Sunday Soundtracking is a weekly look at what I’m listening to from the film, television, and video game score world. It’s my effort to keep myself well educated in my craft, explore things that are new, and re-explore some favorites. There is more than a lifetime of score work for me to investigate. Here’s to making a dent in the list!Donnie Darko is one of those films I never would have seen if someone hadn’t sat me down and watched it with me. The time travel/drama/science fiction film from 2001 is unique. If you haven’t seen it I suggest watching the directors cut to better follow what’s going on (or at least make a visit to the Wikepedia page after viewing). This little film is one part disturbing, one part intriguing, and it makes almost no effort to keep the audience informed about what’s going on. The time travel aspect of this film is confusing, but it makes you feel like you want to join this secret, elusive club. So you keep watching, enraptured, and enter this cerebral, dark world. It feels like a mystery really.
Sunday Soundtracking is a weekly look at what I’m listening to from the film, television, and video game score world. It’s my effort to keep myself well educated in my craft, explore things that are new, and re-explore some favorites. There is more than a lifetime of score work for me to investigate. Here’s to making a dent in the list!
In recent years I have succumbed, almost entirely, to the new way of watching television: power watching. I consider Netflix to be one of the Internet’s greatest accomplishments. In most cases I wait long after shows have aired and digest full seasons in a matter of weeks days. Lost has been my recent journey, and before I go back and watch it again (to try and understand what on earth was going on), or fall to far down the rabbit hole of my Mad Men obsession, I’m taking a stab at studying the score while it’s fresh on my mind.
Michael Giacchino’s work on Lost is some of the most unique music on television. I choose that word carefully because within this show’s music there is the wonderfully unique and the “oh… that was unique…” As a composer I can enthusiastically say exploring this show was a learning experience. Giacchino continues to be an influence for me, and even when I disagree with his creative decisions I still have a large amount of respect for him. (For further clarification see the first 15 minutes of Up.)
Sunday Soundtracking is a weekly look at what I’m listening to from the film, television, and video game score world. It’s my effort to keep myself well educated in my craft, explore things that are new, and re-explore some favorites. There is more than a lifetime of score work for me to investigate. Here’s to making a dent in the list!
River Crossing – Carter Burwell
If you closed your eyes and listened to this track, having no idea what it was from, I would wager you would pin it as music from a western. There is something Americana about it in its simplicity and openness in the melody. The notes are resting on chord tones and the string ostinato is a simple, moving support bed. It’s also in the key of G which is the most “country” of all keys (see the entire contemporary country music genre played by guitar…). Continue reading →
Sunday Soundtracking is a weekly look at what I’m listening to from the film, television, and video game score world. It’s my effort to keep myself well educated in my craft and explore things that are new and re-explore some favorites. As a film composer there is more than a lifetime of score work for me to explore. Here’s to making a dent in the list!
I’m kicking off my first Sunday Soundtracking with one of my favorite scores. It’s one that’s stuck with me ever since I heard it. I have to admit that I’m always partial to anything Harry Potter, but after exploring this soundtrack, for what is probably several dozen hours, I’ve determined that it stands on its own as a masterpiece and one of the best scores I’ve heard in recent years. Continue reading →
Tonight I took a pause over this picture taken last month. There is a special ache felt only from missing those from the same womb.
My siblings.
The only ones who share the same starting place as me.
I struggle with being so far away. 3,000 miles is a tough pill to swallow in those moments where the busyness ceases and I’m the only one awake to think about things. Things usually means people because I am a product of those in my life. I have developed an acute sense of these 2 in me… how my sister’s existence taught me to not be a spoiled brat (for the most part), how my brother taught me how to live with a boy, and how the resolution of a fight is, ultimately, a chance to become closer to that person even if it takes a decade.
My parents told me this would happen…. that there would be a day that I missed sitting around the table with all of us, or letting my sister borrow my shirts.
A couple months ago I had the idea to create a twist on the classic Christmas treat for my coworkers. Turning gingerbread men into zombies seemed appropriate for the team of people who help create the music for The Walking Dead. Once my husband came up with “The Walking Bread” it was a done deal. He actually made them as well and painstakingly painted each one.
Was it that long ago that I finished Berklee? When was the last time I painted my nails? Who is hosting Saturday Night Live this week? Oh…. I missed the last 2?
All the little things that have been added to my life working in the film scoring world in LA have changed so many little things I used to take for granted. I don’t remember the last time I got my hair cut, and am still not sure that is going to happen in the near future.
As all of the realities of my new life in LA and working in film scoring crash around me. I have been forced to search for a new normal in a life yet unknown to me. I thought I knew what I was getting into… I spent all this money on a top education… What if I made a mistake?
I came across this photo today and my heart now feels warm. This was from our recent 6th anniversary trip to NYC. He had spent a lot of time, with some setbacks, making sure that an FAO Schwarz trip fit into our schedule. I had wanted to go there since I was a kid. The look on his face, the fact that he’s chewing on a popsicle stick, and the giant animals captures my husband so perfectly.
He is still making my dreams come true… even little girl ones.
He pushed me to go back to school. He suggested terrifying leaps of faith that turned into amazing opportunities. I am now working in my chosen field and working toward an incredible career.
None of it would be if not for the man that makes sure I always get to go see giant pianos.
It is quite possible to live without the trappings of our material life I tell myself while sitting on a lawn chair in our dining room. It’s been warm in the Los Angeles area as the last dregs of summer seep away. The shorts I wear as a result cause tiny squares from the chair mesh to form on my skin. It is these such tiny annoyances that remind me of my humanity. Some of life’s most profound truth makes its way slowly back through the monotony and inconvenience. I will always be brought back to this week when I have a skin indentation from a chair. Continue reading →
I wrote the article for Culturemaker(s) last month in reflection after visiting the 9/11 memorial. It seemed appropriate for today…
It was misty and gloomy last week when I stepped off the New York subway. The rain fit the occasion of Ryan and I visiting the World Trade Center and its recent addition of the National September 11 Memorial. I had visited before when the place still sat as a pile of rubble. The cranes loomed over the new skyscrapers being built which possessed an air of hope in their exposed beams and trusses. They might have been giant men putting on their clothes. The symbolism of the tallest tower’s future height being 1776 feet, the troop of army soldiers dressed in fatigues walking beside me to pay their respects, and the beautiful preservation of the makeshift fireman’s memorial encased in its 2001 time capsule all bestowed on me an immediate sense of patriotism, pride, and loss. I was in 9th grade when the towers fell; a small minded 14 year old who thought she knew what sadness and grief were. I sat next to my mother who sank to the floor of our living room in tears and we watched the towers fall in real time. The longer I live the more I know, even still, that I know nothing of such things. As young teenagers we dip our pens into the ink of those emotions, but find we couldn’t possibly begin to write with them. The almost 11 years of life I’ve lived since, at least allowed me to stand before those precious notes left outside one of those firehouses and cry weighty tears carrying a small fraction of understanding. The aged candies taped to a scrawled 9 year-old’s handwritten note, who surely is now college aged, carried the sentiments that we all still feel. At least I do, because I feel like I missed it back then.
I’m excited to share a video that came out today. My brother, sister, and I were privileged to be a part of this a few months ago. My brother works at a place in Fort Lauderdale called C&I Studios that puts on a series called Live at C&I.
“C&I Studios is a media company that provides new media to the world. Our vision is to create inspiring art with exceptional quality to reach Humanity 2.0.” Continue reading →
It is a season of endings, and tonight, I had my very last session at the Berklee Film Scoring studio. It’s pretty much the closest I’ll get to ever going to Hogwarts because we use wands (batons). With any luck and divine providence I will get to keep doing this with my life.
I am feeling incredibly blessed, exhausted, and relieved after a massive project.
Huge shout out to my engineer Scott…That guy has gotten me through a large amount of projects in my Berklee career.
Now I am one step closer to admitting that I must pack up my entire house to move. Isn’t it easier just to throw all this stuff away?
I love remembering the small details of large events
I clutched my grande Starbucks coffee and arrived, needlessly, at 7AM. I laughed to myself, knowing this would happen. The perpetual punctual lady had found herself, yet again, in the throws of Berklee’s administration [de]organization. By this point that aspect of Berklee had become endearing to me, and I just sat in my robe and absorbed my caffeine with contentment.
The best way I’ve found, recently, to describe my last 3 years of Berklee is that it taught me things I didn’t know I needed to learn. In that way it made me a new and different person. I hadn’t known before what to study, learn, or do. What was before just a whisper has now become a full fledged burning passion. I just knew what I loved and that was the entry point. Berklee taught me how to participate in what I love in an unparalleled way. It was so strange to stand and wait on that cement floor with my dear friends and film scoring compatriots. Anything would have felt strange because I never expected how I would feel. Continue reading →
This has been one of my favorite projects I’ve ever done at Berklee. First of all, the game is so endearing it wasn’t hard to write cute, fitting music for it. The hand drawn art design of the game is a very inspiring world to live in. Secondly, it was refreshing to get outside of the orchestral world I’ve been trying to fit into for so long. I feel that writing orchestrally is a life long journey, and yet I have found how useful it is to stray away from that path sometimes.
This was my first time writing for solo trumpet and accordion. My friend Conor played a beautiful trumpet part. In an effort to make the music interactive I wrote multiple versions of the same track so that when the player enters the same environment again they don’t hear the same entrance over and over. I had Conor play his lines in multiple passes with different mutes. In mixing it I even combined them all into one track which created a terrific quirky trumpet sound.
Writing for accordion was a learning experience. I brought my accordion playing friend Donny into the studio with a part that was basically just notes and dynamics. He sat and showed me all the possible ways of playing with various stops in and out. I couldn’t believe the versatility of that instrument, and when I write for accordion again I will be able to notate more of what I want in the score.
I searched for a long time for sounds that would feel like they match the Steam Punk style of this world. I wanted actual steam which was easy enough to find and put in, but finding the right metal sounds took a while. I finally landed on using a sample of a prepared piano. A prepared piano is an instrument that has been altered on the inside to create something that sounds nothing like a real piano. There are metal pieces added to the strings, hammers, and innards. I quickly discovered that a prepared piano is sound design gold. The metal scrapes and boings are far more interesting than a simple metal anvil sound or even a knife clink. Because most people aren’t familiar with a prepared piano it is not easily distinguishable as one when it’s a part of a larger piece. I look forward to using this again in other scores that call for an industrial, metal sound.
There was no better project to end my short Berklee Video Game Scoring career. This was one of those complete successes where I did what I set out to do and even exceeded my own expectations. Here’s to hoping for more and more REAL projects like this one…
This content is a few months old, but worth sharing nonetheless. It’s always a good time for a party!
In the last few years I have resonated deeply with the themes and story of Harry Potter. Those close to me will agree that I am, indeed, a super-fan. I have partaken of each form of each installment several times over. My most recent discovery has been the incredible audio book readings by Jim Dale.
I have found many friends along the way who love these stories just the same. It is common for my generation, though adults, to resonate with these stories that they grew up with. There is something pervasive and eternal in its themes, and I have always enjoyed sharing them with those close to me.
As I was walking briskly through the rain today in my incredibly inadequate shoes, with no umbrella, I found myself feeling incredibly grateful for the warmth and comfort 99% of the time. I could not wait to walk through the lobby of my office building and shake off the city chill and the misty rain. Today’s weather adventures brought to mind a topic I have had many late night discussions about, read many articles about, and pondered often.
I am excited to share with you my latest project in the long stream of exciting projects I get to work on at Berklee. I am currently in the Advanced Video Game scoring class with Professor Michael Sweet. These classes are great, in particular, because we choose our own games to work on. This allows one to fill out their reels and get a sense of what it’s like to work on different genres that might be of interest.
Me explaining to my violinists that they should play “like their fingers were spider legs.”
I recently had the privilege of creating a mock-up of Samuel Barber’s Adagio for Strings. I created the first 2 minutes of what is about an 8 minute piece. Continue reading →
This is an exert from my latest article written for On The Willows. I’m excited to be writing for them from time to time.
The first movie I ever cried at was The Lion King. The moment when Mufasa died was the first moment I remember putting myself into a character’s shoes, and pictured losing my dad.
Last week, I saw the Oscar-nominated film, The Descendants. Silent tears leaked out as I felt the hypothetical, unfathomable depth of sorrow, torment, and pain of losing my spouse.
Nothing has changed in these experiences except my nuance of understanding them.
When I was a young high-schooler I had a couple girlfriends who I spent a lot of time with. We had many sleepovers, late night talks…
Apparently the City of Boston does not feel the same way. I have gotten more of these than I’d like to admit in the last couple months and, frankly, I’m not happy. The money these cost makes me mad, but what makes me more mad is the ghost-like hands that place them on my windshield. I have wild fantasies of running into a meter maid while she is trying to give me a ticket. I walk up to her and she instantly sees my character, and genuine ignorance of all parking laws, and instantly forgives all wrongs, gets on her knees, and presents me with a free to park anywhere I please sticker which never expires. Continue reading →
Donnie Darko is one of those films I never would have seen if someone hadn’t sat me down and watched it with me. The time travel/drama/science fiction film from 2001 is unique. If you haven’t seen it I suggest watching the directors cut to better follow what’s going on (or at least make a visit to the Wikepedia page after viewing). This little film is one part disturbing, one part intriguing, and it makes almost no effort to keep the audience informed about what’s going on. The time travel aspect of this film is confusing, but it makes you feel like you want to join this secret, elusive club. So you keep watching, enraptured, and enter this cerebral, dark world. It feels like a mystery really.
