By Natasha Barbieri
Jennifer Thomas didn’t start out to be a composer – nor did she think it would be in her future. . “I started learning both piano and violin when I was 5 years old, and spent the next 20 years being classically trained.” Jennifer attend college at Brigham Young University (Idaho), and studied piano there, as well as performed violin in the university symphony. “I was very heavily involved in piano competitions, performances, and that whole ‘classical world’ of music.” Still Jennifer struggled to find out exactly what to do with her gifts. “I saw two pathways I could go – either in the direction of educating, or performing. I didn’t want to pursue music education as a career, and I knew my heart longed to be a performer. But in the classical world, you literally have to be in that small top 1% of the world’s greatest pianists to make it as a professional concert pianist. And while I was one of the top pianists in my university music program, I didn’t consider myself in that small marginal percentage that could make a career out of performing. I was not a perfect player,” she admits.
It wasn’t until a couple of years after graduating that Jennifer had an experience that she says, “would shape the rest of my life as a musician forever.” It started simply around Christmas at a concert she attended with her family. The music was from the new age genre and by Tinstad and Rumbel. “The music struck an emotional response in me so deeply, that it was almost as if someone planted a seed within me that night that made me want to compose music. I went home after the concert and wrote my very first song – without having any prior composing training whatsoever. The next day I wrote another song. For months after this, I would bring my manuscript writing book with me to work (I worked for the Seattle Symphony at the time), and in quiet moments I would find a piano and compose.”
Where does she continue to find her inspiration? “To be honest, MUSIC itself is what inspires me the most. When I listen to my favorite composers that I admire so much, or sit in a movie where the film score is beyond fantastic – all I want to do is go home and get on my piano and write, write, write. I feel so inspired inside that it’s like a burning desire to transform those thoughts and feelings into music as soon as possible. I really believe that what we become, and who we develop into as a person is manifested in small ways throughout our adolescence. When I was younger, I would listen to classical works or music on CD and imagine additional orchestration or variations of the song to improve upon it. I would think “This song would sound so cool if there were violins playing an octave higher…”, or what have you. I would be adding these parts to the music inside my mind, or humming it. I would create mash-ups of classical pieces as well. And now as a composer, I find that I can create entire symphonies in my mind – even re-arranging parts, backing up to replay, transpose, etc. I wrote my entire arrangement of “New World Symphony” in my mind while on an 8-hour road trip across Idaho.” Jennifer makes it sound easy but shares that, “The trick, of course, is always figuring out how to get what is in my mind out and onto paper, and eventually recorded.”
Jennifer plays both the piano and violin “I started playing in orchestras when I was only 7 years old all the way up until my late 20’s, and having that experience has helped me immensely when I write the orchestration on my music.” When it comes to writing her own music however Jennifer really gravitates towards violin. “I use the violin as a secondary instrument. It helps in ways such as knowing the range of the instrument, what it’s capable of doing or not doing, what sort of articulations sound good on it, and more.”
At the moment she is satisfied with these two instruments but dreams to develop her voice. “I used to sing as a teenager in concert choir, but I rarely ever practice singing anymore and my ‘voice muscles’ are just not there anymore – or at least that’s how it feels. I sing in the shower, or to my children but that is the extent of it.”
Throughout the years Jennifer’s style has evolved. “I started out being really drawn to solo piano music. I was almost a bit snobbish about it actually,” she laughs, “I felt like my music absolutely had to stand on its own as solo piano music first and foremost. Over the years though, I have really embraced orchestral music, and mostly in a very cinematic nature. While the piano is still a leading voice in my music, it is not always the star of the show. Often
times I specifically write songs where the piano leaves ‘holes’ in the music that I know I will later go in and fill with orchestra. Or I might write just a very simply right-hand for the piano knowing that I’m going to counter balance that with bass from the cello and bass section. I also like to double and triple track my piano sometimes to create a “piano orchestra” effect – which I later kick myself for when I have to go back and re-arrange the music to be playable for live performance.”
Jennifer says she has always been inspired by film soundtracks. “ When I was a teenager and started my own music collection, the majority of it was soundtracks from movies that I loved. Some of my favorite film composers are Hans Zimmer – for his love of strong brass sections and agitating epic melodies. Danny Elfman for the sweeping whimsical fantasies his music portrays in my mind, not to mention his use of emotional minor triads. James Newton Howard for his lasting memories and beautiful strings, John Williams for memorable melodies and incredibly complicated intricate orchestration, Dario Marionelli for his beautiful piano-based scores that I connect with so much, and Craig Armstrong for his innovative “outside the box” music. There are SO many more that I have so much admiration for. And I absolutely love that each of them has their own method to the madness when creating.”
Speaking of the madness of creation she says. “I used to feel like musical creation was supposed to fit inside this box where you had to do things a certain way. You had to use a certain software, or you had to record you piano just so, or you had to use a digital notation program, or what have you. Last year I attended the Billboard TV and Film Music Conference in Los Angeles, and when I sat in on a Q&A with Howard Shore (Lord of the Rings), I had the most awakening experience listening to him describe his music creation process. He said that he ponders the film, goes to sleep and dreams about the music, wakes up and writes down the melody. And then, I quote him, ‘The music is finished. The rest is just details.’ Wow. I’m telling you after listening to him and all of the other Oscar winning film composers I was fortunate enough to learn from – I will never again doubt my own methods in the creating process. It is the end product that we are after, and how we get there is not right or wrong.”
On the personal side of things Jennifer is the mother of “three adorable little red headed boys.” Her husband is an marathon competitor and so “between the two of us – we keep pretty busy.” She describes her day-to-day life as being “pretty
normal.” She explains, “I wear yoga pants, usually no make-up unless I have somewhere to be, I make P&J sandwiches for my kids, and I watch countless episodes of Thomas the Train (thanks to having 3 boys). I do dishes, laundry (although I’m horrible at folding laundry – we are talking weeks of clean laundry piles everywhere), and I absolutely love at-home movie nights.”
Jennifer’s husband retired from his job at Microsoft to stay home and help her with her music career. “Now we are a team at this. When I have music projects happening, he is on top of taking care of the kids. If he has a race, or is training heavily, then we swap. We love being by each other’s side and supporting one another and so it works really well for us to be at home together. It allows us the flexibility of not only running our careers, but also being very hands-on parents who are around all of the time.” Another thing Jennifer is happy to own up to is her love for chocolate. “I do love chocolate. Probably a little too much. Right now I’m actually doing a 30-day cleanse from sugar and so I’m missing it dreadfully. I’ve discovered that unless you want to eat straight-up 100% cacao, pretty much ALL chocolate has some form of sugar in it. It was a very sad, sad, very sad realization for me.”
She believes that every artists needs to have a platform with their art. “For me personally, I feel like it’s my mission to inspire women out there to know that they can still pursue their talents and dreams as well as being wonderful mothers. I also think it’s extremely important to show the world that you don’t have to give up having a family in order to have a career in music (or entertainment). I’m very proud of my family, and they make me a stronger person and a better artist – not the other way around. And in a world where the family structure is continually being weakened, I want to be an example of strength, happiness, and unity.” Jennifer is an active vlogger and shares her journey on her YouTube channel.
Jennifer is also hopeful that as classical crossover continues to grow as a genre new music will become a part of the norm. “While I love hearing “O Mio Babbino Caro” over and over, I would love to hear fresh new music from the classical crossover artists of today. One artist that I really admire for doing this, is Viktoria Tocca. She is someone I have collaborated with several times, and she is not afraid to create fresh new music in this genre. She writes her own lyrics, and sometimes comes up with melodies as well and then works with a producer, or an orchestrator to dial the song in and give it the right sound and direction. Rebecca Newman is another classical crossover artist who has written some very strong original music.”
While Jennifer receives many requests for new compositions, orchestrations and collaborations in the genre she admits it can be difficult. “Not only am I trying to concentrate on my own music as a recording artist, but I’m having to divide my precious time I have with my husband and children as well. So I have to be extremely selective because my time is so limited. But I do know that there are many composers out there who are specifically song-writers and producers who want to find gems like these talented CC artists to work with. These are composers who essentially work as a “work for hire” on a project. The most ideal setup would be for singers to find a composer who can also produce. At least that is my opinion.”
Jennifer enjoys writing stories in addition to music but sees writing music for films to be a unique experience. “For film, the ideas are put there in place already and you have to find a way to enhance them. You need to write music that caters to the story, and that can get the audience to be provoked to a certain emotional response. Everything is incredibly timed, sometimes to the very second – to create an emotional response. Hits and cues are everything. Whereas, writing my own music is being completely free to create whatever emotion or timing I want from the start.” She shares that often she has no specific story in mind and “it’s only after I’ve begun writing a song where I will visually see where this song is going. This is a big reason why I love and yearn to create more music videos – as I see things so incredibly visually when I create. And sometimes I have an entire sequence of images before the song is even finished.” Ask Jennifer’s husband and he might label his wife “too epic” on occasion but she counters, “Is that even possible to think too epic when it comes to film and music? I can’t help it if I want explosions, fancy car chases, and grand ballrooms in my videos. Realistically I probably won’t get those, but a girl can dream.”
Jennifer certainly does dream but it is her hard work that brings success. Her album “Illumination” took 4 years to write and produce. “I arranged and wrote all the music, and did all of the orchestrations myself, with beats/effects and some additional orchestration on about half of the songs by Glen Gabriel. So, oh so much work went into that album. The music on it really evolved over the 4 years I worked on it as well – as you can imagine happening if you are working on something for that long.”
The album was highly acclaimed and recognized through various awards and nominations. “I will never forget the moment the Spring of 2013 when I was in Hollywood for the Indie Music Channel Awards, and after a long evening of red carpet, performances, and awards they were finally getting ready to announce ‘Album of the Year’ as well as ‘Artist of the Year’. I was standing at the very back of a crowded room at the House of Blues, and as they read off a very lengthy list of nominees that ranged from every genre imaginable, I said to my friend who was there with me, “There is no way I can compete with genres like Pop, country, and Rock. Are you almost ready to go after this is over?” And then all of a sudden I heard “And Album of the Year goes to…Jennifer Thomas for Illumination!”. What? No. Seriously? I couldn’t believe it. My classical crossover/cinematic album beat out the other genres. I accepted the award with the lamest acceptance speech every because I was so baffled. And then walked to the back of the room again, only to be called up again moments later for ‘Artist of the Year’”.
Jennifer was also able to perform at Carnegie Hall as a nominee for the Enlightened Piano Radio Awards for “Illumination”. Her 2015 release was a Christmas album entitled, “Winter Symphony.” She jokingly points out that “it is not easy to write Christmas music through the summer time.” It was a long requested album for her fans and Jennifer “finally arrived at a place where I felt ready to tackle arranging this music. I felt like I wanted to raise the bar even higher on this album, and so all of the orchestrations, the arrangements of the songs, the original songs, live orchestra and choir….just everything is honestly the best I had within me, and there were no short cuts. I really went “all out” with this album – because I wanted to create something beautiful that would last for years and be a go-to album each Christmas holiday. All of the songs were composed with great thought and care – as I wanted to create fresh new arrangements, and also transport the listener into each song with the hope that they feel enraptured in beauty.”
The album features collaborations with Glen Gabriel, the voice of the Ensign Chorus, Felicia Farerre, Taylor Davis, Ricky Kei and the Raveolution Orchestra, as well as players from the Salt Lake City Pops Orchestra with conductor Nathaniel Drew. To top it off “all the hard work has been mixed to perfection by 5-time Grammy winning engineer Brian Vibberts (Michael Jackson, Green Day, and more).”
For Jennifer it hasn’t been just about the highlight moments but the joy of making a living doing what she loves. “ Even on the days when I worked on a project for 14 straight hours and am exhausted, I still would not trade it for anything else.” She hopes to establish herself as “That piano girl who writes amazing epic cinematic classical crossover music.” That and “to never
To learn more visit: jenniferthomasmusic.com
