We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Gabriel Jonas. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Gabriel below.
Gabriel , so good to have you with us today. We’ve always been impressed with folks who have a very clear sense of purpose and so maybe we can jump right in and talk about how you found your purpose?
In my humble opinion, lack of purpose comes from a lack of love and support: an insufficient dose of bold supported experimenting within the environment we are in, and a fear of listening to our inner voice. Support, and resilience better show up at the party, because the number of mistakes we will do in the process might discourage us from taking the choices that will truly bring us to who we are supposed to be.
Music came to me as being the obvious choice, at the price of many mistakes.
I grew up in-between two worlds:
School, (or what we could call “out of home” honestly) where people did not get the passion I had for music. It was nor praised or respected. It was not even considered a job really, more of a hobby. If you were not considering going into finance, science or law school, you basically were an alien.
Home: Music was part of the everyday life, and was surrounding every single one of my actions, whether it was having Michael Jackson’s clips non-stop on TV, the long car rides where we would listen to full albums of Toto, Miles Davis, Pat Metheny, EWF…, partying with 80’s french music etc. It was the thing that proved that Life was not sufficient to itself if music was not part of the equation.
There was a real duality between these two, where I took music the wrong way. I wanted to show to my peers at school, and in general to non-musician people that making music was a whole world since I was taught music by a private teacher, and therefore did not know anyone that was my age that was making music. I wanted to show that it required incredible skills, incredible knowledge, incredible discipline, which it does, but here you have it, the recipe to failing to get the most important part of music: expression. My mistake was also part of how music was taught, and seen in France. Expression was coming well after mastery, meaning that if we did not know how to write a fugue, don’t we dare thinking about composing our own music. At least, that is how I went through it, even though my private teacher was encouraging me to compose, and write, I felt completely “illegitimate” to composition whatever that means…
I was similar to an author that would spend their life quoting the people that were considered “cool”, and change the quotes regarding which audience was around, and what they would assume would be “the cool thing to write”, but never something of their own.
Mark my words though, this education system creates incredibly proficient musicians, it just, in my opinion, frames creativity.
It required too much courage for me to say what I really had to say, until I got accepted at Berklee on my 17th birthday. Because of Covid, I got there at 19, after a period of clinical depression that music got me out of, I was experiencing a new environment made of people that would take their chances by writing their own album, creating their own bands, writing their own symphonies, their own opera…
I got there looking at everyone thinking: “Wait, we CAN write music even though we are not the best in the world?” That was the most amazing moment of my life, but I thought “not me.” I spent a few years at Berklee just hiding my compositional voice, and played with lots of people, and therefore found myself very fortunate to not have to compose or write something.
Then, a year ago, I had to take two classes that changed me forever. “Master Film Composers” taught by Sheldon Mirowitz, and “Make It Yours” taught by Claes Nystrom. Professor Mirowitz taught us about Bernard Herrmann, and how boldly he was in creating his own projects. He made us study through his life how to make it in the industry, and some of the key elements that we had to retain was to “be from somehwere” (and own it), bascially meaning to be yourself, and that “there is never a time of no opportunity”. That we can always do something or create something regardless of the circumstances. Professor Nystrom showed us how quickly, efficiently, and beautifully one can write. We had weekly timed writing exercises which one of them was called “gut writing” we basically had to write what we truly felt.
You can imagine the panic attack that I got when he said it. Well, believe it or not, I did great on the assignment, and it proved me that I could actually write, and even better: that music was the ultimate tool to cope with anything in life, and that we could draw inspiration from literally every single event in life whether they are big or small. That wiped all the excuses and doubts I had regarding writing, and composing, and here I am now writing my first album, and composing my first symphony.
My prupose was simple, and right in front of my bear eyes all along. I just want to write the music that I hear within myself, and share it.
Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?
Composing, and being a session player are two sides of a coin that complete each other very well. As a session player I get to witness, and be part of the incredible artistry of the people I play for, and draw inspiration from them to then write my own things. It is a real treat to be very first row within a creative process, and also to understand what the message/purpose of each artist I play for is.
Being both a composer, and a session player teaches me how to be better at both at the same time, meaning that I can clearly see what i would want from my players in my own projects, and also know how I would want to be treated as a player by an artist.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
The most important thing is to be open-minded, and to be able to adapt to any situation while making it easy for everyone. Nobody wants to play with someone that brings bad energy to rehearsals therefore, be kind, be professional, be prepared, be understanding within reason, and always keep in mind that you are part of a project that aims to create, and give birth to something. When I am working with a director I have to relief the most amount of pressure they carry on their shoulders, by welcoming them at the studio, and making it easy for them. Interpersonal skills are incredibly important, but also to think in the bigger picture, a great film composer is not a great composer, it is a great film maker. We have to think as film makers when we compose, not as musicians.
When I am on a project or when I make a project I want the people I work with to be almost as invested as I am, and therefore I am as invested as possible. The project becomes as important to me as it is for them.
Always serve the muse/the project, never your ego.
Who has been most helpful in helping you overcome challenges or build and develop the essential skills, qualities or knowledge you needed to be successful?
Even though I had mentors throughout my life, what truly helped me develop the essential skills, qualities and knowledge to succeed was to be in bands, and in general, work with people that were better than me. I just had to study first row their behaviour, their habits, and practices, and got schooled. Every single person I met at Berklee taught me something whether it was about marketing, communication, leadership, friendship, professionalism, management etc. There is always somethings that people are better at, or do differently that can be appreciated. The key is to be confident getting into something that you are not 100% comfortable with, and not be afraid to ask questions. That is what personally led me to incredible growth, and more satisfaction within my work, and artistry.
If we talk names though, I must say that studying the lives of these 3 individuals particularly influenced me: Nadia Boulanger (one of the greatest if not the greatest music professor of all time), Quincy Jones and Bernard Herrmann.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gabriel_jns/
Image Credits
Picture 1,4 and 5: Thoughts by Elia
Pictures 2 and 3: Dave Green Photo
Main picture + Picture 6 and 7: Mikael Vojinovic
Picture 8: Jacob Internicola
so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
