Practice — This sounds more obvious than it actually is. If you want to be a composer, you need to compose music. If you want to be an orchestrator, you need to orchestrate. Too often I see younger composers focus solely on finding a gig or hustling for the next job. That is obviously a very important part of growing your business, but you also need to exercise that creative muscle and continue to grow as an artist.
As a part of our series about creating a successful career in the music industry, I had the distinct pleasure of interviewing Philip Klein.
Philip Klein is a composer whose music has enhanced film and television projects for major studios such as Sony, Disney, Pixar, Lionsgate, ABC, and CBS. His recent work includes Netflix’s “The Madness,” Sony Animation’s “Wish Dragon,” Neon’s “Pig,” and “The Last Full Measure.” Additionally, he penned new orchestral arrangements for Aerosmith’s Las Vegas residency, “Deuces Are Wild.”
As an additional writer, Philip has collaborated with esteemed composers like Harry Gregson-Williams, Carter Burwell, Alex Heffes, and Fil Eisler. He’s also a sought-after orchestrator, having worked with luminaries such as James Newton Howard, Alexandre Desplat, Ludwig Göransson, Hildur Guðnadóttir, Marco Beltrami, Steve Jablonsky, Chris Bacon, David Buckley, Stewart Copeland, and others. His recent orchestration credits include the Oscar-winning “Joker,” “A Quiet Place: Day One,” “All the Light We Cannot See,” “The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes,” “Turning Red,” and “The Mandalorian.”
Philip studied trumpet performance and composition at Northwestern University. In 2011, he was selected as one of six fellows for the Sundance Institute’s Film Composing Lab. He is deeply grateful to his mentors; Harry Gregson-Williams, Alan Silvestri, Penka Kouneva, and Peter Golub. Currently, Philip maintains a studio in Pasadena and is represented by Andrew Zack at the Gorfaine-Schwartz Agency.
Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series! Can you tell us the story of how you grew up?
I was fortunate to grow up in one of those idyllic, bucolic eastern towns where everyone has a lot of land and kids roam free. I didn’t have siblings, so music was my companion from a young age. I started with trumpet but eventually began plucking an old upright piano. I’d spend hours everyday after school playing along to recordings, trying to figure out the notes and eventually writing my own (very rudimentary) melodies. The sound of an orchestra fascinated me. My family didn’t have a lot of money but there were many merit based programs that afforded me opportunities in Rochester at the Eastman School of Music and Hochstein School. I credit all of my early teachers and professors for where I am today. I was able to study not only trumpet but also conducting, theory and composition.
Can you share a story with us about what brought you to this specific career path?
I remember the first time I watched Jurassic Park being blown away by the trumpet fanfare when the helicopter whisks them into the park. To this day, I think it’s one of the most exciting themes in film. I hadn’t started music at that point but it imprinted on my brain as something that deeply moved me. It wasn’t long after that I mustered the courage to ask my parents if I could try playing the trumpet. I think it naturally led me to film work, considering most of my early exposure to music was through the films we watched. The late 80’s through the early 00’s produced some of the most memorable scores and themes and they all had an impact on me.
None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?
There are so many who have done so much but I will single out Harry Gregson-Williams. I met him during a fellowship at the Sundance Institute’s Film Composing Lab in 2011 and he immediately took me under his wing. Two weeks after the lab ended, I was at his studio in Venice, CA sitting in front of a rig learning Cubase. A month after that, I was listening to cues I helped write being recorded at Abbey Road. I learned how to truly score a film from Harry and to this day he still helps champion my work. He’s the reason I have my agent and is the first to call whenever I have a project released. I would not be where I am without him.
You probably have a lot of fascinating experiences. Can you tell us the most interesting story that happened to you since you began your career?
There have been many “pinch me” moments in my career, but one of the more interesting ones is probably the most unexpected. Harry recommended me for an arranging job where a song needed to be performed on screen with young actors. Thinking this was a small gig, I flew out to New Mexico where they were filming to meet with the director (Matt Ross), actors and to get a sense of their ranges. Well, the first actor I met was Viggo Mortenson and then George McKay walks in, followed by a gaggle of amazing child actors. The film was “Captain Fantastic”. It was one of the most fun experiences of my life to work with them. I was with them for a couple days in New Mexico then flew back to LA to work out the specifics of the song (“Sweet Child O’ Mine”), creating the backtracks and their individual parts. Without giving away too much, the sequence is at the end of the film and is actually quite emotional, so it needed to begin simply before moving into something more celebratory. As some of the children were as young as 7–8, Matt asked that I be there while filming the scene to help them with visual cues. This particular sequence was filmed in north Washington state at the end of one of the most beautiful bluffs you could imagine, it was just magical. The kids did so well and Viggo was the loveliest of human beings. The entire cast and crew were a big family and I often think back to how special it was to be part of it.
It has been said that our mistakes can be our greatest teachers. Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?
I think I naturally tended to take things too personally when I first started in this business. I had to really learn to not absorb so much disappointment when a project didn’t come through or a filmmaker wanted to go in a different direction. I think it’s tricky with composers because our music is such a deep reflection of our inner soul, that when someone doesn’t respond to it the way you’d like it can hurt. However, this is a business and there are so many micro decisions that go into the hiring of a composer and the completion of a score that I quickly learned that what I can control is being gracious and malleable. Now, I’m really only worried if filmmakers have very little feedback, because I love the collaborating process. It pulls me in directions I would have never thought to go before.
What are some of the most interesting or exciting projects you are working on now?
I just finished scoring a great series with Netflix “The Madness” starring Colman Domingo that came out in late November. That was a great challenge but so much fun. I am just now starting a romantic comedy starring Finn Wittrock and Sylvia Hoeks that I’m looking forward to. Many of my previous projects have been quite heavy and dramatic so it’s nice to dive into something a bit lighter!
You have been blessed with success in a career path that can be challenging. Do you have any words of advice for others who may want to embark on this career path, but seem daunted by the prospect of failure?
Be a good communicator, be curious and be humble. We all fail. In my career, I’ve pitched for 120 films and only landed 3 of those. I can focus on “failing” 117 times, or “winning” 3 times. It’s easy to compare in this business, but everyone’s path is vastly different and the stars align at different times. When you are given opportunities, do the best work you possibly can, you never know who will hear it and respond. Listen to what your filmmakers are saying, learn from their stories and collaborate. Ego is everywhere but music can be very intimidating for creatives, so guide them with an open mind and make them feel comfortable. No one person will have all the answers on a project, that’s the beauty of filmmaking, it’s a collective of ideas towards greater art.
Which tips would you recommend to your colleagues in the music industry to help them to thrive and not “burn out”?
I think anytime your passion becomes your career, you have to go into it with an understanding that breaks are necessary. Music has served many different roles in my life but there are times when I just don’t want to think about it. I think it’s important to find ways to refill your cup that exist outside of the studio. Life experience will ultimately open your mind to new perspectives and make you a better musician and composer. If you spend your entire career chasing the next level you will either burn out or become flatlined creatively.
Thank you for all that. This is the main question of our interview. What are your “5 Things You Need To Create A Highly Successful Career in The Music Industry” and why? If you can, please share a story or example for each.
- Practice — This sounds more obvious than it actually is. If you want to be a composer, you need to compose music. If you want to be an orchestrator, you need to orchestrate. Too often I see younger composers focus solely on finding a gig or hustling for the next job. That is obviously a very important part of growing your business, but you also need to exercise that creative muscle and continue to grow as an artist. The more music you produce, the more opportunities people will have to hear it.
- Remain curious — Complacency is a death knell in any art. Look at any successful artist and you’ll see an evolution. I encourage all young composers to continue to study, seek out and listen to new artists, experiment writing in different styles and to be open-minded to all forms of expression. As a composer specific to film you’re probably going to be asked to write in most styles at least once in your career. I’ve had to jump between big, dramatic orchestral music to pulsing EDM to banjo plucking fodder all within a single score. Am I a genius in any one of them, absolutely not, but I know enough of them all to pull it off.
- Work on being a good communicator and listen with purpose — Art is abstract and unlike most other forms, music can’t be touched. Our ability to communicate with our creative partners becomes that much more important. For me, I try to find a common language that the director and producer can speak with me. There’s no good reason to throw out big, technical words about music if your collaborators have no formal knowledge of. Listen with the express purpose of learning from their words. I’ve worked with directors that spoke often about the “highs and lows” within the music vs. others who spoke more in adjectives like “forlorn, wistful and relieved”. Remember that you are all working towards making a more powerful picture.
- Be subservient to the picture — We are not making art for ourselves, we are there to serve a story and bring a director’s vision to life. The moment you get precious or defensive about your contribution is the moment your focus has shifted from we to me. I try to give of myself completely to every project, no matter the budget and scale of the project. Some of the music I’m most proud of was written for the smallest of screens. It forces you to be more creative and crafty in your approach.
- Embrace failure — Finding work can be difficult and the simple truth is that film composers are work for hire and can be replaced. We all face moments where we really want something to happen and it just doesn’t pan out. This is ok and all part of the journey. Use it as an opportunity to write a demo for another project, or sketch out a few ideas that you would have liked to have explored on the aforementioned one. You never know when those demos will come in handy. I was let go from a project for circumstances completely out of my control but still managed to release the score as a “music inspired by” album. These things will happen, and that’s ok.
You are a person of enormous influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂
Music is truly the universal language and it feels like the world could use more universality and healing these days. I think humanity is found in realizing that we are all on the same team. Music can express emotions we are often unable or too uncomfortable to speak. I’ve received some messages from people that a particular cue really connected with a particular moment in time with them. That is an extremely humbling compliment. I’m unsure if I’m capable of influencing a mass movement of any kind but I’d be perfectly content with bringing some joy or solace to just a handful of people through my work.
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?
“There’s too much music in the music.”
On the surface it’s a quote about over-writing a musical idea into something more complicated than needed but as a metaphor it’s a brilliant way to think about life. I find that the simpler I can make my daily life the more balanced I feel as a human being and as an artist. There’s no shortage of distraction and media to fill our downtime during the day but does it really add to your cup or drain from it? I try to set a schedule for my work day so that I’m in the studio from 8am-5pm. I avoid picking up my phone for entertainment and try to commit to being as creative as I can. I allow myself to wander if things aren’t working, but beyond those work hours, I’m either with my family or doing something that replenishes my soul. For me, filtering out the noise allows me to be a better artist and human being.
We are very blessed that some very prominent names in Business, VC funding, Sports, and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US with whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch, and why? He or she might just see this if we tag them.
Ron Howard — His films literally shaped my childhood and he has worked with some of the most accomplished film composers. I’d love to learn how and why he thinks of music the way he does because it’s always brilliantly used in his pictures. He is a master storyteller.
How can our readers continue to follow your work online?
Admittedly, my social media presence is somewhat lacking, but I often update my website and post on instagram when a new project comes up.
This was very meaningful, thank you so much! We wish you continued success!
Phil Klein on the 5 Things You Need To Create A Highly Successful Career in The Music Industry was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.