AV:  When was it that music became an important part of your life?  

BS:  I played the piano even before I learned to walk; it was just another one of my toys.

As a teenager I used to spend long hours improvising on that tall upright piano Pleyel (1886) http://www.pleyel.fr/   At the age of 20, I began the search for my musical identity, and since then it has become an important part of my life 

AV:  Did you have lessons or any formal training in music growing up?  

BS:  When I was a child in Buenos Aires I attended music classes but at that time the musical teaching methods were tedious for me. I remember a teacher who actually forbade me to improvise on the piano. I was bored with music theory and music reading.  In 1984 I met a great teacher and experimental composer Patricio Migliazzo who took on the challenge of teaching me. He began teaching me music using methods that were bold and that were sympathetic to my needs instead of the more traditional methods that had bored me as a child.  Patricio wrote hundreds of contemplative musical scores, that we would most certainly call “ambient music” today.  

Click here for the complete interview with Bruno Sanfilippo

AV:  How did your studies in classical piano growing up help to give you a good foundation for what you do now?

JK:  Besides giving me a foundation on music in general, it gave me an outlet for emotions which ran a little high when I was growing up. Taking lessons forced me to spend time at the piano, and inevitably I would do some improvisation during the time I was supposed to be practicing.   

AV:  I’m sure all your time was not spent listening to and practicing the classics as you grew up. What was it that jogged your creativity in terms of music that you might catch on the radio or music that you might have actually bought?

JK:  Early on, some peers turned me on to Ray Lynch and Susan Ciani, which was life changing. Only in the past few years did I realize that in many ways my music falls into the new age genre. I can draw direct lines back to those artists. I like to think of my as new age music 2.0. I fell in love with Orbital and the Orb when I was 19, and those bands provided the framework for the type of psychedelic yet melodic music that I wanted to make.  

Click here for the complete interview with James Kirsch

AV:  Where did your love of music come from? Family, radio? 

DW:  My mother has always been very musical and still plays the grand piano in her living room at 85 years old! I’ve always just loved music from an early age. I did listen to the radio a lot in the 60‘s and was well into the pirate radios like radio Caroline. TV shows like SixFive Special, Juke Box Jury and of course Top of the Pops (wow, showing my age?). I bought my first 45rpm singles in 1965 - “I Get Around” by the Beach Boys and “Glad all Over” by The Dave Clarke Five. Loved the mid to late 60‘s and into the early 70’s for pop music but also loved other music of the period like Pink Floyd, Cream, Santana, Taste, Credence Clearwater Revival, Moody Blues etc etc. I lost interest in pop music in the mid 70’s - HATED punk and started to take an interest in Tangerine Dream and Klaus Schulze circa 1971/72 and then into more instrumental based music of EM genre, Kitaro, Jarre, Vangelis, Oldfield etc etc. 

AV:  Did you have any formal training in music and if so how did that help you to define the style of music you would eventually create?
DW:  No formal training. I played drums, not that well, in a band covering Credence Clearwater, Canned Heat, Cream style rock but that was just fun in my teens when I lived in the Far East (my father was in the Royal Navy). When I was younger I always saw myself as a Dennis Wilson style drummer (sorry, Beach Boys fan I always was and always will be) and as I grew older those rock star aspirations faded as I got a job, got married and found myself in the real world. Actually, I’m pretty sure that not having any formal training was a blessing because I’ve never been confined or influenced by any preconceived ideas about how the music should be. I think some musicians get hung up on the
“technical” instead of letting their imagination take them along. 

Click here for the complete interview with David Wright

AV:  One of your early band names was Beside the Point. Meaning that the music was the point and a band name didn't really matter. Tell me about why music is/has been important to you over the course of your life. In other words what is the point of music to you?  

BH:  I suppose it has two main functions, if that is the right way of putting it. It is an outlet for the whole range of emotions, and is a vehicle for artistic expression.

AV:  Your music has been described as a gumbo that pulls in bits and pieces from many different genres. Do you find it easier to write music when you have no boundaries in regards to what the final result will sound like?  

BH:  I'm sure I have a style or sound that I can be identified with, but I don't start writing with any particular preconception in mind. It's not a completely random process - obviously I have a starting point and a kind of loose structure when beginning a new track, but the music develops as it progresses, and this is helped by not ruling any style or influence in or out.  I write music a bit like a collage. Therefore if certain sounds or styles work musically, or sound interesting, I don't see why they shouldn't be used together. 

Click here for the complete interview with Bob Holroyd

AV:  Do you remember when it was that you first started to take aninterest in electronic music? Who were some of the first artists thatyou listened to and what was it about their music that caught yourattention? 

JA:  I think it started when a classmate of mine gave me a mixtape with italo disco (a style of 80s disco coming from Italy) when I was 10 years old. Until then I had mostly listened to Swedish mainstream pop like Europe and Roxette. There was something about electronic sounds that grabbed me, a clearness of the sounds. A few years later I discovered ambient music (Biosphere, Future Sound of London, Aphex Twin) through specialty shows on the radio and MTV Europe's Chill Out Zone. I spent all my pocket money on buying CDs from these artists and Pet Shop Boys, The KLF, Moby, Kraftwerk etc. 

AV:  When did you start composing music of your own and what style of music did you choose to begin with? Why? 

JA:  I have some tapes from when I was a child, playing the piano and singing my own songs. My mum noticed that I tried to imitate the English language before I was taught English in school. So I tried to make pop songs, but when I was maybe 15-16 years old I turned to more instrumental forms of electronic music, techno and ambient, reflecting the music I was listening to at the time. By then I also bought myself my first music computer (an Atari) and a sampler. For a long time I only made instrumental music because it gave me bigger possibilities to be experimental. I more and more turned to rhythmic electronic ambient music as my main genre. But since 2006 I've been making pop music again (very much in the 80s disco style) since I love it as well.

Click here for the complete interview with Johan Agebjorn

AV:  Music has a unique way of touching all of us in one way or another. Having read a little about you on the Internet you have said that you were singing and writing songs when you were 3 years old. What kinds of music touched you and motivated you to sing and write at the tender age of three?

DA:  Anything and everything musical touched me. I was writing Celtic songs about Donegal at age 3, interestingly enough, since I knew nothing of Ireland at the time, and the only music played in the house was classical and opera.

AV:  Was music a part of your home growing up and did your parents encourage you in your musical leanings?

DA:  My mother was a magnificent opera singer, who sang with the Symphony for many years but she and my father were completely against me pursuing any kind of musical career. There are eight children and none had any interest in music, except myself. It was very difficult because I was the only one of the eight children who had to pay for college because I choose music. I worked 3 jobs to pay for college and one was singing rock and roll, which I was sure was my direction, but over time, I found a softer side to my spirit.

Click here for the complete interview with Diane Arkenstone

AV:  Tell me about when it was that music became something more to you than just something you put on your stereo and passively listened to. What did you do to actively bring music into your life as a form of artistic expression for yourself?  

MB:  Music has felt like my primary language ever since I can remember. It has always linked me with vivid worlds full of feeling. I was immersed in classical and early music as a child, from infancy. My active listening skills began to be honed via education at home, where my father taught me how to differentiate between the various instruments of a symphony orchestra by ear by age four or so. Private music lessons began several years later, and eventually I began playing flute with local youth orchestras when I was around eleven years old or so. I can’t remember a time when music wasn’t a form of artistic expression for me.

AV:  You went to university at both Northwestern and Boston and completed formal studies in classical music performance and immediately upon graduation you set out on your career in music...no wait a career in investment banking. Seems like a contradiction. Why investment banking and not something to do with music?

MB:  The reality of what a classical musician - even a superb one - needed to do in order to make a living at it was pretty staggering back then, and even more so today. Not only was I having trouble juggling hours of daily practice with my other interests (like psychology, which I studied a good deal of as an undergrad), I was also struggling with the demand in the field for technical perfection, where if you missed even one note during an audition, you didn’t get the gig! So it gradually dawned upon me that a career as an orchestral flutist was not in the cards. Although I seriously considered going for a Masters degree in psychology at that point, I just wanted to get out into the real world for a bit and support myself financially. Waiting tables was not going to cut it. So I found my way into an entry-level trading position at a Boston bank, and worked my way up from there. The decision was purely a pragmatic one, a financial means to a creative end. I went where the jobs were, instead of where they
weren’t!  And as you know there is a strong relationship between musical aptitude and mathematical aptitude, which was certainly the case with me. There was a curious sort of peace and challenge in this new world of markets and interest rates and numbers which was oddly satisfying.

Click here for the complete interview with Meg Bowles

AV:  Where did your love of music originally come from?  

SR:  Wow what a question. I started out listening to popular music as I imagine most people did in the 70s. My brothers had a great influence in what I heard in my early life having 3 older ones. It's funny but I think what I love is sound more so than music especially since I consider lots of the music I now listen to and compose to be more sound art than music. Be it naturally created sound or electronically realised.

AV:  Who were some of the first electronic/atmospheric music artists that you listened to and what was it that attracted you to this kind of music?

SR:  I probably started hearing Electro Acoustic sounds when I was quite young on an Australian radio program, "Scratching the Surface". My brother and I thought it was funny and scary, I was only 12 years old or so. It was interesting because unlike pop music you didn't really know what was going to happen next. It was also on late at night when the surrounding environment was quiet. From this left field influence to something a bit more popular, one of my brothers bought a Tomita album, I think it was Snowflakes are Dancing. My brother having more main stream interests was also into "classical" orchestral music which I suppose Snowflakes fell into. I found it interesting in that he used synthesisers to create orchestral sounding instruments. It was using a synth to recreate acoustic instruments. I was just as intrigued by the rear cover of the record which had a picture of Isao in his studio surrounded but all his gear. I wanted that ! But that was the mainstream. What I found more interesting were snippets of synths that I would hear in pop music which were not imitating an acoustic instrument but were producing something I'd never heard before. I also started hearing other rock groups like Emerson, Lake and Palmer, Rick Wakeman, Genesis, all using synths as a main part of their music but once again nothing new in the style of music.

Click here for the complete interview with Steve Roberts

AV:  What was it that originally drew you to music and eventually being a performer yourself? 

MA:  My dad played in country bands when I was very young and that made a huge impact on me. I was 8 years old when I started really becoming interested in the guitar. Around that time (1964-65) I began listening to The Beatles and a lot of Motown and R & B records. 

AV:  Having listened to a lot of music during the 70's and 80's I remember some great stuff and some not so great stuff. Tell me about the music that you made and the groups that you played with during that time and what you enjoyed most about the music that you played during that time period.  

MA:  I joined my first "professional" band Brimstone when I was in High School and some friends of mine who were starting a new band needed a lead singer.

I loved to sing so it seemed the natural thing to do. I was a "bass player" at the time but they already had one so being the front man was very interesting to me. It was a great way to hone my vocal skills and learn how to become an "entertainer". I was really into the whole Peter Gabriel thing at the time.  Disco was a raging phenomenon but there were still many great bands to listen to. My favorites were Genesis, Yes, ELP and all of the English "progressive rock" bands. The ascendancy of electronic music in the 80's gave exposure to some fantastic artist's too like Peter Gabriel, Michael Brooks, Depeche Mode and the Art Of Noise. All made significant contributions to how music is conceived today. 

Click here for the complete interview with Michael Allison

AV:  I've read that your iPod is filled with quite the variety and selection of tunes these days. What did you listen to growing up and how did that shape your attitude about how you wanted to be involved with music yourself? 

MM:  Like most kids, I grew up listening to the music my parents listened to.  I was lucky since my dad was pretty hip.  I can remember him and I listening to David Bowie, Blondie and Van Halen.  When I started exploring music on my own, around the age of 12, I mainly listened to New Wave.  Bands such as The Talking Heads, Oingo Boingo and Devo were some of my favorites.  Around this time, I joined a drum and bugle corps called The Phantom Regiment.  My new friends from this social circle were all into hard rock or heavy metal.  I became exposed to Ozzy, Iron Maiden, AC/DC and Judas Priest.  So from this point on I walked a fence through middle and high school.  I loved all the new electronic that was happening.  Depeche Mode, Ministry and Cabaret Voltaire would get played on my turntable right after spinning Metallica, Megadeth and Kreator.  

Click here for the complete interview with MjDawn

AV:  What was it that got you interested in playing music in the first place? What was your instrument of choice when you started out? 

AS:  The first record I remember owning as a kid was the soundtrack to Disney's Jungle Book. There are a lot of great songs on there, but I can still remember the overture and the magical and mystical quality it had and how it made me feel. As I got older I fell in love with The Beatles, then bands like Led Zeppelin and The Who. Around the age of 15 I was determined to become some combination of Jimmy Page and Pete Townshend. My dad bought me an acoustic guitar at McCabe's in Santa Monica and then the following year, I got my first electric guitar,  a beautiful white strat with a maple neck and a Marshall half stack that was way too big and loud for me, but I loved it and it allowed me to be a rock god in my own garage in southern California. 

Click here for the complete interview with Rich Brodsky

AV: Your bio says that you started playing music as a child. How young were you when you first started playing? What was it about music that captured your interest so early in life?

FJH: My grandmother moved into our house when I was 8 years old. When she moved in she brought a 100 year old iron frame German piano with her. My mother showed me the staff and stave and how to work out which note was which in relation to the musical score and within 6 weeks I could play the first part of Fur Elise.

Click here for the complete interview with Fiona Joy Hawkins

AV: Is there any particular instrument that you felt drawn to more than any other? Why?

JM: The electric bass was the first instrument I picked up aged eleven. I went on to work with guitar, drums, keys – whatever I could get my hands on really. Finally the computer, which is to my mind an extremely versatile, flexible instrument. The bass remains my primary ‘real’ instrument for most live or studio contexts. I find its combination of rhythmic and melodic qualities deeply appealing but it could just be that it’s my first love.

Click here for the complete interview with James Murray

AV: Did you ever have any thoughts about following in your father's footsteps or was it always going to be about Janet's music and nothing else? Could you elaborate on that please.

JR: No, not really. I loved his music and what he did, but it wasn't for me. If I'd wanted a career in music more than the music, I probably should have stayed in Nashville but can you see that? I don't think so. Now that's just about following in his footsteps musically--I did follow him, and was inspired by him, to keep trying to find my voice. That's what he did, he was a total pioneer in his field and really wanted the limelight as well. I like the process of creating more than anything.

Click here for the complete interview with Janet Robbins

AV: Where did your love of music come from and what were some of your earliest expressions of this love?

CK: The love of music came early on in my youth. I was exposed to some of my dad’s favorite music, the progressive rock movement. Music from Yes to Emerson Lake & Palmer and Chicago. One day I discovered my dad’s old trumpet in the garage and started making what could be called noises with it. This led to a very long journey of playing the trumpet in bands and orchestras.

AV: Did you ever have any formal training in music? If so how did that prepare you for being a professional player and if not did that create any limitations to how quickly you could move ahead?

CK: Yes, I studied classical music at Baylor University and received a bachelor’s degree in music performance. Baylor was a small enough school that it gave me the opportunity to perform in all of the major ensembles my freshman year. Many larger more well known schools fill their top ensembles with graduate students leaving you with just the practice room for several years.

Click here for the complete interview with Chad Kettering

AV: When did music first become an important component of your life and was there anything in particular that brought about this interest?

RS: Music has always been an important part of my life; it was all around me and a strong component in my family history. My sister began piano lessons when she was seven. I was five at the time and insanely jealous; I wanted lessons too.

AV: Many musicians that I have spoken to over the years have had strong encouragement at home in regards to their desire to play music to help them along. Was there music in your home growing up and did you have support from your parents in regards to your growing interest in music?

RS: Yes on both counts. My grandfather, Rubin Spielberg, was a flutist in Toscaninni’s NBC Symphony Orchestra. His brother was concert master of that same orchestra, so I suppose you could say the passion for music was somewhat genetic. My parents were very supportive of my musical interests and encouraged them.

Click here for the interview with Robin Spielberg

AV: Do you remember when music first became an important part of your life and were there any artists or compositions that you remember as having a motivational effect on you at the time?

AL: Music has always been a part of my life. My parents encouraged all the kids to play an instrument. I don't know why I chose silver flute but it always seemed to be the perfect instrument for me. At that time, the influential flute players were Tim Weisberg, Paul Horn and Ian Anderson so I think the improvisational nature of their playing really affected me. I am naturally attracted to improvisational performances because they are so organic.

AV: When was it that you started to play an instrument yourself? What instrument did you play and was this your choice and why?

AL: I was ten. I remember choosing between a flute and a violin but I don't know if those were my choices or my parents suggestions.

Click here for the interview with Ann Licater

AV:  Was hearing the Hearts of Space radio show like an epiphany for you in regards to ambient/space music? Tell me about what went through your mind after you heard the music featured on this program?

JL: Back in the summer of 1994 I had been over to my friend Brent Reiland's house and was checking out his small studio in his basement. He had a Korg M1 synth at the time and he played me some of the ambient music he had been experimenting with which I thought was pretty cool. Then before I left that night he loaned me a CD he had and it was Steve Roach's "Quiet Music". He then told me about the Hearts of Space Radio program. So, I listened to the "Quiet Music" CD and listened to a broadcast of "Hearts of Space". After I heard the "Hearts of Space" program for the first time something really clicked in my mind and I was absolutely hooked !! It immediately dawned on me that THIS was the kind of music I wanted to start composing. It was an absolute epiphany !!

Click here for the interview with John Lyell

AV:When you are working on a project such as this do you hear bits  and pieces of music that you have written before in the music that  you are currently working on? At these junctures do you incorporate  them and move on or do you stop and try a new combination? I'm just  curious as artists spend more and more time writing music as to how  they avoid recreating something that came before.

RF:  I actually don’t think you can avoid it, - I think it is part and parcel of progression and development, both musically and technically. Every artist has a signature (again, poet, painter or musician) and if that signature is wholly unrecognisable in a new work then an identity is lost. There is so much stuff out there that has no individual identity in the first place (except for a name on a CD sleeve) that effectively it is rendered meaningless. That, in my view, has to be true of an album too in that the album itself is actually the sum of its parts. So....you CAN recreate something that has gone before, but you have to use it differently, - within a different context or next to a different rhythm. I use the same chord patterns a lot, but I would hope that the music doesn’t actually sound “samey” because of that!

Click here for the interview with Robert Fox