Soaring Through Inner and Outer Universes with Space Music Pioneer Jonn Serrie
Avid flight enthusiast Jonn Serrie couldn't travel to outer space himself, so he began mapping inner journeys through music. Trained in both classical and rock music, Serrie had developed a keen interest in synthesizers in the early 1970s when a friend suggested he contact the Hartford planetarium about creating music for their shows. He's been composing evocative planetarium and documentary soundtracks ever since. Serrie's first album -- 1990's AND THE STARS GO WITH YOU (a memorial to Christa McAuliffe and the Challenger space shuttle tragedy) captivated the public with its trippy yet melodic sonic excursions. Now, in June 2000, Serrie fans can relish two simultaneous releases: the double disc CENTURY SEASONS, his first retrospective collection, and HIDDEN WORLD, a collaboration with flutist Gary Stroutsos. Fittingly enough, the high-flying composer is working toward his professional pilot's license. Thankfully, he came in for a safe landing to talk with Barnes & Noble.com's new age editor Carol Wright.

Barnes & Noble.com: What inspired you to put together your CENTURY SEASONS compilation?

Jonn Serrie: I'm known for the longer-form space music. In some albums I mixed up the longer pieces with shorter, more melodic ones, but a lot of my fans like the long form so they can zone out on it. So I took my favorite long-form pieces and put them together seamlessly from beginning to end.

Barnes & Noble.com: CENTURY SEASONS and your new collaboration with Gary Stroutsos, HIDDEN WORLD, have identical release dates. Was that intentional?

JS: The scheduling was absolutely a coincidence. I was busy working on my next album, LUMIA NIGHTS, when I got a call from Gary to work on his HIDDEN WORLD album. I had just finished a similar album with SPIRIT KEEPERS, and I know Gary is a real virtuoso. So I thought, Let's take some time and really make some magic. Gary recorded the flute and percussion tracks in Seattle, and he sent them to me for keyboard work. We found that we really trusted each other, and the first time we met was at the final mastering session. The album came out very well, and we are planning to tour this fall.

Barnes & Noble.com: How did you come to work in the space music genre?

JS: In the mid-'70s, I worked for a synth manufacturer, demonstrating synthesizers for prospective customers. This gave me free use of their recording studio, and I experimented with sonic textures and longer, stretched-out compositions. A friend suggested I take these recordings to the planetarium. I did, and they said, "This is absolutely perfect music for our multi-image planetarium shows." So I started doing professional space music to accompany shows about the planets and stars.

Barnes & Noble.com: What sounds shaped your space music palette?

JS: The 1960s soundtrack for "2001" was recorded using orchestra, choir, and early-technology reverb, which gave the music an otherworldly feel. And it fit the story perfectly. I often use a background of space wind stretched over a lone synthesizer choir voice. I also listened to some of the experimental electronic music -- the musique concrète of Milton Babbitt and Luciano Berio -- coming from the Columbia University School of Music, where they had the first RCA sound synthesizer. Then in 1968, Wendy Carlos released her Moog SWITCHED-ON BACH, which gave electronic music melodic possibilities. I also listened to Larry Fast, Tangerine Dream, and Emerson, Lake & Palmer. And I realized that not only can you take people on incredible sound journeys, but you can also really make great music with this technology!

Now, rather than use commercially available digital sound samples, I craft about a hundred custom synthesizer sounds for each new album. That way my albums are all me. However, unique sounds are not the only things that go into my albums. I don't want an otherworldly feel just for its own sake; I put the sounds in the context of a story. Take away the narration from the scripted planetarium shows, and my music tells the story itself. You are led from atmosphere to atmosphere -- world to world -- and your imagination fills in the blanks.

Barnes & Noble.com: Do you bring any spiritual perspectives to your music?

JS: I've been meditating since 1972. In my school years, I experimented a lot, but you cannot live your entire life experimenting with your consciousness. A friend put it right, saying, "Once you cross the river, don't carry the boat on your back." I found a solid base with meditation, and that plays a part in my music.

Using sound design and synthesizer technology, you can place people in a space and move through environments. And depending on how good you are at this -- and how subtle you are at moving a person's consciousness from place to place without jarring them -- space music can be like an advanced form of meditation. I found that it's not only what you play, but what you leave out that's important.

Barnes & Noble.com: Like the Zen garden where you notice the drip of the stream only because it's surrounded by silence.

JS: Space music is really made of two things -- sound and silence -- and the good composers know when to use which one. The whole secret to electronic music is controlling the beast. Now that electronic music technology has presented us with all the options, you must exercise control over all those choices: control over sound, silence, texture, duration of the notes, velocity of the notes, frequency of the notes, timbre of the notes. It goes on and on. It can take hours to subtly refine a sound on the computer.

Consciousness is a very subtle thing; I make suggestions for people's consciousness to play off of. This puts a big responsibility on the composer, and if the listener trusts the composer, he can suspend his disbelief and let the music take him to an altered state.

Barnes & Noble.com: I've always wondered why space music hasn't taken off as, let's say, a cheap, safe way to get high.

JS: I think space music will always have a place, especially now that things move so fast that people need some sort of calm base where they go to be within themselves. You want a place to repose and to center, and space music can help lead to that place. Space music doesn't have to be all about satellites and outer space. Listening to this kind of music is a private matter between you and yourself, an exploration of your inner thoughts and consciousness. It's a very solitary experience and not really one for the masses.

Browse hundreds of interviews with your favorite artists in our Interview Archive.