Now that you’ve had a chance to listen to the sounds of Moving Art Season Three, we’re taking you deeper into the music by interviewing the composers behind each piece. Today, we sat down with Lisbeth Scott, who created pieces for the Macchu Picchu episode.
Enjoy a bit of her music before we start the interview!
Here, we discuss the composing process and drawing inspiration from nature with Lisbeth Scott.
How did the visual imagery of Moving Art inspire you to create music? How does nature influence your musical work?
Nature has always been a healing and inspiring force in my life.
When I was little, I would sneak out of the house and walk a mile and a half to a nearby river just to watch the water move and calm my mind.
So when I first saw Louie’s imagery, I felt like I was home! For me, creativity flows easily when my mind is still and open. It is then that every movement I see creates music in my brain.
The entire world is a musical creation! So in watching Louie’s brilliant work, there was an immediate and organic flow.
What was the process of creating the music for Moving Art like for you? How long did it take? How did you keep the visuals in mind while composing?
To create the score to the music for Moving Art, all I had to do was press play. As soon as the images were in front of me, I heard music with them. I couldn’t write fast enough.
I would be running back and forth from guitar, to piano, quickly setting up the vocal microphone and recording my parts while watching the visuals over and over.
I added other instruments as I went, (the gorgeous flute playing of Pedro Eustache!) always tracing the journey of the film with music I was creating. I think the whole process took about 3 weeks for the Machu Picchu episode.
Do you believe that the combination of music and natural imagery can have a calming or healing effect?
ABSOLUTELY!!! No question in my mind that music and natural imagery heals the mind, body and soul. Nature helps us to ground ourselves, calm our breath, open our hearts. Moving Art fills a huge void in the lives of many people on the planet right now….people who are stuck in one place due to covid, people who are unable to travel to places of beauty in the world. Moving Art brings the beauty …and sound!…of nature into the homes of everyone and does so in an intimate and unusual way. Louie Schwartzberg shows us the world inside of nature, that we may never see otherwise. His work is breathtaking and absolutely necessary in a world that is losing touch with nature.
What are your favorite pieces of music or artists that you turn to for inspiration?
First and foremost I turn to Bach. Anything and everything he has ever written inspires me. And then the list is endless!!!
A very abbreviated list:
Max Richter, Dario Marianelli, the Beatles, Steve Reich, Philip Glass, Nick Drake, Laura Nyro, John Martyn, Thomas Newman, Bon Iver, Debussy and Ravel, Brahms, Schumann, and of course Steffen Aaskoven’s work always inspires me! I could go on and on but that’s a start!
Let us know how much you enjoy listening to Lisbeth Scott on the soundtrack!