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Instructor and music editor Tim Starnes, instructor/composers David Spear and Michael Patterson, NYU Steinhardt School Associate Professor and composer Ron Sadoff, instructor, NYU faculty and composer Ira Newborn and ASCAP's Sue Devine |
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The 2008 NYU/ASCAP Foundation Film Scoring Workshop, under the artistic direction of Steinhardt Associate Professor and composer Ron Sadoff (The Moon and the Son) and in partnership with ASCAP's Senior Director of Film/TV Sue Devine, again featured a faculty of world-renowned filmcomposers, orchestrators, and music editors. The workshop, in memory of Disney Legend Buddy Baker (The Fox and the Hound), trains composers in the mold of classic Hollywood filmscoring, yet incorporates current technological trends into the process. The intensive eight-day seminar was held in NYU's Frederick Loewe Theatre, highlighted by an 'ASCAP Presents" evening of an interview with Dan Foliart (Happy Days, Home Improvement, Picket Fences), conducted by fellow composer-producer Joel Beckerman. The evening featured Foliart's performances, in which he accompanied various clips drawn from his decades of scoring series television. His live synchronization to picture was accomplished with wizard-accurate precision and verve, provoking delight froman appreciative audience of composers that filled the theatre.
Participants in the workshop were selected competitively from a broad field of applicants. The 20 young composers chosen worked closely with Steinhardt Film Scoring faculty members Ira Newborn ( Naked Gun ), Deniz Hughes ( S.W.A.T ), Michael Patterson ( Jag ) and Tim Starnes ( The Good Shepherd ), as well as summer faculty member David Spear ( Airplane ). The rigorous daily sessions detailed the mechanics and broad skill set necessary for film scoring: spotting, timing, composing, MIDI-mockups, orchestration, conducting, and recording. A daylong orchestration clinic featured the celebrated and venerable team of Sonny Kompanek, Michael Patterson, Ira Newborn, Deniz Hughes, David Matthews, and David Spear.
Seven scholarships were endowed this year by the Board of the Los Angeles based Film Music Foundation, The Sorel Charitable Organization for Women in Music, and the Steinhardt Film Scoring Program.
Stephanie Baer, the NYU Director of Strings, contracted the musicians for the recording sessions that featured top-tier players drawn from the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and Steinhardt's instrumental faculty. The recording session was engineered and mixed by Lawrence Manchester ( Titus , The Departed ). A final critique session, moderated by Sadoff, included Ira Newborn, Mike Patterson and David Spear.
Sadoff commented on the unique character of the 2008 workshop, 'A remarkably broad range of effective cues were composed this year – a testament to these young composers high level of talent and inventive musical ideas. It was quite astounding to hear four or five composers absorb the musical conventions necessary for creating the appropriate music for a scene, yet at the same time retaining their strong individual voices in the process." The workshop is now approaching the close of its first decade, and attracts young composers from around the world. Sue Devine and the ASCAP Foundation continue to serve as effective partners for providing a compelling training ground and gateway into the field."
