Episode 2.9 - Lara Poe

Episode 9 features Lara Poe, a Finnish-American composer currently based in London. We talk with Lara about studying and composing abroad, her advice to aspiring composers, and her current projects.

To learn more about Lara, visit her website!

Full Transcript

Carrie Blosser 0:03

Welcome to Diversify the Stand. Together we build a community to listen and learn from the stories and experiences of passionate musicians. I'm Carrie Blosser.

Ashley Killam 0:12

And I'm Ashley Killam. In our second season, we talk with musicians, performers, educators, historians, and entrepreneurs to expand how we think of the music we perform and follow non-traditional career paths. Our guest for Episode Nine is Lara Poe, Finnish-American composer currently based in London. Her works have been performed across the world, and she has received multiple recognitions in a bunch of different competitions. Most recently, she's a recipient of the Broadcast Music Incorporated, the BMI Student Composer Awards.

Carrie Blosser 0:44

Thank you so much for joining us.

Lara Poe 0:46

Thank you for having me here.

Carrie Blosser 0:47

We wanted to start off with asking you how did you get started in music?

Lara Poe 0:52

Ooh, well, um, there was a piano in the house, that helped. My dad plays piano. So, you know, I listened to him practicing whatever it was he was practicing at the time. And I guess at some point, I started, you know, just trying out the keys, seeing if I could do anything. And yeah, my dad decided, hey, maybe we should get her some lessons. Two years after that, I started writing more, actually trying to write out things rather than just making up random things on the piano.

Carrie Blosser 1:25

And then I was gonna ask from starting with piano, did you do lessons on piano and composition, like in high school or in college? Or how did you kind of progress through, like, academic things?

Lara Poe 1:39

Well, I started quite early, because I started piano lessons when I was maybe five. And then I started composition lessons, just, like, a couple of years after that, because my piano teacher, actually, she recommended someone that I should take composition lessons with, because she noticed I was making up things of my own along with, you know, also doing what's on the page, but not just following that. So instead of doing the thing that so many piano teachers or other teachers in general do, which is to just say, oh, you should just stick to what's on the page, she said, hey, maybe you should take lessons for this. And so I did take lessons in high school as well, and in college, and there we are with me doing doctoral stuff now.

Ashley Killam 2:23

And you were raised in the United States, right?

Lara Poe 2:26

Mostly. Yeah. I mean, it's, yes, mostly. I did go to school here for the most part, except in high school, there was actually a couple year chunk when I was just living in Finland, going to school in Finland in Finnish, but for the most part, I went to school here. Now, we'd usually spend most of the summer in Finland, though. And I'd often be there during Christmas time or New Year's time, as well. So mostly here, but with a decent amount of back and forth.

Ashley Killam 3:00

What is the music scene like? Is the music scene in Finland different than the United States? Either, you know, in like the schooling or just kind of outside, in general?

Lara Poe 3:11

Well, in terms of schooling, I will say that my experience wasn't typical either here or in Finland, because here I was going to NEC Prep. In Finland, I was going to, kind of, the vocal conservatories, no equivalent, let's say. So I wasn't really doing that much in school. I mean, I did play in the string orchestra at one point. Yeah. And I was in the school chorus that everyone's in, but I wasn't, you know, really involved in the band or anything like that. But I also didn't play an instrument that really worked for that. At one point, I was able to play a B flat major scale on the flute, but that's about it. I can still make a noise on the head joint. In terms of the scene, though, professionally—now, the scene that I'm most familiar with is the new music scene. And I'd say they have similarities, but they also have differences. One big difference is that in the US, a lot of it's privately funded. In Finland, there's a lot of government funding or at least more available, and then the UK is kind of weirdly in between with that. But some things are the same. Some things are different. I think the general public tends to be reasonably accepting of contemporary music in Finland, which you might not necessarily find the case everywhere here. What's sort of trendy there is a bit different than what's trendy here. And also, what's trendy in the UK is a bit different. So they've all kind of got individual personalities, let's say.

Ashley Killam 4:53

That's so interesting. I feel like new music here is such a polarizing thing. People either think they love it or they think they hate it, or they just don't know what it is.

Lara Poe 5:02

That's the thing nowadays is you've got so many little pockets of things happening everywhere that are completely different from each other.

Ashley Killam 5:09

And you know, with you spending time in the United States and in Finland and in London now, what has your experience been like being a student and a composer that does travel a lot? And does a lot of these, you know, international collaborations where you have to know kind of what to expect in the new music scene in these different areas?

Lara Poe 5:33

Well, in terms of collaborations, a lot of it's more person-dependent than country-dependent, really. So it's more, who am I working with, rather than where am I working with them? As far as, you know, being a student here versus being a student in Europe, one really interesting thing that I noticed, which is also largely to do with me during undergrad here and grad school there, but I think this goes beyond that, is the curriculum in the States tends to be more heavily course-oriented. So I had a lot of coursework, which was useful, because it gave me a solid foundation for a lot of things. Whereas in Europe, you're kind of given more time to work independently, work on your own things, rather than having that time be spent in a classroom with something that's directed. So I definitely found that to be the case, which I think having that for graduate school has been really great. I can say that my doctoral experience, probably— well, yeah, I mean, it's been really good. I don't know how typical that is. Because my professor likes to do things a certain way. And that works well for me. But I feel like that's even more a kind of an institution by institution case, than US versus Europe. For instance, I know some of my colleagues at Guildhall, who are also doing doctoral studies, and their dissertation topics much more specific and much more defined as in they have to stay within a certain topic and everything relates to that topic, whereas mine is more write, and see where that takes you. And then write about that, you know, I've got some sort of general topic I'm following, but it's mostly just what am I composing at the moment. But yeah, I don't really have much experience with what doctoral programs are like in the States. So I can't really speak on that. You've got all kinds of like, you've got these qualifying exams you have to do and there's a lot of other—

Carrie Blosser 7:48

We were going to ask you, like, kind of about your decision to do a PhD in London.

Lara Poe 7:53

Well, I also did grad school there, well, master’s. The first way I wound up there is through a study abroad program that BU does, and the only music-related study abroad that BU has is with Royal College of Music, London. So, you know, I thought, well, this will be great, because then I can do this program. I could have had the option of doing a study abroad and maths somewhere else, because I was doing the dual degree thing, which took me five years to do, because it's a lot of coursework. That was great. But I figured, you know, I felt I wanted to do a study abroad in music, and this is the only option that they had. So there we go. That was that. And I ended up liking the professor Ken Hesketh who I worked with there. So I applied back for master’s and I got in and I worked with him for my master’s. So that's how I wound up in London, pretty much. The reason—well, there's a few reasons why I stayed in London for a doctoral degree, which one of them is I felt like I was finding a place in the scene and didn't really feel like moving anywhere else. There's also, you know, one of the things that I would give in terms of advice, which we'll get back to later, I suppose, is find a professor you want to work with. So I did that. And that's one of the main factors why I'm now at King's College London.

Carrie Blosser 9:31

And since you're on the topic of advice, is there any other advice that you'd have for aspiring composers, composers looking at maybe an undergraduate, graduate, or PhD program?

Lara Poe 9:42

Well, I mean, finding professors you're interested in working with is definitely important, because that's such a personal thing. It's, you know, you have to make sure that that works. Because if you don't find someone you want to work with, then that's, that just makes everything difficult. Yeah, I've seen many cases where the relationship just isn't working that well, and it's stressful for both parties involved. But other advice, oh, finding performers is really useful. Because, you know, otherwise, you're going to have a much harder time, you know, figuring out how to write for instruments that you don't really know. You're also going to have a much harder time getting things performed. But if you find people that you can write for who are interested in playing your music, then you have someone to play your music and you can learn about that instrument. So that's also a big piece of advice that I'd give. If you're looking to apply to colleges or schools, something that I would say is to check out their programs. Look at who is teaching there, get in touch with people who you’d want to work with, just shoot them an email, see if you can visit the campus or, you know, something, just that'll be really good to get that info and you can find out things that you wouldn't see on the website, as well.

Ashley Killam 11:16

Here's a clip of Laura Poe’s Kaamos for orchestra.

Carrie Blosser 16:33

So we wanted to ask you kind of, like, a more general question.

Lara Poe 16:36

Sure.

Carrie Blosser 16:37

About groups that you've been working with. And I know we were kind of scouring your bio for some of your more recent projects, and it seems like you have a lot of things in the works and have been very productive over the last year and to the future as well, so if there are any projects that you wanted to kind of promote now or talk about that you're working on that you’re really passionate about, we'd love to share that with our podcast.

Lara Poe 17:03

Sure. Well, it's been interesting rescheduling things because there's a bunch of, I think most of what's coming up now is projects that have been delayed that are now happening, which is great that they're happening, because I know so many things have just been cancelled with no reschedulings in sight. But most of what's happening now, actually, about two weeks from now, well, a week from now I'm going off to Santa Fe, for the Chamber Music Festival. And I have a piece that's happening on Friday, a week from that. So on the sixth. So that was originally meant to be in 2020. But that's a string quartet, and that'll be really exciting. That'll be one of the first, you know, live things I've been to in ages. So that's exciting. As for other things, well, there's a saxophone piano duo that was meant to happen last year, but that's been pushed back by a year as well. So that will be happening. But I'm not entirely sure what the dates are for that yet. There's some dates that have tentatively been scheduled, and some that we're in the process of scheduling, but we'll see what happens with that. There's also solo percussion piece that I wrote that was meant to be premiered in December a year ago. Which sounds like it will be happening sometime this autumn potentially. But I don't have a date that I can promote for that yet either. What else?

Carrie Blosser 18:55

I wasn't sure if you wanted to talk a little bit about the noise pollution project? I was reading about that, and it sounds really interesting. So I'd love if you'd share a little bit about that.

Lara Poe 19:05

Oh, yeah, well, that's something that I was mostly working on some time ago. That's a project that was kind of through the Royal College of Music when I was a master’s student there. But that was a project where I was working with this art student from the Royal College of Art. We put together a website that shows the different levels of noise pollution in the UK. And then if you scroll over the different cities, you can hear something that's akin to that level of noise pollution, which I recorded a bunch of different sounds in London, and then put them together based on levels of noise pollution, more than them actually being sound sourced from different places. But yeah, no, that was just a project that I did with a friend of mine from the Royal College of Art a few years ago, that was a fun project.

Carrie Blosser 20:05

It was super interesting, I loved, kind of, checking out, it’s really neat. And I know you're now a two-time BMI award winner, is that right?

Lara Poe 20:13

Yeah, as of the spring, which is, well, the fun thing about that is this is also the last year that I was able to apply for that, I have just aged out. Well, I will be aging out of it two days from now.

Carrie Blosser 20:29

Well, happy early birthday. So we talked a little bit about projects that are happening now and coming up this fall. So that is super, are there any organizations, groups, or resources that have been helpful for you as a composer, performer, or teacher that you'd like to share with our audience?

Lara Poe 20:46

Actually, one thing that I would recommend to someone who is starting out is to read through lots of scores and listen to lots of recordings. And if you can, if there's, you know, even just a community orchestra in your area or something, see if you can sit in some of those rehearsals, because you will learn a lot. Or if you play in an ensemble, that's also great. But if you're, I guess if you're playing in an ensemble, you're kind of really focused on your part and making sure you're playing it correctly. It's a different experience to actually sit outside and just listen to what the conductor is saying and how everyone's reacting to that.

Carrie Blosser 21:26

I always looked at rehearsals a lot differently as an educator, watching, then when I was just a person in the ensemble listening, for sure.

Lara Poe 21:34

Yeah, or just even noticing what kinds of things take up rehearsal time, or how different conductors do things, you know, like, some of them speak very little, and just kind of do everything with their arms. Some of them speak a lot more. There's one in particular, who I can think of, which I won't name any names, but he will perfect, you know, kind of a single passage until it is exactly what he wants it to be. So he will spend a lot of time on, like, an individual passage. And this is, you know, a professional orchestra we're talking about. So if you say something to them, they will do it. And you kind of don't have to really go back a lot and rework it. But he will work that passage until it is exactly what he wants. It is very interesting, though I think most conductors I've observed don't do it to that extent.

Carrie Blosser 22:33

All right. We have one more question for you. It is our final question.

Lara Poe 22:37

Sure.

Carrie Blosser 22:37

We would love to know what is on your music stand this week, and how are you diversifying your stand?

Lara Poe 22:44

Well, one thing that I want to catch, which I think it's still up somewhere, ... new opera. So that was done at the Pavan festival quite recently. I think the stream’s still up somewhere, so I do want to check that out. Opera looks really interesting, she's written quite a bit for this Finnish folk instrument called the kantele, if you've heard of that, which I actually recently wrote a piece for two of those instruments. That was an adventure because I've never written for that instrument before. It's kind of like a harp. It's like a weird cross between harp and dulcimer, except it's more like a zither because it's plucked, you're not striking it with anything. But it's kind of shaped like a zither. However, it's got this lever mechanism, which is like the pedals of a harp except you do it with your hands, your left hand’s fiddling with these levers to raise or lower the pitch. They’ve got seven of these levers, so it's a chromatic instrument in the sense that the pedal harp is a chromatic instrument. It's a cool instrument. It has some repertoire written for it, mostly by Finnish composers, but not that much. Not that much, actually, in terms of diversifying things, there's some really interesting traditional sami music that I would recommend checking out, too.

Carrie Blosser 24:17

That sounds awesome. I'm so excited to check them out. I've never— I don't think I've heard of either the instrument or that genre of music you're talking about, so.

Lara Poe 24:25

Well, they don't really work with kantele that much, but they sing in a really particular way. And they have this sermonic drum that they use to accompany their singing, which is very interesting, too.

Carrie Blosser 24:41

Well cool. Thanks for joining us.

Lara Poe 24:44

Thank you. I'm glad this worked out even despite Ashley's technical difficulties.

Ashley Killam 24:50

Thank you for listening to Diversify the Stand. I'm Ashley.

Carrie Blosser 24:53

And I'm Carrie. If you'd like to support us and our projects, find us on social media and visit our website. We now have a store where you can pick up some diversify the stand gear.

Ashley Killam 25:03

And as always, a huge thank you to Trevor Weston and Whitney George for allowing us to use their compositions in our podcast. The musical introduction is Trevor's trumpet duet Fanfare for Changes, and the ending music is Whitney's Incantations for trumpet and piano. Both composers’ websites are listed in the podcast description.

Carrie Blosser 25:21

Until next week, what's on your stand?