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15 Questions
Hi! How are you? Where are you?
I am very well – enjoying a beautiful spring evening in Montréal.
What's on your schedule right now?
My big project right now is I’m moving to the United States in just over a week. I’ve accepted a guitar professorship at Salisbury University in Maryland, so I’m very excited to be starting that. I’m also looking forward to the end of June to the Acadia Guitar Festival in Nova Scotia where I’ll be playing and teaching. That will be a fabulous festival, and it is in a beautiful part of Canada. My big challenge right now is trying to balance packing and practicing!
If you hadn't chosen for music, what do you think you would do right now?
I can’t remember a time when I didn’t want to be a guitarist, so I never seriously considered anything else (although I did go through a phase around age 7 when I insisted I was going to be a guitarist/detective.) My secondary interest is yoga. I’ve been a practitioner for years and have recently started teaching it to musicians as a means for injury prevention.
What or who was your biggest influence as an artist?
In 1993 I went to a recital by Benjamin Verdery where he played all recent compositions. That concert changed my perspective on what kind of repertoire I wanted to play, but also what a recital could be, in that he spoke from stage, he used humour, and of course he is a fantastic musician. I still hold that Verdery recital up as the ideal of a good performance: musically inspiring, technically outstanding, communicative and entertaining.
What's the hardest part about being a musician and what's the best?
The hardest thing is listening to nonmusicians at cocktail parties tell me about music! I’ve smiled and sipped through horrendous lectures on who and what is good and bad.
The best is the privilege of directly participating in this art form, and it being central in my life.
What's your view on the classical music scene at present? Is there a crisis?
I am always troubled when I attend a concert and see that there are so few people under the age of 40. The real crisis will be in 20 or 30 years if today’s 35 year olds are still uninterested or unaware of the classical music world. I think classical music needs to move in to spaces frequented by young people. I was at a new music concert in a bar in Toronto last week and it was a vibrant event, and very well received.
Some feel there is no need to record classical music any more, that it's all been done before. What do you tell them?
I would agree that there are many works that don’t need to be recorded any more. But there is so much new music, and for guitar I would say even music from the past 30 years, that hasn’t been explored enough.
What does the word “interpretation” mean to you?
One of my professors used to say “You have to have a take.” That is what interpretation is for me – a take on how the piece should sound.
True or false: It is the duty of an artist to put his personal emotions into the music he plays.
True, although this happens on a very subtle level. It is also the duty of the performer to play what the composer has written, so it is always a partnership.
True or false: “Music is my first love.”
I’ve noticed that that statement is more often made by those with a profession other than music, usually at cocktail parties...
True or false: People need to be educated about classical music, before they can really appreciate it.
For traditional repertoire, I would say false. But I think audiences appreciate an explanation of the newer music on a program, since it is often being heard for the first time.
You are given the position of artistic director of a concert hall. What would be on your program for this season?
All living composers!
What's your favourite classical CD at the moment?
I’ve been listening again to David Tanenbaum’s recording of Terry Riley’s guitar music, “The Book of Abbeyozzud.” There is so much energy and variety there –very inspiring.
Have you ever tried playing a different instrument? If yes, how good were you at it?
I did an undergrad degree in music education so I had basic training on all the instruments of the orchestra. I was dreadful at reed instruments (I objected to not being allowed to wear lipstick), but I loved the brass - except for the tuba which made my nose go numb!
Discography:
Postcards (2001)
Homepage:
Danielle Cumming
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