Adam Blau: Film Composer of "Dead to Me"

Conversations with Musicians, with Leah Roseman

06/03/23

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87m

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Netflix’s hit series "Dead to Me" (which I love), the Academy Award nominated short My Year of Dicks, and many other projects including You’re the Worst and Brockmire. In this wide-ranging conversation punctuated by music used with permission, we talked about many things including Adam’s many musical influences growing up in New York City, his work for the Fred Rogers Institute and his reflections as a parent. He has wonderful advice for composers interested into breaking into the film industry and shared some of his creative process with us. Adam is a warm and engaging musician with a real love for music across many genres; he shares how he pivoted from working as a performer to composing full-time, and we explored many of his diverse projects. Like all my episodes, this is available as a podcast on your favourite podcast player, a video on YouTube, and the transcript; everything is linked to my website: https://www.leahroseman.com/episodes/adam-blau I have included detailed timestamps if you want to jump to the music or any specific topics. Please help me keep this series going! You can give me a virtual tip or consider becoming a monthly supporter starting at $3 Canadian and get access to unique perks: https://ko-fi.com/leahroseman

Adam Blau website: https://www.adamblau.com/ Timestamps: (00:00) Intro (01:56) “Dead to Me”, Liz Feldman (08:14) intro to piano suite clip (08:59) clip of piano suite of themes from Adam’s “Dead to Me” score (10:48) Adam’s childhood musical influences (13:24) Center for the Performing Arts on Long Island (15:16) collaborations Rachel Axler, Jordana Williams, Liz Feldman (17:13) Village Harmony Rebecca Russell (19:49) NYC musical influences, Larry Holdridge (22:47) Yale (26:08) jazz piano (28:44) assisstant to Chris Beck, John Swihart and getting started as a film composer (34:09) Rarified Air podcast, music production libraries (41:30) writing music for podcasts (44:51) “My Year of Dicks” animated short, Pamela Ribon (48:17) intro to sound design montage clip, creative process (52:31) sound design montage clip (55:57) the 24 Hour Musical Theater Challenge, Rachel Axler (01:01:32) Fred Rogers Institute Everyday Grooves, Everbody Counts 2020 census (01:09:17) song “Tell Me What You Love About Me” from Fred Rogers Institute Everyday Grooves (used with permission for this specific podcast) (01:11:14) Adam as a singer and player, “You’re the Worst” (01:14:00) parenting and music education (01:16:51) mentoring composers, advice for the film industry photo of Adam Blau: Ari Scott

Previous Episode

Shirley Kazuyo Muramoto: Koto Performer and Teacher

May 27, 2023

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91m

Shirley Kazuyo Muramoto is a California-based Koto performer and teacher, and she also created “Hidden Legacy”, the story of the Japanese Traditional Performing Arts in the American WWII Internment Camps. In this episode she performs some incredibly beautiful koto music, and there are wonderful stories with each piece. Like all my episodes, this is available as both video and podcast, and for those of you watching the video, you’ll notice that Shirley generously re-recorded one of her performances of a very special piece. If you want to jump straight to some music, or different topics in our conversation, you can use the timestamps. However, I encourage you to listen to the whole episode, with Shirley’s engaging insights about family and identity.

This is also a video, and you can also read the transcript; everything is linked in the description to my website where you can sign up for my newsletter and get exclusive sneak peeks for upcoming episodes: https://www.leahroseman.com/episodes/shirley-kazuyo-muramoto

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Hidden Legacy film: https://youtu.be/HDqKDexQRSg Timestamps: (00:00) Intro (01:33) the koto with demo (08:13) intro to Sakura, Kimio Eto (12:15) koto music Sakura (16:47) more about Kimio Eto (18:31) playing jazz and different styles on the koto, traditional koto schools, Destiny Muhammad (25:56) making different arrangements for koto for students (29:06) koto music, Maboroshi o Oute by Chikushi Katsuko (34:12) Japanese culture: music names in Japan (37:35) Japanese Internship camps during WWII, “Hidden Legacy” (54:21) learning Japanese, going to Japan (01:00:55) college and school years (01:03:21) intro to Tsubasa ni Notte, Shoko Hikage, Kazue and Tadao Sawai (01:09:29) koto music Tsubasa ni Notte by Sawai Tadao (01:19:28) notation (01:22:10) benefits of improvisation (01:24:45) Japanese traditions, Brian in Japan (01:29:52) teaching koto

Next Episode

Elizabeth Pallett, Lutenist: Bringing the Renaissance to life!

June 10, 2023

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106m

Elizabeth Pallett is a wonderful British lute player. Her love of Renaissance music and history is infectious and she has generously provided this episode with several of her beautifully produced YouTube videos; her channel Luteweb is linked below, as well as her duo Amarylli with soprano Hannah Grove. We talk about the history of the evolution of plucked instruments in Europe, and many fascinating historical figures including Dowland and Shakespeare. Liz plays various lutes and plucked instruments and teaches at the Birmingham Conservatoire as well as online with students worldwide.

Like all my episodes, you can listen to this on your favourite podcast player, watch the YouTube on my channel, and read the transcript; everything is linked on my website https://www.leahroseman.com/episodes/elizabeth-pallett I have also included detailed timestamps below.

I really do need my listners' help to keep this going! Please take a look at my Ko-fi page: https://ko-fi.com/leahroseman

Below are the links for Elizabeth Pallett, her website and YouTube channels:

https://luteweb.com/ https://www.youtube.com/@luteweb https://www.youtube.com/@amarylli1745

https://twitter.com/luteweb

Timestamps:

(00:00:00) Intro

(00:01:57) Her musical education, growing up on a farm

(00:04:16) Julian Bream’s influence

(00:05:52) introduction to the lute

(00:09:17) Fantasia by Francesco Da Milano Libro Terzo 1562

(00:11:14) evolution of the lute from the oud

(00:18:49) Calata Ala Spagnola by Joan Ambrosio Dalza