Morricone Speaks
I’m sure I wasn’t the only S21 reader pleased when Ennio Morricone received a lifetime achievement Oscar earlier this year. Recently he chatted with CNN. At one point he advises young composers to focus on writing absolute music: if you’re a film composer without a film, you’re not really a composer at all.
Which begs the question: any film-less film composers peddling their misconceived craft these days? Play nice, now.
“if you’re a film composer without a film, you’re not really a composer at all. ”
Perhaps Morricone meant if you are a composer without a film, you are not a film composer. At least in my opinion it’s wrong. However, if someone wants to re-define a word because they have an audience, I’m all for it as long as it’s in the name of entertainment and not taken seriously. I suppose an author isn’t an author if his book isn’t adapted to film either.
Tom, reality is perception. And I’m happy to be an idiot and make my own reality. The other reality kinda sucked, but this reality is a lot better. Not trying to harsh your vibe, of course. Namaste.
Hey, count me in as a happy idiot, Tom! At least, if we go with the concept of “one’s perception is one’s reality.” For me, that’s a path toward sanity: a [perhaps false yet palpable] sense of control. Not control over external events, because those are far outside the bounds of my [doubtless stunning and earth-shattering] power. But control over how I choose to react to things, and the decisions I make on a daily basis. All of my own actions go a long way toward making my own reality.
Realty even plays into this, too! The move I made a few months ago from the urban congestion of Los Angeles up to the rural serenity of the San Juan Islands has been the most positive shift in my reality in many years– ever since I quit the film and TV scoring business ten years ago and chose to compose concert music. Just that one decision to relocate to a place where I feel wonderful, seems to have opened up a lot of opportunities in my career and in my life that I don’t think had the space to show up before. Add to that the joy of lower living expenses, and even my wallet is celebrating my idiocy 🙂
At least, that’s my perception…!
Ha! I mis-typed. What I meant to say was that we make our own realty. We’re all building a big universal barn that we inhabit mentally with our own minds and shit.
Only an idiot thinks they make their own reality.
So get this… 😉 the Coen Brothers are making their next film in our backyard, literally. They’re going to destroy Elsie’s garden, install sprinklers over our windows to simulate rain, make a fake entrance and make us stay up all night to help with the apartment lights. They’re also going to pay us more $$$ than I’ve ever got from any music commission.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burn_After_Reading
Brad Pitt, Malkovich, George Clooney and Frances McDormand in our backyard. 😉 Weird.
How do you guys feel about nom de plume’s? I don’t want to besmirch my sterling rep with any film composing credentials. Hahaha… I’m helping Elsie out with her new thriller and she’s using a nom de plume for that project.
IMO, people who make claims about who and what isn’t a ‘real’ composer should not be encouraged or quoted. It’s bad form. And they’re idiots. We make our own realities now.
P.S. also, for anybody who’s interested there’s a new live recording of BlueStrider up at my site.
I think that statement can be broadened to, “If you’re a composer without a performance you’re not really a composer at all.”
By that standard, many up-and-comers then are not composers. Guess Scelsi wasn’t a composer until late in life. Thank goodness Nancarrow had some early works performed or else he wouldn’t make the cut.
true..the word “good” doesnt mean much here…
If you couldn’t cut it, didn’t like, whatever, fine. But nobody is “too good a composer” to write film music. Sheesh.
I bailed from film. I’m too independant, artisitic, and politically incorrect. I was greatly warned by many of my profs and musicians that I was too good a composer and had too unique a personal and developed voice to be in it. I have to admire the people in it though – not for the music at all. But for all the other things FS composers have to juggle to be successful. Its a large skillset and a lot of energy. And spotting is an art. For me, making a living there wasn’t something I was interested in. Composing my own stuff and on my own time was.
I disagree with the statement “If you’re a composer without a performance you’re not really a composer at all.” If the piece is good enough, it will find a venue…or worse case musicians will be hired. The important thing is to let the work grow in its own time and needs, and don’t rush the damn thing just to meet a commission or a performance deadline. Just my opinion…
I don’t think taking the step of calling a composer who doesn’t have his or her music performed not a composer at all is what Morricone means. I think that he is suggesting that what is most important for the development of a composer who wants to write music for films (and don’t we all what to have at least the chance?) is to focus on writing music that is good enough to stand on its own. Is a piece written by a composer that does not get a performance not a composition? How many pieces of music have been written throughout history that have gone unheard?
Morricone also talks about the importance of the director in the sound mixing, suggesting that how music is used in a film is as important as what music is used in a film.
Remember that movie set in Boston that Clint Eastwood directed (maybe he produced it) and wrote music for? I think it was called Mystic River. He did a lot of the “writing” during the Boston Symphony’s recording session, with arrangers there on the spot entering what he did into Finale and quickly extracting parts and handing them out to the orchestra. The whole thing was rather time consuming, but it was lucrative for the orchestra. It was, I believe, the BSO’s only recording project that year. Did having his film music performed (albeit arranged by other people) make Clint Eastwood a film composer?
I think that statement can be broadened to, “If you’re a composer without a performance you’re not really a composer at all.” I’ve just started scoring my third film. It’s no different than any other kind of composing.