Thank you for joining us today.  Can you please introduce yourself to the ScoreNotes audience by sharing some of your background with us?

My name is Alain Mayrand. I could tell you I have a Master’s degree in composition, have scored 18 films and have had my music commissioned and performed by ensembles all over North America, but that’s boring.

I have loved film music since I was 4, when I first saw “Star Wars”. I was given the LP as a gift and I remember spending hour after hour listening to it in my mother’s living room on an old, beat up record player.

I even recorded it on a cheap Radio Shack mono cassette player so that I could listen to it before going to bed!

That was so long ago, but I can still sing every note from that score! I still have that original 1976 “Star Wars” LP, by the way. It’s on a shelf in my living room.

I started guitar when I was 5 or so, and piano when I was 6 or 7. I playing "Star Wars" on the piano and other film scores like “Chariots of Fire”, but I only made the decision to be a professional musician when I was 15 – I decided I was going to be a rock guitar hero!

Soon I was playing in rock cover bands, getting known as the local guitar virtuoso and was hired as lead guitar player for a band that brought me to record in a posh Montreal studio at the sweet age of 17. That was a great experience, let me tell you.

But hard rock got old, I quit that band and turned my attention to jazz. I practiced with the same sort of life-cancelling intensity and then got hired as guitarist for a big band, formed my own jazz combo and accompanied singers on solo jazz guitar. But that didn’t fulfill me either.

Then I heard “The Rite of Spring” and I knew, right then and there, what I wanted to do. Is it a coincidence that there is a direct quote from the “Rite of Spring” in “Star Wars”? I doubt it!

So off I went to study composition at university. That was 15 years ago I am still as excited about writing music as I was when I took my first lessons as an undergrad.

Now I have written music for 18 films with the next one starting this January. My film music has been performed and recorded by the “Russian State Symphony Orchestra” and the “Ramat Gan Chamber Orchestra” in Israel.

I have also been commissioned by numerous ensembles and soloists, most recently by the Kwantlen Symphonic Winds and by the amazing New York pianist Sandro Russo.

By necessity I have become quite proficient in digital music production, and as a result have been commissioned by the groundbreaking software manufacturer Synful as well as another, yet to be announced.

Can you share any details about your upcoming project, "Invaders from Mars?"  And is it true that it's a musical?

Yes, it’s a musical! Isn’t that amazing and wonderful? There seems to be a trend towards musicals again and I for one think that is a good thing.

I have done some work on musicals in the past, some arranging and composing, but this will be my first full-length musical and I look forward to it.

The musical is titled “Invaders from Mars”. From that you surely understand that it is not going to be a serious musical. No Soundheim here! Think “Rocky Horror” and “Little Shop of Horrors” meets 50’s B movies.

What were your inspirations behind your book of piano pieces "A Garden of Music?"

This is a bit touchy-feely, but after a few years of being a father and a music teacher I started to see how important and valuable it was to write music for young musicians. I wanted to write something that wasn’t cheap learning pieces, but something substantial and of value that would be a great experience for them to learn and play.

My concept was to combine stories and images with music to create a “multimedia” experience.

Originally, I wanted to write music based on folk tales, and I must have read hundreds of them! But in the process I stumbled across Robert Louis Stevenson’s “A Children’s Garden of Verses”, and it just clicked. His poetry had subject matter and imagery that fit perfectly with what I wanted to do musically.

After 2 months of work I had a collection of 21 pieces called “A Garden of Music”.

But then I decided I wanted to self-publish. You see, I had this vision of how I wanted the book to look and I was excited to design it myself. I had no idea how much work that was going to be!

But it was worth it. The book was internationally well received and as resulted in some very nice commissions and collaborations.

Do you think that many young composers coming up in the industry today have an appreciation for classical music or do you think film scores have become the new reference points in their studies?

Do you mean young film composers or classical composers? Because most classical musicians and composers look down their noses at film scores, you know. So the answer there would be “no.”

But if you mean young film composer, then I do think that a lot of them base their music on other film scores. This could be a good thing if they listened to composers such as John Williams and the greats like Hans J. Salter, Dmitri Tiomkin and Mancini, but too many seem to listen to and emulate  “sampler composers” which I find results in a lesser degree of compositional and orchestration skills.

I agree with John Williams who said that young film composers should focus on learning their counterpoint.

How do you think some of the classical masters would have fared in writing music for film if they were around today? 

Classical training makes for a better composer, there is no question about it. The great classical composers would have had the musical skills to write great film scores, but musical skill alone is not the only thing required! You need the right attitude.

I think Beethoven would not have had the right personality to deal with the demands of film scoring today. Can you imagine old Ludwig being asked to copy a temp track? I can just see the director running for his life!

Or Mozart being asked to rewrite yet again? “There are simply too many notes. Just cut a few and it will be perfect.” “Which few did you have in mind, m. director?”

But certainly Mozart and other composers would have had the training and facility to meet the demands of film scoring deadlines.

There is a story about Stravinsky being asked to do a film score and he said, sure, give me a year. The director said, no, you have three months to which Stravinsky answered “how can you do anything good in three months?”

And Stravinsky was right in a way. Could something as monumentally groundbreaking as the Rite of Spring have been written in three months? No. Stravinsky’s music required a lot of work, and the same is true of many 20th Century composers.

Ravel considered himself to be a second-rate composer because he had to work so hard at it, feeling that it didn’t come easy to him, and Lutoslwaski took very long on all his scores.

Personally, I think this has to do with the fact that the demands on 20th Century composers were very different and in many ways greater than those of previous periods, and also because both composers were extreme perfectionists. They would not have done well as film composers.

Ideally, what types of movies or projects do you hope to be writing music for? 

My child hood dream is to write for science-fiction, of course! But I like action films, fantasy, comedy and writing for horror would also be a treat. I guess the bottom line is like writing high-adrenaline orchestral scores and have done so on a few occasions and enjoyed it tremendously.

I also would love to write for animation and other kids films. As a father of two young boys that would truly be something worthwhile and exciting.

Oh, and I also have enjoyed the challenge of drama, being subtle and hitting the right tone without being heavy-handed.

Well, I guess that covers almost every genre doesn’t it! But let’s face it, and I know this will sound cliché but it’s 100% true, I just want to be part of the telling of a good story and working with talented people.

Since I'm always interested in the opinions of creative individuals, what films in 2008 impressed you the most?  Likewise, were there any soundtracks that stood out to you during the year?

Was “Ratatouille” in 2008? No, 2007. Well, that was the last film score that impressed me. I guess I didn’t hear anything that interested me in 2008. Wow, I didn’t realize that. That’s not good.

Michael Giacchino’s score for “Ratatouille” really was the highlight in film scoring for the past few years. His music flows extremely well, avoids clichés and is fresh while being easy to listen to. His melodies are also quite memorable and well constructed and there are no moments when I start to think “ah, he was using samples when he wrote this” like I did while watching one of the big movies out in cinemas now.

Also important is how well he is able to follow the story with his music and how well he spots the movie. The music is always perfectly placed in the scene. Those are two qualities that sets him apart as well.

As for films in general that I liked this year, “Wall-E” would be my favourite, I liked “Jumper” quite a bit, “Ironman” had some good moments, “No Country for Old Men” was very special. There must be others but that is what I remember right now.

(Yes, I know, “Dark Knight” didn’t make the list! What can I tell ya!)

Looking ahead, what do you hope to achieve in 2009?  And beyond that, what are some of the long term goals that you have set for yourself?

That is a good question for sure. My long term goal is to write for the big films, my childhood dream being to write for big science-fiction, action, super-hero, fantasy films – like I said before, but any other big film as well. I mean, what composer doesn’t want his work to be heard and appreciated by as many people as possible?

I have worked hard to build all the skills necessary to reach that goal, and continue to work hard and have a plan.

I have broken it down into a few general interim goals.

First; after completing “Invaders from Mars” I aim to write for other low budget films, focusing on horror and action so as to demonstrate that side of my scoring, and also looking for films that have the potential to get a good critical response, even if they don’t pay as well.

Second; get an agent and move on up the ladder. There is more to it than that, of course, but that is the gist of it.

However, your question was about 2009, and it is impossible for me to predict because it all depends on what projects come my way.

But I plan to approach my success in this business with the same kind of doggedness as I did my guitar and composition and won’t stop until I get there.

Thank you for joining us on this Spotlight edition. We're looking forward to hearing many exciting things from you in the future!

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