Educating the Next Generation of Film Composers at Eastman

The Beal Institute for Film Music and Contemporary Media was created at the Eastman School of Music in 2015, supported by a gift from Emmy-winning composer, Jeff Beal '85E and his wife Joan. Best known for the score of the Netflix series House of Cards, Jeff Beal sought to make Eastman a destination for the next generation of composers for film, television and new media.

The Institute is lead by Mark Watters, a 35 year veteran of TV and film scoring, having worked on hundreds of productions for the Walt Disney Company and been the music director for two Olympics, in Atlanta in 1996 and Salt Lake City in 2002.

In the program, students have the opportunity to learn all aspects of composition, recording, and mixing scores for film, television, and video games. Students create original scores, then have the opportunity to record them with ensembles ranging from 5 or 6, all the way up to a full orchestration with more than 40 musicians.

Faculty offer guidance throughout this process as students conduct and record their pieces with state of the art audio equipment and then work with an engineer to do the final mix on the score.

The end goal is for graduates of the program to possess the full complement of skills and experience to begin working in this competitive industry, and the connections to get their career off the ground.

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