Steven Spiel

Here’s some scoring from the first semester of Graduate School. We’re learning with older footage right now, but we’ll be collaborating on new films once we get the hang of it:

Columbia College continues to exceed my expectations here in Chicago. I have great professors and study with great students. This is the perfect place for us to be.

I was hired as the graduate ambassador for our program and a few of my responsibilities include blogging, meeting with perspective students, answering their emails, and taking over the designated twitter account @musiccompmfa. It has been a lot of fun and I have gotten to know some great people through it all.

I added some new sections of the website down at the bottom. If you scroll all of the way down, you’ll see my blog feed, flickr roll, and latest tweets. Enjoy!

Heather and I went to visit Columbia College in Chicago for the Admitted Student Day. We arrived late in the afternoon and had to visit one place before the day was through:

Had to check out the new iPad at the Apple store. The closest store to Rexburg is 4 1/2 hours away and it was fun to drop by and see them. Who knows, maybe I’ll get a job there!

We spent the next morning touring the area. We went to Navy Pier:

The Bean!:

And had the best burger of my life at the Grand Lux

Heather was a champ walking around so much at 35 weeks pregnant. Our feet hurt, but it was so great to see the sights.

That afternoon, the real fun started. We had a great time visiting with Cate Lagueux (head of Graduate Admissions) and Mason Keys (graduate ambassador — check out his blog!). After a brief get-to-know-you, we went over to the room where all the magic happens. David McHugh, program director, was teaching a class on color and complexity to the first-year graduate students. I remember going through the first few minutes of “Super 8” on mute and he asked us all to think of what we would do with the music. I’ll admit, it was hard not knowing what the movie was about and trying to score it in my mind. It was a good excercise, though–the beginning credits seemed to take forever. But when we heard Michael Giacchino’s score start to play, it all made sense. I was again amazed at how well music sets the stage for the entire movie.

We also spent time with Gary Chang, the other program director at the college. He had some great insights on mixing and how to make it in the real world. We listened to Mason Kaye’s “2 Love Themes” for most of the time and watched as Gary mixed it down. It made me really excited to work with these two great men.

The visit sealed the deal for us. We felt the program was run professionally and felt “at home” with it all. It will be a wonderful place to spend the next couple of years!