With 1.7k followers and 30k views on his most popular score, Alec Imamovic (also known as aceplayer) is one of the most recognizable MuseScore creators on the platform. He started uploading scores in his teenage years, but since then he has become a scholar at the Royal College of Music, performed at St Luke’s and Cadogan Hall, and has continued to compose pieces for solo instruments all the way to symphony orchestras. Through his works on MuseScore you can see him continue to grow, evolve, and just this year he has released one of his proudest pieces to date, “Noclip.” In this interview, I talked to Alec about his inspirations, struggles as an upcoming composer, and “Noclip.”
Who is Alec Imamovic?
Q: Can you tell us a little about yourself?
A: I’ve been a composer for 10 years now – granted, my first compositions were very bad, but I started my professional journey a couple years ago, and feel as if I am growing with each piece I write. On top of this, I’ve been a pianist pretty much all my life, and now a conductor too.
I strive to create works that are both innovative and accessible, connecting styles and pushing boundaries while maintaining an emotional and aesthetic resonance with a wide audience by having strong narratives in my music as I aim to tell a compelling story with all my pieces.
Q: How long have you been a composer? How long have you been using MuseScore?
A: I’ve always used MuseScore – since the beginning of my compositional journey. I started off on MuseScore 2, and have grown with the community and now use MuseScore Studio 4 for all my compositions. I have also been active on the website and community over covid a lot – that is where I grew my page!
Q: What music have you been listening to recently?
A: Ah, a lot. Tough to pinpoint, but I’ve been getting into unconventional orchestral techniques – cool percussion, microtonality, irrational time signatures, unusual instruments. I want to use those crazy things to tell stories through my own music, and so huge inspirations (and thus, what I’m listening to right now) – include Thomas Ades’ Asyla, Xenakis’ Jonchaies, Unsuk Chin’s Rocanā; the list goes on for long. I love doing youtube deep dives and going onto mixes and listening to these cool pieces on Scorefollower!
But my heart will always lie in the romantics. I can’t go long without listening to a Strauss Poem or a Mahler Symphony (my favourite composer for the past couple years..)
Q: What was your first instrument? Why did you start learning?
A: Piano – I had a tiny keyboard at age 3 that I was noodling around on trying to learn a very very basic version of Beethoven’s Ode to Joy. I managed, god knows how after many attempts, and my parents heard and decided to get me a proper teacher a year later, and that is why I play!
Q: What is your musical superpower or claim to fame?
A: I wouldn’t say I have a claim to fame. I suppose being a scholar at the Royal College of Music is quite a big thing but other than that, I am just doing my thing and writing my music!
Q: What inspires you to create?
A: Shared emotion is what inspires me to create. It’s the fact we are human and we all have our own vivid responses to all sorts of different things in our life, but when we share those responses together, something truly beautiful emerges. That is why my pieces have narratives and messages; it unites people together and creates a common understanding that I think is lacking in today’s world. I create music so people can enjoy it together. Be that in a full concert hall, or performers themselves collaborating, the wonders of music making and sharing is what drives me to write.
Q: How has the MuseScore community impacted your musical journey?
A: Well it’s been everything. Truly everything. I do appreciate that my involvement in the community was at a very awkward time in my life – it was right smack bang in the middle of my teen years and during covid – so being involved in all the MuseScore drama was not the best for my mental health.. But please know that this is one thing in the myriad of positives that the community has brought to my musical journey.
First off, the wonderful composers I met that have inspired my early compositions, notably John Donaldson (@john_william_donaldson), who is now a wonderful photographer. He got me into orchestral music and composing on a large scale, and I am very grateful for having found his music back in those years. There is also the wonderful music sharing that the community promoted. All the people who supported my music by commenting positive and constructive feedback, they have all motivated me to get better and better. All in all, I couldn’t have done it without the incredible MuseScore community.
The Origins of “Noclip”
Q: What is a piece you’re especially proud of?
A: Very tricky!
I’d say my most recent work, Noclip, I am very proud of, as it is the most effort I have ever put into a project. I gathered all the musicians, booked the performing space and recording team, conducted it and of course composed it all myself, and it was an incredibly rewarding project. Very tricky at times, I must say, like the fact I had to do the soprano soloist and orchestra separately. I am most proud of it though, it all came together very well and I would love to do something like it again!
Going back to narratives, the piece was a commentary on modern day meme culture, (the backrooms specifically) – I felt it could resonate with a lot of people particularly in the younger audience!
Do listen to it here: https://scorefol.io/w/mmfk8bhz8f1sg5ra5y9555ay
And there are posts about it on my instagram!
Editor note: The backrooms is an internet horror story. The story creates a phenomenon where people can “no-clip” out of reality (essentially disappear) and when they do they end up in the backrooms: a liminal, labyrinthine, office space. The horror comes from liminality, existential dread, and nostalgia.
Q: I loved listening to Noclip and the idea behind it is really interesting. Could you tell me about what led to you writing a backrooms themed piece?
A: Noclip started off as a passion project (and I suppose ended as one too). The backrooms has always been my favourite meme due to the nature of topics it touches on: liminality, nostalgia, familiarity. I have always been ‘nostalgic’ so to speak, and notions of childhood and remembrance of whimsical fantasy lands have intrigued me for years. So the backrooms was like a perfect amalgamation of all these concepts, (+horror which makes it even better!). I wanted to write a piece about it to capture the things it makes you feel. I appreciate not everyone has as heightened an emotional response to the concept as I do, but that’s the joy of music – we all hear it differently.
I had many sketches for the work but eventually it came together to a full piece I was happy with.
Alec Imamovic On Finding Your Compositional Voice
Q: What challenges have you faced as an upcoming composer?
A: The biggest challenge I faced was the good old ‘finding my voice’ (which will lead into the next question too, and my personal solution to this). For years I’ve struggled with breaking out of pastiches and finding who I was within my music. Breaking into the field and putting yourself into an ever-changing fast paced world is scary, no doubt and trying to find myself in this huge scary world is the biggest challenge I’ve faced.
Q: Do you have any advice for young composers?
A: This is my solution to the previous question. To put it very bluntly, stop trying!! I used to spend literal hours trying to edit and tweak my music to make it sound “more me” whatever that means.
Thing is, you already have a voice and it is in your thoughts, interests, preferences, emotions and character. I personally believe you should let that speak for itself. Learn compositional techniques, study scores and take what you like out of them to put in your music and you will see with time and lots of pieces you will write, your voice will come through. That’s the beautiful thing about people and our brains, they’re all so very different.
So in short, please stop trying to make your music sound like ‘your music’. Composition is such a deeply personal process, so instead, learn about yourself and just write. It will happen on its own.
Q: Do you have any projects you are currently working on? Or anything you’re excited to create in the future?
A: Yes – two projects I am very excited to be doing, an oboe concerto for a good friend to perform, and a piano concerto that I am hoping to put on in the coming years!
In terms of more ‘passion project’ aspirational compositions, a big suite for orchestra. Mahler sized. One day I wish to create one that includes everything, as an ultimate thank you to music. I appreciate it will never be like the great works of the past, but I am excited to put my all into it; that is what matters most to me.
Follow Alec Imamovic’s Journey
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