John and Kenny Kusiak spoke with Marjorie Howard of YourArlington.com recently; here’s an excerpt:
“The scene is a busy street in New York City in 1910. A piano plays, and we see horses and buggies clip-clopping by as men in top hats and women in long dresses walk by. Chord changes and a background of strings move the action along until the focus is on the brand-new Penn Station. The music swells and horns join in as we see the grandeur of the building. We next see the men who built the station and the musical tempo picks up, not unlike a train gaining speed.
For the PBS documentary, “The Rise and Fall of Penn Station,”the background music provides mood and feeling. Often overlooked, music made for TV programs, commercials or movies is its own art form, evoking emotion and adding texture without overtaking the subject matter. With no music, the PBS film would have a narrator and scenes of people walking by and a building. But there would be no oomph.
Arlington composer and musician John Kusiak has been creating the oomph for television, movies and commercials for more than 40 years, writing music for the PBS show “American Experience,” numerous commercials and movies and lately for podcasts. He does it from his home studio equipped with synthesizers, computers and keyboards. His son, Ben, used to wander downstairs to watch his father at work and to listen, sometimes joined by friends from school…”