Alumni Update: Jaimie Ann A. Pangan

ALUMNI

Jaimie during a recording session at Capitol Records with Golden Globes and Emmy nominee Christopher Young

‘If you don’t dare God to give you something greater, you are insulting Him,’ someone told me once. I guess that struck me greatly. Enough to push me in the direction of pursuing the career I wanted in the first place: MUSIC. - Jaimie

JAIMIE ANN A. PANGAN Bachelor of Science in Information Technology, 2015

It is not every day that one gets to hear about a Filipino music composer—specifically one who composes music for films, TV, and games. Typically, there are more singer-songwriters and pop performers in the Philippines, but Jaimie Ann A. Pangan’s musical journey is a unique, if not inspiring, one.

From information technology to film scoring

Jaimie graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Information Technology degree from the University of Asia and the Pacific back in 2015 and worked at IBM Philippines for three years. Prior to college, she loved playing her violin and wanted to pursue music but was advised by her parents to take IT.

“At that time, I was a very obedient daughter, so I followed their advice. I was also scared of auditioning for music school and unsure about my chances, so I did not bother trying. But when I was in college, my mindset changed. I stumbled upon some books that soon made me want to dream and believe in myself,” Jaimie shares.

While in college and at work, she would often join music clubs or organizations to stoke her passion for music. One of those was Reverb in UA&P.

Jaimie started to listen to a whole new world of music that included minimalist music, jazz, and ambient, but it was film music that captured her attention. “The instrumental world had a different impact on me as a musician. I suddenly wanted to do film scoring (which is music composition for film) because I found that it combines my interests in linguistics, art, philosophy, psychology, and, of course, music,” she says.

Jaimie (in green jacket) with classmates from USC. Fellow alumni and composer of Black Panther, Ludwig Göransson (front, in a squat position), visited the class.

Summer scholarship at NYU

In 2017, she looked on the Internet for schools that offer film scoring programs. There was none in the Philippines, but she found out about the film scoring summer program at New York University (NYU), one of the top universities in the US. She applied and got a full scholarship from the NYU Sorel Organization and a travel grant from the National Commission for Culture and the Arts of the Philippines.

“I felt like a bird released from its cage! After NYU, I knew that scoring was what I wanted to pursue despite the hardships I went through in order to get to New York. Before NYU, I was not sure how I was going to get there. I did not have the financial capacity to study in the US. I applied for scholarships and even tried fundraising sites, but they did not work out. I thought it was impossible, but as someone told me, ‘If you don’t dare God to give you something greater, you are insulting Him.’ So I did everything I could and offered all of it to Him.”

After the NYU scholarship, Jaimie came back to the Philippines and decided to “dare” God to give her something even greater than NYU’s two-week program.

“One of my composer friends at NYU suggested I try to apply for a master’s degree at the University of Southern California (USC), which is, according to Hollywood Reporter, considered one of the top film scoring programs in the world. When I checked the requirements, I got cold feet again. I thought I would never get into the program even though I really wanted to,” Jaimie adds.

Making it at USC

Jaimie submitted her portfolio to several universities abroad. Despite the odds, she got into the USC Screen Scoring program, which had a 13% acceptance rate since the program accepts only 20 students a year. She was also accepted at Berklee College of Music, California Institute of the Arts, LA College of Music, and again at New York University. She picked USC because the prestigious program has notable award-winning alumni that include Oscar-winning composer Ludwig Göransson (Black Panther), Christopher Beck (Frozen, Percy Jackson), Michael Abels (Us, Get Out), and James Horner (Titanic). The program culminated with Jaimie conducting a 65-piece orchestra at the Warner

Brothers studios. In May 2019, she graduated with her Master of Music in Screen Scoring degree.

“It was a privilege to be studying at USC because I got to meet and learn from great award-winning composers in the industry. They were amazing, and although it was an intensive program, they allowed us to make mistakes. Also, I love being in Los Angeles because you get to work with cool, creative people.” One of the talents Jaimie was able to work with at USC was Emmy-nominated Kris Bowers, who did the music for the recently released Netflix limited series entitled “When They See Us.” The series was nominated at the Emmys this 2019.

Working her way to Hollywood

“Back in the Philippines, I was not sure how I would go to LA considering the finances and visa. I was doing everything I could despite the odds being low. Being a young Filipino composer in the US can be challenging since there are also a lot of great composers in the US, and it definitely is competitive. However, Hollywood is also clamoring for more female composers since they just comprise 3% of the community,” she recounts.

Jaimie dreams of continuing to be better in her field and working on more projects. Despite working in the industry only for less than a year, one of the student films she worked on at USC was shown at the Cannes Diversity Shorts Film Festival last May. She also recently got a nomination for one of her music compositions, titled “Farewell,” at the Hollywood of Music in Media Awards. The awards night will be held in Los Angeles this November 2019.

“There are times I feel incompetent and wish I had more training or had a bachelor’s degree in music, but I think I have an advantage in bringing something unique to the table as a Filipino and coming from a different musical and professional background,” Jaimie says. “Looking ahead, I am not really the type who aims to have an Oscar or an Emmy. I am perfectly content with doing what I love which is music composition and encouraging other people to dream big,” she concludes.

Follow her journey on her social media or say hi as a fellow Dragon! Instagram/Twitter: @jaimiepmusic