Composer found mentor at USC

At the age of six, Bear McCreary knew that he wanted to be a film composer.

By 24, he was scoring Battlestar Galactica.

As one of the select protégés of the late Elmer Bernstein (The Magnificent Seven, To Kill A Mockingbird) at the USC Thornton School of Music, McCreary was groomed for success in the industry from early on.

After graduating from USC, McCreary distinguished himself with innovative compositions for the SyFy channel’s most popular program — Battlestar Galactica — which would earn him acclaim and wunderkind status. McCreary would continue with the show for four seasons, as the Battlestar soundtrack soared to the top five of Amazon.com music sales charts. Season four’s album even charted in the Billboard Top 150.

Over the years, McCreary has also scored successful television ventures such as Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Trauma, Eureka, Caprica and Human Target. More recently, McCreary provided a score for the film Step Up 3D, deviating effortlessly from his previous styles.

This fall, he began work on The Walking Dead, in intimate collaboration with the esteemed Frank Darabont (The Shawshank Redemption, The Green Mile). And in 2011, McCreary is poised to compose a full orchestral score to NBC’s superhero drama The Cape, amid various narrative feature projects.

He is only 30 years old.

Blessed with desire from early adolescence, McCreary exhibited tunnel vision in regard to his career. Inspired by Alan Silvestri and other musical titans, he searched out a personal style and sound within the music of his heroes. There was one man, however, who would change his life forever, and in the most unexpected way.

“My personal heroes are the composers who first addicted me to the art form: Jerry Goldsmith, Bernard Herrmann, Danny Elfman, Alan Silvestri, Ennio Morricone, John Williams and Basil Poledouris,” McCreary said. “However, at the top of the list would be Elmer Bernstein.”

McCreary came in contact with Bernstein in high school and was subsequently brought on as his protégé, studying with the master of both film and theater composition for seven years. The mentorship would suffice as a conservatory experience, during which McCreary’s dreams were affirmed daily.

For McCreary, Bernstein represented a man who had defied the odds and transformed himself into a Hollywood icon. It was a tangible and life-affirming journey for McCreary in that he was constantly reminded of what he was working toward and also consistently empowered to widen his scope of possibilities.

The thing that we must not dismiss, however, is that Bernstein first saw something in McCreary; he heard something in this high school student’s music that compelled him to make a seven-year investment.

It would seem that Bernstein, the oracle that he was, understood not only the potential in the maturity of McCreary’s work but also his passion for the art form that would outlast any skepticism. He sensed the desire, not simply the talent, which are mutually dependent characteristics for an artist.

“Despite a few occasional diversions into filmmaking or videography in middle school, I’ve never strayed from my path towards being a composer,” McCreary said. “It has been my singular professional focus virtually my entire life.”

Whether we are 17 or 79, there are moments that bring us back to our childhood. There are people that remind us of who we were and how we dreamed, and this is the basis of mentorship. It is the reincarnation of an unconscious-yet-shared life dream.

But McCreary’s story doesn’t end here. What his career represents really goes to the heart of “dreammaking” as a whole.

Yes, McCreary was given the opportunity of a lifetime, but he was preparing for that moment since he was six years old. He took hundreds of piano lessons, collected every soundtrack imaginable and was able to capitalize on this stroke of luck that probably would never have presented itself again.

No matter how sophisticated technology becomes, McCreary is a testament to how raw talent and determination remain paramount. Yes, people are still unfairly handed jobs, but the majority of successful individuals prepare, sacrifice and ultimately get what they deserve.

“Don’t make the mistake of approaching it casually,” McCreary said. “However, if you know in the bottom of your soul that you must write music for your life to be fulfilled, then dive in and embrace it.”

Whatever happened to the idea of college as a place to learn and to achieve, instead of a last hoorah before we are forced to work desk jobs for the remainder of our lives? What if we were here to make something of ourselves and to carry that over into our post-college careers?

USC is the opportunity of lifetime. It is the opportunity that many people will never have, but many dream of having.

Something like that might be worth a little sacrifice.

Brian Ivie is a sophomore majoring in cinema-television critical studies. His column, “Dreammaking,” runs Tuesdays.