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Trevor Morris, ComposerThe Music of The Tudors

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Trevor Morris (pictured left)
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Biography:

Born - 25 May 1970 in London, Ontario, Canada

Website: www.trevormorris.com

Trevor was born a few hours outside of Toronto in London Ontario Canada. He was helped by his grandmother onto the piano bench before he could walk, she sat him in her lap and played “Puff the magic dragon” (a melody Trevor still does variations on in his compositions). After being introduced to music by his Grandmother, Trevor’s parents enrolled him in St. Mary’s elementary school for the arts at age 5. Studying choir, violin and contrabass throughout, Trevor also gravitated toward the piano, which he began studying privately in tandem.

Trevor MorrisIn grade 8, Trevor was approached by his school for a commissioned composition: a piece for his graduating class to sing for the coinciding visit of Pope John Paul to Ontario Canada. Unfortunately security did not allow for the class to sing live for the Pope, but they did perform Trevor’s first composition at their graduation ceremonies, held at St.Mary’s cathedral. Composed for 4 part choir and piano, “Sacred young people”, a variation on a literal theme of the Pope’s, was performed and recorded by Trevor’s graduating class. It represented the first step down the path that Trevor would follow from that point on.

High school and ultimately college led Trevor toward the recording arts, gaining a degree in Recording Engineering from Canada’s top school, Music Industry Arts. He graduated top of his class being awarded the prestigious “most promising engineer / producer”. Graduation from College led him immediately to Toronto, home of Canada’s largest community of composers, producers, engineers and musicians.

With production, recording and the recording studio becoming Trevor’s focus, 10 years spent in the Toronto community saw Trevor’s rise through the ranks of the largest recording studio in Toronto and various top commercial production houses. This path led Trevor back to his original true love, composition. Exposed to the enriched scene of commercial production, there isn’t a top music house, ad agency or studio Trevor didn’t write for.

The desire to have a longer medium in which to speak musically, steered Trevor toward Television and Film work. After a few small independent features and his first network 1 hour drama, it was evident the he had found his life’s work, writing music to picture.

While still in Toronto, Trevor got accepted to the prestigious ASCAP scoring workshop in Los Angeles. Deep in work on his first dramatic television series, he flew down to LA and back home again 4 days every week for over a month in order to attend. With his exposure to the film scoring community, and the opportunity to compose and conduct the “L.A. All-Stars” orchestra, the decision to move to Los Angeles followed shortly.

The year 2000 saw not only a Millennium change, but a trans-continental change as well, Trevor Moved to Hollywood. Trevor immediately found freelance work doing music for “E! True Hollywood Story” as well as network promotional music for “Just Shoot Me” and “King of Queens”. But ultimately it was his engineering roots and production background that would bring him in touch with one of his musical idols, James Newton Howard. Trevor assisted James on a few films, supporting him in orchestra preparation and pre-records.

It was shortly there after, that Trevor connected with what would his most fruitful musical friend, Hans Zimmer. Trevor spent 2 and a half years working closely was Hans as studio designer, engineer, orchestra wrangler, technical supervision, producer and co-composer for Hans. They collaborated in this capacity on such films as “Black Hawk Down”, “Shark Tale”, “The LastTrevor Morris, Composer Samurai”, “Pirates of the Caribbean 1 and 2” and “The Ring 1 and 2”. Many trips to the scoring stages of Los Angeles, and London England would follow, allowing Trevor to compose, produce and conduct the best players in the world on Feature Film and Television work for both Hans and Trevor’s own projects.

Trevor currently lives and works in west Los Angeles, and shares studio space with Hans Zimmer at his state of the art Remote Control Facility.

He won the prime time EMMY award for Outstanding Main Title Theme music for his work on “The Tudors” in 2007.
[Source: last.fm]



Trevor Morris
Canadian Trevor Morris holding his 2007 Emmy award
for Outstanding Original Main Title Theme Music for "The Tudors"


"I was born in a smallish town in Canada 2 hours outside of Toronto. I studied piano as a child, and attended a school for the arts from grade 4 to grade 8. I wrote my first composition at age 13 for piano and 4 part choir, which my senior class sang at St.Mary's Cathedral at our graduation. Toronto called me a young adult, where I spent all my 20's in the music industry scene, engineering, producing, and eventually composing music for commercials and small TV shows. My ambition led me to move to Los Angeles. My 30's are defined by my time in LA, working with James Newton Howard, Hans Zimmer and so many other talented people. I current live with my beautiful wife in Santa Monica, and work / share studio space with Hans, now a good friend, at his state of the art Remote Control Facility.


Trevor Morris, ComposerCanada is, and will always be where I am from. But California is home. ....As my childhood piano teacher once said so wisely... nothing comes out that didn't first go in. We are all a product of our influences and filtering all that information through our own sense of good taste (hopefully :) and what speaks to us, what moves us. I guess to that end, I love music like I love cooking, wine and food. Mario Batali speaks to my desire for food from the heart, comforting and alive. Thomas Keller speaks to my need for intellectual pursuit and the never ending strive toward perfection, or better put toward excellence. Music is much the same, The Rite of Spring, widely considered the peak before the inevitable breakdown of the boundaries of tonality, speaks to me in deep and amazing way. As does a soft piano piece by Debussy, or the memory of my Grandmother playing me "puff the magic dragon" on the piano as I sat in her lap, or a book from my childhood. Music is the thing? Indeed. But more directly put, in life, Balance.... is the thing."
[Source: Trevor Morris from his MySpace page]


The Tudors Season 3 Soundtrack - A Howling Wilderness/The Death Of Jane Seymour




Filmography:

2010

Pillars of the Earth (TV Series)
Miami Medical (TV series)
Krews
Bear
Beautiful Boy
The Tudors -Season 4


2009

Mental (TV Series)
Kings (TV Series)
The Tudors (TV Series - Season 3)

2008

The Tudors (TV Series - Season 2)


2007

The Tudors (TV series - Season 1)
Transformers (Additional Music)
The Hills Have Eyes 2
Moonlight (TV Series)
Viva Laughlin (TV Series) (Main Theme)

2006

Pirates of the Caribbean - Dead Man's Chest (Additional Music)
Justice (TV Series)
Coors Lite "Crop Circle" (Commercial)
When a Stranger calls (Additional Music)

2005

Stealth (Additional Music)
The Island (Additional Music)
The Ring Two (Additional Music)
E-Ring (TV Series)
The Amityville Horror (Additional Music)
The Island expanded Score



2004

Spanglish (Additional Music)
Shark Tale (Additional Music)
King Arthur (Additional Music)
Blade Trinity (Additional Music)
King Arthur (Complete Score)


2003

The Last Samurai (Additional Music)
Something's Gotta Give (Additional Music)
Hulk (Musical Programmer
Bad Boys II (Additional Music)
Pirates of the Caribbean- The Curse of the Black Pearl (Additional Music)
Matchstick Men (Music Score Consultant)


2002


Spirit - Stallion of the Cimarron (Technical Music Advisor)
Big Trouble (Assistant To James Newton Howard)
The Ring (Complete Score)(Music Editor)

2001

Atlantis - The Lost Empire (Assistant To James Newton Howard) [Promotional Release]
U8TV - The Lofters (TV series)
Black Hawk Down (Assistant To Hans Zimmer)
Riding in Cars with Boys (Assistant To Hans Zimmer)

1999

Code Name - Eternity (TV Series)

1998

Teen Knight

1997

Splat ! (TV series)
Due South (TV Series) (Music Programmer)

Trevor Morris PMC supplies IB2S LCR monitors to Trevor Morris music for use on film score composition and mix sessions
"I love listening to music again on my speakers, for both critical reasons and for pure enjoyment" - Trevor Morris.

Irvine, CA: PMC, the world´s leading developer of high-end monitor loudspeakers and custom-installation playback systems, has supplied a trio of IB2S Monitors to Trevor Morris Music. Arrayed in a Left-Center-Right configuration, the IB2S units are externally powered by Classe 400W mono blocks, with a Bryston LFE Crossover to drive a separate subwoofer. Based in Santa Monica, CA, the facility serves as the home base for film composer Trevor Morris, who used the systems recently while preparing the high-energy soundtrack for director Martin Weisz The Hills Have Eyes II; the PMC monitors are also being used on other film and TV scoring projects.

Adding PMC monitors was the "best studio decision I have made in a long time," Morris offers. "I absolutely love and trust them. What the PMCs do for me - which no other monitor has done - is they provide a big-league depth of field that is of key importance for orchestral/three-dimensional mixing. They are still very honest throughout the critical midrange while, and most importantly, remaining an inspiring speaker to listen to. I have owned other speakers that sound pretty good, until you listen to your mixes some place else. And then shock sets in!

"With the PMCs I really know what I am hearing, which is critical for modern film scores, which deal not only with low, mids and highs, but also - in terms of mix depth - close, medium and far. I love listening to music again on my speakers, for both critical reasons and for pure enjoyment."

"The mid-range and top-end of my IB2S monitors simply shine in their ability to honestly and inspirationally represent my composition and recording process," Morris enthuses. "Mixing and recording music should really be about reacting on an emotional level and trusting what you hear."

Morris says that he heard about PMC through his friend, scoring mixer Dennis Sands. "I've always been a huge fan of his mixes," the composer concedes, "and found that Dennis' work translated no matter what the style of music or medium. When I contacted [VP Sales & Marketing] Maurice Patist at PMC, my desires were simple yet almost enigmatic in nature: to find speakers that are honest yet inspiring to work on. As a composer, 50% of my job is just waiting for inspiration, and that comes through the speakers I listen to all day long. The rest is mixing and sculpting music and sound."

Morris likens the playback monitoring chain to a porthole into his musical world. "Most film composers I know have little interest in next-level monitoring, which always surprised me," he says. "There is something about going to a scoring stage or mix theatre and hearing your music played back on 'Real Speakers' that feeling of awe, size and space. Then it hit me, why don't I write in an environment like that? I never looked back!"

"I'm currently auditioning some smaller powered PMC speakers," the composer continues, "as contenders for both my surround satellites, and also for my small production rooms and music editorial suites. My goal is to have PMC speakers consistently through my audio chain from composing to mixing to editing, and everything in between."

In addition to The Hills Have Eyes II, Morris used a PMC system while recording the score for Showtime's series The Tudors. "PMC was kind enough to loan me a LCR array of the big MB2 monitors for our mix suite. I have a huge lust for those speakers; they are simply a bit too big for my writing suite at the moment. Many of my peers - both composers and engineers - have come in to hear my IB2S monitors. I think some of them were very surprised; several have started the process of designing a PMC system for themselves. Which confirms what I already know: PMC monitors are among the very top speakers on the planet!"

TudorsOnline
A huge thanks goes out to the Team a Tudors Online for letting us post this interview

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW - Trevor Morris, Composer
(Conducted April 2007)

The Tudors Season One SoundtrackIt's the music that you can't get out of your head. You google "Tudors Theme Song" and are not able to easily find out who created the powerful and haunting music. There is a man behind the music and his name is Trevor Morris. He is an accomplished composer, as is evident from his IMDB profile. His work can be heard on feature films including The Ring, The Hills Have Eyes II, and Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest. They can also be heard on TV shows including E-Ring, Justice, and of course The Tudors.
Tudorsonline.com recently had the chance to speak with Trevor about his involvement with the show.


How did you get involved in writing the theme music for the Showtime series The Tudors?
It was on all our minds from the very beginning of the process. However the visuals weren't ready at that time, so it ended up coming to fruition after we had starting scoring the episodes. It ended up being done over the holiday season which was around the half way point in the music and post schedule. I was actually doing revisions and musical overdubs via video conference from Bora Bora where I was on my honeymoon at the time!
How long did it take to create the theme music for the show? What was the process?
Main Titles always take a bit of time creatively. Everybody on the production team for the show had been on board long before I got involved in the show, so expectations are always high to nail the right piece of music to encapsulate the show. Which in this case is an incredibly complex and rich tapestry of characters. But I had what all composers wish for, which is an incredibly supportive team of Producers who allowed me the freedom to "find" it. It's hard having 4 centuries of musical history to choose from, and still make it contemporary and relevant. I wrote a few drafts and sent them to the producers in Los Angeles, Toronto and to Michael Hirst in England. They were awesome and very supportive of us trying to just get it right, which I we feel we ultimately did.

People are always asking about the work you did for The Tudors. Are you surprised at how much people enjoy the theme song?
I am. I generally don't enjoy listening back to music I have written. But the theme for The Tudors stays in my head after I hear it, which is always the litmus test of a good melody. The response to my music has been amazing.
Will you be doing any additional work with Showtime for The Tudors?
Well after having scored all the episodes, which was a hugely rewarding process, I am hoping that we all get the chance to do more of it. That would be the best reward for all of us having worked so hard, the chance to continue doing it.
Will the theme music from the show be available online for purchase?
I am working on that now. I didn't expect such an overwhelming response to the music for the show, so I wasn't prepared in advance to work on its release. But I feel proud of the theme and all the score we did for all the episodes, and feel its the right fit to try to get it out in to the world. I get emails almost every day from random fans of the show asking where they can get a hold of the music to listen to, which is immensely gratifying.
How did you become a composer? What piece of advice would you give to someone who is interested in becoming a composer?
It sort of chose me, if you know what I mean. I wrote my first composition at age 13 for piano and choir, which got performed by my graduating class at the school for the arts I was attending.The most important piece of advice I would give anybody looking to compose music is listen, study and learn about all the music you can. The Beatles, Beethoven, Ravel, etc. Mozart studied intently every composers work. As my piano teacher told me when I was a young student, "nothing comes out that didn't first go in". His point is well taken, and I would pass his wisdom on.
The Tudors Season Two SoundtrackYou have also created scores for movies like Pirates of the Caribbean, The Ring, and Bad Boys II. If you had to pick one, what has been your favorite score you've created?
Working with an iconic composer like Hans has been an amazing experience. He is a living legend and has become a good friend. Doing additional music cues for his monster scores has been richly rewarding, and they are all great memories.
Will you work be appearing in any upcoming features?
I just finished a great nasty horror movie called "The Hills Have Eyes 2" for Wes Craven. Talk about a change of pace from The Tudors! Now that was a fun bit of crazy music to write. It's out in theaters now.
Where can fans of your work learn more about you?
Well I am a bit behind on my website, but ultimately that is where I want to direct everyone to find out about my projects, and provide links to my music for download as well. So be patient, it should be up this spring / early summer.

 And finally, in your spare time - do you watch The Tudors?
I do! My wife loves it and is totally addicted, so I have no choice! I usually wince at watching my projects on the air, always have. But The Tudors has been an amazingly enjoyable program for me to watch, the show is just that amazing. I can watch Jonathan Rhys-Meyers act in that roll all day long. The writing of Michael Hirst, the production values of Showtime and all the producers along side the level of acting in The Tudors makes it impossible not to watch.



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Keyword tags: music opening music Renaissance Tallis The Tudors Thomas Tallis trevor morris Tudors theme tune
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dontiburon Information 8 Mar 13 2013, 4:52 AM EDT by dontiburon
Thread started: Aug 19 2011, 6:03 AM EDT  Watch
Good morning all.
I have seen all seasons of Tudors.. Superb I must say..very well made.
However I wonder if you could help me. I bought all soundtracks of tudors...however the psalm that was played Christmas Tide 1536 (season 3 episode 3) was not included... Do you know by any chance the song that was played or have a soundrack that have that beatiful psalm in it.
I should be greatful if you could help me
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Keyword tags: music soundtrack Spem in Alium Thomas Tallis
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CandyHeartz Music in Season 1 0 Dec 2 2012, 4:01 PM EST by CandyHeartz
Thread started: Dec 2 2012, 4:01 PM EST  Watch
I was just wondering if anyone knew what the name of the song that was played during the scene that Sir William Compton pursues Thomas Tallis (in episode 5 of season 1), where Thomas runs into Sir Compton in a hallway, and Sir Compton says "Say yes... say yes", etc? I really like the song, and I would like to know what it is, so I can look it up :)
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Keyword tags: love music pursue seaon 1 episode 5 Sir William Compton soundtrack Thomas Tallis Tudors
MarcantelliJeff The Death of Jane Seymour 0 Jun 22 2012, 3:55 AM EDT by MarcantelliJeff
Thread started: Jun 22 2012, 3:55 AM EDT  Watch
Does anyone know the words or The choir who sing when Jane Seymour dies, please help me ?
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Keyword tags: Music
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