I don’t know how people go to school full-time, and work full-time, without going insane. It’s been a crazy three months just doing one online class and working full-time. And then there’s that pesky task of having a life in between. I’m baffled.
To recap: in my last blog about my musical endeavors, I mentioned how I had decided to go back to school and augment my education. And so, for the past three months, I have been taking an online course in film scoring from the Berklee College of Music, the first of three classes required for their Specialist Certificate program in Music for Movies and TV. (Up next: Language of Film & TV, aka the class Mr. “Writing About Film Since 1996” should get an A in.) I’ll admit, it’s been a bit nerve-racking to go back to school, especially since online classes are new to me, but it’s also been invigorating. Since films, and filmmaking, was already a profound passion of mine, I’ve been pleasantly surprised by how much I already understood about the process, to say nothing of how much my own personal experiences would come full circle. Due to computer issues (all of which are now taken care of, courtesy of my friend Dave), I had to wing it on a couple of assignments, which meant throwing me back to earlier times of recording music and scoring films, especially my friend Chris’s series, “The Case”. Just goes to further prove that, in fact, everything happens for a reason.
One thing that has become abundantly clear over the past 11 weeks of this course is that film music, and the creative process, is what makes me happiest, and what will make me happiest, in terms of what I want to do with my life. I have the chops for it, and it’s a fun challenge. In terms of the creative aspects, it’s a jolt of energy, and even though I’ll probably always write stand-alone musical works, my musical voice is at it’s best, I think, when it has a definite story to tell. In addition to learning about the techniques of film music, we’ve also had three opportunities to score different student films/scenes, and I’d put the music I’ve written for those projects– “Sinead Rising”, a scene from the short, “Roller Palace”, and “Blue City” (our final project) –toe to toe with my scores for “The Case” or “Walpurgis Night”, or my “2001: A Space Odyssey”-inspired album, “Beyond the Infinite: A Musical Odyssey” as a strong example of what I’m capable of, and what I’m passionate about.
In addition to the music done for these projects (which I will gladly share with anyone interested in checking them out via Dropbox– just private message me, and I’ll send you the links), I continued to work on stand-alone pieces. The band piece I had started on the last update is very much finished; all that remains is doing the parts in Finale, figuring out dynamics and the depth of certain parts. (The working title is currently “Brian Skutle’s Passions”, but we’ll see if that sticks or not.) I’m working on updated software, not just for Finale, but also Cakewalk Sonar (my sequencer of choice for going on eight years now) and Sound Forge (my long-time editing software), which I got as a result of starting this class. I also purchased a small rhythm machine back in May, and immediately put it to use, doing a new electronica piece entitled, “Cosmic Energy”. There’s definitely going to be more featuring that machine in the near future; maybe even another album comparable to last year’s “Arpeggiations & Atmospeheres” down the road.
That’s all I have for now, but that seems like a lot, doesn’t it? Great things going on, and hopefully, more to come as the year progresses.
Thanks for listening,
Brian Skutle
www.sonic-cinema.com
brianskutle.bandcamp.com
“Creative Beginnings” at CDBaby
“Dark Experiments” at CDBaby
“Sonic Visions of a New Old West” at CDBaby
“Beyond the Infinite: A Musical Odyssey” at CDBaby
“Storytelling” at CDBaby
“Arpeggiations & Atmospheres” on BandCamp
