A Gourmet Score

Composer Michael Giacchino gives students a taste of Ratatouille

Michael Giacchino signs autographs for students at Los Angeles' St. Sebastian school

Michael Giacchino and studio cellist Victor Lawrence discuss the process of film composing with 6th graders from the St. Sebastian. Pictured standing (l-r): St. Sebastian principal Ed Hermeno, Lawrence and Giacchino.

It's not every day that a renowned TV and film-composer finds himself in front of a captive audience of elementary school students. But it was all in a day's work for the award-winning composer Michael Giacchino. Best known for his exciting scores for major box office hits and top TV shows like Mission: Impossible III, The Incredibles and Lost (projects that have earned him top honors at the ASCAP Film & TV Awards for the past three years), Giacchino is also a devoted educator. He currently sits on the Advisory Board for Education Through Music - LA (ETM-LA), a non-profit program dedicated to promoting the integration of music into the curricula of elementary and middle schools with low-income student populations.

On June 12th, Giacchino held a special ETM-LA - sponsored master class for a lucky group of 4th through 7th graders at the St. Sebastian School in Los Angeles. The students watched a homemade documentary about the making of Giacchino's score for the upcoming Disney-Pixar animated feature, Ratatouille. Giacchino then invited studio cellist Victor Lawrence to sight-read cues that he wrote for the movie, and had the students comment on how each cue made them feel. Earlier this spring, a select group of St. Sebastian 7th graders even got to sit in on the Ratatouille scoring sessions at the Sony Studios Scoring Stage.

Giacchino's visit offered a window into the normally closed-door world of film composing. According to St. Sebastian principal Ed Hermeno, the visit may have even sparked some thoughts of the future for the students in the audience: "I wouldn't be surprised if some of our students became musicians, composers, or even directors after an experience like this" he said. But Giacchino was quick to stress the importance of pursuing something you truly love, no matter what it is. "I enjoy waking up every day of my life, because I LOVE what I do" he explained. And from the grins on the faces of the students of St. Sebastian, it was clear that they love what he does, too.

Ratatouille hits theaters this summer.