ACADEMICS
Screen Scoring
The USC Thornton Screen Scoring program is widely recognized as one of the world’s finest for musical composition in visual media. With a faculty comprised of working professionals in the film, television and video-game industries paired with a legacy that includes such luminaries as Buddy Baker, Elmer Bernstein, Bruce Broughton, Jerry Goldsmith, Morten Lauridsen, Laura Karpman, David Raksin and Jack Smalley, the USC Thornton Screen Scoring program offers its participants unrivaled practical experience and industry connections. Partnered with the USC School for Cinematic Arts, the screen scoring program provides student-composers the unique opportunity to collaborate with student-filmmakers, animators, and game designers in creating music for more than 100 annual film, television, animation, and game projects. These projects generally are created “in the box” or are recorded on USC’s John Williams Scoring Stage with Thornton student-musicians. Additionally, as part of their course work, our student-composers record approximately a dozen scoring projects with professional studio musicians and engineers on Hollywood-area scoring stages. These include the Georges Delerue Memorial Scoring Session (52 players) and the capstone recording session (64 players), both of which normally take place on the Clint Eastwood Scoring Stage at Warner Bros. Studios. To learn more, go to the website for the USC Thornton Screen Scoring program.
Graduate Programs
Master of Music
Screen Scoring
2 semesters | 36 units
This two-semester master’s program focuses on the art and craft of composing, orchestrating, programming, conducting, producing, recording, mixing, editing, copying and integrating music for screen-based media, including motion pictures, television programming, video games, Internet fare and other new visual media. Classes are also offered in technology, entrepreneurialism and the business of making movies.
Refer to the USC Catalogue for complete course descriptions and degree requirements.
Screen Scoring Faculty
Christian Amonson
Music Technology; Screen ScoringAmy Andersson
Screen ScoringPete Anthony
Screen ScoringJon Burlingame
Screen ScoringJeanine Cowen
Screen ScoringSiobhán Dougall
Screen ScoringPatrick Kirst
Screen ScoringMichael McCuistion
Screen ScoringLolita Ritmanis
Screen ScoringGarry Schyman
Screen ScoringLawrence Shragge
Screen ScoringThanh Tran
Music TechnologyChristopher Young
Screen Scoring
Spotlights
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Jeanine Cowen, chair
Khafre Johnson, coordinator
TMC 118
(213) 740-3224
contemporary.music@usc.edu