Q: What is your musical philosophy?

A: My "musical philosophy" is not really an important factor in my music. I don't begin with some sort of conceptual description of reality and then try to create music which conforms to that picture. The reason that I take the trouble to compose music in the first place (and it does involve a lot of effort) is because "philosophy," as I understand it, doesn't get to what I most value. What I value is an open heart and I've never been able to think my way into such a condition. Music (and other forms of art) can assist in opening doors which are normally shut because of the dominance of our survival mechanisms. Mind filters out so much of our humanity. Great art, if we participate fully in it, gives us permission to feel and creates a space in which we can feel at a depth not ordinarily allowed.

The title, Nothing Above My Shoulders But the Evening, is simply a poetic way of saying this. If one is "headless," if the conceptual mind (with its strategies of survival), is temporarily suspended, then one is left with the "evening," a space in which the depth and real meaning of musical gestures can be more readily perceived and felt.

Q: Did you get your musical motivation from your classical guitar teacher, Eduardo Sainz de la Maza?

A: Eduardo was not merely a good teacher, he was a great teacher. He was certainly a factor in my musical motivation. But I feel that I was born with the basic impulse to do music. Even a great teacher can't supply the basic motivation toward something as difficult as the mastery of an instrument. He can mold things, but the student has to already love it enough to persist regardless of the cost.

Q: What are your musical influences?

A: The most important influence throughout my career, both as performer and composer, is Western, classical music of the last five centuries. As a guitarist, I concentrated on 18th, 19th, and 20th century music and as a lutenist, I specialized in the 16th and 17th centuries. As a listener, of course, I've covered a lot of ground, from traditional Indian music to folk music from all over the world, to 20th century avant-guarde music and popular music of our own time. There is a great deal of recorded music of all kinds available these days and most contemporary composers have been influenced by that diversity. My harmonic language, however, was basically intact in the Renaissance.

Q: Did you have a vision of success when you were growing up?

A: In our culture, "success" seems to mean the accumulation of wealth and in that sense, I've never had a vision of success. As a child and adolescent, "making money" always struck me as a very mysterious and unattractive affair and I wanted nothing to do with it. It seems to me that if your primary interest is to make a lot of money and accumulate the goods of life, then music or art is a very poor career choice. The chances of success (in that sense) are slim. For an artist, the criteria of success is different. He or she wants the art to "succeed." A real artist loves what he makes more than he cares about what it may bring back to him. If you love what you make, you have to work it until it is beautiful, until it succeeds, in other words. When I was a performer I wanted the performance to succeed, so I played as if my life depended on it. As a composer I want my music to succeed, to be beautiful, and therefore useful to myself and others. So I struggle with it until it's right.

Q: Where do you think pop culture is heading?

A: It's hard to define exactly what "pop culture" is because there are so many elements which would have to be taken into account. In general, our culture is a money culture which is firmly embedded in the egoic model of existence and, in that sense, where it is heading is of little importance. Like all fashions and trendy things, it will move in a circle, all the while pointing only to itself.

Pop music (i.e., music which is commonly played on commercial radio) is very diverse, even fragmented, and ranges from angry, toxic stuff to the sentimental and mediocre. Much of it is just insulting, but there are always exceptions. Some very talented artists work in the field, and I believe that it's just as difficult to write a great "pop" tune as it is to write a great anything.

For better or for worse, one thing that distinguishes this culture from previous ones is both the availability of, and preference for, visual stimuli. Most young people nowadays experience most of their music with a visual element of some kind, either a music video, a TV show, or a movie. In fact, most people (I was surprised to learn), when they close their eyes to listen to music, normally see images of some kind and in some cases, complete picture shows. We're so visually oriented as a culture, we can't shut down our visual mechanisms (even when they are not needed). When I listen to music, I don't see anything. There is simply a vast audible universe which is self-sufficient -- visualization would be a distraction. Having said that, music can nevertheless be combine dvery effectively with visuals (as in some movies) and if done well, can produce an emotional impact which is hard to match. Movies and TV represent a special use of music and an interesting challenge for the composer. I don't think I can resist doing a film score for very much longer.

Q: Since becoming a platinum artist in your field, have things changed for you?

A: I have more money, so I can improve the quality of my recording studio and I can continue to work without disruptions. Just being able to work still feels like a privilege to me and that's why I value the amount of success I've had up until now.

Q: To a "lay person," how would you describe your music?

A: Rather than try to describe the music, I would spend the time pleading with this "lay person" to really listen to the music (on a good playback system) with full attention and feeling participation.

Q: Tell us about your recording studio, and the type of technical equipment you use. Would you consider your studio "state-of-the-art"?

A: I have a 16-track tape recorder, an 8-track digital hard-disc recorder (Protools), 2 computer systems, several good reverbs, a very clean mixing board, the usual signal processing gear, the usual assemblage of 10 or so synthesizers and samplers, a great monitor system, miles of good wire, and an acoustically-treated room. Most of it would be considered state-of-the-art, although it is certainly not as extensive or as expensive as many commercial installations. But it is tailored exactly to my needs and since Nothing Above My Shoulders but the Evening, I've felt like I've been getting something like audiophile results.

I should add that this kind of description of the technical side of my work can be misleading. Many people have gotten the impression that I'm an "electronic" composer, that I use only synthesizers to create the sounds on my recordings. I do find synthesizers very useful and effective for certain kinds of sounds and occasionally I have produced purely "electronic" pieces (Celestial Soda Pop is an example), but in general, my pieces involve a combination of acoustic instruments (especially on melodic lines) and synthesized or sampled sounds. Over the last 10 years, I have used more and more acoustic instruments (normally performed by members of the San Francisco Orchestra). In fact, in Nothing Above My Shoulders but the Evening, the acoustic element became dominant.

Q: Where does Ray Lynch see himself five years from now?

A: I think more of where the music will be than where I will be in five years. I'll still be writing music, if I'm able. I hope the music will become useful for more and more people and will be listened to even 50 years from now. My music is certainly not "trendy" and it's impossible for me to think about it in "pop" terms. Some of my favorite music is 400 years old and it still sounds fresh to me. If it works at a feeling level and helps to open people up, it will survive.