For my entire life, I have been fascinated by the power of storytellers. Whether it’s a funny story recounted over a campfire or an epic tale of heroism and nobility in the face of impossible odds seen in a theater, a well told story will always force you to walk away forever changed in some way.
In 1977, my dad took me to see this little film you may have heard of called Star Wars. And, like most kids my age, I walked away dreaming of lightsabers and X-Wings.
But I also fell in love with something else – music. To me, John Williams was the master storyteller. George Lucas may have created that world (and we all love him for it!) but it was Mr. Williams that breathed life in to it. And it was experiencing how the power of his music made that galaxy far, far away somehow REAL that has captivated me ever since.
Fast forward a few years to now. Since that day, I’ve spent my entire life involved in music. Whether as a keyboardist or guitarist in a band or on the other side as a recording engineer and producer, I keep coming back to the fundamental principle that music tells a story.
In film, it’s the music that commands our emotions and resonates with our soul thereby enabling us to fully engage with the characters and their struggles and triumphs on screen. It’s the glue that allows all the elements to stick together and form something greater than the sum of its parts. It’s so powerful that even the absence of music in the right spot can be a so strong as to be almost overwhelming.
I’ve been blessed with many opportunities to tell my own stories and over the years I’ve learned a lot of ways to tell a story. Sometimes it’s with a simple piano. Sometimes I need an orchestra. Or a rock band. And sometimes I gotta find something crazy that no one has ever heard before.
But now I want to help you tell your story. Let’s see what we can create that will cause the next person to walk away forever changed.