Adam Blau: Film Composer of "Dead to Me"

Conversations with Musicians, with Leah Roseman

Netflix’s hit series "Dead to Me" (which I love), the Academy Award nominated short My Year of Dicks, and many other projects including You’re the Worst and Brockmire. In this wide-ranging conversation punctuated by music used with permission, we talked about many things including Adam’s many musical influences growing up in New York City, his work for the Fred Rogers Institute and his reflections as a parent. He has wonderful advice for composers interested into breaking into the film industry and shared some of his creative process with us. Adam is a warm and engaging musician with a real love for music across many genres; he shares how he pivoted from working as a performer to composing full-time, and we explored many of his diverse projects. Like all my episodes, this is available as a podcast on your favourite podcast player, a video on YouTube, and the transcript; everything is linked to my website: https://www.leahroseman.com/episodes/adam-blau I have included detailed timestamps if you want to jump to the music or any specific topics. Please help me keep this series going! You can give me a virtual tip or consider becoming a monthly supporter starting at $3 Canadian and get access to unique perks: https://ko-fi.com/leahroseman

Adam Blau website: https://www.adamblau.com/ Timestamps: (00:00) Intro (01:56) “Dead to Me”, Liz Feldman (08:14) intro to piano suite clip (08:59) clip of piano suite of themes from Adam’s “Dead to Me” score (10:48) Adam’s childhood musical influences (13:24) Center for the Performing Arts on Long Island (15:16) collaborations Rachel Axler, Jordana Williams, Liz Feldman (17:13) Village Harmony Rebecca Russell (19:49) NYC musical influences, Larry Holdridge (22:47) Yale (26:08) jazz piano (28:44) assisstant to Chris Beck, John Swihart and getting started as a film composer (34:09) Rarified Air podcast, music production libraries (41:30) writing music for podcasts (44:51) “My Year of Dicks” animated short, Pamela Ribon (48:17) intro to sound design montage clip, creative process (52:31) sound design montage clip (55:57) the 24 Hour Musical Theater Challenge, Rachel Axler (01:01:32) Fred Rogers Institute Everyday Grooves, Everbody Counts 2020 census (01:09:17) song “Tell Me What You Love About Me” from Fred Rogers Institute Everyday Grooves (used with permission for this specific podcast) (01:11:14) Adam as a singer and player, “You’re the Worst” (01:14:00) parenting and music education (01:16:51) mentoring composers, advice for the film industry photo of Adam Blau: Ari Scott

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