Soundtrack field

BOARD OF EDUCATION Only USC, NYU and Columbia (pictured) offer graduate work in film scoring.

Last month, Jason Eckerson graduated from Columbia College with a bachelor’s in music. Yet instead of tapping a wand against a Symphony Center podium, he’s more likely one day to trigger ominous synth tones for a corpse-probing scene on CSI. “Film composition seemed impossible to break into, but now it’s a career choice,” he tells us. That’s easy for Eckerson to say, since Columbia is one of the few American colleges offering highly focused training in composition for film, television and commercials. In 2006, the South Loop campus introduced the Music Composition for the Screen graduate program, which culminates in five intensive weeks at Columbia’s facility in Los Angeles.

In May 2001, the school cut the ribbon at Bungalow 25, tucked between the massive sound stages at CBS Studio Center in Studio City. To date, it’s the only academic institution on a working studio lot. To hear Eckerson describe it, the workload sounds humdrum: “For eight hours a day we sat at computers.” Naturally, the greatest lure is the contacts: Students meet composers, producers and agents; Eckerson recorded his final session with a 20-piece orchestra on a Fox Studios soundstage.

But the industry continues to move away from flamboyant orchestral scores. Many movie producers, according to Eckerson, expect poppier fare because it has a “greater emotional impact.” Case in point: At a recent Q&A session we attended at Music Box Theatre for his Mister Lonely, director Harmony Korine said he avoids music with a strong narrative element, a common characteristic of classical scores. His new film features moody ambience courtesy of Jason Pierce of the epic space-rock band Spiritualized. Now newcomers must compete with hip British guitarists. The casualty may be the famous, old soundstages that are closing or under serious threat. As Eckerson bemoans, “These are halls that define what we know as the sound of recorded orchestral music.”

In light of the trend, the more variety and modernity that composers bring to their scores the better. Columbia suitably adapted a multifacted curriculum that includes classes on orchestration, the jazz score, global folk traditions and Apple’s Logic Studio software.

Beth Caucci is one of nine earning her master of fine arts in the upstart grad program. Breaking in to either the film or concert worlds presented her an equal challenge, yet the proliferation of cable channels and other media opened more doors in pop entertainment. Columbia alum Alex Burke scores for Frank TV, a half hour of impression comedy on TBS. Hollywood accompaniment may seem clinical and commercial, but as Eckerson explains, “I don’t know of anybody who survives primarily off of concert music.”

But is the Chicago institution shipping all of its talent to the City of Angels? “Eighty percent of all movie music is coming out of L.A. Columbia provides composers with the essentials to flourish [out there],” Eckerson says. Caucci adds that our city primarily offers work in indie films and commercials; the lucrative features are still in Southern California.

Jonathan Shanes studied at Columbia’s Tinseltown farm and never came back. We spoke after his return from a four-month stay in Berlin, where he collaborated with director-composer Tom Tykwer, the auteur behind Run Lola Run, on an upcoming Clive Owen thriller. In the face of a highly competitive field, Shanes remains optimistic. “One doesn’t apply to the top law firms and expect to replace established lawyers,” he says. “You work alongside them.”Can laying whimsical melodies behind sketch comedy or hammering out percussion for a car chase be artistically satisfying? Caucci says it’s like Sturgeon’s Law: There’s crap in all facets of music, including concert classical. On a visit with Columbia students, legendary film scorer Lalo Schifrin, who studied under Piazzolla and Messiaen, surmised if Verdi wrote music today, he’d be the busiest composer in Hollywood.