IU alumnus Ryan O'Connell discusses musical arrangements

Most people do not stay for the credits of a movie. It’s a different story for Hoosiers when an IU graduate makes the list.

Ryan O’Connell, a 2011 graduate of IU,is now writing and arranging music for movies and theatrical productions.

After graduating from the Jacobs School of Music with a degree in French horn performance and a minor in conducting and composition, O’Connell moved to California to study film scoring at the University of Southern California, where he worked with some professionals in the field, such as Kenny Hall and Rick Baptist.

O’Connell has since written several scores such as multiple TV documentaries, music for a televised awards show, TV commercial music, Kickstarter videos and even choral music for Shawnee Press, such as “Caterpillar” and “Here We Come A-Wassailing.”   

One of O’Connell’s most prolific achievements so far has been writing a musical designed to be performed at the high school level, “Horror High: The Musical.”

“It’s kind of like High School Musical if everyone was a monster,” O’Connell said.
O’Connell said he enjoyed his time at IU.

“Indiana helped me to be comfortable in my own skin and made me confident in the things that I was trying to do, even though they were unusual for what I had originally gone there to study,” O’Connell said.

Even though he is currently working with more popular styles of music such as film scoring, O’Connell said he uses various aspects of his musical education for the better.

“The orchestral classical background has definitely given me an advantage in the real world,” he said.

O’Connell said he learned the right way to do things through his professors at IU.

“I had very supportive professors who encouraged me, even when the stuff I was studying was not my chosen field originally,” O’Connell said.

One professor at the Jacobs School who O’Connell said especially influenced him was Jeff Nelsen, professor of horn. Nelsen and O’Connell have collaborated since his time at IU, including work on a website for sheet music and artistic collaboration. O’Connell wrote a five-movement piece for Nelsen and his wife which premiered at the International Horn Conference in Australia.

“Everybody loved it,” Nelsen said. “Everybody was in tears at the end. It’s a really beautiful work. We’re going to record it in the future.”

Nelsen said O’Connell worked hard as a student.

“He was great, very focused,” Nelsen said. “He really wanted to be as good as he could get. We worked a lot on him getting over setbacks quickly. He’s obsessed with his goals, and keeps working regardless of what gets in his way.”

O’Connell also received a jumpstart at the Jacobs School and  said assistant professor of Composition Aaron Travers was especially influential in his work making orchestral arrangements.

“He was always a very enthusiastic student,” Travers said. “Always had a smile on his face. He was pretty talented, actually. He had a good sense of how to orchestrate.”

O’Connell was in Travers’ first class. In his composition course, Travers offered a one-day study on music scoring in film – a study which now takes place during an entire week.

Since graduating from IU in 2011, O’Connell said he has many things planned for the future. He said plans of work to be performed at Disneyland are underway.

After his experiences, O’Connell said he has advice for current music students at IU.

“There’s so much music out there, that it’s worth it to at least listen to anything and everything you can get your hands on,” O’Connell said. “Do things outside of music – just keep yourself diverse and keep life interesting.”