We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Haim Mazar a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Haim, really happy you were able to join us today and we’re looking forward to sharing your story and insights with our readers. Let’s start with the heart of it all – purpose. How did you find your purpose?
As a young child, I was always obsessed with music. I remember seeing a keyboard player at a birthday party playing songs and creating entire band parts on the fly using his keyboard programing. I think it was back then when I knew this is what I want to do growing up. I asked my parents to buy me a Casio keyboard and pretty quickly I got good at it and started taking piano lessons. Ever since then music has been a major part of my life, slowly growing more and more and my curiosity expanded into all realms of music making. Later in my 20’s when I attended Berklee College of Music in Boston, I discovered the magic of film music and the ability to tell stories through music and sound which is what I am doing today as a professional film and media composer.
Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?
I’ve been living in Los Angeles since 2008 and I write original music for film, TV and theme park attractions. The music that I write provides the emotional backdrop of the story. It is usually an instrumental track that helps the narrative of the story and provides a stylistic tone to match and enhance the visuals in a cinematic way.
Some of my credits include original score for film and TV shows such as The Iceman, The Taking of Deborah Logan, Woke, Sneakerheads, Teen Mom, Desperation Road, and the upcoming Half Baked 2.
I also write and produce a lot of music for Disney Theme parks around the world. That includes music for ride attractions, background music, night time spectacular shows and immersive sound experiences. Recent projects include original background music for Adventureland, music for Oogie Boogie Bash in Disneyland, Believe Sea of Dreams – Disney Tokyo Sea nighttime spectacular, and music arrangements for the upcoming Tiana’s Bayou Adventure Disneyland and Walt Disney World.
In addition to being a composer I also enjoy teaching music for Berklee College of Music where I teach film scoring classes from my studio in Los Angeles.
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?
Strong work ethic, ability to work with other people, strong and diverse musical skills. My advice would be to study music as much as possible, with teachers or on your own with all the resources that are now available online. I would also advise any young composer to work as an assistant or apprentice for a professional composer or studio before going solo. That’s a great way to learn the ins and outs of the industry, develop work ethic, people skills and to expand your network.
Alright so to wrap up, who deserves credit for helping you overcome challenges or build some of the essential skills you’ve needed?
When I first moved to LA at the end of 2008, I got my first job as an assistant to composer John Frizzell. John became my mentor and taught me pretty much everything I know about how to score films, how to work with directors and producers, how to manage the business side and many other things. I worked with John for two years and he has since become a good friend and a supporter of everything For this I am forever grateful and I try to do the same by helping others and teaching my assistants the same skills.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.haimmazar.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/haim.mazar/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/hmazar/
Image Credits
Sean Galland, Jon Kopaloff
