For those who know me better know that I have a pure passion for film music. I literally listen to it all day. No, I don't like "soundtrack" as a lose collection of pop songs played in a movie--I hate when people refer to that as film music. What I love is the orchestral version of film music--Star Wars, Jurassic Park, Indiana Jones are classic ones to give you an idea of what I love.
My interest in film music started when my best friend in high school sold me his "Return of the Jedi" vinyl (boy, that alone categorizes me as old school). Quickly becoming a John Williams fan, I've started to attend John Williams music concerts in Germany, United States and even Hong Kong. I've seen John Williams conduct his own pieces at the Hollywood Bowl numerous times, and naturally with time, I've started to develop a taste for other composers and the entire genre as well. I've attended Jerry Goldsmith's world premiere of Mulan at the Hollywood Bowl and Howard Shore's world premiere of the "Lord of the Rings" symphony in Seattle. Besides the big names such as Goldsmith, Williams and Horner, I am also following and listening to other composers. Interested in trying out this genre? Check out my favorite online radio station from Singapore or the composers in my MP3 collection: Alan Silvestri, Basil Poledouris, Caroline Link, Cliff Eidelman, Craig Armstrong, Danny Elfman, David Arnold, David Grusin, Don Davis, Elliot Goldenthal, Hans Zimmer, Harry Gregson Williams, Howard Shore, James Horner, James Newton Howard, Jerry Goldsmith, Joe Hisaishi, John Barry, John Debney, John Ottman, John Williams, Kitaro, Mark Mancina, Maurice Jarre, Michael Kamen, Nobuo Uematsu, Patrick Doyle, Philip Glass, Rachel Portman, Randy Edelman, Tan Dun, Thomas Newman, Trevor Rabin.
Lately, I have fallen in love with this one piece by Japanese composer Joe Hisaishi. The piece, which I believe is called “Going Out“ is from the movie "Kikujiro no Natsu", and I swear, I have listened to this piece every single day for the past months. I have even learned how to play it on a piano now and enjoy doing so even though my performance totally sucks compared to the original piece.
At the dinner table with my family a few months ago, I told them that in the very long run I would like to be a film composer, so they asked me what happened to my previous long-term goal of being computer science professor, and I told them that I'll pursue that after I win the Oscar for Best Original Score, and they bursted out into laugher. Hm.. funny, I wasn't actually kidding. :)
Why this long intro for this post? Well, several things happening in my pursuit for being a film composer these weeks. A) I finally got my MP3 player installed in my car. Sorry NPR, looks like I will listen to less news now. B) Another piece that I love to death is Cliff Eidelman's “Orchestral Suite from the Lizzie McGuire Movie“, and I've got to use it in my friend's farewell slideshow. C) Video Games Live just announced their tour dates last week, and turns out that there will be one concert at the Shoreline Amphitheater--which is literally 3 minutes away from my office in Mountain View! Yippie… since I was already bumped out not being able to go to a concert at the renowned Walt Disney Hall yet, at least I have this to look forward to. D) I finally got my act together and am starting to look for my next great piano teacher. I left Seattle a few months ago, and due to too many things happening in my personal life, I never got a chance in finding a new teacher yet. So far, I've interviewed quite a bunch already and have narrowed down my search, but I think I will resume my lessons some time next week!
Lastly, did you guys know that there is an up and coming Vietnamese composer? Pay attention to Pete Nguyen! His composition for the second Vietnamese International Film Festival Trailer totally rocks. I've talked to him the other day--a very promising career he has. He even played the drums in Christopher Wong's Journey from the Fall. Check out the recording/brainstorming sessions!