WHAT ADVICE CAN YOU GIVE TO ANY ASPIRING COMPOSERS OUT THERE?
(the following composers have all appeared as guests on "The Score"; their quotes are taken from their individual appearances)


MARK SNOW (composer of "The X-Files", "Crazy In Alabama"): "I think you have to have a little bit of the thing that actors and actresses must have. It's really hard to break into, film scoring, but it's as if you have to do it. People say, "Well, it's hard and you might not make it," and this, that and the other thing...you almost have to have a feeling that you just didn't hear that. You're going to do it, no matter what. It's this amazing confidence and perserverance, matched with a little bit of talent. That'll help! So you really have to want to do it and believe you want it. I wish I could say, "Here's what you do: you get this book, read chapters 1 through 10, call this guy, have a meeting, yadda, yadda, yadda!"

JOHN OTTMAN (composer of "The Usual Suspects", "Lake Placid"): "Have your heart checked out first so you know you're not gonna have a heart attack, and maybe take up drinking as well! What I tell everybody is that my philosophy has always been do, do, do. It sounds trite, but the thing is alot of people always think that they're first jobs are somehow below them and they hold out for something better. But I say just take what you can get and if you don't think its something that's great, make it your mission to make it better. Throughout your career you're always gonna get things that stink, and either you're not gonna embrace them and you're gonna have a horrible time, or you're gonna make yourself believe that you can make it a great thing. I mean that's always been my philosophy, so if you're presented with something just take it. That's sort of why I got into editing. I didn't want to edit anything at all, I HATED editing. But you know what? People asked me to do it and I thought, "Well, someones asking me to do something, so they must see a value in me doing it." And ironically it led to me scoring pictures. So you never know what one thing is going to lead to."

J.A.C. REDFORD (composer of "Newsies", "Mighty Ducks 2 & 3"): "Study orchestration, study counter-point, be familiar with a wide, wide range of music. Everything from ethnic styles of music to popular music to the current orchestral effects. And I think if the question is being asked in terms of ambition of a career, I'd say the fastest track to becoming a successful film composer is by being in a successful rock 'n roll band! I believe in the basic fundamentals of music. It's like basketball: if you can't execute the fundamentals, your star quality can only take you to a certain point and not much further. Long-lasting careers like Bernard Herrmann and so forth, they built their careers on having mastered the fundamentals of music. I think some of the folks in the limelight now, when styles change, when things change, who knows whether they'll still be around or not?"

DON DAVIS (composer of "The Matrix", "House on Haunted Hill"): Obviously it isn't very useful for someone who just came out of college, for example, who needs to break into Hollywood scoring, to tell 'em to go look for orchestration work because it's not there. And I certainly don't wanna tell someone with no experience that what you have to do is spend alot of money and get a home studio and then you can work, because, you know, maybe you can and maybe you can't. So suddenly to be a film composer now you have to make this big, personal investment. It's like opening a restaurant or something. The risks are kind of the same, not to mention the food! So I don't know what to tell young composers, it's a very difficult thing. I think it's harder for them now than when I was breaking in, and it was hard then."

ALF CLAUSEN (composer of "The Simpsons", "Half-Baked"): "Talent is only one part of the picture. Perserverance is very, very important. And also people skills are very important, it's very valuable to be able to communicate with the people you work with on a people-skill level, because of the fact that what we do is kind of nebulous. And if people haven't been schooled in musical termanology, they always feel that they're operating with one foot off the cliff talking with composers. So it's very important to be able to make your producers comfortable, and be able to try to listen to what they have to say to you which is in plain English, and then translate it into your idea of what the musical terms are. The language that we speak is very, very unique. People skills are very important."

TODD HAYEN (orchestrator/conductor, composer of "One Last Flight"): "I don't want to say what everyone says, which is go find something else to do! But I mean the industry's just changed so radically over the last couple of years, it's really hard to say what's gonna end up as. I think if somebody wants to come out here and be John Williams and Jerry Goldsmith again, those days may have passed. I'm hoping they haven't, because I think that is true film scoring. But I think if you're really into the current stuff going on out there, the Hans Zimmer-type stuff, then I believe you can find a place here. And the primary thing to focus on isn't being a phenomenal composer with incredible demos of your incredible music, it's who you know and who you meet."

RICHARD GIBBS (composer of "10 Things I Hate About You", "Dr. Doolittle"): "I always have kind of a smart-ass response I'll tell film score classes at USC or someplace where I'm speaking, that's popular among surfers: If you don't surf, don't start! We don't need anyone else in the water! It's tough, it's really tough. I can't give advice except how it's worked for me, and that's basically a lot of serendipity. Having the right ties, being in the right place at the right time, having the right credits for the right person, and that's the way I've seen it work for most people. It's rare that I see someone just work their way up from the bottom. There's always some other angle, some other aspect that's gotten them started, whether it having been in a band, or being best friends with a director who goes on to be a really big director, I don't know."

MARC SHAIMAN (composer of "Patch Adams", "South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut"): "There's no way to duplicate what I did to get into film scoring. When aspiring composers ask me for advice, I normally feel like I'm sending them off more depressed than they were. Raise the money as if it were college tuition because it is going to affect your whole life the same way, and record some really wonderfully-sounding demos. Nowadays if you don't have incredible-sounding demos, you're already at a great disadvantage because of the way synthesizers can create that sound. Also, and here's something I've heard my agent tell countless people, go to your local video store and take some existing movies that have scenes that aren't scored, and score those scenes yourself...a producer, director will be much more interested to hear what you can do then."

GEORGE S. CLINTON (composer of "Austin Powers I & II", "Wild Things"): "I would advise you very strongly if you're in college and majoring in music, not to stop until you've gone all the way through the program and gotten the degree. If you aren't studying music, I would advise you to get involved in some kind of program that gives you the familiarity with music theory and the basic fundamentals of music. Because no matter how creative you are, you're only going to to be able to go as far as your technique can go. And the more you know about music and the more masterful you are with all the elements of music, then the more creative you can be in getting to where you want to go. And I would say that the best thing you can do is to start relationships with aspiring directors, aspiring film editors, people who might be music editors who you can send a CD or a cassette of your stuff to...but it's a very relationship-oriented business. So after you get your degree and your schooling done, the best thing to do is just get on the phone and start callin'."

MARK ISHAM (composer of "A River Runs Through It", "Varsity Blues"): "Well you know the main thing I've learned over the years is that, yes, it's important to have your composer chops together, it's important to know as much as you can about music, the language of music and how to express as many different emotions through music as possible. But believe it or not it's more important that you know how to discuss these things. Because the composer's job is to duplicate the vision of the director and then be able to take that vision and translate it into music...it's also very important that you find out who is really making the film you're working on. Because most directors will have a group of people they've surrounded themselves with and in various different ways they use these people to bounce ideas off of. Sometimes it's the editor, other times it's the producers, and it varies from film to film. And it's important that when the composer steps into this group that they really observe how it's working and who's doing what, and they really duplicate everyone's point of view and take it all into account as they're starting to develop the music."

MARK WATTERS (composer of "Doug's 1st Movie", "The 1996 Summer Olympics"): "I would agree that to be a success in the film and television music business, you must have healthy doses of musical, social, technical and business skills. I would add to that just three things. First, move to Los Angeles if you don't already live here. It's not to say that there are not working composers such as Alan Silvestri and Mason Daring who sustain their careers outside of L.A. but they are definitely the exception. Second, work hard to develop your own style. The truly great composers (past and present) are ones that have created their unique sound and approach thus separating them from the hundreds of other candidates. Finally, I would encourage anyone serious about a career in this business to join The Society of Composers and Lyricists. This is the only group that is made up of and run by working professionals. In fact, almost all of the composers listed before me are members. I'm a bit biased because I'm the President but I've been a member for 14 years and never regretted it. One of the many programs we sponsor throughout the year are the numerous seminars geared for entry-level composers. For more info you should call (818) 990-3540."

LEE HOLDRIDGE (composer of "Splash", "The Tuskegee Airmen"): "Study composition at serious universaties or conservatories, or private teaching, or whatever road it is, but really study composition. There's a tendency now to avoid studying legitimate composition because everyone says, 'Oh, well I can do it all on the computer' but you still have to input the right thing. You still have to write the music, you still have to create the structure and the form and the theme and the motif, you still have to learn the orchrestration before you can go to a computer. Immerse yourself in film, become a student of film and of theater. I found that attending the theater alot in NYC and seeing alot of plays was very helpful because you learn alot about dramatic structure, how drama unfolds. You know as a composer your one of the dramatists for the project your working on."

W.G. SNUFFY WALDEN (composer of "West Wing", "Felecity"): "What a tough question...what can I say? How can I say it? I've never been classically trained, or even been through a film composing program in school or out. The most important thing for me was having my own voice. You must have your own voice. If someone had approached me to do a John Williams-type of a thing when I was starting out, I would’ve been totally out of my league. I still would be. Because it’s not me...if scoring is something you want to do, you absolutely have to love it. There’s a lot of long hours, a lot of sweat, but I love what I do and it makes all the difference."


As you can see, some varying opinions and a few contradictions. But the basic theme is to network yourself and know your bag of tricks, baby!


"The Score" features the very best and most varied film and TV music around every Tuesday from 7:30 to 10 am eastern on WSIA New York, 88.9 FM. It's also been included in the New York Daily News' "What's Hot" column for city-wide entertainment. If you're not in the New York City area, you can listen live via Real Audio wherever you are at wsia.fm or www.silive.com

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Mike Enright
Host/Producer

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