The Teacher

"It takes 10 years, or 10,000 hours of practice to become a Master."

- Malcolm Gladwell "The Story of Success" (2008)

According to experts who have extensively studied the secrets to success, it takes 10,000 hours or 10 years to Master a skill or craft. What if you could take all the most advanced information a person learns from spending 10,000 hours and 10 years at the craft of Film Composing, and have it explained to you in easy to understand logical terms, with illustrations and examples, covering every necessary topic, leaving no stone unturned, so you can absorb the most powerful knowledge available for the craft?!

Now what if you could learn that from someone who has put blood, sweat, and tears into the craft, for over 70,000 hours, for over 20 years, scored over 60 Feature Films with major film stars, totaling over 400 Projects of experience?!

I'm proud to say that the person who is willing to share this knowledge with you... is me. I'm a Double Blackbelt* in Film Scoring! And I'm one of the rare few who is willing to share their knowledge, experience, and wisdom with you. I'll tell you why I'm proud to be helping you, later on this page...

* referencing the black belt achievement of Mastery awarded in the Martial Art of Karate.

Hi, I'm Evan Evans, and I love teaching...

...and in addition to having an insatiable drive to achieve success no matter how many times I "fell off the horse" along the way and "got back up!", and to being blessed with the same kind of logical spatial mathematician's mind as the likes of Sir Isaac Newton and Albert Einstein, I know that music and teaching are part of my genes.

"Bill Evans was a Musical Genius!"

- Lalo Schifrin, Film Composer and Jazz Artist

(Mission Impossible Theme, Rush Hour 1 & 2, After The Sunset, Cool Hand Luke)

Bill Evans, Jazz Artist, working on a composition at his piano.

I never knew my father, Bill Evans. He died two days after I turned 5 years old, and up until that point he was constantly on the road. I have maybe a dozen memories of him. I remember him cooking breakfast for me in the kitchen in his New York City apartment, and when he flipped an egg it accidentally landed right inside a jug of apple cider, and he smiled and said "Look! Egg in the apple juice!" and we laughed. I remember coming home from being outside one time, in the afternoon, and finding my dad asleep in a big wicker chair we had setup in the living room, and him snoring, and I decided not to interrupt him.

And although I didn't know it at the time, there were signs I was destined to become a film composer ... for at least two reasons!

1. In my dad's apartment in New York City he had an upright piano in the living room which overlooked the city from many floors up. And I remember one time when I was about 2 years old, I was banging on the piano, on the very low end, with my fists, in a see saw pattern, and I was doing a crescendo and diminuendo, saying: "KING KONG COMING!!! KING KONG COMING!!!". Already at 2 years old I was showing my gift for translating musical instruments into dramatic visual.
2. Later in my life, loooooooong after I decided to become a film composer, in my late 20s, I was reading an interview that happened to have been at the end of my father's life. In it the interviewer asked the curious question: "Is there anything else you would like to do in music?", to which my father replied, "I'd like to compose for Cinema." Wow, talk about following in my father's footsteps! This is exactly where my bloodline was meant to go. I was destined to become a film composer.

MUSIC, CREATIVITY AND TEACHING IS IN MY GENES

Earlier I said that I know that "music and teaching are part of my genes." Well my success in independently going into music and excelling at every point along the way, are most definitely attributed to the same musical passions in the genetic line of my father, as well as his father, a barbershop singer, and going back many generations to when I was a Horner in the 15th and 16th Century AD. You know the rhyme: "Little Jack Horner sat in the corner, eating his Christmas pie, he put in his thumb and pulled out a plum and said 'Oh, what a good boy am I!'". This was a poem written for a King by a creative writer in my ancestry. And my Uncle, my father's brother, Harry Evans, was a gifted teacher of Music Theory and Appreciation, undoubtedly where I get my knack and passion for teaching! I love sharing and teaching as much as I love moving audiences to tears and fears with dramatic music.

NOBODY WANTS YOU TO KNOW THIS INFORMATION!!!

THIS IS WHAT THE MASTERS DO NOT WANT YOU TO LEARN!

WHY I'M PROUD TO BE HELPING YOU

I said earlier I would share why I'm proud to be helping you, and here's why...

I'm going to share with you the story that really set me off on changing the way we have to think, morally, as composers. I'm sick of the ruthless, cutthroat, deceiving, conceited, hoarding going on by many of the top composers of our time! These are our comrades, whom we should be laughing with and learning from each other, raising the state of the art to new levels as a team!

I was working as a mastering engineer in Universal City, and a very popular composer, whom I shall not ever name and who is even more popular today than he ever was then, came through my office, and his music tracks sounded outstanding!!! When he explained some of the best tracks were emulated orchestra, I felt like I was talking to someone I could relate to, because as a budding film composer my budgets were only enough for limited live instruments and mostly emulated (synthesized/sampled) orchestra. And his music was absolutely great sounding. I asked him what were the great sounds and samples he was using, and you know what he said???

"I NEVER REVEAL MY TRICKS."

- Unnamed Major Film Composer

My excitement to know and be associating with this fantastic composer, quickly turned to disappointment, and finally a bit of anger and resentment. It was like if he told me what sounds he was using, he would be worthless as a composer. It was really pathetic sounding to me, and  I VOWED FROM THAT POINT FORWARD TO NEVER EVER HOLD SECRET ANY OF THE WISDOM I LEARN  in this craft for anyone, ever! I felt that every composer has their own opportunity for their own unique voice and musical choices, to be successful no matter what samples they have loaded no matter what common information they have memorized or divined, and I decided that a real composer is doing more than just a preset list of learned tricks.

But more importantly, I realized that every human being has the opportunity to become a Master at whatever they want, if they are given the proper knowledge. And more specifically, regarding film scoring, what I've learned in my many years of experience is:

WRITING MUSIC FOR MOVIES IS

1% TALENT AND INSPIRATION, and

99% PERSPIRATION AND WISDOM

And when you look at those proportions, you can see, that ANYONE CAN TRULY LEARN HOW TO BECOME A MASTER FILM COMPOSER!

I BELIEVE THAT ANYONE CAN LEARN TO

BECOME A MASTER FILM COMPOSER!

"Thumbs Up!" Roger Ebert, Film Critic and Advocate of Film Music

You just need to learn the secrets that the experts are keeping from you. They've spent so much time and energy and money and had ups and downs along the way, the last thing they want, is for you to come along and start rightfully snaking their work without having to go through all the pain they had to go through. That insecurity is built up by resentment, and I say "bah humbug!" If you're talented, passionate, eager, persistent, and dedicated, then...

YOU CAN BECOME A SUCCESSFUL FILM COMPOSER INSTANTLY

BY LEARNING THE ELEMENTS OF MASTERY PRESENTED

IN THIS ONLINE LEARNING EXPERIENCE!