Fluting the world with
Tim
Wheater
Interview by Carol Wright
Tim Wheater would need a bass fiddle case to hold all the travel stickers from his travels - "about a million miles, by this time!" he says. He travels light, however with only a flute (all right, perhaps a few dozen instruments), and loves to sit in with musicians all over the planet.
Tim Wheater studied classical flute in London and received a scholarship from the French government to study with Jean-Pierre Rampal and Roger Bourdin. His final studies were James Galway at the Eastman School of Music. Wheater eventually chose "the other musical road," performing with The Eurythmics and legendary jazz figures like Sonny Stitt and guitarist Al DiMeola before choosing a spiritual focus for his music.
Besides his many solo albums, Wheater has several collaborations to his credit including three albums with Michael Hoppé and voice-overs with author Julia Cameron. Wheater's musical interests go beyond performing: his workshops on the healing power of music and the voice have taken him all over the world.
Carol: You've
had all the prodigy acclaim and classical training to be a big name orchestral
flautist. What took you in a different direction?
TW:
I always had an attraction for the other side of music. I found it stimulating
in every sense, and as a music student, I enjoyed putting my feet in both
camps.
Carol:
In the early 1980s, you toured with Annie Lennox and the Eurythmics. Did
you meet her at the Royal Academy of Music?
TW:
Annie
and I met as music students, both on the flute, on our first Saturday in
London. I'd come from the Isle of White and she from Aberdeen in north
Scotland. We were both studying the flute and became very good friends.
Carol:
What flutes are now in your arsenal?
TW:
I have native American flutes in twelve keys, three or four very nice Irish
whistles, a very old, extraordinary looking bass flute, an English flute,
two alto flutes (one straight, one curved), a silver concert flute, and
a wooden piccolo. I have a lot of percussion instruments, fifty bells,
ten gongs. I have a Bechstein piano…
Carol:
In your hut in Australia?
TW:
…in my flat in Bath. I have a littleYamaha SY22. I had a rack of
studio stuff - digital 8-track, electrical reverb, everything - but all
my albums I've actually recorded on the road.
Carol:
Composer Michael
Hoppé told me that you almost didn't have a home, that you stay
with friends friends all over the planet. So, do you have a home?
TW:
I consider Bath
my home. [Bath from the Avon river, right.] I am speaking to you
from a 
Georgian
flat, which is actually 250 years old, with triple windows - beautiful
proportions! I had it decorated with pillars and paintings of cherubs on
the ceiling, full of beautiful rugs and antiques. And, what happened -
and this is where I turned a corner - when I came back from the Pacific,
I found the flat had been flooded. Everything had molded.
It was a major turning point for me. I've gotten
rid of most of my things. I am now more lighter and brighter, and I'm even
more removed from having an anchor than ever.
Carol:
Where have your musical travels taken you?
TW:
Literally all over. I've traveled for over 15 years and put in over million
miles! India was an inspirational place for me, China, Australia (where
I have a small home), Thailand, Malaysia, North and South America, and
Nepal. I haven't been to Tibet yet, but I had a wonderful experience once
playing alongside the Dalai Lama's monks. Here in Europe, I've grown to
love my visits to Ireland.
We're lucky that we have access to different genres to music. I particularly
admire Peter Gabriel (who lives just down the road from me) and his extraordinary
output through RealWorld.
Carol:
Do you tour with a group?
TW:
No. I am lucky enough to tap into a core of musicians, staunch friends
and allies, who I have come to know in different parts of the world. I
know how I will play with them, and we always develop and grow each time.
Carol:
Many may not know you were once poisoned.
TW:
Aluminum sulfate poisoned the water supply of a rural community. It affected
500 people, and when they discovered the mistake, they flushed the water
straight into the river where it killed 50,000 fish in an hour.
I drank the unfortunately poisoned water, and the
next day, I had no memory whatsoever of how to play, and there was a certain
paralysis of the fingers and arms.
It was tough on a physical level, but the most striking
thing was that the brain wasn't able to send the message to the mouth,
to the embouchure. I lived with that as a struggle situation for a year,
resigned in the long dark tunnel of despair. That prompted me to put my
flute down and to travel. I spent a lot of time in the East: I traveled
on the trains and busses -- you know, good dusty journeys where I stayed
in anything from a two rupee flophouse to a majestic palace. This also
took my mind off my immediate problem and made me realize how expansive
and huge our world is. So it was a healing journey, really, that I undertook
for nine months.
I came back to Europe, and I rang up my friend Matthew
Manning, a hands-on healer. He did a session with me, and the next day
I felt a tingling like the regeneration of the nerves. That improvement
continued for a few days, and then a certain returned of how to play. But
I say "returned" with a
certain
qualification, because to this day, I don't play as I did before. This
is a major reason why The Yearning is as slow as it is, because
at that time, I couldn't play any faster. But this also took me into a
deep core of my being which represented both my cry of hope and of despair.
Indeed, the very title expresses my yearning to come back to proficiency
to play.
There are many sobering lessons through these tunnels.
It was always easy for me to play, so I took my talent for granted. The
gifts we have we should nurture and cherish and recognize the blessing
of them.
Carol:
What have you discovered about music, and vibrations, and healing?
TW:
Music is one of the most immense powers in the universe, and it could very
well be the very reason the universe exists from the great aum onward.
Everything is vibrating around us resonating at different frequencies,
and these frequencies have harmonics which are a part of the luster of
life.
The right music can have a tremendous effect because it changes the
heart rate, respiration, blood pressure, and mood. Every cell in the body
"hears"; indeed, the cell embodies that sound. We become the music. Music
has the capacity to heal us, to educate us, to lend us morals and strength
of purpose, to define love in our hearts and our souls. Pivotal, I think,
is its sacredness, because it is speaking to the soul and to the divine
within us to help us redefine the spirit.
Carol:
What do you offer in your workshops?
TW:
I'll play the native American flute as a ceremonial opening. I get the
participants to breathe, tone, hum, chant. I give them a tremendous amount
of belief in themselves as they feel for themselves the healing vibrations
of music. I am almost through writing a book on this topic, tentatively
titled Soundtracks, which Putnam will publish next year. It's about our
miraculous voice and teaching people how to make this vibration themselves.
Carol:
Do you have a particular spiritual practice?
TW:
I would like to say I absorb a bit of everything, actually, respect for
the sacredness around us, but the one person I would love to see and learn
more about is Sai Baba in India. There is a spiritual renaissance happening,
even amid the darkness and the conflict.
Carol: You
do include conflict in your music: the "Inner Battle" on Heart Land
and "Uluru" on Incantation.
TW:
We are all - from the prince to the pauper - united with similar beliefs,
hopes, and fears. We all 
yearn
to love and to be loved, but within our human condition are tests and shadows.
Our soul's journey is quite amazing when you think about it. Every person
on this planet has a major movie happening. As much as we are these majestic
beings, we are also fragile; darkness and light live side-by-side. So,
yes, I've expressed both in my music.
Carol:
What's next on your music horizon?
TW:
Michael Hoppé, cellist Martin Tillman, and I improvised a lovely
collaboration, Afterglow, for 
Hearts
of Space, and this is due out soon. [Note: the album is available.]
I'm about to go into the studio to record a voice-over of some Julia Cameron
prayers about grief and transition back to the healed heart. I've done
a lot of voice recordings lately; I just finished an album with John Bradshaw
and plan more projects with him.
After touring this summer, I'll rent a house with
a garden and spend three months in southern Ireland where I'll develop
some songs and Gregorian chants.
All in all, I'm enjoying putting myself very deeply
into this life. We are both alone in this world, and we are a member of
a global tribe. I know music is probably the most potent force in the world.
It has the ability to transcend every religious, cultural, political, and
economic barrier. It is love personified. It is angelic. It is a divine,
sacred force as well. Music is all those things.
Find
out more about Tim Wheater by visiting his website
TIM
WHEATER Discography
