A short talk with MJ Guider on choirs, religious terminologies, and producing an original score.
Diogo: Your most recent record, Temporary Requiem, is inspired by and dedicated to all the choirs that taught you to appreciate the power of a number of voices, as you state in your Bandcamp account. Could you elaborate on the beginning of this admiration for choirs?
MJ Guider: Not sure of the count but I’ve probably sung in a few dozen choirs starting when I was young. I feel like I owe a lot to choral singing. I wouldn’t likely have the same melodic ear, the same sensibilities and tendencies when producing music if I hadn’t spent so much time singing the middle voice parts of choral pieces. Beyond that, I had so many experiences of being incredibly moved while singing in choirs. Volume is part of the reason why it’s so affecting, but I learned that the real power was in quantity. It could be two voices or two hundred. The fusion alone at any volume was enough to create something so specifically energetic that I’ve never experienced with other instrumental combinations.
Diogo: Why do you describe Temporary Requiem, Sour Cherry Bell, and Matanzas as a "trinity"?
MJ Guider: The three works are very much a part of one another. I think I declared them a trinity at the time I released Temporary Requiem. So with a lot of religious terminology already swimming around my head, the structure of a holy trinity fit well with how I saw the three releases and wanted them to be considered: Sour Cherry Bell as the central work, with Matanzas and Temporary Requiem at either side.
Diogo: Does your interest in religious terminology coincide with your attendance at the Catholic school?
MJ Guider: New Orleans is historically a very Catholic city, so Catholic terminology and traditions are kind of ambient here even if you didn't go to one of the dozens of area Catholic schools. You'll find Virgin Mary statues in the front yards of people of all kinds, not just Catholics. Even the foundation of a lot of creole and cajun cuisine (onions, celery, and bell peppers) is referred to as the "holy trinity."
Diogo: You must have a very meaningful relationship with collaborator, dance maker, and choreographer Ann Glaviano. What creative benefits have derived from this relationship and in what way has it evolved since your times at a catholic school in New Orleans?
MJ Guider: Ann is a great artist and friend. I think our approaches to making work are very complimentary - similar in certain ways but very different in other key ways that balance each other out. Since our primary disciplines are different, but we have interests and experience to varying degrees in many that intersect, it’s kind of ideal because we can both communicate intent and create a good working space for each other as needed. This has become more true over time. It has been really cool getting to work with a good friend with whom there’s a deep history, making work that’s informed by that history.
Known Mass No. 3, "St. Maurice" (2019) | Ann Glaviano
Diogo: What steps did you follow in the production of an original score? How does it differ from the creation of a regular record?
MJ Guider: When writing music I don’t typically start with structural restraints, but even having had a lot of freedom for it, there were still some extra considerations in creating the music for the dance piece (Known Mass No. 3: St. Maurice, the music score for which became Temporary Requiem). I needed to build in stretches of silence, be mindful of approximate lengths for specific sections (and the entire piece), and consider the subject matter and application (creating music with which to move through an imaginary church). I did all of that in a fraction of the time that I usually take to create a work, just a couple of weeks for the first work-in-progress showing, and another couple to revise for the full production. That part especially differs from the creation of a regular record, where I take closer to “forever” to finish.
Diogo: This is something that we've been trying to develop during our latest set of interviews: please select a picture (anything, really) taken from the Internet and explain the reasons behind your choice.
MJ Guider: This photo is from somewhere on https://internetkhole.com/ - I’ve had it saved since a prior interviewer tipped me off to that site and I spent a lot of time cruising around it. It’s a picture of a woman holding a small dog while standing in place of the engine of what looks like a 1975 Pontiac Trans Am. My dad had a 76 Trans Am when I was really young, so I’m partial to the car, but the whole scene is so good.
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