COMPOSER SPOTLIGHT: Harry Gregson-Williams

I appreciate WSJ for allowing me to reprint this article:

‘You Don’t Wait for the Muse to Hit You’
Film composer Harry Gregson-Williams knows how to serve each movie’s story

By JIM FUSILLI

Harry Gregson-Williams’s score for “X-Men Origins: Wolverine” is stirring, romantic and so robust as to suggest its mutant characters are part of a new, contemporary mythology. His music for “The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3” is gritty, pulsing and percussive, with themes that help articulate two characters who aren’t as uncomplicated as they may seem. The scores bear as little resemblance to each other as do the two films.

Thus, Mr. Gregson-Williams meets the primary objective of the film composer: to serve the story as subtly or overtly as the project demands. His ability to do so may explain why he’s one of Hollywood’s in-demand composers, having scored the “Shrek” and “Narnia” films, at least a half-dozen projects produced or directed by Tony Scott, and a host of videogames and TV episodes. He wrote the score for the forthcoming David Rackoff film “I Am Bad” and already has a handful of assignments for 2010.
Matt Dames

A childhood in England committed to music and a relatively late entry into the movie business contribute to his success, Mr. Gregson-Williams said when we spoke by phone earlier this month. The 47-year-old was at his Wavecrest music studio in Venice, Calif.

“When I was a child, I sang my damned heart out all over Europe with a precise, well-drilled choir. That level of discipline is necessary for a film composer. You don’t wait for the muse to hit you. It’s music to order. A certain discipline and knowledge is required.”

Mr. Gregson-Williams was a music teacher at London’s Guildhall School of Music & Drama and Amesbury School in Surrey with an expertise in choral music when his career path was altered by a chance meeting with Hans Zimmer. “He put me to work right away, conducting the choral music for ‘Crimson Tide,’” he said, referring to the 1995 film directed by Mr. Scott and scored by Mr. Zimmer. “It was water off a duck’s back for me.”

Mr. Zimmer encouraged Mr. Gregson-Williams to use his skills in Hollywood. “He didn’t have to persuade me. I got the proverbial one-way ticket and started to learn the ropes. Hans certainly became my mentor. I didn’t hang about. He gave me what he’d call a studio—I’d call it a closet—and I started to have a voice of my own. I’d orchestrate some cues,” he said, using a term for a piece of music within a score. “If I was lucky, I thought I could write a couple of cues.”
Tune In

Listen to a song from the soundtrack of “The Taking of Pelham 123,” with music by Harry Gregson-Williams :

Mr. Gregson-Williams told me that as a young musician he had no ambition to score films and thus hadn’t studied the industry’s great composers. “When I arrived here, I had no knowledge of what was going on,” he said. “I have found out about the legacy and tradition of great film music.” However, he added, “I don’t worry about who I sound like or my music identity. It’s all about how I feel about the project and what’s required.”

His first opportunity to score a film came in 1993 with a low-budget independent project, “White Angel.” Other assignments followed. In 1997 he, along with Mr. Zimmer, scored the film version of “Smilla’s Sense of Snow,” and a year later he did Antoine Fuqua’s “The Replacement Killers,” thus demonstrating his versatility: The former is an esoteric work with elements of mystery and science fiction, while the latter is a Hong Kong-style action tale.

That range is displayed in “Wolverine” and “Pelham 1 2 3.” “Wolverine” is, in essence, a comic-book tale with classical storytelling overtones; though endowed with extraordinary powers, the hero, played by Hugh Jackman, seeks love and tranquility. In “Pelham 1 2 3,” the opposing forces are flawed men—John Travolta’s character is a psychotic who’s cooked up a deadly, ingenious scheme, while Denzel Washington’s is a smart, resolute workingman who harbors a secret.

I mentioned to Mr. Gregson-Williams that I found his “Wolverine” score stirring. “I’ll settle for that,” he replied. “Hugh Jackman shines so bright, the music had to be muscular and appealing.” And yet the film’s most effective cue may be the haunting theme he composed for Wolverine’s lover Kayla Silverfox, played by Lynn Collins, whose presence sends the mutant in an unexpected direction. It was the first piece Mr. Gregson-Williams composed for the film. “The plot twist was my starting point,” he recalled.

“Pelham 1 2 3” is set almost entirely in a hijacked subway car and an underground ­transit-system dispatch center. Thus, the audience is locked in a confined space with the characters. When the action shifts above ground, police cars are hurtling through the streets of New York at a pace that guarantees calamity. “The nature of the film is very kinetic,” Mr. Gregson-Williams said. “With Tony Scott, the camera is on the prowl.”

Listen to a song from the soundtrack of “X-Men Origins: Wolverine,” with music by Harry Gregson-Williams:

The music that illuminates Ryder, Mr. Travolta’s character, seems to emerge from ambient sound—the squeal and clack of steel wheels on train tracks, for example. Mr. Gregson-­Williams’s expertise with ­computer-generated sounds gives him a musical palette beyond what an orchestra can produce, enabling him, he said, “to color or lend a certain uniqueness to the character or film.” In this case, those sounds within the score constantly remind the viewer that not only are the hostages trapped with Ryder, an armed madman, but they’re also in a rat-infested metallic maze deep below midtown Manhattan.

And Ryder is more than just a troubled killer. “The character has such enjoyment wreaking havoc,” Mr. Gregson-Williams said. “He doesn’t always put on a dark face. Not that he has a sense of humor. Maybe a sense of whimsy.”

As for Mr. Washington’s character, Mr. Gregson-Williams’s theme for Garber is heroic yet accessible—until it isn’t. “The cue for Garber must work when he makes an unexpected confession,” the composer said. “The music for Denzel, it’s not like it’s compensating for anything. It’s all up on the screen with him.”
—Mr. Fusilli is the Journal’s rock and pop music critic. Email him at jfusilli@wsj.com or follow him on Twitter @wsjrock.

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Early Music Instrument Discovered

Courtesy of New York Times

Stone Age Flutes Are Window Into Early Music
Daniel Maurer/Associated Press

At least 35,000 years ago, in the depths of the last ice age, the sound of music filled a cave in what is now southwestern Germany, the same place and time early Homo sapiens were also carving the oldest known examples of figurative art in the world.

Music and sculpture — expressions of artistic creativity, it seems — were emerging in tandem among some of the first modern humans when they first began spreading through Europe or soon after.

Archaeologists reported Wednesday the discovery last fall of a bone flute and two fragments of ivory flutes that they said represent the earliest known flowering of music-making in Stone Age culture. They said the bone flute with five finger holes, found at Hohle Fels Cave in the hills west of Ulm, was “by far the most complete of the musical instruments so far recovered from the caves” in a region where pieces of other flutes have been turning up in recent years.

A three-hole flute carved from mammoth ivory was uncovered a few years ago at another cave, as well as two flutes made from wing bones of a mute swan. In the same cave, archaeologists also found beautiful carvings of animals.

But until now the artifacts appeared to be too rare and not as precisely dated to support wider interpretations of the early rise of music. The earliest solid evidence of music instruments had previously come from France and Austria, but dated well after 30,000 years ago.

In an article published online by the journal Nature, Nicholas J. Conard of the University of Tübingen, in Germany, and colleagues wrote, “These finds demonstrate the presence of a well-established musical tradition at the time when modern humans colonized Europe.”

Although radiocarbon dates earlier than 30,000 years ago can be imprecise, samples from the bones and associated material were tested independently by two laboratories, in England and Germany, using different methods. Scientists said the data agreed on ages of at least 35,000 years old.

Dr. Conard’s team said that an abundance of stone and ivory artifacts, flint-knapping debris and bones of hunted animals were found in the sediments with the flutes. Many people appeared to have lived and worked there soon after their arrival in Europe, assumed to be around 40,000 years ago and 10,000 years before the native Neanderthals were to become extinct.

The Neanderthals, close human relatives, apparently left no firm evidence of having been musical.

The most significant of the new artifacts, the archaeologists said, was a flute made from a hollow bone of a griffon vulture, skeletons of which are often found in these caves. The preserved portion is about 8.5 inches long and includes the end of the instrument into which the musician blew. The maker had carved two deep, V-shaped notches there, and four fine lines near the finger holes. The other end appears to be broken off; judging by the typical length of these bird bones, two or three inches are missing.

Dr. Conard’s discovery in 2004 of the seven-inch, three-holed ivory flute at the Geissenklösterle cave, also near Ulm, inspired him to widen his search of caves, saying at the time that southern Germany “may have been one of the places where human culture originated.”

Friedrich Seeberger, a German specialist in ancient music, reproduced the ivory flute in wood. Experimenting with the replica, he found that the ancient flute produced a range of notes comparable in many ways to modern flutes. “The tones are quite harmonic,” he said.

A replica is yet to be made of the recent discovery, but the archaeologists said they expected the five-hole flute with its larger diameter to “provide a comparable, or perhaps greater, range of notes and musical possibilities.”

Archaeologists and other scholars can only speculate as to what moved these early Europeans to make music.

It so happens, as Dr. Conard and his co-authors, Susanne C. Münzel of Tubingen and Maria Malina of the Heidelberg Academy of Sciences, noted, the Hohle Fels flute was uncovered in sediments a few feet away from the carved figurine of a busty, nude woman, also around 35,000 years old. The discovery was announced in May by Dr. Conard.

Was this evidence of happy hours after the hunt? Fertility rites or social bonding? The German archaeologists suggested that music in the Stone Age “could have contributed to the maintenance of larger social networks, and thereby perhaps have helped facilitate the demographic and territorial expansion of modern humans.”

PICTURE AT TOP: Nicholas J. Conard of the University of Tübingen, in Germany, showed a thin bird-bone flute carved some 35,000 years ago.

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By JOHN NOBLE WILFORD
Published: June 24, 2009

Top 10 Most Anticipated Film Scores of 2009

This article was published in January 2009 but is still relevant.

Top-10 Most Anticipated Scores of 2009

Upcoming Film Scores lists the ten most exciting, promising and anticipated film scores of 2009, according to its editor Mikael Carlsson who can't wait to hear what will come out musically of these projects:

1. AVATAR (James Horner)
Director James Cameron and composer James Horner are of course best known for the multi-zillion-whatever-megahit Titanic, but they also gave us Aliens in 1986 which stands out as one of the most exciting nailbiter scores in sci-fi history. On that film, Cameron gave Horner a pretty hard time as judging from the composer interview on the special edition DVD, and basically what you hear in the film is the result of a composer writing under enormous pressure. On Avatar, the situation is the complete opposite. A luxury in film scoring today, the total time given to the scoring process on this film will probably exceed one year! Horner is currently working exclusively on this film, with first bout of scoring possibly to take place in spring. Horner is working with his close team of collaborators on Avatar: music editor Jim Henrikson, engineer Simon Rhodes and programmer Aaron Martin are already involved. What to expect in terms of the music is difficult to pin down: the film is said to be totally unique, so will the score be that too? How will the composer portray the otherwordly humanoid culture said to be a cornerstone of the story? Are we going to hear a full-blown symphonic score, or will Horner find alternate ways to depict other worlds? Will we hear those rousing brass triplets and thundering percussion from "Bishop's Countdown" accompanying the battle for survival in Avatar? Many questions and we will have to wait almost a year before we get the answers: the film opens on December 18, released by 20th Century Fox.

2. STAR TREK (Michael Giacchino)
The new Star Trek movie by J.J. Abrams is relaunching the classic sci-fi series and Abrams' composer-in-residence, Michael Giacchino, follows in the giant footsteps of composers such as Jerry Goldsmith and James Horner when he enters the USS Enterprise. Giacchino's TV music for Abrams' Lost is intensely effective, and his straight-forward action writing in Mission: Impossible 3 added a lot of energy to a film where the only question was if that extra adrenaline boost really was needed. In Star Trek, the most interesting aspect of the score is going to be whether or not Giacchino picks up the nobility and grandeur of the classic Goldsmith scores, or if he is going to do something completely unexpected (anything that doesn't sound like a "real" Star Trek score will undoubtedly have a hard time with the Trekkies). Film opens in May and most likely to the sound of Alexander Courage's classic fanfare (anything else would be sensational and, of course, disappointing).

3. THE SOLOIST (Dario Marianelli)
The collaboration between director Joe Wright and composer Dario Marianelli has already given us two gorgeous scores: Pride and Prejudice and Atonement, and the composer one Oscar. As their new film presents a story where music actually has a prominent role, The Soloist certainly is something to look forward too and most likely one of the main events in film music 2009. Marianelli's composing style, beautifully rooted in melody and always orchestrated with great sophistication and grace, should lend itself perfectly to the story about a journalist (Robert Downey Jr) who befriends a classically trained musician (Jamie Foxx) who lives his life on the streets of Los Angeles. Score was recorded in L.A. with Benjamin Wallfisch conducting.

4. THE WOLF MAN (Danny Elfman)
When Universal decided to remake the studio's 1941 monster classic, with Joe Johnston helming the project, there were many options as to who the composer would be. Johnston has worked extensively with James Horner and also with Don Davis and James Newton Howard - all of them capable of penning a solid monster score, no doubt about it. But the composer chosen is Danny Elfman, and it's a very inspired choice. Throughout his career, Elfman himself has shown such a passion for evil creatures, and particularly those who are misunderstood. His motif-driven writing and busy orchestrations will perfectly underscore the horror and excitement of the story, while his old-fashioned romantic and knack for sentimental harmony will capture the sadness of the story. This is a dream project for Elfman!

5. CREATION (Christopher Young)
Of course, a major horror film score such as Drag Me to Hell (Young's new project with Spider-Man helmer Sam Raimi) is always something to look forward to, but when I look at the list of upcoming Christopher Young scores it is Creation, his fifth project with director Jon Amiel, that triggers my enthusiasm the most. This is an unusual opportunity for the composer who is otherwise best known for his huge bombast of darkness in Hellraiser, Spider-Man 3 and Amiel's previous film, The Core: Creation is a biopic, a drama and, not to forget, a period piece about Charles Darwin. Whenever Young has been allowed to stretch his musical voice into more character (as opposed to spectacle) driven stories, the result has been highly interesting - his beautiful score for Murder in the First being the prime example. With a confident director who trusts Young's musical instincts, Creation can - if the film itself is good enough - very much be the composer's first real chance to flirt with Oscar!

6. BEYOND A REASONABLE DOUBT (David Shire)
David Fincher's stroke of genius, to bring back David Shire to A-list film scoring on Zodiac, is now followed by veteran director Peter Hyams' thriller Beyond a Reasonable Doubt, a remake of the 1956 film noir by Fritz Lang. Shire's approach to film scoring is rooted in the 1970s, which means less is more - refreshingly, quite the opposite of mainstream film music aesthetics of the new millennium. Shire brings his unique voice (often blending jazz elements with sinister string writing) to this mystery thriller and with his classic scores for The Conversation and All the President's Men, Beyond a Reasonable Doubt has the potential to be the dark horse of film music 2009. Another reason for my high expectations is that Peter Hyams always have great trust in the music; many great action scores have been composed under his direction (Jerry Goldsmith's Capricorn One and Bruce Broughton's Narrow Margin to name a couple).

7. THE LOVELY BONES (Brian Eno)
Clearly the most surprising scoring assignment of 2008 (just another Upcoming Film Scores scoop!), the attachment of legendary record producer and ambient electronica artist Brian Eno to Peter Jackson's The Lovely Bones is so interesting in itself that it simply has to be included on this list. Most people were, of course, expecting Howard Shore or James Newton Howard - but folks, this is not Lord of the Rings and it is not King Kong. This film goes back to Jackson's other side of his storytelling, the Heavenly Creatures one, and although Shore and Howard probably would have penned great scores for The Lovely Bones, having an artist such as Brian Eno doing the music for it will, without any doubt, result in a unique accompaniment to Alice Sebold's original story. It is a brave choice of composer and one of the most interesting film scoring assignments in recent years.

8. G.I. JOE: RISE OF COBRA (Alan Silvestri)
Everyone loves a good Silvestri action score. What will the composer of Predator, Back to the Future and Judge Dredd bring to the table of G.I. Joe, Stephen Sommers' big budget spectacle starring Brendan Fraser and Dennis Quaid? Well if you look at the previous collaborations between Sommers and Silvestri, The Mummy Returns and Van Helsing, I'm sure we can expect an adequate amount of adrenaline-pumping orchestral music - the big question is whether or not the approach will be an old-fashioned one, or if the music will be tailored more towards the film's target audience. It has to be said: G.I. Joe looks like a film any Remote Control composer would score on autopilot with studio execs applauding a "modern sound that will speak to the young audiences." I for one hope that the studio will allow Alan Silvestri to do his thing - if he is allowed that creative freedom, G.I. Joe is going to be a very exciting score.

9. PUBLIC ENEMIES (Elliot Goldenthal)
A new score by Elliot Goldenthal is always of highest interest. The composer who won an Oscar for Frida but made his most important contributions to film music with his ferociously orchestrated scores for Alien 3 and Interview With the Vampire, previously worked with Public Enemies director Michael Mann on Heat and that resulted in an intense and highly unusual score that worked very well on screen and on CD together with some hand-picked tracks by the director. Public Enemies is also a crime drama, but the big difference is that this is a period piece taking place in 1930s - a gangster epic. Goldenthal has proven before that he is an expert when it comes to mix various styles with his own strikingly original orchestral writing, perhaps we can expect a jazz flavor in Public Enemies. That said, Michael Mann seldom favors scoring approaches that are too obvious and most of his films feature a pretty eclectic collection of score, source tracks and songs. Film opens on July 1.

10. DAYBREAKERS (Christopher Gordon)
Aussie composer Christopher Gordon, one of the finest orchestral writers in the business, has done the music vampire film which takes place in the year 2017, when a plague has transformed most people into blood-sucking monsters. Perhaps not the most unusual of stories, but I'm sure it has given Gordon the ability to pen an absolutely marvellous orchestral score. On the TV show Salem's Lot, he delivered a stunning orchestral score which showcased an inventive composer who pays a lot of attention to detail. Although Gordon wrote the music for Peter Weir's Master and Commander five years ago (together with Iva Davies and Richard Tognetti), Daybreakers should be the feature that finally establishes him as a major composer to watch.

The Runners-Up:
Book of Blood (Guy Farley), Brothers (Thomas Newman), Knowing (Marco Beltrami), Land of the Lost (Michael Giacchino), Lesbian Vampire Killers (Debbie Wiseman), Monsters vs. Aliens (Henry Jackman), The Secret of Moonacre (Christian Henson), The Tree of Life (Alexandre Desplat), Up (Michael Giacchino), X-Men Origins: Wolverine (Harry Gregson-Williams).

Also worth keeping an eye (ear) on:
Afterwards (Alexandre Desplat), Agent Crush (Michael Price/David Arnold), Angels and Demons (Hans Zimmer), Blood: The Last Vampire (Marcus Trumpp), Broken Embraces (Alberto Iglesias), A Christmas Carol (Alan Silvestri), Coraline (Bruno Coulais), Dragonball: Evolution (Brian Tyler), Effie Briest (Johan Söderqvist), Franklyn (Joby Talbot), Giallo (Marco Werba), Hachiko - A Dog's Story (Jan A.P. Kaczmarek), Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Nicholas Hooper), I Sell the Dead (Jeff Grace), Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs (John Powell), The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus (Jeff and Mychael Danna), Jennifer's Body (Theodore Shapiro), Knife Edge (Guy Farley), No-Do (Alfons Conde), The Princess and the Frog (Randy Newman), Shanghai (Alex Heffes), The Taking of Pelham 123 (Harry Gregson-Williams), Terra (Abel Korzeniowski), They Came from Upstairs (John Debney), Transformers 2 - Revenge of the Fallen (Steve Jablonsky), The Young Victoria (Ilan Eshkeri).

COMPOSER SPOTLIGHT: 19-Year Simpson's Vet ALF CLAUSEN

After several years composing music for the television programs “Alf” and “Moonlighting,” Alf Clausen was in unfamiliar territory. He was out of work.

In fact, he’d been out of work for seven straight months. That’s when he got a call about working on a new animated series.

“And I said, ‘What’s the show?’ And he said, ‘It’s called “The Simpsons.” Have you ever seen it?’ And I said, ‘No.’ And he said, ‘Are you interested in doing animation?’ And I said, ‘No,’ ” Clausen recalls.

The Jamestown, N.D., native and 1963 graduate of North Dakota State University wanted to do dramas and TV movies of the week. But at the interview “Simpsons” creator Matt Groening told Clausen, “We look upon our show as not being a cartoon, but a drama where the characters are drawn, and we’d like it to be scored that way. Could you do that?”

“Well,” replied Clausen, “now that you put it that way, yes, I could do that.”

And for 19 years, he has.

The two-time Emmy Award-winning Clausen makes his way to North Dakota for two events presented Tuesday by BisonArts, a group that raises funds for the NDSU Division of Fine Arts. The latter event features a discussion of composition for film and television and a performance of Clausen’s music, conducted by Clausen himself.

“NDSU gave me a lot and I’d like to give back in some way, shape or form,” Clausen says from his Los Angeles home where he lives with his wife, Sally.

Maybe it’s fitting that Clausen ended up as the lead musical mind for a cartoon. He enjoys a joke. In relating part of his early story during an interview, he says he uttered a Homer-like “D’oh!” and then says “Oh, wait. That word didn’t exist then, did it?”

Fellow North Dakota native and retired music teacher at Golden West College in Huntington Beach, Calif., Gerry Schroeder says Clausen has a “terrific sense of humor” and a “great laugh.” He says Clausen wrote a rock opera for Golden West College titled “Joan Baby” in which Joan of Arc comes back as a quarterback for the New Orleans Saints.

And retired businessman and salesman Tim Smithson of Fargo used to play in NDSU’s marching band with Clausen, and described his sense of humor at that time as “very dry, but very funny.”

For whatever reason, “The Simpons” shoe has fit. But Clausen’s early academic days could have led him in a very different direction. He started out majoring in mechanical engineering “because my college entrance tests told me I would be good as a mechanical engineer and I had no idea what I wanted to do when I went to college.”

Of course, the move to music wasn’t totally out of the blue. He started playing French horn in the seventh grade. And as a child of the 1950s, he says, “I just fell in love with Little Richard and Chubby Checker and Elvis and the Everly Brothers, Fats Domino – all those R&B artists.”

He was creatively inclined as a youth. He had a Lionel train set layout that stretched over three 4-foot by 8-foot tables. He also got into hotrods, founding a National Hot Rod Association certified car club in Jamestown.

Given his penchant for working with his hands, maybe engineering wouldn’t have been so bad. But life would lead otherwise. He took a trip to Manhattan between his sophomore and junior years in college to stay with his cousin, a professional musician.

He saw the original productions of “West Side Story” and “My Fair Lady.” He saw Ingmar Bergman films. He attended the Randall’s Island Jazz Festival and remembers telling someone “ ‘Boy, that trumpet player’s amazing. Who is he?’ And the guy said, ‘You’ve got to really listen to him. That’s Miles Davis.’ ”

Clausen says those six weeks “totally turned my life around. And when I went back to North Dakota, as I say, I lasted about six weeks in mechanical engineering and realized that what I had just seen was something that I really wanted to be involved in.”

The place to start was with a change in major. He earned a degree in music theory, later making his way to the prestigious Berklee College of Music in Boston and eventually moving to Los Angeles in 1967.

“One thing led to another, and contacts led to other contacts, and eventually I ended up getting a call at the last minute to write an arrangement for the ‘Donnie & Marie Show,’ ” he says.

The music director of the show loved Clausen’s work and invited him to join the show as an arranger. He would become the show’s music director, his first “big network job.”

It’s only one of many big-name productions he’s worked on or contributed to, including the television programs “The Critic” and “The Mary Tyler Moore Variety Hour” and the films “Airplane II,” The Beastmaster,” “Ferris Beuller’s Day Off,” “Dragnet,” “Mr. Mom,” “Naked Gun,” “Splash,” “Weird Science” and “Wise Guys.”

Despite those credits, it’s probably his work as composer/conductor/songwriter for the “The Simpsons” that’s his biggest claim to fame. And the whole affair can get pretty grueling, too. He says that during the heat of production, he’s pulling about 80 or 90 hours a week. But, he says he likes the instant gratification that television offers.

In his words, “There’s nothing like seeing your work come to fruition in that short turnaround time and see it on the air and be able to sit back and say, ‘Yeah, I did that. I made it work again. How did I do that? I have no idea.’ ”

If you go

* What: BisonArts Gala benefiting the NDSU Division of Fine Arts

* When: 5:30 p.m. Tuesday

* Where: 300 Broadway, Fargo

* Info: Call (701) 231-7969

* What: An Evening with Alf Clausen

* When: 7:30 p.m. Tuesday

* Where: Fargo Theatre, 314 Broadway

* Tickets: $10 for adults and $5 for students. Call (701) 231-7969 for more information.

Readers can reach Forum reporter Shane Mercer at (701) 451-5734

New Haskin Book

Film and media composer Scott Haskin has announced the release of his first book, “Becoming An Indie Film Composer.” Designed for those looking to break into the industry, this guide offers the reader insight into the world of independent film.

The author discusses many topics including setting up a studio, locating a film, and working with a director to complete a musical score. He also shares some of his real life stories to not only entertain but educate the reader to assist them in avoiding some of the potential pitfalls of the business.

“When I first started out, I was unable to find comprehensive resources that explained the industry in its entirety,” says Scott. “It is my hope, through my own experiences, successes and failures alike, to help others reach for their dreams.”

For more information, visit Scott’s website at: http://www.scotthaskin.com/Book.htm

Thank you for the update Film Music Mag. Click the title above for Filmmusicmag link.

Copyright Law Campaign

Film, TV music composers urge copyright law change
By Sue Zeidler Sue Zeidler – Wed Jun 10, 5:29 pm ET

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Nathan Barr has scored horror films like "Hostel" and the HBO vampire series "True Blood," but what really keeps the composer up at night is fear he will not get paid for music distributed online.

"'True Blood' is my first big show for TV and it's definitely going to see a lot of play on the Internet. It's a big issue for me," Barr, 36, told Reuters in an interview. "I don't understand why composers don't get paid if someone downloads it."

The issue is the latest digital copyright debate pitting creators in the entertainment industry on one side and studios, broadcasters, cable operators and technology companies on the other. Barr underscores how a growing number of artists -- writers, actors and, yes, composers -- feel they are not fairly compensated for content distributed on the Internet.

Actors and writers have aired their grievances and demanded Hollywood studios pay up. Now, composers, along with publishers, are urging Congress to change copyright law so that when music airs in an audio-visual download, it is considered a public performance that earns them royalties.

The stakes are high: Industry experts believe composers could potentially earn nearly $100 million in additional royalty payments annually as Internet viewing grows -- if the law was changed to deem downloads of music in audio-visual works as public performances.

"We see audio visual as a vigorous growth area for composers, whether it's on Hulu, Netflix or iTunes, and a big issue is clarifying public performance rights as they apply to digital downloads," said Richard Conlon of Broadcast Music Inc (BMI), a performing rights group that collects royalties on behalf of artists.

The copyright issue, apart from being proposed legislation, is also expected to be the subject of a House Judiciary committee hearing in July, industry experts say.

At the center of the debate is a federal court ruling in April 2007, considered a victory for companies like AOL, RealNetworks and Yahoo! Inc YHOO.O> that found that downloading a music file was not considered a "performance."

Composers are arguably one of most overlooked among the so-called frontline entertainers behind a movie or TV series.

"Most composers don't get pensions like other people ... and we're now realizing we're not covered for much of the way entertainment is viewed online," Barr protested.

Performing rights group American Society of Composers Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) is appealing the 2007 ruling.

And ASCAP, BMI, and various other publishing and songwriting groups sent a letter in March 2009 to Congress urging a change in the U.S. Copyright Law.

"It's important these markets get locked down as composers really rely on public performance royalties," Conlon said.

Meanwhile, the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), a trade group for Hollywood studios such as General Electric Co's Universal Pictures, Viacom Inc's Paramount and Walt Disney Co, strongly opposes these efforts, arguing that a download is not a performance.

"The MPAA is opposed to amending the copyright law to require a double payment for music in movies and TV shows downloaded from the Internet," Angela Martinez, a spokeswoman for the MPAA said. "We do not need to amend the Copyright Act to compensate these composers twice for the same activity."

Veteran entertainment lawyer Jay Cooper said composers collect performance royalties when their music airs on cable, TV, radio and is streamed over the Web.

"But if a film along with the music in it is incorporated in a DVD, the typical contract between a composer and studio does not grant the composer a royalty or payment for sales of the DVD or for any downloads of the DVD," Cooper said.

"Composers believe the performance right of a download is not a contractual right but a legal right to which there is great opposition," he said.

Martinez and others like Jonathan Potter, executive director of the Digital Media Association, which represents online services like Apple Inc iTunes and Yahoo, believe composers are being disingenuous.

"This legislative request is the latest effort by these groups to blur the lines between making a copy and making a public performance in order to get royalties where none are obligated or should be obligated," said Potter.

(Reporting by Sue Zeidler; Editing by Edwin Chan, Richard Chang)

COMPOSER SPOTLIGHT: Bear McCreary's Battlestar Gallactica

See LA Times article below:

Among the hundreds of TV show themes currently coursing through the nation's cable boxes, Bear McCreary's compositions for "Battlestar Galactica" could arguably be described as the most symphonic.

The cult TV series, which airs on the Sci Fi Channel and stars Edward James Olmos and Mary McDonnell, features a score that is classical in scope and romantic in sweep, with references to many of the great composers of the 19th and 20th centuries, including Wagner, Bruckner, Sibelius and Mahler.

Sacrilege? Close your eyes and listen to the score from any of his work for the show, and you're almost guaranteed to feel transported to a concert hall, with a conductor and a full symphony orchestra in front of you. Or at least we at Culture Monster were.

McCreary is a young composer, barely out of his 20s, who studied classical composition at USC's Thornton School of Music. (He was a protege of the late, great film score composer Elmer Berstein.) On June 13, he'll be conducting selections from his music for "Battlestar Galactica" live at California Plaza in downtown L.A.

The performance begins at 7 p.m., but you may want to consider getting there extra early, lest you get trampled by passionate "Battlestar" fans.

-- David Ng

Whatever Happened To TV Theme Music?

Whatever happened to TV theme music?
Main-title melodies were once cultural touchstones

By JON BURLINGAME

OPENING NUMBER: Gone are the days when producers would use main title music to set up a skein, as the 'Laverne & Shirley' creators did when they ordered a full theme for pilot presentations starring Cindy Williams and Penny Marshall

Nearly 35 years ago, producers Thomas Miller and Edward Milkis put together a 20-minute presentation to convince ABC that two guest stars on "Happy Days" could be spun off into their own series.
They shot just a few new scenes of Penny Marshall and Cindy Williams as "Laverne & Shirley" but, recalls composer Charles Fox, they insisted on a 75-second main-title sequence with a fully produced song, "so, right from the beginning, people would know what it was about."

Fox and lyricist Norman Gimbel came up with "Making Our Dreams Come True." It became a top-25 hit -- one of many TV theme hits for Fox, who won an Emmy for "Love, American Style" and wrote themes for "Happy Days," "The Love Boat," "Angie" and others.

Today a composer is happy to get 10 seconds on a broadcast skein, and hit TV themes are rare.

Over the past 15 years, the broadcast networks have demanded shorter main-title sequences, preferring to jump into the action faster and thus reduce the chance that viewers will flip to another channel. Emmy's Main Title Theme Music category, however, disallows themes under 15 seconds, so many network shows are ineligible.

Last year's theme-music Emmy winner, Russ Landau ("Pirate Master"), says, "It's getting tougher and tougher to convince (decisionmakers) to spend the time that they would normally be making on advertising dollars.

But some producers like music -- Mark Burnett ("Survivor") likes a good, long-line theme. It sets the tone for the show."

Jeff Beal, who scores ABC's "Ugly Betty," gets 12 seconds -- so short a time that the music can't really be called a theme.

"It's a little sonic signature that says a lot about the style of the show and who the character is," he explains, its prominent marimba suggesting Betty's Mexican heritage.

For USA's "Monk," Beal got 45 seconds (and won one of his three Emmys), and for HBO's "Rome" he got a minute and a half. Longer openings offer a chance "to tell more of a musical story," he says.

"Heroes," by contrast, gave composers Lisa Coleman and Wendy Melvoin just 10 seconds. "You have to think in terms of 'stings,'" says Coleman, referring to the film-music tradition of brief but impactful musical statements. "We knew it had to be big and somewhat supernatural sounding. It didn't need to be terribly melodic, just atmospheric."

This year, PBS producer David Horn wanted to reinvigorate the opening sequence of "Great Performances" for the high-def era and called five-time Oscar winner John Williams to compose new theme music. Williams' piece debuted March 25 and is only his third primetime series signature in 25 years.

"It is elegant, and it sneaks up on you," says Horn, who previously had commissioned Oscar winners John Corigliano and Maurice Jarre to write "Great Performances" themes.

"I wanted to use a full symphonic orchestra, to invite the viewer to come in to a series that we like to think is classy," says Horn -- "one week the Metropolitan Opera, next week Carnegie Hall, then a musical theater piece, Shakespearean drama, a lot of different things."

In contrast, say many observers, the commercial networks are missing a bet by ignoring the power of a good theme.

"Quickening the pace, getting into storylines faster, all conspire against the theme," says Cleveland Plain Dealer TV critic Mark Dawidziak. "But on cable, the name of the game is people knowing who you are -- FX viewers, USA viewers, HBO viewers -- and this is where that old-fashioned network thinking comes into play. They hear that music and they remember that opening."

"Eighty years from now," he adds, "today's kids, sitting in their wheelchairs in the nursing home, will be humming the 'SpongeBob SquarePants' theme in much the same way that we know the theme songs of our youth. It's more than just a TV theme. It becomes a communal thing, a shared cultural point among your friends, your community."

COMPOSER SPOTLIGHT: Michael Giacchino Interview

Michael Giacchino is the top movie score guy
by Stephen Whitty/The Star-Ledger
Thursday May 28, 2009, 3:44 PM

Michael Giacchino wrote the movie scores for "Up," which opens Friday, the recent blockbuster "Star Trek," and the upcoming "Land of the Lost."

He doesn't have a Top 10 hit, but millions of Americans are going to spend the summer listening to the music of Michael Giacchino.

That's because the Edgewater Park native wrote the movie scores for "Up," which opens Friday. And the recent blockbuster "Star Trek." And the upcoming "Land of the Lost."

It's just the latest peak in a career that took him from Delran's Holy Cross High School to Manhattan's School of the Visual Arts -- and then to Hollywood, and an early gig scoring video games. He's been busy ever since.

Somehow, though, the prolific 41-year-old and father of three -- who also scored "The Incredibles," and writes the music for TV's "Lost" and "Fringe" -- still found time to chat recently about his work as one of Hollywood's go-to guys.

Q: One of the most charming things about "Up" is your music, which is romantic and old-fashioned and sort of unusual for an animated film. It's like something you'd hear in a bistro.

A: Yeah, it's a very small ensemble for the most part. Stand-up bass, guitar, violin, clarinet -- those are the main pieces. We wanted that intimate kind of feel. There's a tendency in animation to go huge, this idea that just because it's an animated film it needs overbearing music to convey any emotion. And I've always hated that. If it's a good story, you just need something simple to make it work. ... That's what I love about Pixar. It's always about the story. That's where every project begins, with the story -- not the marketing.

Q: Well, it is a movie about a cranky old guy and a chubby kid. Not the usual choices for product tie-ins.

A: Oh no, if merchandising had been the beginning of the conversation, the movie never would have been made. But that's what's great about Pixar. First they come up with, and commit to, the story. Then they go off and make it. And then they figure out how to market it.

Q: You've said that, like a lot of people -- and I was one of them -- you started out as a kid making movies in your yard. But you were even more interested in putting together the soundtracks afterward.

A: Yeah, that was a huge part of it for me. I'd use a bunch of classical stuff, all my sister's rock 'n' roll records, my dad's "Lawrence of Arabia" album. Getting material wasn't the problem. What was frustrating was figuring out how to sync it up.. I would spend hours working on those soundtracks. Really, endless, endless amounts of time.

Q: Do you remember the first soundtrack album you bought?

A: I remember getting the "Star Wars" album for Christmas one year. That was the be-all and end-all getting that, not only because of the John Williams music, but it had these great liner notes, talking about the instruments, and how the trumpets came in for Luke's theme. It was like finally getting a chance to look under the hood and see how the engine worked.

Q: Was it daunting taking on "Star Trek"? You want to do something new, but not new enough that the fans hunt you down and kill you.

A: It was somewhat frightening. I like "Star Trek," I love the movies and the soundtracks that came from them. And, first, I was sitting there, writing what you think space music is supposed to sound like. And I would listen to it with (director) J.J. Abrams and the producers and it just didn't feel right. It was music for what had come before. And so we kind of talked and decided, hey, this is not a film about the grandeur of space. This is a film about two guys, and how they become friends, and that's what we need to concentrate on, and let go of everything else. This is a reboot, not a continuation. That's why I only used hints of the Alexander Courage theme until the end.

Q: Which was a risk.

A: Oh, I knew that would make a lot of people -- serious soundtrack fans, and real "Star Trek" fans -- unhappy. But you know what, the film is not just for them, it's for everybody.. And, in the end, I feel I did the right thing for the film. I saw it again this week with my oldest and I've never had so much fun in a theater.

Q: Do you have any horror stories? One composer told me about this director who handled him a really awful comedy once and said, "Make it funny."

A: Right, "Now write some funny music." That never works. How do you write that? But I don't believe in that approach anyway. Really, it's probably my No. 1 rule.. "Land of the Lost," OK, it's a comedy, but my thought was, I'm going to support this seriously, 100 percent. Will Ferrell is the comedian; my music is the straight man.

Q: We should talk a little about your work for TV's "Lost," which really stands out for fans.

A: I love working on that because it allows me a lot of freedom. I'm never at a loss for inspiration there. I can be very simple and emotional, or as avant-garde and atonal and crazy as I want. You couldn't do that on "Up"!

Q: Or on a lot of other TV shows. So many of them now seem to have really forgettable music. Or just stick in a lot of pop songs. It's not like the '60s, when even a cartoon like "Jonny Quest" had a great theme.

A: That's true. But back then, music on TV didn't come out of a computer, it was live people making music on real instruments -- "Get Smart," "The Twilight Zone," all those things, you soaked them up, not even knowingly, but it was a real education. ... So much of it now, it's an afterthought. It's just something to get you from A to B -- or sell a record.

Q: Are you still able to go to the movies and get swept away the way you were when you were a kid? Or do you sit there listening to the soundtrack thinking, "Hmm, oboe. Interesting choice."

A: Only if the movie isn't doing its job. If it's doing its job, then I'm just watching the story like everybody else.

Stephen Whitty may be reached at swhitty@starledger.com or (212) 790-4435.

Tax Law and the Musician: IRS Q & A

While doing my taxes this year, I found this interview on tax laws that pertain to musicians by Antonio J. García with IRS agent Sallie Godingwith. Although posted in 2001, it is very insightful. See the excerpt below:


Employee

GARCÍA: Is a musician required to file a W-4 with every employer, no matter how infrequently employed by that person?

GODING: Yes. All new employees are required to give their new employer a Form W-4 when they start work. If a new employee does not give the employer a completed Form W-4, the employer is required to withhold taxes as if the employee is single, with no withholding allowances.1

GARCÍA: Where do I claim my employee income on the 1040 form?

GODING: If you are an employee, you should receive a Form W-2 from your employer showing the pay you received for your services. Depending on which form you use, report this income on the "Wages, salaries, tips" line of Form 1040, 1040A, or Form 1040EZ.2

GARCÍA: If I've received payment for performance by cash or check involving no W-2 or W-4, I should still claim the amount as income on my Form 1040. But where do I place such income on the form?

GODING: Assuming this income is related to your being an employee, it should be reported on the "Wages, salaries, tips" line of Form 1040, 1040A, or Form 1040EZ, even if you do not receive a Form W-2.3

This article is copyright 2001 by Antonio J. García and originally was published in the International Association of Jazz Educators Jazz Educators Journal, Vol. 33, No. 5, March 2001. It is used by permission of the author and, as needed, the publication. Some text variations may occur between the print version and that below. All international rights remain reserved; it is not for further reproduction without written consent. Antonio Garcia can be reached at www.garciamusic.com.