I want young Indian composers to be able to do more than just film music. I want to give them the skills that will enable them to create their own palette of sounds instead of having to write formulaic music. It doesn't matter if they become sound engineers, producers, composers or performers - I want them to be as imaginative as they like.
A. R. Rahman
Beautiful film music can be made relevant to any period.
Northeastern folk music influenced me from a very young age. Sachin Dev Burman is one of the inspirational musicians in Indian film music. The way he fused folk music with his signature style is amazing. So, I am aware of the beauty of northeast folk music.
Adnan Sami
Fear is a problem with film music and films; people want to be conventional, and there's more commercialism today. If you are not daring in your art, you're bankrupt.
Alex North
I see a parallel industry for independent music blooming alongside film music.
Amit Trivedi
In the West, film music is completely different and independent from their popular music. The two industries are separate and don't interfere much.
I began to think, now is the time. I found quite a lot of opposition in Hollywood about the idea of doing a film musical and we ended up having to buy the rights back. I'm glad we did because it meant John and I were able to make exactly the movie we wanted.
Andrew Lloyd Webber
As an artist, I am for non-film music as well. I want that to shine as much as Bollywood.
Armaan Malik
Hindi film music has always been completely driven by the plot. We singers never had any say in compositions.
Asha Bhosle
I started doing Bollywood and film music, and now, it has come to a point where I've started to say no. I want to do my own music. I have been there and done that, so I am not there to achieve that any more. I just want to put my music out there, and if people listen it, okay; if they don't, then fine.
Atif Aslam
I'm not afraid of being thought of as someone who is associated with film music. Why not? If it's a good song, what does it matter?
Bryan Adams
My ambition, a long time ago, was to be a film music writer. A compromise then was to be the guy who wrote songs for a band and played slide guitar. Then the singer didn't turn up for an audition, and I was the only one who knew the words. That was it - bingo! Life took a different course.
Chris Rea
When I was young, I wanted, most of all, to be a writer of films and film music. But Middlesbrough in 1968 wasn't the place to be if you wanted to do movie scores.
I'm constantly trying to introduce new voices in Tamil film music.
D. Imman
It's fun to take songs from a completely different context and reframe them. We did two mixtape albums called 'Other People's Heartache' and 'Other People's Heartache Pt. 2,' which were full of those kind of covers and mash-ups, mixed with film music and film quotes.
Dan Smith
Film music has a great history of composers and performers.
David Newman
I don't believe in an annual dose of film music for the sake of it being film music. If we program film music, it will be because there is a real artistic reason for doing so.
Esa-Pekka Salonen
Film music, over the years, has taken from everybody.
Henry Mancini
Stravinsky influenced film music in general - those stabbing chords and rhythms from 'The Rite of Spring.'
I auditioned for a musical, and I can't sing. It was a kid's film musical, not a stage show, so I thought I could get away with it.
Holliday Grainger
When you're working on film music, you're only working on 20, 30-minute sections at a time.
Film music should have the same relationship to the film drama that somebody's piano playing in my living room has on the book I am reading.
The colors of 'The Nutcracker' ballet score have become a part of the vocabulary of film music. It's where so much of the 19th-century romantic music that I call upon as a film composer is rooted.
Eventually, I began singing in various shows. It was then that I started appreciating the breadth and depth of Hindi film music.
To be honest, I hadn't realised the greatness of film music till I was exposed to film songs after I started living in Mumbai.
When I make film music, I'm a filmmaker first and foremost. It's about serving the needs of the film. You're telling a story; in a way, you stop becoming a composer and become a storyteller instead. You tell the story with the most appropriate themes. How you approach these things is a very personal matter, but your goal is to tell the story first.
When I'm writing film music, I feel like I'm more a filmmaker than a composer. It's more about what the film needs. I'm basically part of the team that's creating a film, and the music is a very important part, but it's just one part of many.
I don't listen to Bollywood music much. But yes, I listen to Indian music quite often, and other non- film music.
I always said when I was younger, I wanted to write film music, and I think that's what my ultimate dream is.
The film musical is a very strange animal. They can bite you in the back, or they can do very well for you.
I'd say for a film composer, 'Star Wars' is kind of like the holy grail of film music. It's probably the best film music ever written.
I'd like to make a film musical. That's really my dream.
Although I enjoyed writing Film Music it was always a means to an end, in that it enabled me to keep a wife and family and write my classical music, which has always been my passion.
I've always listened to a lot of film music, actually.
Robert Townson at Varese is a huge fan of film music and has really done a lot to educate audiences about film music and scores.
Pop managers are fixed in the dramatic stock character repertoire too, ever since the first British pop film musical, Wolf Mankowitz's 'Expresso Bongo' of 1959, with Cliff Richard as Bongo Herbert and Laurence Harvey as his manager. The key components were cast as X parts gay, X parts Jewish and triple X opportunistic.
In Berkley, they have academic studies on all genres of music including rock and jazz, but in India, we don't have serious academic research and studies on film music; it is such an interesting area of study.
Film music is always given a step-motherly treatment though it is the most popular form of music.
I don't listen to film music at all. I don't want to be influenced.
My dream that I followed and that I'm living now is that I actually always wanted to go to music college, play in a band, do a world tour, and then eventually get into film music.
I think it's great to see that there is such a connection to film music and the way people react or connect to a character or scene.
What I love about film music is the variety. On one movie, you might be asked to do a completely electronic score, and then another might ask you to do orchestral only.
I'm pretty proud of my film music in general.
Think about the number of people who do film music, make records and have a Native American heritage - and I may be the only one on the list.
I'm used to music as a tool, taking the various elements and then making something completely new out of them. And writing film music is the perfect opportunity to do that, because you can look at the film and then just let your imagination soar.
Without the knowledge of music, it would be very hard to write film music. There are so many films, and each one has a different historical background and everything.
I like to write film music that stands on its own.
My audiences are generally mixed. Some people like techno, others are into the pop music, and others enjoy my film music.
I hate musicals, especially film musicals.
If I were to do a musical, I think I would rather make a film musical.
