FILM COMPOSER
MUSICAL STORYTELLER
CREATIVE PROBLEM SOLVER
MY ORIGIN STORY
I have had depression and anxiety from a very early age. For decades I had no idea what was happening or how to deal with it. Why so many things were a struggle, why I always felt like an outsider, and why I had such a high sensitivity to emotions, sounds, and images.
When I was five, I started playing the piano. Music was a revelation for me. It gave me purpose, meaning and direction. It provided a respite and refuge from an often emotionally and sensory overwhelming world. It was my anchor, my home, my compass, my raft. Music was always there for me, no matter how dark things got, it always took care of me. I felt like I belonged.
When I was 13, I saw my first movie at the cinema. I walked out of there with the certainty that I was going to be a film composer. Movies were the other revelation for me, the other half of the puzzle. The combination of music, story, and visuals provided a solace and certainty that I belonged. Belonged to myself, belonged to the rest of humanity, belonged in the universe.
It also happened to be the day I realised composing was an actual career, and that you didn’t have to be dead for hundreds of years to qualify. Sitting in a cinema as the curtain rises and the lights fade to black still feels as comforting and full of promise as it did back when I was 13.
Aaron lives in Los Angeles with his wife, three kids, golden retriever, and conducting baton.
