We were lucky to catch up with Isabella Bonzani recently and have shared our conversation below.
Isabella, so great to have you with us and we want to jump right into a really important question. In recent years, it’s become so clear that we’re living through a time where so many folks are lacking self-confidence and self-esteem. So, we’d love to hear about your journey and how you developed your self-confidence and self-esteem.
Developing my confidence as a performer and composer has definitely been a journey, and it will continue to be. In my early performance years I struggled with confidence, often comparing myself to others. In a performance environment, you’re often competing against one another for first chair or the top jazz band. It became incredibly stressful, but I did something to help that may sound silly. I used to write down all the good things my friends or professors said about me, and I would keep them near my workstation on little post-it notes. It was a constant reminder that others saw something great in me. I still do this even after my transition to composition. But switching to composition also changed my perspective in terms of everyone’s unique voice. Even when we were handed a scene to score, everyone would score it differently. Knowing that there isn’t a direct right or wrong made me feel more confident in my own musical voice. I didn’t have to try and sound the best; there wasn’t a “best.”
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?
My name is Isabella Bonzani, and I am a composer for visual media. I started out as an instrumentalist focusing on saxophone and clarinet, but transitioned to composition during my undergrad at Loyola University New Orleans. My major was in music industry studies, so I got to learn about the tech and business aspect of music along with performance. I really fell in love with the tech side, and worked for a live sound company during college. During my time at Loyola I took a class on film scoring and that’s when I fell in love with it.
I have always loved film, but it never occurred to me that writing music for it was a job! I immediately knew after I took that class that I wanted to pursue that. I then attended NYU’s graduate program for Screen Scoring, Since then, I have scored numerous short films and video games. I found myself feeling really passionate about writing for horror and sci-fi. Not only do I love those genres, but I love the music for them because I can write really weird contemporary music. You can get really experimental, and I love that musical freedom. I definitely have a more contemporary style of writing that’s influenced by nineteenth and twentieth century music. And due to my love for technology, my writing is heavily influenced by electronic elements as well. I just love working with directors and helping their film become the best it can be, it honestly feels like a privilege to do this for a living.
There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
The three most necessary qualities for this industry to me are people skills/communication, a love for film, and a creative voice. Working as a film composer means that you work very closely with directors, other composers, editors, producers, etc. You will have multiple people listen to your music, offer different opinions, and request different revisions. This makes communication an essential skill, from first meetings to draft revisions to understanding the director and their musical vision – without effective communication skills, it will be difficult to work closely with people in a high stress environment. Not only that, but having people skills is essential when starting out. It is a small industry, and everyone knows everyone. People want to work with people they get along with, and networking events are going to be your best friend in starting out.
Having a love for film is a skill that I think is often overlooked. Interest in whatever medium you work in – be it video games, television, or film – you should be as into it as those on the film side. Not only that, but you need to understand the history of film as a whole. I think it is essential to know what came before you and to understand why the greats are considered greats, both on the film side and the composer side. You learn why some things work and why others don’t. You can gain knowledge from the past and inspiration. Along with that, knowing some technical aspects of film will only further help you communicate with whoever you’re working for as you can get more into detail about the film, the intention behind it, and so on.
having a creative voice may seem like a given, but it is important especially in the industry now. There are more people striving to become film composers than ever before, which means more competition. Having a unique creative voice allows you to stand out against the crowd. I’m a believer that everyone has a unique sound. Give a classroom one scene to score, they will all score it a different way. Finding your voice as an artist is essential in being noticed. How does one find their voice? This may sound counterintuitive, but imitation is key. It is how people learn new things in general, and I believe when you imitate it will still have your own flare to it. Listen to what you want to sound like and overtime your voice will develop.
What would you advise – going all in on your strengths or investing on areas where you aren’t as strong to be more well-rounded?
I definitely lean more towards being well rounded. I was always told when I was younger to slow down and not learn so many instruments so fast. My teachers wanted me to focus on one but that just didn’t feel natural to me. I loved playing multiple instruments in multiple genres. That’s one of the reasons I love writing music for films, I don’t have to stick to just one genre. I know there can be a downside in improving areas you’re not as strong in as you may spread yourself too thin. But I think for my progression, it has been extremely helpful.
As starting composers, we have to wear multiple hats because we aren’t at the stage of our lives where we can hire a team to complete different roles. We have to write our music, orchestrate it, edit it, mix it, and more. The more roles you can fill the better. Even as a performer, I used what I learned playing in an orchestra to help me in a big band. There were differences, but the underlying concepts were transferable from genre to genre. I have used what I learned as a performer in multiple genres to help with writing music. It is all connected. What I learned as a performer only contributes to my unique compositional voice. I have a perspective that is my own, and it helps me stand out when working with directors.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://isabellabonzani.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/isabella_bonzani/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/IsabellaBonzani/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/isabella-bonzani-3556722a4/
- Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/isabella-bonzani
Image Credits
Chris Casillas
January Yucheng Li
Nina Feliciano
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