Rubbin' Shoulders

I just finished the first two weeks of classes and my head is still in a tailspin. Here are my classes so far:

Eric Schmidt - composing and conducting

(Eric is a big cartoon music guy. He's worked on classics like Tom and Jerry Anamaniacs, Tiny Toons, etc....)

Pete Anthony - composing master class

(Pete is one of Hollywoods premier conductors and orchestrators. He works for guys like James Newton-Howard, John Powell, and Danny Elfman. If you've seen a blockbuster lately, chances are Pete has conducted it.)

Steve Juliani - music preparation

(Music prep is when you make the parts from the score. There are only a few music prep companies in LA, and Steve owns one of them.)

John Burlingame - film music history

(John is fantastic. He is one of the leading film score historians, and he is absolutely in love film music. All we do watch great films and geek-out about the score. It's heaven.)

Jack Smalley - Advanced Film Compostion

(Jack is in his mid 70's so he doesn't care what anyone thinks about him, so he's so much fun to be around. He's written tons of classic TV scores for shows like Charlie's Angels, Knight Rider, and Murder She Wrote!)

Rick Schmunk - Score editing with protools

(Rick is one of the few instructors who's actually a teacher! Consequently, his class is a little easier to follow than the rest)

Lennie Moore - Composition Techniques for Film and Video games

(I've actually had the please of meeting Lennie a few years ago when I did the semester in LA program through columbia. The man is a technical wizard. He's also got a ton of energy. You know that squirrel from Ice Age? That's Lennie.)

Brad Dechter - Orchestration

(Brad is one of the most in demand orchestrators in LA, yet he's is so laid back and modest about his work. Just this year he's orchestrated films like The Dark Knight, The Mummy, Hancock, Horton Hears a Who, Charlie Wilsons War, Michael Clayton, Hairspray, and the list goes on... Right now he's doing arrangements for up coming albums from Seal and Chris Botti. I got brad's autograph, haha : )

These are my teachers so far and there are many more to come. I wanted to show your the caliber and experience these guys have. People like Brad Dechter and Pete Anthony I've admired for a long time, and now I'm rubbin' shoulders with them! I still have to pinch myself every once in a while.

Last weekend, the whole class decided to have a fun weekend before things started to get too crazy. On Friday, we went and saw John Williams at the Hollywood Bowl, which was absolutely magical. Then on Saturday, Fabrizio (our very Italian classmate) cooked all of us an authentic Italian meal. Good people, good times. Here we are at the hollywood bowl after being mesmerized by Johnny Williams, and then us wining and dining.

This week I've also finally set up my little studio in my apartment. I've got a new keyboard, speakers, and a bunch of other goodies. Here's my "studio":

We finished our first major assignment last tuesday. We had to compose a minute and a half of music in the style of Warner Brothers cartoons. Sounds easy, right? Cartoon music is a blast to write, but there are hit points galore. When the music follows along with exactly what's happening on screen, it's called "Mickey Mousing." You can imagine this name came about because of it's popularity in films staring the mouse himself. I learned a ton from the experience and can't wait to compose more for animation. Here's the excerpt from Tom and Jerry that I scored.

Also, I've just finished my first student film score here at USC. It was a music video with the song done in the style of Johnny Cash. I contracted players, wrote the music, produced the session, and we recorded and mixed at the Spielberg Scoring stage here on campus. I met a ton of great new friends, and it was a great start to my scoring experience here in LA.

Finally, this weekend we had the privilege of meeting some extremely talented people in the industry. On Friday, we met with composers Ed Sheurmer (KPAX, The Count of Monte Cristo, Wimbledon) and Teddy Shapiro (Tropic Thunder, Semi-pro, Dogeball). Both guys were extremely welcoming and they both led relatively normal lives! They had families and pretty much kept and normal schedule. It was inspiring to see that having a family and being a film composer is a possibility after all.

Then on Saturday, we met with MB Gordy, one of LA's premier percussion players. He does all the percussion on shows like Battlestar Galactica and Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles. It was SO much fun. All we did was be like little kids and bang on stuff. He gave us a treasure chest full of new sounds and techniques to incorporate into our writing. AND, he was incredibly nice and fun to hang with (notice this is a trend with all the top guys).

Wow, so that's the last to weeks. Sorry for the super long post. I hope you're all doing well. I miss you Chicago!