‘If music be the food of love, play on.’ – creating music for Shakespeare
Written by Sucheta Singh, Marketing and Communications
Music has always been a passion of Malcolm Dow. In high school, together with three best friends, he started playing in band. They sold CDs and their music ended up getting featured in an Arts Club Theatre Company production. They even won a Jessie Award for their work.
He never dreamed he’d have a career in theatre, but that’s where he eventually ended up.
“My best friend contacted me to be a sound designer and that was my first show. I’d never done any sound design work.”
He didn’t know much about how to put music together for theatre, but he loved producing music and getting hired to do what he loved was a bonus.
But, Malcolm says he felt incompetent.
“That’s why I went to Douglas; I was getting music work but I didn’t feel qualified doing music for the shows.”
Malcolm enrolled in the Music Technology program in 2012 and continued to work while doing school.
After graduation, he worked with two sound designers who were well known in Vancouver. He heard they were working for Bard on the Beach and needed some help. That was four years ago. He contacted them and accepted a role as an assistant.
“Because of everything I had learned at Douglas and my musical background, they respected and appreciated what I had to offer.”
Malcolm assisted for a year before taking on a lead role at Bard on the Beach producing original scores and music.
“You can trace my success back to showing up and being in the right place at the right time and meeting the right people,” he says.
He has worked on A Comedy of Errors, Pericles, and this past summer – A Winter’s Tale.
He says his advice for anyone stepping out into the real world after graduation is understanding how to work with others.
“A huge part of anybody’s success is how easy you are to work with. If you’re easy going, friendly, funny have a good energy and people like being in the room with you, it doesn’t even matter if you’re the best because you make it easier to work on the show.”
Learn more about the Music Technology Diploma.