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A New Piece by Helena Gascoyne

on January 04 2012, by Jo

Helena Gascoyne is heading towards the completion of a new piece for Bella Tromba to be performed on February 18th as part of a recital for The Milverton Concert Society . She spoke to Jo over a coffee about where her music comes from, how she translates it from head to paper and what inspires her.

“I have music running through my head all the time.  It’s a bit like musical tinnitus, I can’t switch it off.  When I get an idea that grabs me, that’s when I rush to write it down.  However quite often my ideas are lost due to the time consuming process of actually putting them down on paper or even using Sibelius.  When I’m composing I hear the music fully orchestrated.  Having perfect pitch allows me to hear the melodies and harmonies in a specific key.  When I was five my dad would play ‘guess the note on the piano’ with me and I could name the note without peeking.  Each key has its own colour: for instance I see the key of G as yellow and the key of B flat as green.

I get my inspiration from emotional highs and lows.  When my music comes out I’m not aware than I’m writing in the style of a particular composer and I don’t try to emulate other composers but people often tell me my music is like Gershwin, Rachmaninov or Prokofiev.  Sometimes I can see the connections but I certainly don’t set out to write in their style.

I listen to music more for research and perspective rather than as background.  The last live gig I saw was the music of Michel Legrand. I like all kinds of music from Latin and jazz to Baroque through to Romantic.  I enjoy listening to the jazz pianist Keith Jarrett and I love playing the piano music of Scarlatti,Skriabin and Ravel.
I think my music catches people immediately with its strong melodies and complex harmonies, reflecting my love of jazz music.”

Helena Gascoyne studied piano at the Royal Welsh College of Music. As a pianist she has worked as a repetiteur for singers from the Welsh National Opera, accompanied the National Youth Choir of Wales and performed solo recitals at St David’s Hall. Helena is now studying for a Masters in Composition at Goldsmiths, London.  Her new piece, as yet untitled, will be premiered at St Michael’s Church, Milverton on February 18th 2012.