lived a composer who had just been offered his first commercial job – a jingle for a local car dealer.

I had waited a lifetime for that gig. Piano, guitar and saxophone lessons had begun my journey lo those many years before. Then, with the discovery of composition came a sense of focus and a passion for music that I had never before experienced, and which I totally embraced. Now, all of it had come down to that one jingle. That singular, all-important, life-changing jingle…

Which never made it on the air.

But it was the process I loved – working with the creative team to tell a story, composing the music, hearing the musicians bring the notes on the page to life – and that forever turned me on to a career in composing, the idea of creating musical underscore, and the magic of true collaboration. I was hooked, so I proceeded to do more, writing music for advertising, for agency clients like Hardee’s, Intel, Microsoft, Kellogg’s, Motorola and many others. As those experiences grew, so did my ambition – my need – to help tell a longer-form story.

I moved to Los Angeles, soaking up film-scoring courses at UCLA like a sponge, writing more jingles, scoring industrial films, and composing my first feature film score. I also became managing editor of the entertainment industry’s premiere film-music magazine, Film Score Monthly. It was utter immersion in the art, craft, history and business of composing music to picture.

That, in accordance with my master plan to take over the world one note at a time, was just the beginning. Work for Universal Studios, Warner Bros., independent filmmakers, The Walt Disney Co. and 20th Century Fox soon followed. I scored a silent feature film directed by the legendary John Ford and featuring John Wayne and Victor McLaglen, called Hangman’s House, as part of Fox’s acclaimed Ford at Fox DVD box set. I composed music for such Disney properties as The Disneyland Resort, Disney Cruise Lines, ESPN Wide World of Sports, Walt Disney World Resort, and more recently TRON and the Toy Story series (over 125 projects for Disney and counting). The Third Rule, a film I scored starring Oscar-winner Anthony Hopkins, premiered recently at the Tribeca Film Festival and continues its successful festival run. And I’m very proud of the work I’m doing for a children’s educational website, www.abcmouse.com, where I compose orchestral underscore for some of the best fables and fairy tales ever told. (You can see and hear samples of the aforementioned projects – and plenty more – in the Work section of the site.)

Where it all goes from here? Who knows. I’ll continue to go where the story takes me – that’s been working pretty well so far.

Thanks for reading that whole thing.