Bill Whelan talks about his approach to writing, arranging and recording music.
Composer, producer and musician Bill Whelan came to music by a very circuitous route. He trained in piano and violin at the Limerick School of Music. He then completed a law degree but instead of practising, he went straight into music. He learned how to arrange music by copying scores by other arrangers.
I would watch the way they worked, and it was kind of an apprenticeship.
He might be asked to work on four projects a month. If a melody does not come quickly, he leaves it and returns to it at another time.
One of the best sources of inspiration, I find, is a deadline.
Bill Whelan loves composing, writing original pieces, and experimenting with Irish traditional music. He believes Irish composers stand out from their American and European counterparts.
Irish music affords the Irish composer generally to define himself.
He recalls the fear he felt in early jobs arranging music for RTÉ. Working on a Simon and Garfunkel piece for the RTÉ Concert Orchestra and Tony Kenny he made a mistake of bringing in the trumpets in an octave too high.
The arranging process in the studio is different to that of a live performance as specific instruments can be brought up or down in the mix.
As a producer Bill Whelan is involved with a work from the point of discussing it as an idea, right through to the studio recording process and the mixing. Finally, he supervises the production of the acetate from which the record is made.
'Tune In' was a six-part documentary series on the history of music presented by Irish violinist Fionnuala Sherry. The first episode was broadcast on 1 January 1989.
This episode of 'Tune In' was broadcast on 29 January 1989. The reporter is Fionnuala Sherry.
