Just lately, I bought to talk with the skilled and acclaimed composer/music producer, Matthew Tishler, who not too long ago introduced his musical experience to the Disney hit, “Fancy Nancy” for which he was the resident songwriter and music producer. Matthew crafted over 60 unique songs for the Disney Junior animated sequence, which was primarily based on the best-selling youngsters’s guide franchise. His piece, “If You Have a Dream” was nominated for a Youngsters and Household Emmy for Greatest Authentic Tune.
Beforehand, Matthew has labored on a lot of high-profile tv reveals and movies, together with; Sony Photos’ “Lyle Lyle Crocodile”, “Sneakerella”, “Excessive Faculty Musical: The Musical: The Collection”, and “Descendants”.
Might you give us a little bit of an introduction to your self?
Properly, I’m Matthew Tishler. I’m a songwriter and music producer, initially from Toronto, Canada, now dwelling within the not so sunny right now, Los Angeles. However you actually hit the nail on the top. I simply love Disney a lot, and I grew up being such a Disney geek, and now it’s simply such a deal with all these years later to really be engaged on these initiatives. And I feel it’s no shock that it comes so naturally to me. I don’t even know why or how I ended up doing precisely this, however I’ve been writing and producing music for Disney, Disney Channel, Disney Junior, and now Disney+ and simply having a blast doing it, in order that’s cool.
How did you get entangled in composing movies and reveals?
Properly, I bought into music at a really younger age again in Canada, taking music classes. I performed in bands. After which, once I found songwriting, I additionally had an enormous love of musical theater and I by chance fell into writing for movie and tv as a result of I feel it’s type of the right crossroads of all of my passions all wrapped into one. I really like pop music, I really like traditional Disney movies, and I really like musical theater. And actually, writing for movie and tv is visible storytelling. You’re utilizing music to speak story and character, and themes. It’s type of all my loves wrapped into one. So, that’s the existential purpose for the way I ended up doing this. The precise mechanics of how, I despatched a pair chilly emails, and other people responded and mentioned, “Hey, that is fairly good. Perhaps we must always offer you a try to give it a shot,” and the remaining is historical past.
How do you give you the general really feel of the music for a present or movie?
Properly, it’s oftentimes an enormous collaboration, and it might be unfair for me to take the whole credit score for that as a result of oftentimes, these reveals are fairly far down the road earlier than I turn into concerned. So, there’s an unimaginable staff of creators and government music producers… Sorry. Govt producers and community executives who’ve been creating these initiatives for years and years and years earlier than it even comes time to creating music for it. So, by the point I get entangled, they typically have a comparatively clear route. They know what sort of music must sound like this. These are what the characters would sound like once they sing. That is the place it’s set. In order that’s going to provide a little bit of a clue into what it ought to sound like.
And from there, when you’re armed with that type of info, then you’ll be able to add your spice to it. And I feel that’s what provides sure composers an edge on sure initiatives as a result of generally you simply have a really feel that’s going to provide you… You’re going to unlock the code for what that present notably appears like, and I don’t know precisely how that occurs. Typically it would simply be a fluke, however I feel it’s arming your self with all the knowledge that everybody else has laid out earlier than you, and so they didn’t simply begin enjoying round.
Which Disney venture has been your private spotlight to work on?
Oh, I don’t even know the way I may select. They’re all so enjoyable, and so they’re all so totally different. And as a music lover like myself, every one, I get to do one thing a bit totally different on every one, so it might be unimaginable to decide on. I imply, I’ve cherished, cherished, cherished engaged on Fancy Nancy, which is without doubt one of the first animated reveals I ever bought an opportunity to work on. And I wrote all of the songs for that present, which was, I feel, my first venture the place I actually bought an opportunity to supervise the whole music route for a sequence. So, that was actually enjoyable as a result of over the course of some years, we wrote, I don’t know, 75 songs, and you actually get to mess around since you get to know the characters, you get to know the world and the settings so nicely that it actually provides you the pliability to be versatile and check out various things. So, that was actually a enjoyable venture.
I’ve additionally cherished working at Excessive Faculty Musical: The Musical: The Collection, I imply, the entire forged and artistic staff on that present is simply so spectacular. I really like everybody in entrance of the digicam and behind the digicam on that present, and once more, it’s simply been such a enjoyable alternative to put in writing for various characters, and every one brings a unique factor to the desk. I simply love what I do there a lot that it’ll be arduous to select a favorite.
What’s the distinction between engaged on animated and live-action out of your perspective?
Properly, one huge factor that involves thoughts is the timelines. Animation takes so lengthy to get made, and I get entangled early on as a songwriter since you write demos to a script even generally, there’s no image concerned even but, and also you write a music and produce the music in order that they will construct animatics and do storyboards and finally construct out the ultimate animation to your music. So, you’re at first of the method that would take a 12 months or two years to complete one episode of animation. Whereas reside motion, generally you’re on the finish of the method, they’ve forged the present, they’ve everybody locked down, able to go, they’ve moved to location in 4 weeks, and so they bought to begin capturing one thing, and now we bought to inexperienced mild all of the music. So, then it’s an enormous scramble to put in writing all these songs earlier than everybody strikes off to location, so I feel timeline’s an enormous factor. Yeah, I feel that’s what involves thoughts.
What’s the most important problem of creating music for movies and reveals?
To me, the most important problem can also be the most important pleasure. It’s the determining make it proper. It’s simple to put in writing a music, you’ll be able to sit down and write something, however to make it really proper for the second and to make it really feel inevitable the place an viewers is watching it, and the music simply washes over you, and it’s the right factor within the second. And it may solely be that, and that lyric is ideal, and the melody strikes you, and it’s good for the singer. That’s the most important problem actually, of all. However that’s what excites me and drives me to actually rise up and do it since you’re combining the whole lot about this property and the singers and the characters and the story and the world and simply preventing minute by minute to make the most effective music doable for that second.
With musical movies like “Zombies”, do you get the most important songs in after which work out hyperlink between them?
Yeah, nicely, there’s an exquisite, fantastic music government at Disney Channel who oversees all these huge films. A beautiful man, Steven Vincent, who I credit score for giving me, certainly one of my first pictures within the enterprise. I really like that man to loss of life. And in collaboration with the opposite Disney executives and the creators of those properties will sit down and map out an entire film, and so they’ll say, “Okay, these are the tentpole moments which are going to occur.” After which, they assign every of these to a unique writing staff, otherwise you get to pitch for a kind of spots. So, quite a lot of the time, that map has already been laid out, and we simply get to plug in our songs.
Are there any Disney initiatives that you just’re engaged on which you could inform us about?
Properly, you probably did point out Excessive Faculty Musical, the musical. Oh, sorry. Excessive Faculty Musical: The musical: The sequence earlier than. I’ve a pair issues popping out in that, which is de facto enjoyable. And there’s a brand new present I’m engaged on an animated sequence referred to as Haley’s On It, which I’m writing all the unique songs and doing underscore on that present with my associate Andrew Underberg, who’s improbable. He’s in New York, and that stars Auliʻi Cravalho, who did the voice of Moana, and he or she’s improbable on this function, and it’s simply been so enjoyable. So, extra to return on that in, hopefully, later this 12 months, however we’ll see.
Is there another Disney franchises that you just’d prefer to work on sooner or later?
Disney franchises that I’d prefer to work on sooner or later. I imply, I’d like to be doing a little options. I’d like to be engaged on the Disney options. Perhaps Alan Menken goes to retire sometime quickly, and I can fill his footwear, that might be a dream come true.
What has been your favorite Disney+ Authentic thus far?
I imply, I’m in all probability biased as a result of I’ve a couple of horses within the race, however one factor that involves thoughts that we haven’t talked about that I actually do love was the film Sneakerella, which was a gender flipped model of, and contemporized model of Cinderella’s at New York Metropolis. And I feel I adore it as a result of as a music particular person, it was simply such an excellent film musical for the younger teen house. Songs have been all nice. The underscore was fantastic. It truly simply gained Youngsters’s and Household Emmy for excellent music route and composition, which is so fantastic for the underscore composer who did the underscore on that. And I feel it’s only a testomony to nice music being nicely executed in a film musical format. So, I used to be excited to have performed this tiny, tiny piece within the music of that film, however I do suppose that’s in all probability my favourite.
“Fancy Nancy”, “Sneakerella”, “Excessive Faculty Musical: The Musical: The Collection”, and “Descendants” can be found to stream now on Disney+.
Roger Palmer
Roger has been a Disney fan since he was a child and this curiosity has grown over time. He has visited Disney Parks across the globe and has an unlimited assortment of Disney films and collectibles. He’s the proprietor of What’s On Disney Plus & DisKingdom.
Electronic mail: Roger@WhatsOnDisneyPlus.com
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