Interview with David Mitchell

David Mitchell was trained at the Berklee College of Music in Boston, MA as a jazz composer and performer. Studying with some of the world’s most influential teachers of music and music theory, he has developed a strong and iconoclastic vision of modern music, including elements of classical, folk, jazz and electronic music. In addition, David holds a degree in Chinese, giving him a unique background to explore new forms with local fellow musicians…

When did you come to China? What was your focus when first coming to China?

I first came to China as a student in 1993, and I've been coming and going since then. However, I have been living in Beijing since 2005, so I would say this is my real arrival date! When I came to China in 2005, I had just finished at the Berklee College of Music and returned to London to find the state of jazz music in some disrepair there. An old friend who was living in Beijing suggested that I come back and teach music here. I got a job at the MIDI school thanks to Zhang Fan, and then moved on to teach at what is now the Beijing Contemporary Music Academy. These were great jobs that really allowed me to get everything I had learned at Berklee straight in my mind so that I could teach it to the students here, and I was very grateful for the opportunity. I love to teach.

What point was the Chinese music environment at when you first arrived, and how have you seen it grow until now?

I had a wonderful shock just the other day when I went to hear local musicians playing at the East Shore Club. In the last couple of years, jazz music has come on in leaps and bounds here, and it's wonderful to see at least some forms of music really taking hold here. I would love to see the same level of commitment and development from other forms of music though, particularly Beijing rock music. Hopefully the dedicated people who work in the scene will soon start to get repaid by the efforts of the musicians. Like I say, I keep getting told off for saying this kind of thing, but in the end, Chinese musicians will need to be of an international standard to be taken seriously.

How has China’s impressive economic growth had a noticeable effect on the Chinese music scene?

I don't really subscribe to the view that music has anything to do with the economy: after all, a musician should not be in music for the money. Of course, in the commercial music world, the pop stars are just getting bigger and bigger - that's the same the world over, as brands make the most of the opportunities singers give them for talking to a youth audience. In other types of music, I would say that classical music is really getting a good deal; it's a great way for the new elites in China to demonstrate their cultural credentials, and the new performance spaces are just incredible on the whole. If less obvious music was admitted into these spaces, I think we could really start talking about a forward step in music in China. I would hate to think that people who care about classical music would think less of other forms of music, because it can all enrich our lives.

There’s been an impressive growth in musical venues and festivals in the past decade. How has the development of new places to hear music changed contemporary appreciation of alternative music?

No disrespect to the people making the festivals - my hat is eternally off to Zhang Fan for his pioneering work with MIDI, and I hope he doesn't get sidelined by the growing commercialism in the sector - but I think that many of the festivals are working with the same raw materials, and it's hard to see any differentiation between them. As for venues, I am kind of out of touch at the moment, but I love the fact that it's possible to see music at its most intimate as well as in stonking great places where mass hysteria is the order of the day! As alternative musicians, we should be looking for the most interesting alternatives, and I would love to see musicians stretching themselves by choosing to play at the most challenging venues.

What event or accomplishment have you been most proud of while working in China?

I am always most proud of the thing I am working on currently. I hope all artists are the same, otherwise we would be stuck in a nostalgic fog and never go any further. As to what that is, I am currently working on a repertoire of solo performance on 12 and 6 string guitars and on the Uyghur tambur. I am trying to find ways to present the fullest form of music I can using only these tools, with no electronics and the minimum of sound reinforcement. It's a kind of self invented folk music with influences from Central Asia and the Renbourn/Jansch thing. I have had to develop a new technique for the guitar to make this happen, and I guess this is what I am proudest of so far.

In your career here, you’ve gone through a number of musical genres, from electronic to Xinjiang-folk. Can you comment on the variety of different musical genres popular in China today?

I am not convinced that there are many genres which are popular in China. Pop music is the shiny king of everything. As to other genres, it's nice to see Chinese people taking on ska, funk and other cool genres, but I kind of wish that eventually, Chinese music would be its own thing. That's not to say that there should not be influences from western music and elsewhere, but I am convinced that finding your own voice is the pinnacle of achievement for any artist, and the musicians here shouldn't be satisfied until they manage this.

What role does traditional or ethnic minority music play in modern Chinese music? How do you see this presence changing in the future?

I hope there will be an increasing role for traditional music in modern music, but I don't know if that will happen in the near future. Playing an instrument is a vital, spiritual and physical thing, and adapting the instrument to your own musical ideas is one of the most rewarding things a musician can do. I think at the moment that technology has swallowed the attention of a lot of musicians, but a lot of the music produced on computers already sounds old fashioned to me - hopefully acoustic instruments played at the highest level will make a comeback, and musicians will be able to regain the pride that comes with mastery of them.

Where does Chinese music stand on a world stage? Many bands have launched world tours recently from the mainland - how can Chinese music hold its own in the Western world?

I think that from a point of view of sheer curiosity, Chinese music has been welcomed up to a point across the world. For that to convert into genuine interest though, the music needs to develop its own personality beyond "Cool, that's a punk band from China". There are a lot of dedicated individuals who are working to make this happen, but as yet, I can't honestly say that the music is repaying those efforts. For a start, there needs to be way more competition between bands here. I was speaking to a band from Iceland the other day, and the singer was telling me that there are literally hundreds of bands in that tiny country all pushing to be heard, which makes the overall level of music incredibly high. China really doesn't have enough musicians yet to be able to stimulate that search for quality and individuality that the western world expects from a headlining act, and until you see 20 people in every subway car lugging an instrument, like you might in Paris or London, there is still a long way to go.