Music from my heart

For a long time, I didn't really consider myself a composer. I think of composers as the highest in the food chain of musicians, therefore I never thought of myself as worthy of that title. Yes, I have been writing music since I was 10 (none of those pieces are presentable), but I have always thought of it as a hobby.  For one, I never really received formal compositional training, though I have had many teachers over the years who guided me along the way and encouraged me to keep writing. But till this day, I still feel weird when others call me a composer.

I started to write because I sometimes get strong urges to create and sculpt something or I hear voices that I just can't get out of my head until I write them down.  My goal was never to create something new or find my own voice, because I think consciously trying to find ones voice could be a very dangerous thing.  Like my Bach/Theory teacher, Edward Aldwell once told me, "Don't be afraid of how others judge your music, just write what comes to your heart."

Stravinsky once said, "Good composers borrow. Great composers steal." In a way, my compositions are like a stir fry of various elements from great composers like Bach, Beethoven, Rachmaninoff, Chopin. Liszt, Mahler, Strauss, Stravinsky, Shostakovich, Debussy, Ravel, etc. In that way, I guess that is my voice.

Lately, I have also been exploring with going back to the roots of my Chinese heritage and mixing it with what I already know and what comes naturally from my heart.  The result of that is still to be determined.

Complete List of Composition

Pius Cheung
Oct 2007

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