Meet Mengxue Tan | Composer for Film, TV and Video Games

We had the good fortune of connecting with Mengxue Tan and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Mengxue, how has your background shaped the person you are today?
I’m from China. I was born into a musical family, so I came into contact with music very naturally from an early age. I play the piano and Chinese instrument Guzheng when I was five years old. I studied concert composition during my undergraduate period and created a lot of Chinese national instrumental music. I really hope that my works can add new elements on the basis of traditional Chinese style to adapt to this era, which is what I have been working on. I’m now pursuing a Screen Scoring master’s degree at New York University, I think the composition knowledge I learned in my undergraduate degree is very helpful to my current multimedia scoring process. It makes my composing techniques more mature and the texture or orchestration of the music richer. This technique allows me to express the musical effect I want more fully. At the same time, I have a deep feeling and understanding of Chinese culture and Chinese instruments, so after communicating with some directors, I also like to add some Chinese elements to the soundtrack for some certain films.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I think that compared to other students in my class with richer backgrounds, I am a little smoother on the road of music. I have been studying music since I was a child, and I went to school step by step and entered a higher platform to improve myself. But I sometimes envy people with diverse backgrounds. I always feel that they have a wide range of exposure to the world, and I may not be good at anything other than music. I’m still not sure if this specificity to music is a good thing or a bad thing, but I am also gradually expanding my interests, such as photography and painting. The difficulty and challenge I am facing now is actually how to integrate myself into a strange country. Far away from my family and my original social circle, I have to go to communicate and cooperate with people from different countries and cultures independently is also what I am trying to do now.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
I’ll take them to Broadway to hear a musical first. That’s what I love about New York. My favorite musical is Come From Away, it’s not a big production, but this musical brought me unexpected surprise and warmth. The firm and strong warmth and support between people is a light in dark times. Then I’ll also take them to Central Park. This is a place where the scenery is different all year round. A piece of pure land surrounded by skyscrapers can make people’s hearts quickly quiet down.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I am very grateful to my composition teacher during my undergraduate years. First of all, he taught me a lot of composition techniques, which greatly improved my composition ability. I’m a person who writes melodious music, I want my music to be enjoyed and remembered by audience. But for students studying concert composition in traditional music colleges, writing melodious music is not very acceptable, and people will think that you are not technical enough. But my composition teacher have always respected my ideas and supported me to write my favorite music and express my heart. And with his encouragement, I took a second major in music production during my undergraduate studies. It was also because of learning about music production that I gradually became interested in film scoring. I gradually found the direction that I am good at, and really enjoy the process of creating film music.

Website: https://www.mengxuetan.com/

Instagram: tmxcheney

Facebook: Mengxue Tan

Image Credits
conducting with players recording my music rehearsal with NYU Contemporary Ensemble recording in NYU Dolan Studio