Robert J. Kral Feature: Page 3


Robert J. Kral Birthday: July 5, 1967 Birthplace: Medindee, South Australia Occupation(s): Music Composer Quotes: A life lived in fear is a life half lived. (Strictly Ballroom- 1992) Favorite Food: Roast lamb dinners, hot fudge sundaes. Favorite Book: The Neverending Story Most influential person in my life: Alison Houghton Kral (my wife!) What is most important: God, family and friends. And skiing whenever possible! Other Online Interviews with Robert J. Kral Northern Sound Source City of Angel BBCi	Part Two - Continued 34. MiraclesTV: You've made a name for yourself by writing music for shows with darker/supernatural themes. Is this a coincidence or conscious choice? What do you feel sets you apart stylistically when you write music for these kinds of shows -- and do you tend to naturally prefer those shows as a TV viewer yourself? It's interesting that as a kid I loved these kinds of shows on TV, and I used to [refer to] the music that underscored [them] as "ghost music". This type of music is very different from what I was learning from piano teachers, and eventually I tried to create it myself. But I never would have guessed as a ten year old asking a piano-teaching nun at the local convent if she could teach me "ghost music," that 20 odd years later I would actually be creating this music on a daily basis for television! Even more interesting is that I didn't go out looking for this particular type of work in this style of music. I came to Los Angeles from Australia pursuing a film/TV music career, and it has just worked out this way. I do actually prefer to write more pleasant sounding music, and have had opportunities for some of that -- Pylea, Fred's theme, Cordy's princess theme, and some of the Miracles music like The Ghosts of the Civil War and God Is Now Here. I feel extremely fortunate that I have been placed in a position to write this music -- the mysterious dark music -- and also the other emotions that come up in these shows. It's like writing for a movie every week. This would be my choice, but I didn't make this choice -- these assignments have been given to me as if they were a gift. I am not sure what might set me apart, but as mentioned I have enjoyed this style and wanted to play and write this style ever since I learned piano as a kid. In the back of my mind, I guess these styles and emotions have traveled with me even when I wasn’t writing music for a living, and now they are being expressed where appropriate in these productions. A composer feels something for the scene and expresses it; it doesn't always match what the director has in mind, but fortunately for me, in most cases it does. 35. MiraclesTV: You've mentioned the concept of “hearing music in your head." Paul McCartney once described how he coped with this experience when he was away from the piano or any musical instrument by writing on napkins so that he would not “lose" the music. Can you describe this phenomenon as you experience it, and what you do to capture these moments: Do you need to play them immediately? And do you go through a similar ritual at times when you do not have access to a musical instrument or other easy way of recording them? This experience is such a big part of everyday life to me that it is completely foreign to think that others don't hear it. The best way to describe [it], I think, is that it’s like when you remember a song in your head. If you remember your favorite song, in your mind you hear it all -- all the instruments, singers, etc. -- as you heard it in a recording (well, something close at least). For us composers, it’s like that, but it is all original and your mind has complete control over the sound and the direction of the music. It’s like sculpting clay in your mind but with sounds. The biggest challenge is that what you hear is great but can be extremely difficult to transcribe in the real world -- the music in my head is playing in real time and it’s very difficult a lot of the time to slow it down, pick it apart, to figure out what it is (especially full orchestra, fast music) and then transcribe it. Mountains of music pass through my mind that I'll never hear again and can't transcribe. I've learned to simply enjoy it and let it be (no intentional Beatles pun in regard to the question!); otherwise, I'd go nuts trying to capture it all. I used to go around with a small cassette recorder in case anything came to me. That was really helpful. Other times I've done the napkin thing, but I'm pretty bad at accurate transcription of music notes to paper without actually sitting at a piano, so I've sometimes drawn just the shape of the music -- a notation of sorts that only I would understand! I've been fortunate enough to have recorded so much music (over 190 episodes plus films, etc.) that I am more able to let a lot of stuff in my head just go without being frantic about recording it. But yes, there are many times when there's some wonderful stuff going on but I just have to grin and bear it as it goes by -- lost for good in many cases. 36. MiraclesTV: What's the most important advice you would give to aspiring composers? When I studied at USC, Jerry Goldsmith came and gave a seminar on film music and his experiences. During the Q & A time, a similar question was asked and his answer was "Well…you just keep doing what you do, and fate has a way of working things out." At the time I didn't necessarily think this was particularly helpful, but I did enjoy the answer in the sense that I believed if God wanted me to be doing this, there would be a way that it would work out somehow. Jerry's answer also acknowledges that everyone's story is different and there's no way to predict how it will work out. So, I would have to say, similarly, that you just keep writing -- keep pursuing your dream. I always felt I would rather look back on my life seeing that I had given my dream its best shot rather than shy away from it. Composing music --- being so specialized and isolating -- can be a very "narrowing" experience also, in the sense that you concentrate on that only and give up everything to try to "make it" in the business. So, along with the above advice I would also suggest to balance your life out and keep things open to other possible directions. Fill your life with some kind of balance of other interests -- the ones that mean things to you; [this] will allow certain things to come to you instead of having to chase them. This is how I also interpreted Jerry's answer: Don't just write music all day. Go skiing, go to the beach, attend to your walk with God -- whatever makes you YOU -- and these things will happen. We tend to want to control our lives in a certain way, when sometimes the opportunities will come from left field, from the places you would least expect. If I were to write about my life, it would be filled with stories of opportunities in my professional and personal life that came from unexpected places, and big things eventually coming from very, very little things in the beginning. 37. MiraclesTV: What's next for you? What other shows or projects are you composing for? Right now I am writing for Angel, Season Five, and Duck Dodgers, Season Two, is coming up soon. We just recorded Tia Carrere (the "Martian Queen" of the series) singing a blues song about her unrequited love for Dodgers and that was loads of fun! << Page 1 \| 2 \| 3 \| 4 \| 5 \| 6 \| 7 January 31, 2003. © Copyright 2003-2004 MiraclesTV.com. All Rights Reserved.

Robert J. Kral

Birthday:
July 5, 1967

Birthplace:
Medindee,
South Australia

Occupation(s):
Music Composer

Quotes:
A life lived in fear is a life half lived. (Strictly
Ballroom- 1992)

Favorite Food:
Roast lamb dinners, hot fudge sundaes.

Favorite Book:
The Neverending Story

Most influential
person in my life:
Alison Houghton Kral
(my wife!)

What is most important:
God, family and friends. And skiing whenever possible!

Other Online
Interviews with
Robert J. Kral

Northern Sound
Source

City of Angel

BBCi

Miracles
Part Two - Continued

34. MiraclesTV: You've made a name for yourself by writing music for shows with darker/supernatural themes. Is this a coincidence or conscious choice? What do you feel sets you apart stylistically when you write music for these kinds of shows -- and do you tend to naturally prefer those shows as a TV viewer yourself?

It's interesting that as a kid I loved these kinds of shows on TV, and I used to [refer to] the music that underscored [them] as "ghost music". This type of music is very different from what I was learning from piano teachers, and eventually I tried to create it myself. But I never would have guessed as a ten year old asking a piano-teaching nun at the local convent if she could teach me "ghost music," that 20 odd years later I would actually be creating this music on a daily basis for television!

Even more interesting is that I didn't go out looking for this particular type of work in this style of music. I came to Los Angeles from Australia pursuing a film/TV music career, and it has just worked out this way. I do actually prefer to write more pleasant sounding music, and have had opportunities for some of that -- Pylea, Fred's theme, Cordy's princess theme, and some of the Miracles music like The Ghosts of the Civil War and God Is Now Here.

I feel extremely fortunate that I have been placed in a position to write this music -- the mysterious dark music -- and also the other emotions that come up in these shows. It's like writing for a movie every week. This would be my choice, but I didn't make this choice -- these assignments have been given to me as if they were a gift.

I am not sure what might set me apart, but as mentioned I have enjoyed this style and wanted to play and write this style ever since I learned piano as a kid. In the back of my mind, I guess these styles and emotions have traveled with me even when I wasn’t writing music for a living, and now they are being expressed where appropriate in these productions. A composer feels something for the scene and expresses it; it doesn't always match what the director has in mind, but fortunately for me, in most cases it does.

35. MiraclesTV: You've mentioned the concept of “hearing music in your head." Paul McCartney once described how he coped with this experience when he was away from the piano or any musical instrument by writing on napkins so that he would not “lose" the music. Can you describe this phenomenon as you experience it, and what you do to capture these moments: Do you need to play them immediately? And do you go through a similar ritual at times when you do not have access to a musical instrument or other easy way of recording them?

This experience is such a big part of everyday life to me that it is completely foreign to think that others don't hear it. The best way to describe [it], I think, is that it’s like when you remember a song in your head. If you remember your favorite song, in your mind you hear it all -- all the instruments, singers, etc. -- as you heard it in a recording (well, something close at least). For us composers, it’s like that, but it is all original and your mind has complete control over the sound and the direction of the music. It’s like sculpting clay in your mind but with sounds.

The biggest challenge is that what you hear is great but can be extremely difficult to transcribe in the real world -- the music in my head is playing in real time and it’s very difficult a lot of the time to slow it down, pick it apart, to figure out what it is (especially full orchestra, fast music) and then transcribe it. Mountains of music pass through my mind that I'll never hear again and can't transcribe. I've learned to simply enjoy it and let it be (no intentional Beatles pun in regard to the question!); otherwise, I'd go nuts trying to capture it all.

I used to go around with a small cassette recorder in case anything came to me. That was really helpful. Other times I've done the napkin thing, but I'm pretty bad at accurate transcription of music notes to paper without actually sitting at a piano, so I've sometimes drawn just the shape of the music -- a notation of sorts that only I would understand!

I've been fortunate enough to have recorded so much music (over 190 episodes plus films, etc.) that I am more able to let a lot of stuff in my head just go without being frantic about recording it. But yes, there are many times when there's some wonderful stuff going on but I just have to grin and bear it as it goes by -- lost for good in many cases.

36. MiraclesTV: What's the most important advice you would give to aspiring composers?

When I studied at USC, Jerry Goldsmith came and gave a seminar on film music and his experiences. During the Q & A time, a similar question was asked and his answer was "Well…you just keep doing what you do, and fate has a way of working things out." At the time I didn't necessarily think this was particularly helpful, but I did enjoy the answer in the sense that I believed if God wanted me to be doing this, there would be a way that it would work out somehow. Jerry's answer also acknowledges that everyone's story is different and there's no way to predict how it will work out. So, I would have to say, similarly, that you just keep writing -- keep pursuing your dream. I always felt I would rather look back on my life seeing that I had given my dream its best shot rather than shy away from it.

Composing music --- being so specialized and isolating -- can be a very "narrowing" experience also, in the sense that you concentrate on that only and give up everything to try to "make it" in the business. So, along with the above advice I would also suggest to balance your life out and keep things open to other possible directions. Fill your life with some kind of balance of other interests -- the ones that mean things to you; [this] will allow certain things to come to you instead of having to chase them. This is how I also interpreted Jerry's answer: Don't just write music all day. Go skiing, go to the beach, attend to your walk with God -- whatever makes you YOU -- and these things will happen. We tend to want to control our lives in a certain way, when sometimes the opportunities will come from left field, from the places you would least expect.

If I were to write about my life, it would be filled with stories of opportunities in my professional and personal life that came from unexpected places, and big things eventually coming from very, very little things in the beginning.

37. MiraclesTV: What's next for you? What other shows or projects are you composing for?

Right now I am writing for Angel, Season Five, and Duck Dodgers, Season Two, is coming up soon. We just recorded Tia Carrere (the "Martian Queen" of the series) singing a blues song about her unrequited love for Dodgers and that was loads of fun!

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