Hello Everyone!

It was so wonderful seeing a handful of your lovely faces during the Open House events! I hope you all found the Open House being very helpful in your choice of a Masters program! If you have any questions that you didn’t think of before, don’t hesitate to contact me. And also anyone who was unable to attend the Open House can definitely contact me also.

This week in class we had an editor as a guest speaker. It was really interesting to hear her speak about the editing process and we all realized how similar editing actually is to film scoring, and how much editing can help a film composer. A lot of the time while composing for a film, the cuts and edits within a film can help us determine the pacing of our cue, while also showing us specific hit points.

We are currently in the last three weeks of our first semester, with one reel completed plus other scenes completed for our first feature film. With everyone coming from different backgrounds, the feature film has been easier for some and a bit harder for others. Everyone’s spotting of the film as well as their compositions have been working, the only problem some of us have been running into is the fact that we haven’t written for our specific ensemble before. Some of the students wrote orchestral cues, while others wrote cues that would come from a rock band. Personally, I am an orchestral composer, that’s what my background is. But for this film, I decided to try a rock cue from a band and to base it off The Cure. This has been very tough, as I don’t have much background in writing for a band, even though I have performed with bands over the years. Even with listening to bands and analyzing their work, it’s still been tough because I haven’t really played guitar or drums before. But even though my cues may not always work 100%, I feel very proud in the fact that I’m taking a step in a new direction to see where I am comfortable as a composer and where I am not. This whole Masters program is not only for educating yourself on the world of film scoring, it’s also about educating yourself on who you are as a composer, and what type of stuff you will work best on. Truly honing in on your own unique style of composition. And the best part is, my classmates and my teachers are right there with me, and are always encouraging. Some days you might feel as though you’re not a good composer, other days you might be doing really well. But thankfully, in the end, everyone is there for you, and we are all going through the same thing.

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving Everyone!