The Times Advocate, 2008-08-13, Page 16Crossroads
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Times -Advocate
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Composer balances music with publishing and family life
By Scott Nixon
TIMES -ADVOCATE STAFF
HENSALL — Music is so important to Hensall
composer Jeff Smallman that he describes it as
"like breathing" — it's something he has to do.
The classical composer, musician and music
publisher has been writing music for 35 years
and says it all started by reading a "Peanuts"
comic strip as a child and hearing one of the
characters, Schroeder, talk about Beethoven.
When Smallman's aunt played him some
Beethoven, "it just grabbed me," he says, and
he became increasingly interested in music.
"It never stopped. I've been writing ever
since," Smallman says, adding he mostly
writes classical music, but has also written a
couple of pop songs that will probably never
see the light of day. He also woke up last week
with a new country song in his head.
Smallman keeps busy balancing his family
life (four children with his wife Janine), his
composing work, his music publishing busi-
ness, Lighthouse Music Publications, which he
runs with Janine, and his full-time job at the
University of Western Ontario's music library.
Describing himself as very self-critical of his
own music, Smallman cites Beethoven,
Mozart, Bach, Ravel and Prokofiev as major
influences, adding he doesn't like a lot of the
mid- to late -20th century composers such as
Stockhausen, John Cage and Schoenberg who
weren't interested in melody and worked in
atonals and noise.
Smallman is proud of his association with
Finnish a cappella group Rajaton, which
recorded his "Tuuti Lasta" on its latest CD,
"Maa." Rajaton has sold more than 200,000
albums worldwide and are particularly popu-
lar in Finland, where their albums routinely
reach gold and platinum status. Rajaton per-
formed some of Smallman's work in London in
April at a performance at Alumni Hall and he
continues to write more music for them.
Smallman admits it was "a big deal" for
Rajaton to accept and record his music.
"It's an amazing feeling," Smallman says of
writing music, which he compares to creating
his own world. "It's an adventure," he says,
adding he never knows what his next composi-
tion will sound like.
Smallman does about 50 per cent of his writ-
ing on the piano. He started out doing all his
writing on the piano, but says he now does
more writing sitting at his desk, which can give
him more freedom. Also, new computer soft-
ware can help the writing process.
While working on commission work,
Smallman says he'll sometimes have problems
writing when he's up against a deadline and
other times he'll start a piece then scrap it,
only to return to it later. He recently took "a
holiday" from writing after finishing a particu-
larly pressure -filled writing commission.
In addition to working on commissions,
Smallman has a lot of his own musical projects
he'd like to work on. He also writes for the
Woodstock Fanshawe Singers.
His work has been performed across Canada
and in the U.S., Hungary, Lithuania, Holland,
Poland, Finland and China.
And while he has been writing more lyrics
lately than he used to, Smallman prefers to
stick to the music, explaining that he thinks his
lyrics sound "cheesy and stupid," something
his wife Janine disagrees with.
When writing, Smallman usually sets existing
poems to music. When he can, he prefers to
find lyrics in the public domain because getting
the rights to lyrics can be difficult and you can
be sued if you don't get the proper rights.
The other part of Smallman's musi-
cal life is Lighthouse Music
Publications, now in its sixth
year. With Lighthouse,
Smallman publishes his
own and other com-
posers' music.
He got into the publish-
ing business after about
seven years of having
someone else publish his
Hensall composer — Classical music com-
poser Jeff Smallman works at the piano in his
Hensall home. His music has been performed
throughout North America as well as in
Europe and Asia. He and his wife Janine have
four children and run a music publishing busi-
ness, Lighthouse Music Publications. (photo/Scott
Nixon)
music. The trouble was, not all of his music
would get published, so Smallman decided to
launch his own company and in the last couple
of years has been taking on other writers. He
now has nine composers representing four
continents, all of whom are award winners.
Like any arts business, Smallman says the
music publishing business is tough, but he says
it has been going well, with Janine adding the
business grows every year.
Janine handles the administration end of
Lighthouse, while Smallman works on the
musical aspect of things, making contacts in
the industry and choosing the music.
Lighthouse mostly publishes original music,
but has occasionally published arrangements
of existing compositions. Smallman says
Lighthouse tries to offer new music that is
accessible and pleasing to listen to.
Smallman says choosing which music to pub-
lish is "a subjective thing" — it basically comes
down to whatever he likes, although he says
turning people down can be tough because he
knows what that feels like.
After deciding to accept a composition,
Lighthouse offers a con-
tract to the writer and
if that is accepted, the
publishing goes for-
ward, which sees the
music printed and sent
to retailers. The
Lighthouse website also has
information on its various
composers, including MP3 samples
of the music and a PDF sample.
Lighthouse also publishes catalogues of
the music it has available.
A new name.
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A united commitment
to our members and our communities.
Please celebrate with us at the Clinton branch on
August 27, from 4 - 6 PM, as we unveil our new
United Communities Credit Union logo. Festivities
will include a family BBQ, activities for the kids,
giveaways and more.
Watch for in -branch celebrations in Clinton, Exeter,
and Listowel coming in September!
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