Mason Daring

"I teach a class I designed called Scoring the Moment. Every week students look at a classic scene in a movie. For example, I show them scenes of kisses from famous movies, and then I show a scene from a movie I did where somebody kisses, and then they score that kiss next week. When they come back and play it for me, then I play them what I did. The next week we do a gun fight, or we do a tornado. It's great fun to see what they do on scenes I've already done. And I tell them, if you're going to do this for a living, sooner or later you're going to do one of those things."

"Directed Study is basically a thesis course. It's an independent study course that all seniors have to take before they graduate where for one semester they score a short film, and they score main titles of television, and they put together a portfolio. Two-thirds to three-quarters of the semester are spent on the short film—it's a big job. So the Directed Study's just really tutoring, one-on-one, half an hour a week, with every student going through what they've done and getting them ready. I've done 73 movies, and it's a chance to give them the benefit and experience. I like the mentorship. I see the same films over and over, but I'll tell you I do not hear the same music over and over. It's really fascinating to hear new takes on them."