Chris Warner, composer for the Royal Shakespeare Company and orchestrator for BBC One's McMafia, is all about helping others tell their stories. Earlier this year, he decided to tell his own story and produced a story-driven album called Wonders of the Cosmos. After listening to the album, I asked Chris about his experiences creating this beautiful sonic adventure.

For many composers, the Holy Grail of film scoring programs – the place with legendary faculty, connections, and curriculum – is the University of Southern California's Department of Screen Scoring (previously the Scoring for Motion Picture and Television [SMPTV] program). With the class of 2020 recently graduated, I asked my buddy and newly USC alumnus, Michael Wilson, about his experiences in the program.

In the second installment of my Composer Routines series, I spoke with composer Darren Fung (The Great Human Odyssey, Equus: Story of the Horse). Darren wears many hats; not only is he a skilled composer, he's also a conductor, serves on the Board of the Screen Composers Guild of Canada after recently stepping down as the Second Vice President, acts as a Program Advisor for the Canadian Film Centre's Slaight Music Residency, and is a husband and father.

Joey Newman – composer, husband, father of three daughters, four cats, and a dog. If you know Joey, or at least know his work, you know that he's composed for dozens of TV shows including Little People, Big World, The Mysteries of Laura, and The Middle. So how does a composer juggle the responsibilities of week-to-week TV work while simultaneously being family man? I asked Joey about his daily routine to find out...

If you haven't yet watched Tales from the Loop, Amazon's new sci-fi series, I highly recommend it. It's beautifully made with stunning visuals, interesting story, and, luckily for us, some mesmerizing music. That hauntingly alluring music was written by composers Paul Leonard-Morgan and Philip Glass, and blends some fantastic minimalist textures with intimate orchestration and thoughtful melodic writing. I recently had the opportunity to pick Paul's brain and ask about his experiences working on this series with Philip Glass.

Whether you're a musician, an artist, or head of Marketing, professional development is vital to innovation and career growth (or, perhaps more importantly, artistic growth). When we're focused on finishing the job, it can be easy to get stuck in a groove that is efficient but lacking in artistic innovation. But we have to remind ourselves that we are working artists. And art, like business, needs to be continuously developed.

​So, below are just a few of the ways composers can refresh their minds and spark creative genius.

So, you've graduated from college. Now what? Nothing fills your soul with equal parts exuberant triumph and debilitating anxiety quite like being thrown into the real world. Whether you're feeling confident or paralyzed by fear, many college graduates will be faced with similar post-college learning experiences. In this blog post, I'll be going over what you know, what you don't know, and some next steps and what to expect.

So you want to be a film composer, but you don't have the money to go to Berklee, or USC, or Pulse, or wherever. Or maybe you're already working as a composer, but you'd like some resources to go to in a time of need. These 5 books below are some of my favorite books relating to film scoring, and I still open them all from time to time just to keep that information fresh in my brain. Remember, kids, knowledge is power!

I first heard about Darren Fung a few months ago when I found a video called "Making of a Film Score", which takes you into the recording session for the score to the CBC series The Great Human Odyssey, and he's been on my radar as an outstanding composer ever since. The video is great, and a lot of fun to watch, but what really caught my attention was Darren's music and his ability to control the session and his orchestra. I've included the video at the bottom of our Q&A, I highly recommend checking it out!