Monthly Archives: June 2023

Chigiana Film Scoring Intensive

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Right after I finished things up with Berklee’s Music Composition for Film, TV, and Video Games program, I had the great fortune of being part of the 2023 Academia Musicale Chigiana Film Scoring Intensive program in Siena, Italy. Everything about it was truly fantastic. 

Each person associated with the program was of the highest caliber, super talented, and crazy smart, going above and beyond to make this a world-class experience for all involved. The amazing faculty was made up of USC and Berklee instructors, supported by a team of industry professionals. The people in my cohort were incredibly talented, humble, kind, and generous. I feel extremely fortunate to be associated with this group of amazing people. And the location, Siena, is a beautiful and enchanting hilltop medieval village straight out of a dream. Can’t imagine a better place for this type of experience.

The program itself was divided into two primary segments. The first part was focused on creating a score to picture to be recorded by a string quintet at a studio in Rome and the second being a score to picture to be performed by a 42-piece orchestra recorded in a concert hall in Florence, with instruction on film music composition & analysis, orchestration, masterclasses, critiques, music technology, MIDI mockups, editing, sound design, sync licensing, and score & parts preparation throughout.

The program lived up to its name, as it was truly intensive. Most days I was getting up ~3 am and working throughout the day and then passing out when I got back to my apartment around 9 pm. I think out of the 20 days I was there I had one full day off. The rest of the time I was either in classes or working on my pieces. Seeing everyone work with such intensity, focus, and commitment, creating the amazing music that they made, was truly inspiring.

Thank you to all involved in making this a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Ciao, my friends!

Here is the piece I wrote for the string quintet. Special thanks go out to the amazing musicians that played on the recording:

Violino 1 – Antonio Pellegrino
Violino 2 – Nataliya Nykolayshyn
Viola – Bruno Pucci
Violoncello – Luca Pincini
Contrabasso – Massimo Ceccarelli

Glenn-Schoonmaker-The-Hotel-Budapest-Score-Concert-ScoreDownload

Here is the piece that I wrote for the orchestra:

Glenn-Schoonmaker-Time-Stops-Big-Fish-Concert-ScoreDownload

Here are some photo highlights.

Berklee Online – Post Graduation Thoughts

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I’ve been putting this off, writing about my overall experience with Berklee Online, for a couple of reasons. First, I spent the last month in Italy doing this amazing program, the Chigiana Film Scoring Intensive Program. Secondly, I think I was making it bigger in my mind than it needed to be.

To get straight to the point, I feel that Berklee Online’s “Music Composition for Film, TV, and Games” degree program is excellent. Was it perfect in every regard? No, nothing is. Was it what I needed when I needed it? Absolutely.

When I started looking into getting a degree in music back in 2019 I wasn’t even considering online education. I wanted a “legitimate” music education. I did a bit of research to see what the top schools were and USC’s Film Scoring program was at the top of that list.

I reached out to USC’s Thornton School of Music’s admissions department, asking about the process of getting into their Masters in Screen Scoring program, and they recommended Berklee Online as an undergraduate program. I was surprised, as I didn’t think an online program would be a viable option, and asked for clarification. They assured me that they had admitted a number of highly qualified students into their program that had come from Berklee’s online program. With that, I looked into Berklee Online and applied. Within a few weeks, I got the news that I was accepted into their film scoring degree program and would be starting in the Fall of 2019.

The “Pros”: great program, with excellent content, world-class musicians as course authors/instructors all without having to relocate to Boston. Berklee came to me. Also, with Covid, I would have had to do online studies anyways so it worked out great.

The “Cons”: while convenient the online program can never achieve the same experience of being in-person, getting immediate feedback, learning, and collaborating with others in real-time. This became super apparent during the Chigiana Film Scoring Intensive. So much more immediate, in-depth, and fun.

40 classes and 3.5 years later I now have a bachelor’s degree in Music Composition for Film, TV, and Games. As for what is next, I’m not exactly sure right now. Between Berklee Online and Chigiana’s Film Scoring Intensive, I’ve been at it full-time for quite a while and could use some downtime.

Thank you, Berklee for giving me what I needed, when I needed it. I feel very fortunate to have had the opportunity to learn from some amazing people and become an alum of your prestigious and excellent school.