We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Michael Crane a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Michael, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Did you always know you wanted to pursue a creative or artistic career? When did you first know?

For me, it always seemed obvious that music was going to be the main focus of my life.

I started playing piano at 6 years old, and from that point on music was what interested me the most and the one thing I was really good at. I listened exclusively to classical music. My dad was a violinist and self-taught pianist wand he gave music lessons at home, on many instruments. One of my earliest musical memories is of him in the bathroom (he liked the acoustics) playing the fugue from the Bach G Minor sonata and the violin 1 part from Beethoven’s Eroica. My older sister was taking piano when I was around 5 or 6 and I remember learning the pieces she was working on by watching her play. I then begged my Dad for lessons. He refused at first – maybe he thought I was too young, but eventually he gave in. From that point on I was either listening to records or playing piano. It was the thing that I excelled at and the thing I loved the most, so, in a way, I feel like music pursued me rather than I pursuing music. I’m sure a lot of musicians and artists experienced the same thing.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I remembered seeing E.T. In the theatre in 1981 when I was 13 and at the end when the screen went to black and this lovely piano solo began, full of complex, searching harmonies and surging arpeggios like waves on an ocean, and then the orchestra came in, bringing the sense of magic and longing to an even greater intensity. For some reason that memory came back to me and inspired me to learn about DAWs, sample libraries, etc. and how it all worked together. I left New York and returned to LA, taking classes at UCLA and building my own modest home studio. Suddenly, more than anything, I wanted to create original music, and as someone who loves film, I wanted to score movies.

So my path to film composing was different than a lot of my colleagues. The main reason for that is simply that I came to it later in life. But looking back, it seems as if the seed was planted years ago. I loved great music, I studied it, played it, got inside it. All those experiences helped fertilize the seed, as it were, allowing it to finally grow and flourish. I never majored in film scoring, never got a degree in it. There was no Berklee College of Music for me, no USC film scoring program, no well-known mentor who took me under his wing, no job as a composer’s assistant (I was and am still learning myself). If this was going to happen, it would be depend entirely on me, and a good bit of luck.

As someone who saw the original Star Wars, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Poltergeist, Alien, E.T. when they came out, I suppose I see myself as being the product of an older generation, and I think my musical sensibilities as well as the music I write reflects that to some extent. I find I can produce scores that reflect more modern trends as well and I really enjoy that as well. For example, I love creating new, sometimes strange, sounds for scores and combining them with electronic/ambient elements as well as traditional instrumental ones. However I do feel that my heart finds its natural home in that other place. I want to feel again as I did at age 13 as the screen went dark and that haunting music began to play.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

In 2011 I decided that I wanted to write music for movies. When I got my DMA in piano performance in 2005 I thought I was headed for a career in academia. I applied to jobs in higher all over the country and didn’t get a single response. This is not unusual, in fact. Ask anyone who has tried to get a college teaching position. I tried to build a career as a private teacher for many years, but I could never get enough students to build a thriving studio. Perhaps it was lack of entrepreneurial skill, or just a matter of demographics. Or perhaps part of me wanted to do something else. In 2011 I acted on that impulse. I returned to sunny Los Angeles, enrolled in UCLA extension classes, bought a new computer and started a new chapter. One full of uncertainty but also full of excitement and potential fulfillment. So these days I’m a teacher, a music director AND a composer. But yes, it has been a journey with many twists and turns.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

First of all, the term “artist” and “creative” make me uncomfortable. Less so, “creative”. Yes I do create, and music is an art, but to be honest I see myself as a dreamer and a craftsman. Whatever you call it, I do what I do because I believe in magic. What magic? The magic you feel when a film, a piece of music, a painting, or a novel touches your soul or speaks to your spirit in a profound way. That’s the most rewarding part. I’m not so enlightened or blissed out that I’d say that professional success is not important. That commercial viability is at odds with this idea. It’s not. But no matter what happens, the magic is there. And if I can’t see it today, there’s the knowledge that I’ll see it another day. That really is the greatest gift.

The second thing of course is having the opportunity to meet others who feel the same way and creating something together. In fact, sharing the “magic” is the most important thing of all. I’ve been extremely lucky to work with people who are irresponsible dreamers, like me.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.michaelcranemusic.com
• Instagram: instagram.com/cranepiano
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/michael.crane.1000/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-crane-ba6b0b39/