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An Award-Winning Composer Describes His Career: Ep. 16 - Aaron Tsang (Part 2)
An excellent composer must have exceptional understanding of the audience’s preferences.
In part 2 of the Legend of Aaron Tsang, Amos Vang and Aaron Tsang discuss Aaron’s decision to go to the University of Toronto for music composition, the evolution of Aaron’s musical style, the similarities between composers and lawyers, and the importance of mentorship in the music profession and the legal
profession.
You may also be surprised at the number of similarities between composers and lawyers.
Aaron also discusses the importance of predicting and understanding an audience’s musical tastes, and Amos and Aaron discuss concrete examples such as Mick Gordon’s “Doom: 2016” and “Doom Eternal” soundtracks, as well as Christopher Tin’s “Baba Yetu” and “Sogno di Volare” for Civilization IV and VI respectively.
Intro and Outro music: Jubilant Dawn (University of Toronto
Graduation Fanfare), by Aaron Tsang
Any other referenced music belongs to their respective
owners.
--- CHAPTERS ---
0:00 – Recap and Introduction
0:41 – This is why the University of Toronto’s Music program
is a top choice for music training.
5:13 – Musical style is defined by the rhythm.
7:39 – Mychael Danna, the Oscar Award-winning and Golden
Globe Award-winning composer for the film “Life of Pi”, is an alumnus of the University of Toronto’s Music Composition Program!!!!!
8:07 – Christopher Tin’s Grammy Award-winning “Baba Yetu” is legendary. Here is why.
9:24 – Christopher Tin displays a mastery of different
languages in his compositions.
10:26 – How has Aaron’s musical style evolved over his
career?
12:04 – Aaron had to build his entire computer setup to
create his own music.
12:46 – One must be sensitive and capacious to areas of
knowledge that are entirely foreign to one’s own knowledge base.
16:47 – Proper musical recording technique can even lead to
a Juno Award win!!!!!
19:15 – Just like musicians, experienced lawyers can find
themselves struggling to explain legal concepts to junior lawyers.
19:52 – Law school does NOT teach you how to practice
law. Rather, it only teaches you how to think like a lawyer (and even then, it is not very good at doing that).
21:07 – Mentors are EXTREMELY IMPORTANT in the legal
profession.
23:44 – A composer can learn A LOT about unfamiliar
instrumentation through trial and error.
25:25– Law school does one thing well: the work is
voluminous. There is A LOT of work in law school. Legal writing is an important skill!!!!!
27:38 – Talking to clients (as a lawyer) is a difficult skill. Explaining difficult legal concepts to clients in plain English is important.
28:55 – Anything that is compelling will translate well across the board. This is true in music, law, and most other industries.
31:38 – Composers, lawyers, and sports broadcasters make
their jobs look easy. This can be a blessing and a curse.
32:32 – Mick Gordon had an extremely tight timeline to compose the soundtracks for the “Doom” series.
33:08 – The OSTs for the Doom series display Mick Gordon’s musical compositional prowess.
34:40 – Good music composition is not easy.
36:25 – An excellent composer can understand the listener
and can imply the listener’s expectations.
41:20 – Composers and lawyers have one common question to
answer: who is the audience of their written work?
43:00 – Martha Argerich is one of the greatest pianists of
all time. Here’s why.
48:40 – Back in Amos’s piano performing days, Amos also
experienced a similar form of quick, instinctual learning to the type that other performing pianists have.
50:05 – Amos applies his musical training in his sports
announcing. Here’s how.
55:48 – What are the similarities and differences between
Aaron’s approach to film music composing and to video game music composing?
View all episodes
By Amos VangAn excellent composer must have exceptional understanding of the audience’s preferences.
In part 2 of the Legend of Aaron Tsang, Amos Vang and Aaron Tsang discuss Aaron’s decision to go to the University of Toronto for music composition, the evolution of Aaron’s musical style, the similarities between composers and lawyers, and the importance of mentorship in the music profession and the legal
profession.
You may also be surprised at the number of similarities between composers and lawyers.
Aaron also discusses the importance of predicting and understanding an audience’s musical tastes, and Amos and Aaron discuss concrete examples such as Mick Gordon’s “Doom: 2016” and “Doom Eternal” soundtracks, as well as Christopher Tin’s “Baba Yetu” and “Sogno di Volare” for Civilization IV and VI respectively.
Intro and Outro music: Jubilant Dawn (University of Toronto
Graduation Fanfare), by Aaron Tsang
Any other referenced music belongs to their respective
owners.
--- CHAPTERS ---
0:00 – Recap and Introduction
0:41 – This is why the University of Toronto’s Music program
is a top choice for music training.
5:13 – Musical style is defined by the rhythm.
7:39 – Mychael Danna, the Oscar Award-winning and Golden
Globe Award-winning composer for the film “Life of Pi”, is an alumnus of the University of Toronto’s Music Composition Program!!!!!
8:07 – Christopher Tin’s Grammy Award-winning “Baba Yetu” is legendary. Here is why.
9:24 – Christopher Tin displays a mastery of different
languages in his compositions.
10:26 – How has Aaron’s musical style evolved over his
career?
12:04 – Aaron had to build his entire computer setup to
create his own music.
12:46 – One must be sensitive and capacious to areas of
knowledge that are entirely foreign to one’s own knowledge base.
16:47 – Proper musical recording technique can even lead to
a Juno Award win!!!!!
19:15 – Just like musicians, experienced lawyers can find
themselves struggling to explain legal concepts to junior lawyers.
19:52 – Law school does NOT teach you how to practice
law. Rather, it only teaches you how to think like a lawyer (and even then, it is not very good at doing that).
21:07 – Mentors are EXTREMELY IMPORTANT in the legal
profession.
23:44 – A composer can learn A LOT about unfamiliar
instrumentation through trial and error.
25:25– Law school does one thing well: the work is
voluminous. There is A LOT of work in law school. Legal writing is an important skill!!!!!
27:38 – Talking to clients (as a lawyer) is a difficult skill. Explaining difficult legal concepts to clients in plain English is important.
28:55 – Anything that is compelling will translate well across the board. This is true in music, law, and most other industries.
31:38 – Composers, lawyers, and sports broadcasters make
their jobs look easy. This can be a blessing and a curse.
32:32 – Mick Gordon had an extremely tight timeline to compose the soundtracks for the “Doom” series.
33:08 – The OSTs for the Doom series display Mick Gordon’s musical compositional prowess.
34:40 – Good music composition is not easy.
36:25 – An excellent composer can understand the listener
and can imply the listener’s expectations.
41:20 – Composers and lawyers have one common question to
answer: who is the audience of their written work?
43:00 – Martha Argerich is one of the greatest pianists of
all time. Here’s why.
48:40 – Back in Amos’s piano performing days, Amos also
experienced a similar form of quick, instinctual learning to the type that other performing pianists have.
50:05 – Amos applies his musical training in his sports
announcing. Here’s how.
55:48 – What are the similarities and differences between
Aaron’s approach to film music composing and to video game music composing?