Andrew Shapiro

[To hear the Andrew Shapiro music sampler (14 tracks) go to: https://www.andrewshapiro.com/music-sampler]


ANDREW SHAPIRO is a composer living in Brooklyn who runs his own publishing and music house outfit called Airbox Music.

Fun fact: He was the subject of a profile in The New York Times entitled Quarter Pounder With Keys, describing his long-standing Sunday solo piano gig at McDonald’s(!) in downtown Manhattan from 2004-2013. And he even gave TED Talk entitled Casual Compositions describing his marriage of fine-art and fast-food culture.

How do you think the music you’re making stands out from others?
My friend Emma, a music supervisor in London, helped me come up with my elevator speech. It’s quite heady but I think hits the nail on the head:

“I compose accessible, fine-art, modern classical music with meditative and minimalist sensibilities, using traditional instrumentation and/or a distinctive, soft-edged neo-'80s synthesizer soundworld.”

The music definitely lends itself to underscoring for advertising spots and there’s a kind of high-end quality to it. For example, my piano composition Quiet Kissing was synced into a dance production at The Guggenheim Museum, a Clio-award winning spot for cancer awareness and a Sundance Film festival award-winning documentary. The people behind those projects thought that my piece —an elegant piece of classical minimalism— gave their projects greater emotional depth. And that it made what they were doing better. For me, there’s no better feeling than that.

Can you tell us a bit about your background?
I grew up as a classical clarinetist and a jazz-funk-rock-pop saxophonist. I was a music composition major at The Oberlin Conservatory of Music. I’m a child of both classical training—and technique—and ‘80s pop. My music is an offspring of the two.

One thing a lot of people know about you is that you were a Philip Glass intern and that you even had music lessons with him. How did that influence you?
Well, for one thing, it was deeply inspiring in terms of me being able to figure out the type of artist I wanted to be. One of the first things I did there was help set up for a recording session of music Philip had written for a German perfume commercial. How could one not be impressed upon by something like that? Also, I met Michael Riesman, Philip’s producer, and we became close friends. He produced my three solo piano albums as well as other projects and he assists me with the production of the music I make for advertising. 

You mentioned the Clio-award spot. Are there other projects you see as highlights?
I really like a spot I did with Volkswagen Japan and a score written for an animated piece with Psyop. My track “Detectors in the Eyes” was used by CNN for a time-lapse video of monks making a sand mandala. I thought it was fabulous. People use my music for time-lapse projects a lot.

Is there anything else you’d like to tell us?
I’m always happy to help producers, directors, editors, etc. with their projects. I’m constantly watching rough cuts and suggesting music from my catalog all the time. I think I can  add a layer of emotion that makes a project better. Oh, and I also help people make their projects easier to finish! I tell people: Take me up on my offer to help you. Use me.