JAMES STRECKER: Please tell us about one or more projects that you have been working on or have recently completed. Why exactly do they matter to you and why should they matter to us?
GREG HARRISON: I am currently working on a 75min composition for Human Body Expression’s Resonance. This will be my 6th project with choreographer, Hanna Kiel, and our first with live music.
Date: Sept 26-28, 2019
Location: Sts. Cyril and Methody Church Hall
Tickets: https://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/4191649
JS: How did doing these projects change you as a person and as a creator?
GH: I feel that any collaborative project allows you to grow as an artist. Writing music for another medium, whether being film or dance, has its challenges and rewards. I find with each commission I learn to become more vulnerable, mature and confident with the art I’m making.
JS: What might others not understand or appreciate about the work you produce or do?
GH: I typically make all my sounds from scratch and build patches and samplers from them. I try to refrain from using preset sounds from a computer. It’s more cumbersome, but feels/sounds more like me.
JS: What are the most important parts of yourself that you put into your work?
GH: I tend to pour a lot of deep, guttural emotion into my work. That’s probably why it’s usually heavy, aggressive but has an emotional story.
JS: What are your biggest challenges as a creative person?
GH: For this particular project it has been challenging composing a piece that will be performed live. Typically, with dance commissions, I hand over a recorded score for the performance. With Resonance, the compositional process changes quite a bit since the ideas will be realized/influenced by other humans.
JS: Please describe at least one major turning point in your life that helped to make you who you are as a creative artist.
GH: When I was 16 my brother was in a car accident that left him with a traumatic brain injury. During his time in the ICU and rehab, my parents bought me a digital 16-track recording machine. Creating and recording songs became my therapy in a big way. At the time it was difficult to express or share my emotions with my voice, so I used composition instead.
JS: What are the hardest things for an outsider to understand about your life as a person in the arts?
GH: There’s no such thing as a day off.
JS: If you could re-live your life in the arts, how would you change it and why?
GH: I’m pretty content with the one I’m in now.
JS: Let’s talk about the state of the arts in today’s society, including the forms in which you work. What specifically gives you hope and what specifically do you find depressing?
GH: I love seeing more choreographer/ composer relationships being formed in Toronto. It’s exciting to see and hear new works from emerging artist. Unfortunately, there’s not enough money to support everything, which is an unfortunate reality.
JS: What exactly do you like about the work you create and/or do?
GH: It allows me to work with different musicians all the time. I love bringing in new people to help influence my work.
JS: In your creative life thus far, what have been the most helpful comments you have heard about your work?
GH: I love hearing comments about how the music impacted them emotionally. I’m less stoked to hear about the technical parts ha-ha.
JS: Finally, what do you yourself find to be the most intriguing and/or surprising things about you?
GH: I’m actually a pretty chipper person although my music is generally depressing and intense. I guess it all balances out, eh?