From DamonJai: Jay, I loved your piece "The Inner Light." Its one of the most beautiful pieces of music I've heard on television. Does the final version of the song resemble the earlier drafts, or are they different? Did you have different songs ready and you just picked this one? Actually there were three different lullabies i composed for that episode. The one Picard plays was chosen by the producers as the best. they were right A great theme, I thought Thank you, It has become one of the most requested pieces in the Paramount library. many use it for weddings from bombast: what is the process you go through writing music for an episode? do you see a cut of the episode first, aand compose to that, or are you told what kind of theme is needed without getting to see the filmed product? I get to see the rough cut on video. We then have a meeting, called a spotting session, which determines the place and type of music * From McReynolds: I've noticed that some episodes feature scores which are more "epic" than others, typically the big event episodes. How much of the composititon is influenced by the scope of an episode or by the suggestion or influence of the writers and production staff? The scores are really dictated by the piture itself. Obviously an epic picture and story will get a more epic score. Sometimes we only get to do a transitional score, that is to get from one scene to another * Smorgasborg is a very cool nickname From Rafael Scholl: I admire your work for VOY und DS9. I'm curious: How do you tackle to task of scoring an episode? Do you intentionally use some motives throughout the seasons or is this, honestly, just a by-product of the fact that you can't be expected to come up with new ideas all the time? I have written specific motives for character development and I try to use them wherever possible. Chakotay has his unique sound as does the Doc on Voyager. The time constraints are such that the musical styles of each composer, i'm sure are readily identifiable * From Nascar6901: Hi Mr Chattaway I loved your Baddabing Baddabang score!!I was just wondering what is your favourite type of episode to score Action,Dramatic or an episode like Baddabing Baddabang?Second if they create another Trek series and they asked you to return to do the music would you ar would you like to do something else? My favorite ones are the ones where I get to be different. On Badd Bing, I was able to use my jazz roots as having produced about 200 jazz albums prior to getting into this business. As to whether I would want to do another series. of course, i love Trek. It is one of the only shows which still uses a live orchestra weekly * From Hyacinth: What styles of music and composer influenced you and your career choices? A lot of Hollywood music seems very Gustav Mahler-ish, but that's just my non-professional take on it. You are very accurate. Mahler has influenced a lot of film writers. my biggest influences have been stravinsky and mahler as well. in fact, one whole Voyager episode recently acyually used the 1st symphony of Mahler. * From Jason Davidson: Is there any sense of competition between the in-house musicians? Are the composers for two-part or "big" episodes decided in any special manner, or do you get the assignment by the luck of the draw? Oh that's right. "Counterpoint." Very nice touch, I thought. It's pretty much luck of the draw. When they do the schedules at the beginning of each season, they don't really know which episodes will fall on which dates. I have been requested to do a lot of the Vic Fontaine shows , because of my background, and either dennis Mccarthy or i usually get to start or end the season * From Thunderlove: I'm hoping that we get to see a DS9 Movie on the big screen...imagine you're picked to do the score. What would your feelings be? Would you immediately begin thinking of wacky new ideas, or would you simply expect to do "more of the same?" Wacky new ideas would be great, but one has to remember that the vocabulary of the music has been a huge part of the trek sound. On an upcoming Voyager, i got pretty Wacky with electronics. I would like to push the music a little more in the rhythmic mode. * From AndrewR: do you know who is slated to compose for the DS9 finale? Dennis will be scoring the two hour finale on DS9. I will be doing the season ender on Voyager * From Arman: What do you think of David Bell and Paul Bailageron's abilities as composers? Among Trek fans, Mr. Bailageron has recieved a lot of criticism for his flat scores, and Mr. Bell, while known to do a lot of dramatic, up-beat scores, has been repetitive in their use. I would say that i respect both men for their work as I'm sure Dennis and i are glad to have the help * From Crimson Jellybean: I really liked the music composed for the "Captian Proton" scenes for the Voyager episode "Bride of Chaotica," I was wondering if there was any possibility of getting, say, the sheet music for that. I had no idea that this many people were interested in Trek music! I would wonder what you would do with it? You might ask the Paramount Music Department if they would send you a copy.ginal Chaotica score and borried heavily from the past. * From AuburnTigersNCAAChamps: Writer Ron Moore one time said he though a musical episode would be great. Do you like the idea of a musical episode as well? Ron is a brilliant writer and I would love to do one with him. We have been getting close with the Vic shows, especially "His Way" * From Sebastian: Mr. Chattaway, as an aspiring television/motion picture composer myself, I have a great respect for you and all the fabulous composers who have worked with this incredible franchise. While not specifically about Star Trek, although I am a huge fan, what do you think is an important background to have for someone attempting to forge a career in your business. Although not particularly important, realize that this question is being posed by a 17 year old high school student. Thanks for your time, sir. The most important thing is to learn as much about music as you can. Not just music for films. Try to play in a band or orchestra to see how all the parts fit, and also to see if you can get along with other musicians. Most successful film composers have written concert music first. Go to concerts and absorb what the masters have done. Don't just sit in your room and expect to be great all by yourself * From Steve Nahar: Mr. Chattaway, your music for the various Trek shows never fails to affect me; it seems that the better portion of your music is used for the spiritual/emotional episodes ala STNG's "The Inner Light" and DS9's "Chrysalis." Did your involvement with the latter include the "Do Re Mi Fugue?" It has to be one of the most powerful Star Trek musical moments since Picard played us out in "Inner Light" and Dennis McCarthy reprised the theme for "Lessons." How much involvement in any given episode do you actually have? Thanks in advance. We are chatting live with award-winning Star Trek Composer, Mr. Jay Chattaway. Please send any questions you have for Mr. Chattaway to me or Berserker. I'm glad you liked The Chryalis Song. I composed it and of course adapted the lyrics to fit. It was a tough assignment. They said, OK here is this group of brilliant people, they need to help this character regain her speech patterns. We think rote musical instruction might be the key. We want something melodic, short and that can develop into a brilliant fuge in less than two minutes. And, by the way, we're shooting it in the morning! * Ha ha, nice story From Jason Davidson: Are the "musical background scores" of the Captain Proton serials composed by the in-house musiscan responsible for the individual episode or does the music come from another source? Captain Proton scores are all original. As I mentioned earlier. I did the first one in this season's openner, and borrowed from past Flash Gordon type scores. The producers liked that approach and instructed the other composers to keep the same feeling. Lot's of notes! * There sure were. From DamenJai: I own a CD of your music on "Space Age." Was it easy to make the transistion from that show to Star Trek? Actually Space Age was a much more electronic approach. I was able to use some of the older synths. The only live instrument on that album was a french horn. Other cool parts of that was the tecnique of musiique concrete. We had access to the Nasa library and on one cut Luna, I used the the wave form of the Jupiter probbe held inside of a piano. From Gus Hall: How much say does the executive producer have over the music? It seems that the over all presence of music in episodes has increased greatly over the course of both shows, and I was wondering if this was due to a willingness on the part of the powers that be to allow more music in the episodes. I remember back in TNG, with the exception of Inner Light and Ron Jones' work in The Best of Both Worlds, that music didn't play a big part. That's changed, and I was wondering what were your thoughts on that. I think gradually the producers trusted us to use our imagination. It probably started more in Holodeck shows, like Fist Full of Datas, when i went in and said, Look, this is western and we have to play it as such. They wen't for it as well as the Bashir spy spoof, and how many got the Martini joke in Badda-Bing? * not I. care to refresh our memories? remember stirred, not shaken yes, I remember that LOL! Bashir is sitting in the casino and when Jadzia askes him for his drink order , he says, martini, shaken , not stirred, get it? Jadzia = Ezri From Thunderlove: Do you ever feel let down by the quality of the episode itself, that it inspires you to phone it in (even if professionalism forces you to do a competent job)? Bashir is sitting in the casino and when Jadzia askes him for his drink order , he says, martini, shaken , not stirred, get it? That's a great question. When the episodes aren'tyone has expected them to be, our task is much harder. The music is the last thing that can help a show. When we spot the shows, and the producers say, Jay, we really need some help here. ThatThat means the pressure is on. It is much harder to write a show that sits there and doesn't have a hook * I apologize... From AndrewR: Hi, Jay, I was just wondering, I remember reading an interview once, and you mentioned that there would be a compilation CD of trek music - and that the Inner Light and Equilibrium would be on it?!? - Is this the thirtieth anniversary CD - with the inner light Suite on it? - are there any plans for Equilibrium? Actually the Inner Light is on two CD's . The Thirtieth anniversary, and my most recent one. The The Next Generation. Both are on Crescendo I don't know if Equilibrium will be released. * I would like to see a compilation of Vic Fontaine songs soon also. * From Arman: Your score for "Scorpion," and "A Call to Arms" were amazing. We keep hearing that the producers don't want the composers to use up-beat scores. Rick Berman was quoted as saying he wanted music to be like wallpaper. Have the producers actually lightened up on allowing you to do more dramatic scores? Like wallpaper? Blech. No kidding. I hate that attitude. I think that quote from Rick is from the past. As to upbeat, that's fine. it's when the scores tell the audience too much informatiion, that they don't like. We want to think that our Trek audiences are intelligent enough to make up their minds who the good and bad guys are. * Let me chime in on that note... your last comment, about differentiating between good and bad guys... Ok, chime in * look at Star Trek II... is there not something to be said for the Enterprise music vs. the Khan music? As opposed to Star Trek: Insurrection... where there didn't feel like the villains had any power. (I feel Horner's ST2 score is the best of the films, followed by the ST6 score) or the Borg vs. Enterprise in "Best of Both Worlds" and First Contact" They did a pretty good job with Borg music in First Contact, I thought yeah, and I noticed echos of it in "Dark Frontier" Perhaps that is the difference b/w television and film. I've always felt that in the TNG movies, the scores have been, well, rather unremarkable. (with all due respect to Mr. Goldsmith). Although Jerry does seem to reuse the TNG tv / TMP theme a little too much. It almost dimishes the movie's cinematic quality. Now we are getting good, just when we are about out of time. These are great discussions about the psycho;logy of scoring which would take a lot of time to caht about. perhaps we might want to do another one of these with that title. i would be glad to come back sometime, but actually right now, i'm scorin a Voyager which records in the morning! :) * Well... I would like to thank Mr. Chattaway for joining us tonight, and answering the fan's questions. Thanks for coming, Mr. Chattaway... it was a blast :) Yes! It was awesome, I wish we had more time. Yes, a great time. We appreciate you coming by. You are all welcome. Thanks for your interest in the music. I hope to back to answer any questions Thanks. I like the idea of having another chat devoted to discussing the psychology of scoring :) * The discussion was getting pretty good ;-) Sounds like fun. qrx59 Splendid! We'll try to set it up sometime soon. Let me just make a couple announcements... Cool Don't miss the Armin Shimerman, David George & Eric Stillwell chat... finally set for this Thursday (barring any other problems). And, Bradley Thompson (writer, ST:DS9), next Thursday, March 18th. Too bad... Can I get a transcript of this via e-mail? Sure Jay: yes, I'll send you one along. Thanks, I have to run now, Bye The transcript should be ready within the hour, everyone, and posted at the TrekWeb main chat page, http://trekweb.com/Chat/ Thanks again b-bye. Goodbye, Jay! Thanks for chatting!