Meet Georgie Rickard

We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Georgie Rickard a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Georgie, we’re thrilled to have you sharing your thoughts and lessons with our community. So, for folks who are at a stage in their life or career where they are trying to be more resilient, can you share where you get your resilience from?

Resilience has followed me throughout my entire life. This is something I don’t talk about very often which I normally keep to myself, but as I have gotten older, I have begun to accept this part of my life and share it because it really is why I am who I am today.

At the very young age of two years old, I was able to read words just as an adult would out of a novel. I could decode phonetics without being taught a single word. The flip side is that I couldn’t comprehend what I was reading and I would ‘copycat’ sentences other people would say. Doctors told my parents it was “Hyperlexia” and, in ChatGPT’s words, it is a “a rare neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by exceptionally advanced reading abilities for a child’s age, often accompanied by difficulties in other areas of language development”. It can also come with other diagnoses on the spectrum.

The one thing that helped me get through my childhood was music. When I performed a thirty-minute Senior recital with all piano music memorized, when I got into music school, and when I got into graduate school, I always thought back to those who said I might never accomplish things at this level. I have to thank my parents a million times over. Throughout growing up, they heard me, they saw me, they knew about the ‘issues’ I had, and they did everything they could to help me work through them. I seriously would not be where I am today without them and their support through my life and career work. My parents are probably the most determined people I know and have taught me so much about always putting myself out there, even when I was afraid. By always putting yourself out there, you are seen, you are heard, and you are giving yourself a chance for every opportunity in life. They showed me that you can do anything if you have the will and the resilience that goes with it.

Now, I am at New York University, out of all places, getting my Master of Music in Screen Scoring! This is where resilience has taken me and I couldn’t be more proud of myself to come this far.

Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?

Before I took on composing music as a career, I actually pursued my undergrad degree in piano performance and music business at The Crane School of Music at SUNY Potsdam. During my time there, I took a music business class where we had to choose a music industry topic from a single chapter in a textbook to research extensively and present to the class. I got the first hand in picking the chapter “Scoring for Film, TV, and Video Games”. I became very engrossed in the topic but, for some reason, I just never thought I could compose large works. I had occasionally composed piano pieces but kept them mainly to myself.

Flash forward to February 2020 and the piano studio I was working for at the time was holding a piano recital for all of the teachers to perform in. I decided I wanted to put on a brave face and share an original piece I composed back in high school. After the recital, there were teachers that immediately told me I needed to make composing a career and that this should be my “thing”. I remember being so floored and shocked by their words. One of those teachers was also a film/tv/video game composer, which meant so much to me.

Through the Covid period, I made it a point to spend time taking online composing lessons from different people as well as taking the time to dive into learning Digital Audio Workstations such as Logic Pro and Pro Tools. I knew I wanted to dive into the film/tv/video game industry, rather than the concert composition world. This led me into taking my education seriously, first obtaining certificates in Composing for Film and TV, as well as Game Audio Production and Design through Berklee Online. Now, I am currently pursuing a Masters degree in Screen Scoring at New York University!

To date, I have composed for all medias, including for film, TV, and video games. I love connecting with clients and sharing their vision to bring their media to life. Right now, I love experimenting with different styles and genres. Even though I came from an orchestral and classical background, I have been influenced in many different genres, such as classic rock, pop, hip hop, even listening to lofi beats from time to time. I have used all of these influences in my works and I love being open to new ideas with filmmakers/game designers and ultimately putting them to the test. It bring me joy to see the look on their faces when I show my music to their picture.

I am most proud of how quickly and efficiently I can compose, even for the most wild of styles. I recently participated in the 48-hour Film Festival in New York City and it was one of the most exhilarating and insane experiences. I believe I composed all of the music for a 6 minute film within two to three hours. It was a satire film too, which can usually be difficult for composers, but (I think) I nailed it! Because of this experience, it has opened my world for other comedic genres, which I never thought would be the case. Of course, I compose for other genres as well. I definitely lean toward drama and emotional style media.

Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?

The three qualities that have been the most impactful in my bold journey are determination, curiosity, and being open to new ideas. These are all skills that come into play when networking as well. Getting the composing gig in the film industry is really all about if you can ‘hang’, which means to be the kind of person other people enjoy being around. If you can ‘hang’, you definitely have all of the three qualities listed above!

Okay, so before we go we always love to ask if you are looking for folks to partner or collaborate with?

I am always looking for people to collaborate with! If you are a filmmaker, connect with me! If you are a director, connect with me! If you are a producer, connect, with me! If you are a game designer, connect with me! If you are in any other type of media and are looking for a composer, connect with me! You can contact me through my website at https://georgierickard.com/ or on Instagram at @ge0rgie__ .

Contact Info:

• Website: https://georgierickard.com/
• Instagram: @ge0rgie__ https://www.instagram.com/ge0rgie__/
• Facebook: Georgie Rickard https://www.facebook.com/georgie.rickard.3/
• Soundcloud: Georgie Rickard https://soundcloud.com/georgie-rickard