HN vol.1 Interview: Emily Hall

Photo by Gian Traina

Much of Emily Hall's music is formed from close creative relationships with singers and writers and finding her own ways of using technology and live performance. For Emily's performance at Hidden Notes she was joined by the Stroud Fringe Choir, vocalists Chloe Kempton and Jess Mitchell, pianist Claire Hammond and the other half of Emily's new duo Mandel - Misha Law.

By Sean Roe
Hidden Notes vol.1
September 2019

When did you start playing an instrument and writing music?  And at what point did you decide to consider a career in music?
I think I started violin around age seven. I remember so clearly the day I discovered Pachelbel’s Cannon and figuring out how all the parts worked and wanting to play it with my mum and dad. I think that was an important moment when music really bit me and didn’t let go! 

Which of your works was the most challenging to produce or write and why?
That’s a great question. Folie a Deux was challenging because I was writing a concept album and a stage piece at the same time, which ultimately, of course, are very different beasts. However, I think the limitations had positive creative power on both. In hindsight, I think the album probably came off slightly better but it’s a close call (for me). Very occasionally, a collaboration with a writer doesn’t work out as you’d like it and that can be challenging on lots of levels but I have been lucky to have mostly very creative and happy collaborations. 

Your work also crosses over into installation art. Is sound design an important factor in creating your work? Does this present a challenge in some venues/listening environments?
Yes - very much. My partner, David Sheppard, is a sound designer and we have collaborated on a big chunk of my output. I love working with him because he can make anything possible - I do the dreaming and he makes it happen. I love writing using vocoders - Mantra layers two voices, each with vocoders - I have recently written three new songs for Jodie Landau which use vocoder in different ways.

Composer vs Performer - do you like performing in public? As a composer how rewarding is it to “hear” your work performed by others? 
I’ve been on a journey recently with performing again - having been the composer sitting in the audience biting my nails for many many years! I still do that of course, but it’s been interesting to perform again (violin and piano) with my duo Mandel. I’ve largely enjoyed it so long as I think of myself as a creative performer and don’t try and compare myself to the true professional instrumentalists. Back to being a composer, it’s quite a weird feeling when you hear a premiere from the audience and the people sitting next to you don’t know you wrote the piece until you get up and bow (quite awkward!). 

Emily Hall, Hidden Notes vol.1, September 2019 by James Styler

Do you write specifically for other performers?
I very much write for specific performers. The more I know someone the better I write for them. I’ve written a lot for cellist Oliver Coates and singers Olivier Chaney, Mara Carlyle, Allan Clayton and Jodie Landau. 

Is there any scope for improvisation in your work?
For the past 18 months I’ve been improvising regularly with Misha Law in our duo Mandel. We record our improvisations and make pieces out of the best bits. But as for my scores- plenty of room for interpretation but not improvisation.

What technology do you uses to put a composition together - do you improvise with ideas collected and work with them in a studio before presenting to others to perform?  
I use my trusty Dictaphone, recording ideas as I have them (sometimes halfway up the Heavens in Stroud!). Ableton is great for quickly taking ideas further and it’s my program of choice when I am producing any tracks. For music processing I have used Sibelius since I was 13 - and I swear by it.

I first became aware of your work through the Stroud Fringe Choir, how the project come about?
When I first moved to Stroud I went to the Iceland Airwaves Festival and my piece Mantra was performed by Kórus Collective Choir. I felt such an affinity with them and their way of doing things that I decided to start a choir modelled on them in Stroud. We are in our third year now and have a whole new program of music written by choir members.

What do you have planned for your performance at Hidden Notes? And do you have any other projects on the horizon?
For Hidden Notes it’s a program which will hopefully include a lot from my most played pieces - Eternity and Mantra - to some lesser known songs for example from the secular requiem I wrote in 2012 Rest which will be performed by the Stroud Fringe Choir. Misha and I will also perform one Mandel piece with the choir. I do have few projects on the horizon, writing for the fantastic violinist Rakhi Singh (something with electronics) and a recording project with Jodie Landau...

W: emilyhall.co.uk Label: bedroomcommunity.net

UPDATE:
As a project during lockdown Emily launched Songbook 2020 - 23 new arrangements of her songs for voice and easy piano available as PDF scores and recorded in lockdown by 6 incredible singers (Heloise Werner, Allan Clayton, Olivia Chaney, Ana Silvera, Hazel Askew and Eliza Bagg) from home…Click here for further info

Sean Roe runs Sound Records with Tom Monobrow. He is also an artist and musician and member of Wool Heads – a new musical collaboration with performance artist Uta Baldauf.