I don’t think the role of the Canadian television composer
has ever been so much in the public spotlight until now. And we can thank hockey for it.
Ever since the big kafuffle with CBC
and Dolores Claman and their unfortunately very public battle over the infamous
“dunt-da-DUNT-da-dunt” theme came into light, thousands of Canadian music
enthusiasts have tried to put their mark on Canadiana by submitting their
entries to CBC’s Hockey Anthem Challenge.
And
while there are a few good themes amongst the 15,000+ entries they were few
and far between. And I’m not even
talking about the production quality. I’m talking strictly about the musical
ideas (often taken with a hearty dose of imagination to see where it could go).
The judging for the CBC Anthem Challenge has been subjective (fine, what judging isn't) but what irks me is the ridiculous rating system and comments section. Having what is often uninformed commentary, and some stuff which is just downright mean, really takes away the dignity and professionalism of the craft that people like me practice.
With the advent of tools like GarageBand and Soundtrack, media composers like me are always fighting a constant struggle against the do-it-yourself mentality. This anthem competition certainly doesn't help.
I know, I sound like a snot.
I recently moderated a panel at the Atlantic Film Festival a few weeks ago, and I got a question from an aspiring filmmaker: “I have
these programs on my computer, do you think for a filmmaker starting out that’s
good enough?”
I think I was a bit indignant in my response. It’s like saying that because I have Final Draft, I’m qualified to be a screenwriter. Or because I have iMovie, I can now be an editor. Just because you can doesn’t necessarily mean you should, and it doesn’t necessarily mean it will be
good.
I know, I sound even more like a snot.
As much as I want to, I’m not going to lay judgment on the
CBC for losing the rights to the Hockey Theme (Maclean’s recently
called it “Dumb-da-dumb-da-dumb!”
), but I guess what irks me is that CBC turned the craft of writing music into
fodder for a reality TV show. I think there’s a lot of consensus around the
block that CBC dropped the ball on this one.
Of course, we all have our breaking points. Mine just happened to be the lure of
fame and $100,000. Obviously. I’m
only ranting because my entry didn’t go anywhere.
On a serious note, kudos to Colin Oberst for picking up the
cheque, and to all the semi-finalists.