Today we’d like to introduce you to Sam Bishoff.
Hi Sam, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I grew up on a little island across the water from Seattle called Bainbridge Island. My parents both love music, and as a kid, I was exposed to all sorts of styles and artists. I particularly latched onto the blues and became enamored with artists like Muddy Waters and B.B. King. When I was four or five, my parents took me to see B.B. King in concert and I must have been the youngest attendee there by several decades! There’s a fantastic radio station in Seattle, KNKX (it was KPLU back then), that played blues on the weekends and jazz on the weeknights. I always used to ask my parents to put on the station, hoping to catch B.B. King. It was through that station that I first fell in love with jazz and, ultimately, improvisation and creating my own music.
I started playing saxophone in middle school and had the chance to study with some great Seattle-area musicians in high school. After graduation, I attended Temple University’s jazz program which first brought me out to the East Coast. Although I didn’t really realize it at the time, my interest in composition and music tech slowly began to grow during this period. I worked in the recording studio and began to arrange for larger groups of musicians, like octets, and branch into other styles of composition like classical and funk.
Once I graduated, I tried a lot of different directions for my career. I consistently worked as a freelance musician and teacher, but I also spent some time working as a venue booker. The real turning point for me was the beginning of the pandemic. Nearly all of my work as a performer and booker disappeared, and I was left with a lot of time on my hands. I was determined to do something productive with that time, and after seeing a friend enter a film scoring competition, my interest was piqued. I quickly fell into the world of film scoring, teaching myself orchestration and audio production. My very first scoring gig (found on Craigslist of all places) was a feature-length indie slasher movie. I had absolutely no idea what I was doing, but I quickly learned on the job, and I had so much fun scoring that film that I instantly knew I had found my true calling in music.
In 2021 I moved up to New York to begin a master’s degree at Brooklyn College in Media Scoring. In addition to studying with some amazing professors there, I’ve also had the chance to participate in several extra-curricular programs, including the Society of Composers and Lyricists’ Mentor Program. This was particularly life-changing as it introduced me to the wider film composer community and connections in LA. Currently, I work as the administrator for the SCL’s New York chapter and get the chance every day to interact with amazingly talented people from the industry. Currently, I’m working on scoring a short film and in the spring will have the chance to have my music recorded with a live orchestra for the first time.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Music is never an easy career, even if you’ve got lots of talent. I’ve experienced the same struggles most musicians face: playing to empty venues, lots of rejection or no response at all, and feeling undervalued in my artistic endeavors. I think that turns a lot of people away from careers in music, and I don’t blame them. The reason the rest of us stick with it isn’t that we’re somehow tougher or more determined. It’s because we love this thing so much that we feel we have no choice but to keep pushing forward. I’ve had career opportunities in the past that could have led to a great, stable, well-paying job, but at the end of the day, I just can’t imagine doing anything else. The struggle is real, but I honestly couldn’t be happier to be in it.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I am a composer for films, TV, and other visual media. What’s great about writing for media is that each project has different needs and allows you to create a different sonic world each time. I have a lot of love for all sorts of genres, and I pride myself on being a musical chameleon of sorts, adapting to each new project, and finding a new way to express my musicality. Given my background in performance, I have a certain affinity for working with live musicians, and I try to utilize talented performers on my projects whenever possible. Almost every score I write has some element of chance or improvisation. When working in the timing constraints of media scoring, it can be easy for the music to sound too regulated, and I feel improvisation brings that human element back into the picture.
Can you talk to us a bit about the role of luck?
I always say that opportunity is really just about getting lucky and being ready with the skills and determination to take advantage of those situations when they arise. Of course, you have to surround yourself with the right people for those moments of luck to occur, but really so much of it comes down to chance. I’ll be the first to admit that much of what I’ve accomplished is thanks in no small part to luck, whether it was meeting the right person at the right time, someone taking a chance on me, or simply having the luck of an amazingly supportive family and partner who have supported me in my endeavors over the years.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.sambishoff.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sambishoff/?hl=en
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sambishoffmusic/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sam-bishoff-0b610bab/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChwxxFTBbp4WXUMX5RktHgg
Image Credits
Jess Harrigan
