Does teaching inspire your own compositions?
Teaching makes you think more deeply about what you are doing. Sometimes, when I'm working, I think: ‘what would I say to myself if this was a student's work?’ – it also helps having daily contact with musicians, whether they are performers or teachers, in terms of understanding how people react to music and scores.
How did you come to be a composer-teacher?
I was never much of a performer – I was alright as a pianist, but I was always more interested in how a piece was put together. I hadn't necessarily planned to be a teacher. When I was at Oxford and first studying music, my main interest was in comedy. I performed a lot as a comedian at university and professionally after graduating. It was only when I did my masters [at Goldsmiths College, London under Peter Dickinson] that I began to take composing more seriously.
What was the attraction to comedy?
One of the things about stand-up is the immediacy of the feedback; you know straight away if something is working or not – you can't pretend a joke was funny if it didn't get a laugh. I've come to the conclusion that classroom teaching and comedy are both to do with pacing. As a teacher, I am aware of finding the right point to move on, when to repeat something or to change focus.
How does your background as a comic help you teach?
I think there are lots of ways to be a teacher – you don't have to be into stand-up comedy. I'm not delivering big laughs in my lessons, so it's not about being funny, necessarily. The main similarity is that audiences – and classes – need to have to have faith in the person who is standing there. With teaching, students want to believe that you know what you're doing.
What it's like being the composer-in-residence at St Paul's Girls School?
I'm actually appointed as teacher first of all, so I'm a part-time teacher, teaching curriculum music at KS3/4/5 and then I write and arrange music for the school. The big advantage is that when I'm teaching composition, the students are aware I'm not telling them abstract theory. It's also interesting for them play to my music and have the opportunity to have a discussion directly with a composer.
Bernard Hughes's new album, Not Now, Bernard and other stories, performed by Orchestra of the Swan and Alexander Armstrong, is out now via Orchid Classics.
