We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Natalie Dolan. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Natalie below.
Natalie, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. We’d love to hear about when you first realized that you wanted to pursue a creative path professionally.
I was surrounded by music throughout my childhood, from my dad’s band practices to my mom’s Broadway soundtrack CDs. I started learning piano at age five and violin at age eight, and my dance classes taught me to express music through movement. Meanwhile, my favorite books showed me the different ways a tale can be told, and my family’s frequent movie nights introduced me to the world of film music — I fell in love with the scores of my favorite Pixar films, along with the magic of storytelling onscreen. So if you’d asked nine-year-old me what I wanted to be when I grew up, I would’ve said “musician/singer/dancer/actor/author” (plus “chef,” but that path didn’t really pan out).
As I grew up and studied music more intently, I held onto those childhood dreams, but I wasn’t sure whether I could commit to a career in the arts. When I was invited to a college audition and subsequently accepted as a Music major, I took it as a sign that I could continue to pursue the thing I loved most. The dream of a career in the arts may have started years earlier, but when I saw “Music” listed as my college major, I knew that I wanted to take that dream seriously. Since then, my experiences in composition and performance have continued to affirm my love for the arts and for storytelling through music.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
I am a composer originally from the Philadelphia area, currently based in New York. After years of piano and violin lessons, orchestra and choir rehearsals, and musical theatre and dance performances, I knew that I wanted to turn my focus to creating new music. I studied concert composition and piano at the Sunderman Conservatory of Music at Gettysburg College. During my time there, I had various opportunities to hear my works performed by my peers; a particular highlight was the European premiere of my work “The Myth of Lorelei” on our orchestra’s tour to the Baltics.
Though I grew substantially as a musician throughout college and loved composing for the concert hall, I always knew that my true love was film music. I began applying the techniques that I had learned to writing for the screen and other media, including creating theme music for live shows by the College’s Hatter Planetarium. After graduating, I went on to NYU Steinhardt, where I am currently pursuing a Master of Music degree in Music Theory and Composition: Screen Scoring. I have composed for a variety of short films, as well as a few podcasts and a video game. I am also looking to expand further into the theatre world, whether through composing incidental music for plays or through writing my own musical (or, hopefully, both!).
My background in classical music and concert composition has played a large part in shaping my musical voice. My favorite style has always been that of the late Romantic composers: dramatic storytelling, beautiful harmonies, and emotionally moving orchestral swells. In my recent projects, I’ve been expanding more and more into electronic scoring, particularly in a hybrid setting with piano, strings, and other instruments. One of my favorite things about composing for the screen is the opportunity to experiment with different combinations of sound, working with filmmakers to determine what musical approach is best to tell the story.
We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?
In a strange way, this is sort of a lesson I had to learn and then unlearn, or at least to learn and then re-examine throughout my musical journey. When I was a kid dreaming of writing music for movies, it never even crossed my mind that my being a girl could affect my potential career. I never stopped to think about how I had rarely, if ever, seen a woman listed as the composer on a film; I simply believed that if this was what I wanted to do, I would be able to do it if I worked hard. As I grew up, I started to realize that the world’s perception of women could be harsher, more limiting, and more judgmental than its perception of men. I noticed that all my favorite film composers were men, the top film directors were men, and many of my other favorite artists were men. At the same time that I was becoming more aware of this phenomenon, my all-girls high school was throwing out affirmations and encouragement, assuring us that women could accomplish anything. It was odd — the lessons telling me that society’s view of women didn’t define me were, in a way, reinforcing the existence of those societal views.
When I started college and became more serious about pursuing a music career, I saw more and more how the music world in particular had excluded women for centuries. Particularly in the classical world, the default meaning of “composer” is generally “male composer,” and “women composers” need to be specifically identified as such. My professors and fellow students had many a conversation about prioritizing works by underrepresented composers, but at the same time, it became increasingly apparent how limited the resources are for performing music by marginalized artists. Even the grants and foundations dedicated to supporting women composers leave me feeling conflicted — I wholeheartedly support the advancement of underrepresented composers, but I can’t help wondering whether my gender is a stronger factor in my success than the quality of my work. Do I have to be classified as a “woman composer” to make an impact with my music?
I am lucky to be working during a time when the music and entertainment industries are taking serious stock of how underrepresented communities are treated in the arts, but it has made my growth as a musician more complicated than I had anticipated. I suppose that I first had to learn that my being a woman would affect my career path, and later I had to learn that my being a woman does not define my work as a musician, and finally I had to learn that both of these statements are true.
What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?
Being an artist means that I get to spend my time creating something completely my own. Of all the composers working in the industry, every single one has a unique voice, and thus every artist brings a valuable perspective to the music world. My creative work gives me the opportunity to explore my musical voice and discover where my strengths lie. Every project that I complete, be it a ten-second cue for a TV episode or an eight-minute orchestra piece, grants me a true sense of fulfillment: at the end of the day, I know that I have created something that didn’t exist before and wouldn’t exist otherwise.
This aspect of working in the arts also applies to the unique creativity of my peers. Just as I find fulfillment in exploring my musical voice, I am constantly inspired by the perspectives of filmmakers, fellow composers, and other artists. The opportunity to hear different musicians’ approaches to a certain concept, or to see a film that presents thought-provoking new ideas, reminds me how grateful I am to work in a creative field. The limitless possibilities of artistry provide endless room for unique voices, meaning that every artist has a place in the creative world — this, for me, is the most rewarding aspect of my work as a musician.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.nataliedolanmusic.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nataliedolanmusic/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100014145284920
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/natalie-dolan-7b9aba187/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@NatalieDolanMusic
- Soundcloud: https://on.soundcloud.com/ojeoKCT23cbzzAp68
Image Credits
Nina Feliciano