Pete Calandra is a New York based composer and keyboard player. He has scored over 50 films, written over 2000 compositions for television and film broadcast, and performed as a musician in the Broadway productions of Miss Saigon, The Lion King, Les Miserables, and Little Shop of Horrors.
His most recent album is called First Light, a recording of instrumental music encompassing new age, jazz, classical and refined pop. As a keyboard player he has performed with Aretha Franklin, Allen Ginsberg, and Dee Dee Bridgewater and when asked about the wide range of genres his music covers he said “I don’t try to define anything because I find that, as a creative person, when you put something in a box, your limit the creative flow”.
In this episode of The Creative Life Podcast, Pete talks about working on two great projects on ESPN and writing music for 6-8 bio films for Invictus games. Pete shares with us his experiences on playing in bar bands and playing all sorts of music from top 40, when he was 16 years old. Pete also tells us about how he started writing for TV and Film.
"Try to create something that's unique. Don't be try the next John Williams. Try to be the first you."
"Learn technology as an instrument."
- Pete Calandra
Pete Calandra Show Notes: Staying sharp and interested in what you are doing (10:10) Film-making as a collaborative project (13:36) The big part of his job in creating music (14:10) Writing for ESPN Film about Pat Summit (14:56) Composing for the backstory (16:31) How to communicate with a film director as a composer (18:02) How to get hired as a film composer (20:00) Music in service of the story (26:13) Playing jazz with Allen Ginsberg (26:30) Favorite Tools: ProTools Vienna Ensemble Yamaha DC7A Piano Favorite Book: Zen & The Art of Motorcycle Maintenance Favorite Record: Love Supreme by John Coltrane
Join James's Facebook fans: https://www.facebook.com/jamestaylordotme
LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/jameskirktaylor
This is The Creative Life, James Taylor's weekly YouTube show.
--------------------
ABOUT JAMES
--------------------
As a creativity expert Taylor is a frequent guest speaker at universities and international conferences. He has given keynotes and talks at Apple, Subscription Site Summit in San Francisco, the British Music Show in the UK and at several universities across Europe including University of Dundee in Scotland and University of Macerata in Italy. He is often called upon by media outlets to give his views on trends in creativity and innovation. He has been quoted in the San Francisco Chronicle, Miami Herald, Columbus Dispatch, STV, Business Insider and San Jose Mercury News as well as featured on BBC TV and being the subject of a 30minute program on his life for BBC Radio Scotland. As a host on shows about creativity and innovation he has interviewed legendary investor Maynard Webb (Yahoo.com, eBay.com & Salesforce.com board member) and New York Times best-selling writers Chris Guillebeau ($100 Startup), Rolf Potts (Vagabonding), Brand Cooper (The Lean Entrepreneur) and Ryan Holiday (Trust Me I’m Lying). James is also a Fellow of the Royal Society of the Arts (FRSA).
Meet James at http://www.JamesTaylor.me
--------------------
ABOUT THE CREATIVE LIFE
--------------------
The Creative Life is a weekly self-improvement show full of #motivation, #inspiration, and #creativity strategies with creativity speaker and author James Taylor.
The Creative Life blog can be read at: http://www.jamestaylor.me
--------------------
SUBSCRIBE
--------------------
Never miss a video, and join the Youtube self-help community living the fully creative life: http://www.youtube.com/jamestaylorme
