Musician plays trumpet for 星球大战 电影配乐.
Miles McAllister ’11 recently opened his inbox to find an invitation to be coveted by any musician—an offer to perform on the soundtrack to 流氓一个: A 星球大战 Story.
“I was super honored to be asked,麦卡利斯特说, who plays trumpet with the Disneyland Band, an 18-piece marching band with choreography, and the Santa Barbara Symphony. “The studio scene is so hard to break into. You don’t just happen upon it. Somebody has to speak well of you and have enough faith to offer the recommendation.”
The recommendation had come from Jon Lewis, the symphony’s principal trumpet and a respected studio player, when another musician had been unable to make the last days of the recording.
Because the film was so high profile, McAllister was asked to sign a nondisclosure agreement that temporarily forbade him to tell anyone which movie he was working on. He saw the music for the first time when he arrived at the studio, and—while it may sound like the group had rehearsed for months—McAllister says it’s safe to assume they performed no more than five takes.
Music is often the last major component of production, since a composer needs to score music based on the film’s final take. So it was only a few weeks later that McAllister heard the finished product at a private screening with composer Michael Giacchino.
McAllister first picked up a trumpet in the fifth grade, and the Murrieta, Calif., native got serious about becoming a professional musician during his sophomore year in high school. At the University of 雷德兰兹, he focused on both trumpet performance and man年龄rial studies, and McAllister calls the time he spent at Redlands “invaluable.”
“I got so many experiences that I never would have been part of if I had gone to a larger school,他说. “I auditioned to be a student substitute for the Redlands Symphony [Orchestra], and I was able to do [almost] all of the programs I was offered over four years. I received four years of professional playing experience before I graduated, and I never would have had that elsewhere.”
教授 大卫·斯科特 mentored McAllister, alerting him to playing opportunities following graduation. “We try to open doors for students by first educating them to become the best musicians they can be,斯科特说。. “同时, we raise their awareness of the music industry’s entrepreneurial nature, and tell them to keep their eyes, ears and mind open to its multiple avenues from teaching to performing.”
Shortly after graduation, McAllister signed a contract with Carnival Cruise Lines and spent a year and a half playing the trumpet on ships bound for Mexico and the Caribbean. “I figured it was the perfect opportunity,他说. “I was fresh out of college, didn’t have any ties and was single.”
That didn’t last long—McAllister met Cristina Duarte-Noe, a dancer on his boat, and the pair married in 2014. He then went back to school, earning his master’s in trumpet performance from 加州 State University, 富勒顿.
从那时起, McAllister has played with the San Diego Symphony, 太平洋交响乐团, 加州 Philharmonic and the prestigious American Youth Symphony. He is also a member of the Presidio Brass quintet, founded in 2006 by University of Redlands artist-teacher Scott Sutherland.
与 流氓一个 under his belt, McAllister hopes to pursue a career full of studio work. “That is an awesome credit for a first film,他说. “I don’t know when the next one will come along, but I hope to be prepared enough so when people take a chance on me, 我可以站出来, and that it leads to more things.”
—Catherine Garcia ’06
