Mark Sutton Composer
MY STORY
I started composing seriously about ten years ago, before that, I was recording my music for friends and family. Aled Jones has used a couple of my compositions on BBC Radio 2 and music management companies have my music playing in prestigious venues around the world. One piece has even been used in an advert in the Netherlands.
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I think all composers - and probably all creative people - work differently. I sit a the piano and dabble with a few notes and then it's as if the music is channeled through me. I'll get a thought, a splash of imagination, lots of feelings and emotions, and spend hours a the piano and computer which is followed by days of fine tuning before I send it off to be mastered. It's a labour of love really
Composer Mark Sutton shares his approach to creating music for visualizations and relaxation...
As the seventh child, born on the seventh day of the seventh month, I felt destined to be a composer! No, I'm just kidding, but it's the true that music has always been a huge part of my live. My parents are both singers and starred in local amateur dramatic productions and I learned to play the piano by watching my older brother. I guess we're a musical family as most of my siblings either sing or play an instrument.
My latest work is Quest of the Spirit. It has been in the making for over four years. I knew I wanted to do something with a spiritual edge, and I played around with ideas for a while. As the project progressed, I arranged the titles of the tunes to tell the story. I felt Quest of the Spirt may inspire others to look into their own spiritual journey when I found myself in tears listening to the playbacks of the tracks. The music touched my heart and soul and it's my hope that it may have a similar effect on anyone who listens to it too. Its music to listen to with your headphones on really, giving you the opportunity to unwind and just be at one with the music.
So far I've been extremely lucky that people find my music relaxing and quite therapeutic, so they kindly spread the word. The word 'soothing' come up a lot with Quest of the Spirit. I'll take that. If I can help folks chill out and feel soothed in these busy times, well, that is so satisfying for me. I've been told that some special needs schools play my tunes to help calm the children during lessons. Isn't that lovely?
Composing has meant that I needed to learn discipline. Discipling myself to sit down at the piano used to be a struggle, however, once my work takes on its own persona, it draws me in, and I become part of the project, and once that happens the music evolves naturally. Amazon, iTunes and other music platforms are a huge asset to an independent artist like myself. My music is available right across the world and the feedback I receive has given me a belief in myself which has given me strength to take on more challenging projects.