My dad was a middle school band and orchestra teacher — my middle school band and orchestra teacher. Witnessing his life-long influence on students has led me to the realization that, while accolades and awards might be nice, music is a vehicle by which one generation influences the next. Not just in music but myriad life skills.
I find my greatest satisfaction in mentoring and teaching.
Creating music that sounds like film music is different from being a film composer.
Mastery of the current musical trend is not what one should concentrate on. To the fully-informed screen composer, adapting to whatever style or trend is appropriate should be the easy, fun part. There is always help available for ethnic scores and genre-specific styles.
It is the non-musical skills, the dramatic skills, the people skills that form the core of a successful career as a screen composer and deserve time and study. These skills vary little from project to project and decade to decade.
For example:
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"Spotting" is a skill that applies as much to a turn-of-the-century film as it does to a documentary about Hip Hop.
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Every workplace conversation with the director, editor or anyone who is not a screen composer requires thought, skill and semantic concession from time to time.
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Knowing how to nurture creativity when it seems the muse is on vacation and the deadline is looming.
These are a few of the skills possessed by the fully-informed professional and the subjects of my videos and lectures.