Fifteen years ago, Eric Jasper played trumpet as a third grader at Marquez Elementary, where his instructor was Larry Newman. This past August, the two Palisadians won an Emmy in the Children/Youth Programming category for Newman’s Children’s Music Workshop’s 2008 production of the All Schools Elementary Honor Orchestra, which was held on May 2. Jasper, 26, attended Stanford and graduated with a double major in music composition and political science. He received a graduate degree in film scoring from USC. However, his education truly began in Pacific Palisades. ‘Larry helped me get started in the music world,’ Jasper says. ‘He is a great teacher and a mentor who gave me the confidence to keep going with my music. I owe him a lot and I thought it would be a good way to reconnect with him and the music community.’ ‘When I learned he was starting his career as a film composer,’ Newman says, ‘I asked him if he’d like to do the background for my one-hour special. I told him I couldn’t pay him, but that I could give him a producing credit.’ Newman also gave him artistic freedom. Jasper wrote six different musical cues for the opening, closing and transitional phases of the special. The concert featured 130 elementary students from two-dozen Los Angeles area elementary schools, including St. Matthew’s, Marquez, Palisades, Topanga and Kenter Canyon. The show also included interviews with parents, students, teachers and administrators on the importance of music in the school curriculum. Jasper played trumpet and keyboard for the special, in addition to recording the music, ‘a hybrid of rock and orchestral music. I wanted to capture the inspirational tone of the production.’ This was the second Emmy for Newman, who won in 2008 and noted at the time, ‘This is meaningful, since I am first and foremost a musician and a music teacher.’ This year, his special was up against KNBC’s children’s series, ‘Yip Yap,’ ‘so we were quite surprised and thrilled to win,’ Newman says. ‘The idea for the televised show,’ he continues, ‘originally came a number of years ago from one of my students’ parents, who was a producer and offered to tape the concert and put together a show for [cable station] LA36.’ LA36 has broadcast the annual concert for the past six years. This year was Jasper’s first walk to the Emmy podium. ‘It was a great feeling to be up there in front of everybody, and receive recognition for something that you’ve put a lot of time and effort into,’ he says. ‘But more than any award, my ultimate goal is to be a composer for major movies and television shows.’ Jasper has orchestrated music for two films, ‘Ninja’ and ‘Cool Dog,’ which are waiting release dates. He also arranged the music for ‘Lies and Illusions,’ a film which opens this month. While at USC, he served as an intern on ‘Lost’ under Michael Giacchino, who won a 2008 Grammy Award for Best Score, Soundtrack Album for ‘Ratatouille.’ Newman and Jasper are currently completing production of the 2009 concert program. ‘This year, there are more interviews with students, so I’m composing a piece of music for each kid that matches their character,’ Jasper says. Jasper, the son of Highlands residents Shirley and Neil Jasper, one day hopes to enjoy a career along the lines of the late Palisades resident Jerry Goldsmith, who composed scores for numerous films, including ‘Planet of the Apes,’ ‘Mulan’ and ‘Basic Instinct.’ ‘He was a master of writing great melodies and getting the maximum amount of emotion out of the orchestra,’ Jasper says. Visit the Web site www.childrensmusicworkshop.com.
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