursuing a career in music?
RS: The constantly changing industry has taken the concentration away from intense instrumental music as a largely marketable format. The marketplace is perhaps not as open to instrumental music as it may have been at a previous time.? This, however, should not dictate the choice that a musician makes to pursue this form. I believe that if an artist is honest in their intentions and works to be fluent at their craft, then the results and successes, artistically, spiritually, emotionally, or financially (or in various combinations), will come to them.
Many instrumental composers look toward other mediums in order to find their form of success. The medium of film a viable avenue and often a lucrative alternative as an outlet for their form of expression; however, film is largely a collaborative art form that requires like-minded artists to work together toward a single creative outcome.?? It sets forth the issue of trying not only to appeal to a mass audience but also meet the challenge of having to appeal to producers and directors throughout the production.? The composer faces a new series of challenges as an artist. Music cannot exist on its own and relies heavily on the visuals created by a completely new set of artists. This awakens the 19th century dispute of ?Absolute Music? versus ?Program Music? as debated by Johannes Brahms and Richard Wagner. Here, the argument about music existing on its own as opposed to music for the purpose of storytelling. Clearly, I am an advocate of both. Program Music has always been my main interest and focus, enabling my music to function as one component of a larger and fuller, complete sensory experience, or in Wagner?s words, ?gesamtkunstwerk,? or total work of art.
SCENEPR: Where do you see yourself in the next five years professionally?
RS: My main focus is dedicated to my film scoring career.? My goals are to achieve personal, artistic and creative satisfaction while advancing professionally and financially.? In the course of the years to come, I will continue to move my scoring career forward, composing for higher profile projects, larger studios, bigger budgets and wider audiences while continually learning more, fine tuning and developing my skills.
http://www.facebook.com/robsbarmusicDo you have any links where people can hear or see your work?
RS: Currently my website is being rebuilt, however in the meantime examples of my work can be found Myspace and Facebook:
MYSPACE: http://www.myspace.com/robsbarmusic | FACEBOOK: http://www.facebook.com/robsbarmusic
Some Fun Questions?.
One Album you would take with you to a deserted island:
I would find it difficult to choose just one album as a result of having such varied musical interests.? Some of my favorite albums would be H?sker D?-?Zen Arcade?, Stefan Wolpe-?Music For Any Instrument?, The Electric Love Muffin-?Rassafranna?, ?The scores to The Empire Strikes Back,? all three Lord Of The Rings and anything by Ennio Morricone, The Smiths -anything, Eric Dolphy-?Out To Lunch?, The Church-?Starfish? and ?Heyday?, John Coltrane-?A Love Supreme?,? Steve Vai-?Passion & Warfare?,? Elliot Carter- Sonata for Flute, Oboe, Cello & Harpsichord/ Sonata for Cello & Piano/ Double Concerto for Harpsichord & Piano with Two Chamber Orchestras, The Cure-?The Head On The Door?, among many others.
I totally did not answer your question.
Music makes me feel:
Intense, focused, passionate, free, alive.
Five things you can?t live without:
Chocolate chip cookies, a guitar, my work(compositions, notebooks, prose, etc.), inspiration, creative and intellectual stimulation.
Something that helps you relax when you?re stressed:
A great film, fine cuisine, art museums (specifically the art of the 1850s to 1950s).
One thing about music you love:
It?s intangibility.? We hear it and know that it exists, yet we cannot touch it or see it.
One thing about music you hate:
The stranglehold it has on my life and existence.
One word YOU would use to best describe you:
Intense
One word OTHER people would use to describe you:
Passionate
My Best Friend loves me because:
I suppose you have to ask them?
Source: http://www.scenepr.com/2011/10/interview-rob-sbar-composer/
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