Our protagonist today is the English writer, musician and composer from Liverpool Catherine Fearns now based in Switzerland, she created a new piano album. Read our interview with her below.

When I was a teenager I had to decide whether I was going to attend a conservatoire and pursue a career as a concert pianist, and I decided that it was not for me.

How and when is your passion for music born and who inspired you to become a musician?

I began to take piano lessons when I was six years old. My uncle was a talented jazz pianist and my mother wanted me to have the same opportunity as him, so she bought an old upright piano and found a local teacher. I am so lucky that I had this opportunity, and I am very grateful that my piano teacher, Jennifer Milnes, and I had such a good dynamic. She allowed me to play whatever I wanted, and indulged my ambition so that we moved very quickly through the classical repertoire and exams, and entered a lot of competitions and concerts. She is the only teacher I ever had and I still visit her today when I am back home in Liverpool.

Was it easy to follow this passion for you, or did you have difficulty? If yes, which ones?

It was difficult, psychologically. When I was a teenager I had to decide whether I was going to attend a conservatoire and pursue a career as a concert pianist, and I decided that it was not for me. I felt it was my responsibility to get a reliable job. In addition, I was very shy and found performing such an ordeal that I thought a career as a musician would be too stressful. I never even considered the other aspects of being a musician, such as composing or teaching.

From the age of 19 I barely touched a piano for about twenty years. It became almost too painful to play because of the regrets I harboured. But I'm making up for it now! And what I have learned is that it's never too late to change your life and follow your true passions.

As a composer I am self-taught and I still have a lot to learn about the process that is best for me.

What is inspiration or inspirational to you? How do you live an inspired life?

Since I began writing and composing a few years ago, I am absolutely filled with inspiration. I have so many ideas in my head, I never run out, and all I need is the time to get them out there! My creative life began after the births of my children, and I think motherhood definitely caused a profound change in my attitude to life. I live in a much more sensual way than before, I notice things more, feel things more, and this translates into my composition.

The beginning of my creative life also coincided with my discovery of heavy metal music. Heavy metal is almost like a religion, and attending a metal gig can be quite a spiritual experience. I am continually inspired by this culture and the people I have met as a member of this scene.

How could you describe your way of composing?

When I am composing for solo piano I am quite old-fashioned; I use manuscript paper and pencil, and only when I have finished a draft, transcribing the music that I hear in my head, do I try playing it on the piano. I then improvise on that and develop it.

If I am composing for someone else, it really depends on the brief. For metal songs, I start with a guitar riff in the appropriate style, then design a drum track, and take it from there.

As a composer I am self-taught and I still have a lot to learn about the process that is best for me.

What is most challenging about what you do?

The practical aspects: finding the time, and making it financially viable.

What are your reference musicians?

The classical composers best known for their piano music form the basis of my musical references: Chopin, Liszt, Brahms, Schubert, Debussy, Ravel. That is the music I grew up with.

But I listen to a very wide spectrum of music, from extreme metal to electronic dance to folk. I try to reference all of my musical experiences in my composition.

Creativity takes a lot of courage. You have to be prepared to bare your soul, and you also have to be prepared to make bad art before you make good art.

Recently your new work "half life" came out, can you tell us a bit about it?

half life is an album of twelve short piano works. The inspiration comes from two meanings of 'half life'; firstly, the time it takes for a nuclear atom to decay to half its radioactivity, and secondly, the sense of being at a half-way stage of life. Both meanings relate to power and decay. The pieces are all based on very personal stories and feelings; in fact I originally wrote a poem to accompany each piece, but in the end I decided to let the music stand for itself. The titles are all in lowercase, in the 'non-committal' style of the French impressionist composers, because they are meant to be suggestions and I am happy if listeners find their own meanings. I wrote 'half life' as sheet music before I considered recording it as an album myself, and I would love for other pianists to try playing it.

This is classical, or post-classical music, but there are definitely references to heavy metal as well, and I really wanted to explore the potential for the piano to be a heavy instrument.

What is creativity to you? And: what is your creative process?

Creativity takes a lot of courage. You have to be prepared to bare your soul, and you also have to be prepared to make bad art before you make good art. The first music I recorded was really terrible, but I had to go through that process, and I had to have the courage to show it to other people and accept their criticism, in order to move on to the next stage. This can be humiliating and humbling, and when I think about my first attempts I truly cringe, but I am glad that I had the guts to try and to keep trying.

Now when I am in a creative phase I have to follow where it takes me; often it means I am very distracted in my everyday life. My family can always tell when my mind is preoccupied with a new story or song or piano piece!

What do you think about today's music scene?

It's exciting how easy it is to record and release music these days. You don't need a record label or even a studio. Some of my favourite musical discoveries have been independent, underground artists via Bandcamp or local word-of-mouth. However, the sheer amount of music being released means that the market is very saturated. As a listener it is difficult to find the good quality music, and as an artist it is very difficult to get noticed.

I also think something profound has been lost in the way we listen to music. When I was young, I would save my money to buy one album, and then treasure that album, listening to every song on the album in order, hundreds of times. Or I would sit by the radio waiting for the song I wanted to tape, and then listen to it over and over again until the cassette unwound!

Nowadays our attention spans are so destroyed that often we can't even focus on one song before skipping to the next, never mind a whole album.

What are your goals/dreams for the future?

I am currently working on my second solo album, and with this I hope to develop my compositional skills further, working on a broader canvas with more instruments and production techniques. I would love to monetize my music so I can be more financially dependent on it; through commissions, licensing, maybe performances or even teaching.

But really this is all quite new to me and I am just going to embrace the journey and see where it takes me. If I can give people some pleasure through my music along the way I will be very happy.

Who is the artist?

Listen to "half life"