Being a composer, I think about these two terms a lot. Am I going to trust my intuition, or am I going to trust my skill? Are these two opposites? There have been so many times in my life when educators and experts would say to me, "Don't ever let the education kill your intuition." The reason I took it for granted that education perhaps clouds intuition is because my relationship to music, especially composition, before any formal education began was purely intuitive. So, w

Dear Filmmakers, First things first. Hats off to you for telling stories through a medium that is not just unique, but not at all easy to tell stories through. Thank you. I cannot stress on how much that means to the world. I personally deeply respect the process. When I feel like I am having a hard time coming up with music that justifies and enhances the narrative you are trying to convey, I basically remind myself that it's probably a 1000 times as difficult for you, what

One of the most common questions that I get asked at events and gatherings the moment it is known I compose for film (after the usual, "Oh! That is so cool!" or a variation thereof, which btw, I absolutely love and appreciate), is this: "What is your favorite film score?" Other times, I am asked who my favorite film composer is, and yet other times, I am asked if I like Hans Zimmer. I usually answer the last one with an affirmative, but I always follow it up with how I admir

The title suggests the following two names: John Williams Hans Zimmer At least to someone who is a non-musician in Hollywood, or is vaguely related to the industry, or maybe to a majority of random population. That is saying something about the magnitude of success not only of these two film music giants in the industry, but the films that did it for them (and the films they did it for). Of course, we do tend to know hugely successful films without knowing the cast and crew.

The first time I watched Black Panther on the big screen, I couldn’t help but notice that among many stereotypes that the film broke, the background score was one of the more crucial ones. It made me delighted to watch a film (and what’s more, a Marvel film at that) that made me (and many others) react to it very differently because of the score alone. There are two major reasons that made the score for Black Panther a unique experience for me. The first one was that it was