As part of our series of talking to the creative team members who are new to HIDden, I had a talk with Samuel Fernandes Morais, who is both the composer of some new music for our show, and also the music director. I’m the daughter of a music director, so I have some familiarity with that work, but composition has always baffled me. How does one just… create songs? Samuel’s process is of course unique to him, but it was fascinating to learn even one person’s approach to something I can scarcely imagine doing! If you have songs going around your head, Samuel’s insights might be just what you need to start getting them on to paper! [Note: this interview has been edited for brevity.]

Tell me a bit about your background and how you got into music?

I did music history as one of the modules in college and that’s my first interaction with the more theoretical side of music. I’d started playing guitar when I was about thirteen- then I went to uni and did solo performance and composition. I really explored how wide I could compose, with different genres and ensembles. And then I did my master’s. In the last two years, I’ve become interested in soundscapes and music for screen as well as theatre. 

Did you grow up doing music or was it something you got into later in life? 

I didn’t get properly into music until about I was about 14 and that was when I begged my parents for a guitar. I actually didn’t like music from years one till six, because the teachers were very mean. It was only a bit later on that I taught myself how to play guitar, and then I decided to try bass because it’s almost the same thing. And then drums as well. And then at university I learned how to play clarinet as well in a group. So [there was] lots of trying out stuff. 

So are there other instruments you hope to pick up at some point in the future just for curiosity? 

I can make a sound on flute. I’ve tried violin, and I can kind of play piano. I’d really like to try cello- the sound is so warm and it’s bigger as well so it’s not as fiddly. I really love strings- I find them very challenging, but they’re really fun. It’s not challenging to write for them, but they can take up a lot of space [in compositions]- when I did my orchestral piece, I was like, “I’ve just written everything on the strings and I have sixteen more instruments to write for!”

So, what inspires you when it comes to creating songs? Where do you get the inspiration?

A lot of different places. It depends on what I’m writing for. One thing that always plays a big part is the rhythm and texture of it. I’m not as melody driven as [a musician] friend is, for example, and sometimes it’s harder for me to come up with a melody. Sometimes I have all these ideas swimming around in my head. It’s like trying to figure out a puzzle- what instrument gets what notes and who plays loudest. But mostly I get inspired by other music. I try to replicate it- not copy it, but se some of the same technique, or orchestration detail, or a chord progression that interested me.

There’s an element of self-teaching in that as well!

It was a lot of exploration but especially during uni, because I started out as a self-taught musician, so my impulse is to try and do it by myself every time when I want to try something new. My university course provided me with the resources and time to do that. My lecturers, they were more contemporary, so they pushed me to try things outside of my comfort zone.

What is the difference, composing for contemporary pieces versus composing for more classical pieces?

I’m still learning for classical because that’s not really my background. It’s a lot of rules and structures. I feel like contemporary is a bit more free of all of that. But I think I’m trying to find a balance between classical and writing new stuff, but sticking to the structure and trying to learn all that, which I’m still doing, to be honest…. Remembering all of [the rules], I find it a bit harder- because I came across them a bit later on it’s just harder to stick in my brain.

What got you interested in doing mystery plays specifically?

 in 2024

It was because I came across them when I was at uni. I was in the one in Chester. And then two years before that it was the Canterbury Choir Festival with my university, where we did Monteverdi’s Vespers and Eric Whitacre’s Lux Aurumque..  And one of my lecturers, David Lancaster, is really interested in medieval music. But [my interest] was really from the choir festival [in Canterbury]. 

How much of composing comes to you sort of organically and how much of it is, “oh here’s the melody I hear [in my head] but now I have to think about how to make that happen [on paper or with instruments]?

For example, when I was writing my orchestral piece, I started with the strings but I had a melody in my head so I wrote it down. Most of the time it’s just like that. Sometimes I have to really work for it- I’ll write something and then I have to really edit it, because it’s not as polished, but sometimes it just pops into my head. If I’m on my guitar I’ll just write something really random. And I’ll think, maybe I could move this note up or cut it in half. And then at the end, I’ve got a little bit of melody. So it’s like a process of concept and then revision and concept and revision kind of constantly. 

What would you like people to know about composition as a process, as an experience? 

That it’s a lot of work and revision, revising melodies, rhythms and orchestration in search of what fits and feels right, because I think people sometimes think that musicians just do it on the first try, like it’s all in their head. But it’s not, it’s a lot of trial and error.

What do you think is the best the best thing about composing and what do you think is the worst? 

The worst is [when] you can’t find any notes or anything that fits- when you can’t come up with ideas- like composer’s block. Also, when I have to change a section in the middle and then everything feels like it doesn’t fit; everything feels really disorganised. But the best thing? I really do like seeing it get more and more complete. Just going from just a single melody to the whole thing. I compose over a large period of time sometimes, and just seeing it progress to get bigger and bigger, until it gets to the final product. 

I imagine getting to see something you’ve written, and other people are playing it, it’s got to be quite exciting! Do you get really attached to pieces that you’ve done?

It’s more that if I have to change them, I’m like, “No, that’s wrong, that’s not how it should be.” Sometimes a friend and I [will be] talking about it and I don’t take feedback in the best way because I really like how it sounds in my head. And [my friend says], “oh, but it would be better.” And for me it’s not better. A few of my lectures would say, “Your piece ends too abruptly”, but that’s because some of the stuff that I wrote was more like rock and pop for a band. And in my experience, that’s just how they end, because that’s my background, rock and pop, that’s what I learned on guitar first, and then they’re used to slower, longer endings on classical pieces. So that’s the two things I don’t like! 

Do you have a favourite genre to compose in?

I like to write textured music for rock bands, although classical and Romantic music are up there as well.

When it comes to listening to music do you have a favourite style? 

I’ve been really into musicals for the last two years. It started when I was kind of forced into being in a pit band at university for a new module that involved the musical theatre cohort- we did Carrie. I really liked the music though because it was more complicated than what I was used to and it’s what made me learn notation for guitar in a different context, as well as my sightreading skills. It all just forced me to another level and then ever since I thought it’s actually really good [music].

What is the next project after mystery plays?

I’m currently looking for entry-level producing jobs in theatres in London and trying to book work as a pit band guitarist/bassist. Apart from that, I’m working on a project with my friend [I mentioned earlier] to record classical music that was written by female composers, in addition to spin-off recordings of different themes, as one big project catalogue. I am also re-releasing my MA project called Backstage, and working on making all the pieces I composed for university ready to be released. I’m kind of catching up after my MA, to be honest, when I think about it. Just looking forward. 

It always takes a while to just get back on your feet after an MA. MA’s are hard!

Yeah. I really liked it, though. Especially my dissertation. I did it on music psychology and film soundtracks. It’s completely different from what I usually do. It’s on how music can help you overcome trauma by associating the soundtrack with the hero’s journey during the film, and then seeing how it relates to yourself… You know when some people, if they’re sad, they just listen to sad music because they’re sort of playing their feelings out, or some listen to happy music because they’re going to feel happy? It’s kind of that, and my goal with it was to take something that only formally exists in a clinical setting and propose a way to safely use it at home.

I know you grew up in Portugal- is it different musically? How much does it influence you?

I grew up on American and English music, so I’m not the best person to ask. There are a few Portuguese bands; they have this sound that’s kind of European, but it’s not as streamlined as in the UK and US. There’s a fairly big market for Portuguese music in Portugal, although t’s not the same as English. There’s a lot of hip-hop as well with younger people, but I just don’t like it. Music with Portuguese lyrics sound very cliched to me. Some of it you’re like, oh that’s nice… and then you forget about it. I left when I was 19, but I basically grew up with the internet, so I had access to all the music I wanted. On the radio, they’d all play just normal pop music as well. I think they have to have [some] Portuguese music [on the radio]. I’m not doing a good job of selling it!

You’ve got quite a diverse catalogue [of pieces on your website]; it doesn’t all sound the same. 

That’s one of the things [for which] I’m grateful from my uni course, because it allowed me to explore everything. I don’t think I would have done it otherwise. If I’d done another course I think I’d have been too busy. They actually gave us time to explore and find [different] styles. 

Of the pieces that you’ve written, do you have a favourite? 

I really like one of the movements of my classical piece, one or two of them. When I wrote it, the first and the last movement were originally the same movement. But I split it because I wanted to develop them all. But yeah, those two are my favourite. And then “Burn” from the EP. 

You can hear the pieces Samuel mentions, and much more of his work, at samuelfmorais.com. And you can hear his compositions for “The War in Heaven” at the York Mystery Plays on 28 June and 5 July!