Film composers are nothing if not adaptable. Moving from project to project, they are frequently forced to adapt in multiple ways — to new directors, different budgets, punishing deadlines. To hear them describe this process of adaptation, it becomes clear that creating effective and memorable music for movies is really only part of their job. The other part involves a delicate balance between composing music they find personally satisfying but that also, somehow, pleases a director, a studio and, ultimately, an audience. And as they will freely admit, this process isn’t just about tinkering with a piano until inspiration strikes (although plenty of that happens, too). It also demands that they master other skills — patience, timing, intuition, some light psychoanalysis — that go well beyond music. “We’re like actors,”…
