LAURIE SPIEGEL: I asked John Cage once what music he listens to when he just feels like listening to some music. He told me he opens the window and listens to the traffic on 6th Avenue

Actually I have not worked with other musicians much at all, though I have usually very much enjoyed it when I have gotten to do so.

But I have composed music for quite a few choreographers, film and video creators. Each collaboration is a unique relationship. Sometimes they are wonderful, sometimes difficult. It's hard to pick any individual ones to highlight, but if I were to choose one that I think was most successful, it might be when Kathryn Posin and I created her ballet "Waves" together. We were able to integrate her choreography and my music very strongly. The pieces I've done with the video and virtual reality artist Dan Sandin have also been among the most satisfying to me.

What are the main ideas behind Your music?

I really can't select favorites. It would change day to day as what I feel like or am most interested in changes.

I love computer logic.

I love to play guitar.

I love to improvise on anything that makes sound that I can play around with.

I love to rediscover old pieces I forgot I ever wrote.

There is really no way to select any particular thing over any other.

What ends, when there‘s no sound?

I don't think sound ever ends. We each always have sounds going on inside of our minds if we simply slow down in a quiet place and try to listen. And there are always sounds around us. There is rarely true quiet.

You are also a scholar with many books and publications about music. What is and what is not a Sound Art?

There are many answers to this question, maybe as many as there are people who make and who enjoy music or other sonic art. I asked John Cage once what music he listens to when he just feels like listening to some music. He told me he opens the window and listens to the traffic on 6th Avenue. We might say that "music' is whatever the ear finds aesthetically satisfying, and that each of us listen a bit differently as an individual.

What do You think about relations between the old art and computer art?

Deep down they are the same. Music is music. To distinguish between music made with computers versus acoustic instruments is like
distinguishing between music for the voice versus piano or versus flute or orchestra. Each medium has its own qualities. But what makes music is not the means of creating sound or even sonic structure. It's that the sounds are arranged in a way that makes a good experience for the human auditory perceptual system.

Are they compatible?

Yes. I would say that they are completely compatible.

What do You think about thousands of neofolk/industrial/ambient/tribal/electroacoustic/avangarde etc. bands/projects? Is it a kind of trend, o just a tendency forwards better music?

Even though I foresaw that new technology would allow many many more of the people who love music to be able to create it for themselves, compared to earlier musical technologies that limited active music-making to a smaller skilled élite with excellent coordination plus extensive training, I am none the less amazed at how many more people are creating music for themselves that used to be the case. This is wonderful in many ways.

Hopefully now that a higher percentage of people who love music are able to explore it actively instead of only passively as listeners,
more music of excellent quality will emerge.

However there is so much music available now, from all eras and all parts of the world and from so many more people who are creating it now, the ratio of listening time to amount of music available to be explored may have been changed such that much wonderful music is not listened to much if at all.

What do You know about Lithuania?

When I think of Lithuania I remember my grandmother, who came to Chicago from Kaunas, Lithuania. I am eternally grateful to her for showing me the pleasure of music and for giving me my first real musical instrument, a mandolin, which was the instrument that she played herself. She also taught me a deep love of poetry and literature. I have very warm feelings for Lithuania because of her.

What inspires You most?

This question can have many different answers. Sometimes it's an idea, sometimes a structure or process I want to explore. Sometimes it's a sound that I hear in my head. Sometimes it's an emotion I need inside of myself to express or communicate. Sometimes it is music I've heard or something for which I've been asked to write a musical accompaniment such as a soundtrack or dance score.

What are You working on right now?

That is a question I keep asking myself! There has been so much interest in my earlier works, which are part of the history of recent
music technology that I am focused on them much of the time instead of doing new stuff. I still do often improvise on one or another
instrument, acoustic or electronic. But I rarely record or write down anything new unless someone specifically asked me for a piece. I
suppose you could say that i am working on more of a sense of perspective on my own work than on music itself at this point. But i
am also working on trying to get myself to record or write down more.

There is so much new music in the world, and I have also made so much myself by now, that it feels like whatever I do next would have to be extraordinarily good to be worth adding to the overload of music that already exists.

Thank You. It was a great pleasure to talk with You.

Thank you for wanting to interview me. I am very pleased to find that I am known of in my grandmother's country of origin. This means a lot to me.

Links:

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Laurie-Spiegel/113303835419784

http://retiary.org/ls

https://www.youtube.com/user/MusicMouse/videos

https://www.discogs.com/artist/32206-Laurie-Spiegel