Interviews By Uma: Wendy Stevens

A Chat With One Of Little Bean's Favorite Composers

Musician and Composer Wendy Stevens Talks About Making Piano Fun for Both Teachers and Beginning Students

The ComposeCreate Founder on Imagination, Curiosity and Composing One of Uma’s Favorite Piano Songs

I’m often puttering around the dining room or kitchen as Little Bean practices on her piano. During one of those sessions, she began to play a song that sounded very different from much of the other songs her piano teacher was having her play. It was also a song I didn’t recognize, called In Miller’s Meadow by Wendy Stevens.

The song - at least to my non-musician ear - felt more adult and complex. Uma enjoyed playing it, even though it was clearly more of a challenge for her.

So, the two of us looked a little more closely at the song. It turns out, it’s part of an enormous publishing catalog of ComposeCreate LLC, a music publishing company that specializes in publishing scores for students and teachers under the names of Music Kids Love®, Music Teens Love®, and Music Adults Love®. Uma’s piano teacher was using ComposeCreate for her students.

Uma reached out to Wendy Stevens, one of the owners of ComposeCreate and one of the company’s composers. Wendy agreed to an interview on one condition - that she got to interview Uma as well!

So, the following interview is two parts: Uma interviewing Wendy and then Wendy interviewing Uma. The format makes it fairly long by comparison to what you’d normally read in these pages but we didn’t want to break the interview into two halves this time.

First, click above to go and check out the ComposeCreate website and see all the wonderful things they do. Just last week, the publishing house dropped two new songs for young musicians or music teachers to use. Have a look at those here: Little Fuzzy Birthday Pirate Bundle

Here is Wendy’s delightful YouTube channel. Go and subscriber here: Wendy Stevens on YouTube

Finally, Interviews By Uma can be read here in our archives or email us at interviewsbyuma@gmail.com for questions or suggestions.

And now, on with the interviews. We hope you enjoy this look at both composer and student, Wendy Stevens and Uma Szczesny.

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Musician and composer Wendy Stevens at the piano

Interviews By Uma: Wendy Stevens

Uma Szczesny (US): What was your path to becoming a pianist teacher and musician and how old were you when you composed your first song?

Wendy Stevens (WS): When I was a child, probably around age 7, I used to ride in the back seat of my mom’s car making up songs about everything we passed. So I’d sing random melodies about the “beautiful McDonald arches” or that the “speed limit just changed to 55” (imagine that in some kind of wandering melody). I’m sure my songs didn’t sound great, but I remember making them up all the time!

I remember also playing in church and not liking any of the arrangements that I learned in books. I would often add little embellishments to make them more interesting. When I was a teenager, I made up my own arrangement one time with a hymn tune combined with the B section of the Grieg A Minor Piano Concerto. My mom just happened to have the score on the piano, so I’d learn little bits of it and mix it with a hymn tune. My piano teacher didn’t know what to do with me when I’d play something I created, so I was kind of on my own. But my mom told me that my music sounded beautiful, and I think that was very influential to me.

I didn’t start playing the piano super early. I think I was 7 years old. I sort of took to it, but wasn’t a natural at everything. I remember convincing (maybe tricking?) my piano teacher into playing a piece for me so I could learn the rhythm, only to find out in 6th grade that I really didn’t know how to count the difficult rhythms and I was going to have to learn! (I ended up in tears wanting to quit piano then.) So I had to work at being better at rhythm, which is probably why I wrote a rhythm curriculum later! I would also “accidentally” leave my theory book home because I would often forget to do it. My piano teacher had a number of “talks” with my mom about that! I actually LOVE theory now and majored in it and composition in college.

I started teaching piano when I was a teenager. Then, I went to nursing school, and had to pivot for a medical reason back to teaching piano. While that was a difficult thing to do at the time, it was definitely the best thing for me. I earned my undergraduate degree in Piano Pedagogy, then my Masters in Theory and Composition and was able to study with a wonderful composer who made such a difference in my life.

US: What’s your secret to writing so many songs and how many songs have you written?

WS: Wow. I wish I knew the secret! I think just composing, composing, composing is a big part of it. In order to get to the “good” stuff, it seems like you have to write a lot of mediocre things, so I just keep writing and the good things finally come. I throw away a lot of pieces that never see the light of day, but I just consider those warm up for the ones that I know will connect with kids, teens, and adults. Sometimes it’s really hard to compose and other times it’s easier. Thankfully, these days good ideas come faster to me most of the time. But other times, it takes a while to “clear the cobwebs” and find the beautiful or catchy tunes. I never know whether sitting down to compose will be easy or hard! But I just have to do it and power through.

US: How did you come up with the title for In Miller’s Meadow and what does the song mean to you?

WS: Oh, I’m so glad you like that piece! Years ago, I read a book of short stories by Wendell Berry. I remember loving the names of the streets in his book. So when I was trying to think of a title for a piece, I thought of “Up Sandy Ripple Road” which is similar to one in his book. It sounded like such an interesting road! Then, I decided I wanted to do a whole series of pieces about interesting sounding places…often with people’s names in them and usually titled with a prepositional phrase. I found the image for In Miller’s Meadow first and since I knew that it was going to be about a meadow, “Miller’s” just seemed perfect for it. It wasn’t too fancy, but not too plain either. It reminded me of some of the country roads we used to drive on as a kid on the way to my grandparents’ house.

Here is the audio of Uma playing In Miller’s Meadow

US: Do you have any advice for young students about performing live?

WS: That’s a great question! I think imagining yourself playing great in front of people is really helpful. I also think that playing for a smaller audience (like your parents, grandparents, siblings) can help with nerves. Even playing in front of your stuffed animals can be helpful! If you are playing from memory, having multiple “starting” places where you can go back, can help if you happen to forget and are playing by memory.

Above all, it’s helpful to know that everyone makes mistakes…even when it doesn’t seem like it. I make mistakes all the time when I’m playing for teachers at webinars or presentations. Even with my own music! The trick is to keep a straight face and keep going. Most people don’t even notice!

US: Do you have any advice for young musicians looking to compose their own songs?

WS: Oh yes! One of the skills that most young students need to develop first is the skill of composing a catchy or memorable motive (only 1-2 measures). That comes even before making a full melody. But most students don’t spend enough time working on that short motive. It’s important to ask, “Is this memorable?” or “Is this catchy?” If you spend the time (sometimes it takes hours or days) figuring out that catchy motive, you’ll have much more success composing an interesting piece that people love!

The other piece of advice is to be insanely curious. Ask lots of questions about music that you love and that you know works! So, if you love a piece of music and want to compose a piece like it, ask:

a. “What part do I love most?”

b. “Why do I love this part so much?”

c. “How does the composer make this so _____?”

d. “What measures get stuck in my head? Why do they get stuck?”

Any question beginning with “how” or “why” is a great question to ask! And this can help you discover so many things about how the masters do it. The other piece of advice I’d give is to not use a computer to write music, but rather to use a pencil and staff paper or something that’s not connected to technology. I don’t have a problem with tech; I use it all the time. But there’s something about the creative process of composing that just goes better without having to worry about how to put it in the computer, what the notes are, or how to get the computer to notate it correctly. The computer and apps tend to engage our analytical brain more, and then the creative part just gets run over! I always compose at a keyboard or piano first and then later put it in a notation program with the computer. And when I’ve judged student composition competitions, I can almost always tell when a student has used a computer to compose versus using their instrument. It’s almost always better when you use your instrument!

US: Do you have any pets? What’s your favorite animal?

WS: I don’t currently have any pets, but I had several cats growing up. I have SO many favorite animals because they fascinate me! I love to watch nature shows that talk about animals that are unusual. (I’m currently watching the “Secret Lives of Animals.”) Here are just a few animals that fascinate me: tarsiers, hedgehogs, thorny dragons, the common basilisk (which is anything but common because it can run across water!), stick insects which look so bizarre, glass tree frogs which can practically make themselves invisible, capuchin monkeys which look so cute until they bare their teeth and look ferocious, and so many more.

I wish I could remember all the ones I’ve seen on nature shows that have made my mouth drop or made me laugh in amazement! There are so many! Animals are really inspirational to me because there’s so much creativity and variety in how they look and act. And their colors! It always gives me energy and inspiration for creating music covers (which I think are just as important as the music itself).

US: Any final thoughts?

WS: Thank you so much for this opportunity to tell you about my journey, Uma, and for your great questions! I’m so glad that you and other students enjoy my music. It means the world to me. Everyone’s musical path is unique, and I hope you continue the great work with your piano teacher and follow whatever path is before you as you learn to make beautiful music at the piano! ♥️

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UMA SZCZESNY INTERVIEW: And now, Wendy and Uma switch places. Wendy had several questions for Uma about her piano playing, learning In Miller’s Meadow and what that song and music in general means to her. Wendy sent me the questions and I sat down with my daughter and transcribed her answers.

We’re so very proud to present that to you here today.

Uma Szczesny at a Halloween recital dressed as a fairy

Interviews By Wendy: Uma Szczesny

Wendy Stevens (WS): How long have you taken piano lessons and why do you like piano?

Uma Szczesny (US): I’ve taken lessons one and a half years. Before piano I was interested in flute and recorder. I like piano because you can play literally any song. You can learn a song by ear and your hands don’t cramp.

WS: What kind of music do you like to play?

US: Ms. Pepler (Uma’s music teacher) gives me songs to play and I play them, so I’m not sure what genre they are. There’s a genre I like more than others, but I’ve never played it on piano. (At this point, she gets her tablet and gives me headphones and puts on the song Milk Carton by Madilyn Mei.)

WS: Do you have any favorite books or movies?

US: For a movie, Wolf Walkers, about people who are wolves at night and humans in the day time. For books I like The Witches of Brooklyn and the Percy Jackson books.

WS: What are your favorite animals? Do you have a pet?

US: The red fox. They run very fast, they’re small and they’re orange and you hardly see any orange animals. We have three pets, Lavender the cat, Pip the dog and Apollo the fish.

WS: What are you most interested in at this point in your life?

US: I’m most interested in basketball because it’s fun because most of my friends are doing it. And crafting because I can do whatever I want for crafting. Whenever I have an idea, I can immediately make it.

WS: What part of In Miller’s Meadow is your favorite?

US: Well the whole song sounds like a whole different song if it’s sped up or slowed down. Like, sped up it’s one song and slowed down it’s a different song. It’s still a song even if you can’t play it correctly.

WS: How does the song make you feel?

US: I’ve played it so many times it’s hard to figure that out. I like playing it. It does make me happy I guess because it’s a song about a meadow and I like meadows – they are outside and they’re nature related!

~Thank you to everyone who made this interview set possible, what a fun project this has been to work on - from Wendy Stevens to all the musicians and music fans who have cheered on Little Bean through this incredible process. And especially to her music teacher Cassandra Pepler for bringing her this far. Uma had expressed interest in doing a duel interview of this sort with her music teacher as well, so look for that in the spring!

Let’s make this post really pop! Can you help us with a like, comment or share? Uma really does keep track of how her interviews are received so let her know! We’ll be back tomorrow with our regular programming. See you all then!