Film scoring is like Sprinting a Marathon …
Last night I slept more than I had in the previous 10 days …. Eavesdrop is done … finally I got to sleep – for 12 hours. No matter how much prelimary work I’d done, many decisions (thousands in fact) came down to what I felt when I saw the locked picture. And what I saw was is a film that good – one that demanded all I had - every second, every thought including several all nighters in the week prior to Monday September 24, 2007.
In order to get as much time with the picture, still get it completed in time for the Sundance application, as well as save some dough at world class studio (a day at blocked rates), an ambitious plan for Monday was set:
10 am to 4pm – 17 jazz cues (14 originals with reprises),
4pm to 6pm – 10 cues for film noir harp music
6pm to 7pm – 2 cues for string quartet and harp
7pm to 9 pm – 5 cues for string quartet
9pm to 10pm – 1 cue for piano and string quartet, 3 solo piano cues
10 pm to ??? - edit, mix, and backup.
We finished at 6am! This was followed by laying in session at Big Sky at 10am. We placed all the tracks, and by 5 pm on Tuesday, my work on Eavesdrop was completed.
I only realized the enormity of what we (the musicans, the engineer and assistants) had accomplished that day when I created a backup of the 44 audio files and it would not fit on a cd, This does not include the 20 minutes of music from the Eroica Trio back in July or the 2 original pop songs that will be dropped in this film. This is a Magnum Opus.
I can say I’ve likely put more of myself and channeled fullest range of my musical expression in this opus than any other one work to this time.
I also learned so much so fast. A crash course like I’d never experienced before.
At one point during the jazz session, I said to the quintet “there are many things I’ll need to say about today later ... “ I was so exhausted I could not complete my thought. I lost my train of thought several times that day (and not just due to exhaustion.) This blog begins that journey to say thanks and memorialize a friend I miss dearly.
I have more to say privately to each of the following, but just wanted to say some things publically.
Deepest gratitude to Matthew Miele for such a great film, Chris Fetchko for taking care of the biz, and to both for the opportunity.
Adam Morrison – you are a timely gift in so many ways. Thanks for putting together such a kicking ensemble. I consider you a close friend now. How I wish I could do what you did …. especially with the solo piano pieces.
Ethel – I really love making music for you. You are so open and you went with me with in my delirium for all the Bernard Herman inspired cues. Your immediate and sincere response to the what will be called the “Rose” theme (more poignantly called by my dedication “For Carter”) was something I’ll treasure all my life. This piece was gift to me is now a gift you for to give over and over again. (You know, we have to put together a commission for suite of the eavesdrop music for string quartet including the opening AND “Rose” theme.)
Carol Emanuel – What a gift you have given a composer … a deeper understanding of an instrument in a class of it’s own. I promise that next time around will be easier for you. Thanks again for playing at our wedding. We gotta talk more about Jobim soon.
Bojen, Derrick and Angie – We did it. We freaking did it. Thanks for making me feel at home in a room with like 30+ incredible mics. We’ve gotta hang soon. I’m so greatful - the copies, the hang on the roof, the old school sound.
Ron, George, Allen, Todd, and Adam – The music you made is exactly what this film needed and everything I was hoping for and more. Such amazing playing, spririt, sound (and reading.) Yet, I know what it’s like when 1st takes go out into the world. One of my dreams for this film includes a screening with a live score. We’ll get another crack at these tunes yet.
You are all part of a team now …. A very loyal team as Ethel can attest.
Speaking of which, “Everything’s Jake”, the first collaboration for Matthew and I, with Ethel on the score, was just released on Warner Home video. It’s on Netflix now.
I’m really pleased with the way Eavesdrop turned out and I feel very confident as it moves out into the world. Deepest gratitude to everyone that played a part in this momentous day.
But most important of all the things I need to say is in the next blog…
Thursday, September 27, 2007
FOR CARTER
I can’t believe Carter Albrecht is gone. He was one of closest friends from my time at SMU. I did not know how grieve stricken I’ve been since his death. I was too busy working on Eavesdrop since his shooting on September 3rd. It was only when Ralph Farris asked me about my dedication that it hit me. His death was so senseless, so tragic, so strange. Now that Eavesdrop is done and I have some time to feel, the grief has brought me tears many times in the last two days.
A character in Eavesdrop, named Hal, is dying from cancer and contemplating ways to die (including tragic, “operatic” … etc.) He makes a choice then something happens and he makes a different choice. There is a life or death aspect to this part of the film and somehow I channeled all I was feeling about Carter into this “Rose” theme. (Though it’s a related to the Eavesdrop Main theme and Hal’s theme, this 1.45 long piece of music now exists on it’s own and to me, it’s all for Carter.)
Matt and I did not know what piece of music might work for Hal’s last scene and basically end the score. A last minute inspiration kicked in sometime on Saturday the 22nd and instead of editing and cleaning up string parts, I followed the muse. It worked beautifully for this most poignant moment in the film.
But I now know where this piece really came from …
I’ve known Carter since 1993 when we met in Dr. Donna Mayer-Martin’s music history class at SMU. He was the top of that class, I was second. I knew I had to accept I would never best in that class. He just that smart, sharp and musically knowledgeable. One of my ex-girlfriends was in the class and she noticed him immediately, asking me about him all the time. Carter and I jammed often in the practice rooms and I knew him when just getting his guitar playing started. This was only area he seemed to look up to me, inquiring about jazz chords I'd picked up at North Texas. Around the music school, we had another thing in common, we both had hot girlfriends. Other guys seemed to pick up on this, and we were all hanging out - Carter and I would just smile. He’d sometimes sit in on Blue Skye's acoustic shows at the Coffee Haus across from campus. I left Dallas in ’97 just when he was starting to pick up some steam in the Dallas music scene. I wished I stayed more in touch.
I recently reconnected with him at the 2006 Summerstage New Bohemians show. It was so good to catch up. I congratulated him on all his sideman playing / recording and he told me about his solo album. He seemed very interested in my film scores and we discussed the possibility of his playing on my upcoming album when he was in town for NB biz. Several weeks later, while in Dallas, Hilary, my best friend Michael Alves and I went to the Sorta band’s CD release party. We met Carter’s girlfriend Hilary. The thing I found myself most astounded by him was that he made Dallas his home, so warm, comfortable and cool, all the while a world class musician. Sometimes, I wish I had been able to do what he did - make Dallas his musical home and be widely successful and multi-talented musician. I guess I was never that comfortable as a Dallasite. He made me wish I was.
I know I worked even harder on “Eavesdrop” for Carter. He accomplished so much since our days at SMU. I know he would have continued to do so much more. This “Rose” theme is my attempt to put something beautiful in the world because there are no words to say what I feel.
Carter knew so much about music. I recall him playing Elgar Enigma Variations from the score, followed by a discussion about the intervals of the melody in the Nimrod movement - a beautiful piece of music written for the composer's best friend. It’s not an accident that "Rose" theme uses some of the same intervals.
Perhaps, I’ve inadvertently taken to heart my favorite quote - Leonard Bernstein’s “This will be our reply to violence: to make music more intensely, more beautifully, more devotedly than ever before.”
This music was my attempt anyway.
I want him to know that he is missed dearly.
link to hear "FOR CARTER" forthcoming.
A character in Eavesdrop, named Hal, is dying from cancer and contemplating ways to die (including tragic, “operatic” … etc.) He makes a choice then something happens and he makes a different choice. There is a life or death aspect to this part of the film and somehow I channeled all I was feeling about Carter into this “Rose” theme. (Though it’s a related to the Eavesdrop Main theme and Hal’s theme, this 1.45 long piece of music now exists on it’s own and to me, it’s all for Carter.)
Matt and I did not know what piece of music might work for Hal’s last scene and basically end the score. A last minute inspiration kicked in sometime on Saturday the 22nd and instead of editing and cleaning up string parts, I followed the muse. It worked beautifully for this most poignant moment in the film.
But I now know where this piece really came from …
I’ve known Carter since 1993 when we met in Dr. Donna Mayer-Martin’s music history class at SMU. He was the top of that class, I was second. I knew I had to accept I would never best in that class. He just that smart, sharp and musically knowledgeable. One of my ex-girlfriends was in the class and she noticed him immediately, asking me about him all the time. Carter and I jammed often in the practice rooms and I knew him when just getting his guitar playing started. This was only area he seemed to look up to me, inquiring about jazz chords I'd picked up at North Texas. Around the music school, we had another thing in common, we both had hot girlfriends. Other guys seemed to pick up on this, and we were all hanging out - Carter and I would just smile. He’d sometimes sit in on Blue Skye's acoustic shows at the Coffee Haus across from campus. I left Dallas in ’97 just when he was starting to pick up some steam in the Dallas music scene. I wished I stayed more in touch.
I recently reconnected with him at the 2006 Summerstage New Bohemians show. It was so good to catch up. I congratulated him on all his sideman playing / recording and he told me about his solo album. He seemed very interested in my film scores and we discussed the possibility of his playing on my upcoming album when he was in town for NB biz. Several weeks later, while in Dallas, Hilary, my best friend Michael Alves and I went to the Sorta band’s CD release party. We met Carter’s girlfriend Hilary. The thing I found myself most astounded by him was that he made Dallas his home, so warm, comfortable and cool, all the while a world class musician. Sometimes, I wish I had been able to do what he did - make Dallas his musical home and be widely successful and multi-talented musician. I guess I was never that comfortable as a Dallasite. He made me wish I was.
I know I worked even harder on “Eavesdrop” for Carter. He accomplished so much since our days at SMU. I know he would have continued to do so much more. This “Rose” theme is my attempt to put something beautiful in the world because there are no words to say what I feel.
Carter knew so much about music. I recall him playing Elgar Enigma Variations from the score, followed by a discussion about the intervals of the melody in the Nimrod movement - a beautiful piece of music written for the composer's best friend. It’s not an accident that "Rose" theme uses some of the same intervals.
Perhaps, I’ve inadvertently taken to heart my favorite quote - Leonard Bernstein’s “This will be our reply to violence: to make music more intensely, more beautifully, more devotedly than ever before.”
This music was my attempt anyway.
I want him to know that he is missed dearly.
link to hear "FOR CARTER" forthcoming.
Thursday, July 12, 2007
7.11.07
Got to shout out to the world:
Yesterday was a high point of my composing / music career ...
We recorded the Eroica Trio playing 20+ minutes of music for the film
Eavesdrop at Legacy Studios. At one point yesterday, producer of the
film Chris Fetcko asked me, "if money were no object on this film, who
would you have wanted to play this music?" I said the Eroica Trio. Two
weeks ago that was a dream. Everything fell into place very quickly and
yesterday ....
the Eroica Trio were playing my music. At another point, it was mentioned they were asked do some of Billy Joel's classical music .. but turned it down - they didn't like his "classical" work. (Kind of wild that one point he was considered as an actor for the composer character that eventually played by Terennce Mann.) Some how between the right timing, friendly interplay in phone calls, mockup's of the music, preliminary versions of the charts sent via email, they heard enough to agree to do it - but only if in one day. This meant that I have to have every detail completely thought and worked out. No reading session as originally planned. The down side - 16 to 20 hour days with nothing else on my brain for the last 2 weeks.
It was all worth it ...
How many composers, filmmakers, etc. get the very cast there were hoping for? To know the story of how I came to know them and why this day was so important, we must go back 10 years. I had just moved to New York, for some reason (I think because I was a BMI member and had several music and classical music magazine subscriptions) I was invited to their debut cd release (on EMI classical) party at the New Yorker Hotel. The invitation itself made me feel special - heavy weight paper, sealed envelope inside envelope. I was fresh of the boat to the city - really green, very poor and feeling very much in love with the Big Apple but deep down still a scared boy from texas. I think I was temping at BUG (Brooklyn, where I now reside, ironically enough, Union Gas at the Metrotech Center) feeling relieved to make $17 an hour for couple of weeks filling a chair. I know I went there (picture long hair in a pony tail, cacky's and white shirt with tie - the official temp uniform) because there would be free music, free food/drinks, possibly a cd and maybe I would meet somebody. I congratulated the composer who arranged the Gershwin and briefly spoke to these three amazing musicians. Kind of reminded me of the Dixie Chicks - absolutely burning world class musicians and easy on the eyes. I did not know it then, but a dream was born that night. I did get a free cd (and this is back when I only had maybe 40 cds total any way.) Be it on cd or ipod, I have listened to
them playing Ravel's Piano Trio countless times.
Mmmm....
What can happen in 10 years? A dream you did not even know you had can come true and bliss you out.
Now, I need to bookend this by announcing that there has been a lot of other amazing stuff going on just weeks prior ...
30 minutes of music composed and performed by myself for another film - Lucky Days ( about a 2 month process from meeting the writer/ director Angelica Torn for the first time to completion), as well as 5 minutes of a mini-opera on spec for children's tv composed and demo delivered in a week ( I'll be writing songs / music for two shows come September
- one on noggin, the other on BBC.) There are as many as 3 other films I am slated to begin some time in next 6 months or so ... all this and my first feature "Everything's Jake," has not even been officially distributed / released yet. (The Warner Bro's distribution will mean a larger audience than anything I've done thus far.)
Anyway, I'm a very happy man ... and about to be even happier - spending a week with my favorite person at our favorite place:
psvresort.com
Thanks to everyone that has supported me. As artists, we often live without a net or a map - but for today, everything that did not make sense before suddenly does ... it was to get to HERE and NOW.
-c
Yesterday was a high point of my composing / music career ...
We recorded the Eroica Trio playing 20+ minutes of music for the film
Eavesdrop at Legacy Studios. At one point yesterday, producer of the
film Chris Fetcko asked me, "if money were no object on this film, who
would you have wanted to play this music?" I said the Eroica Trio. Two
weeks ago that was a dream. Everything fell into place very quickly and
yesterday ....
the Eroica Trio were playing my music. At another point, it was mentioned they were asked do some of Billy Joel's classical music .. but turned it down - they didn't like his "classical" work. (Kind of wild that one point he was considered as an actor for the composer character that eventually played by Terennce Mann.) Some how between the right timing, friendly interplay in phone calls, mockup's of the music, preliminary versions of the charts sent via email, they heard enough to agree to do it - but only if in one day. This meant that I have to have every detail completely thought and worked out. No reading session as originally planned. The down side - 16 to 20 hour days with nothing else on my brain for the last 2 weeks.
It was all worth it ...
How many composers, filmmakers, etc. get the very cast there were hoping for? To know the story of how I came to know them and why this day was so important, we must go back 10 years. I had just moved to New York, for some reason (I think because I was a BMI member and had several music and classical music magazine subscriptions) I was invited to their debut cd release (on EMI classical) party at the New Yorker Hotel. The invitation itself made me feel special - heavy weight paper, sealed envelope inside envelope. I was fresh of the boat to the city - really green, very poor and feeling very much in love with the Big Apple but deep down still a scared boy from texas. I think I was temping at BUG (Brooklyn, where I now reside, ironically enough, Union Gas at the Metrotech Center) feeling relieved to make $17 an hour for couple of weeks filling a chair. I know I went there (picture long hair in a pony tail, cacky's and white shirt with tie - the official temp uniform) because there would be free music, free food/drinks, possibly a cd and maybe I would meet somebody. I congratulated the composer who arranged the Gershwin and briefly spoke to these three amazing musicians. Kind of reminded me of the Dixie Chicks - absolutely burning world class musicians and easy on the eyes. I did not know it then, but a dream was born that night. I did get a free cd (and this is back when I only had maybe 40 cds total any way.) Be it on cd or ipod, I have listened to
them playing Ravel's Piano Trio countless times.
Mmmm....
What can happen in 10 years? A dream you did not even know you had can come true and bliss you out.
Now, I need to bookend this by announcing that there has been a lot of other amazing stuff going on just weeks prior ...
30 minutes of music composed and performed by myself for another film - Lucky Days ( about a 2 month process from meeting the writer/ director Angelica Torn for the first time to completion), as well as 5 minutes of a mini-opera on spec for children's tv composed and demo delivered in a week ( I'll be writing songs / music for two shows come September
- one on noggin, the other on BBC.) There are as many as 3 other films I am slated to begin some time in next 6 months or so ... all this and my first feature "Everything's Jake," has not even been officially distributed / released yet. (The Warner Bro's distribution will mean a larger audience than anything I've done thus far.)
Anyway, I'm a very happy man ... and about to be even happier - spending a week with my favorite person at our favorite place:
psvresort.com
Thanks to everyone that has supported me. As artists, we often live without a net or a map - but for today, everything that did not make sense before suddenly does ... it was to get to HERE and NOW.
-c
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