Forrest Gray is a Ross alum who is making a name for himself in the music and entertainment industry. After joining Ross School’s very first Grade 5 class in 2002, he graduated in 2010 with a passion for music already instilled within him.

Forrest admits that there were many seminal moments that helped contextualize his musical passions while a student at Ross. “I had the great privilege of studying under Hal McKusick, a saxophonist in Charlie Parker's band and arranger in his own right, while he was directing the high school jazz band. I played drums in the band from grades 9–12, where I absorbed more music theory and arranging fundamentals than any period prior.” At Ross, Forrest played drums in the high school jazz band, was a percussionist in the middle school orchestra, took a songwriting/composition class with a visiting teacher in high school where he wrote a piece that was performed at the 2009 Spring Concert. He explains, “As part of my Senior Project, I wrote a suite of autobiographical, programmatic music based on different phases in my life, which I then had performed in the Lecture Hall with a small ensemble of mostly Ross students.”

After taking a course on American Cinema taught by Kimble Humiston, he learned about scoring and film music for the first time. “After watching René Clair's whodunit And Then There Were None, scrawled out the ten-note melody from Mario Tedesco's score by-ear on the whiteboard, and explained that each note of the ten-note melody represented a character in the film, and as each character mysteriously vanished, so, too, would a note from the melody. It was without question the first time I had not only been made aware of film music but the function and subliminal nature of the art form.”

Forrest found his teachers and counselors at Ross to be supportive of his creative endeavors and dreams, and admits that it would be remiss to not acknowledge the privilege of having a supportive family. “If I knew nothing else, I knew that a career in the arts was a viable path. I was lucky to not only have parents who helped cultivate my interest in music at an early age but to have also been afforded an opportunity, while still in high school, to score Steven Soderbergh's documentary chronicling my father's–the late Spalding Gray–career as a monologist and writer. I was seventeen when the film premiered, and it was the impetus for my studying film scoring in college.”

After graduating from Ross School in 2010, Forrest studied film scoring with a minor in orchestral conducting at Berklee College of Music where he obtained his Bachelor of Arts. He went on to pursue his M.A. in film scoring from the University of Southern California. He then went on to become a fellow in the 2015 Sundance Composer and Sound Design Lab as well as the 2016 Los Angeles Film Conducting Intensive. Forrest even had the privilege of studying in Paris at the Nadia Boulanger Institute in 2018, where he completed a diploma with a focus on composition.

Forrest admits that the first time he genuinely felt confident in his abilities as a composer was when he was the recipient of the 2014 BMI Film Scoring Award at Berklee College of Music. In 2016, he was invited to attend the Ascap Film Scoring Workshop, where he was awarded a Recording Musician's Grant for compositional excellence. He had the opportunity to dabble in the pop music world by contributing to At Night, Alone (2016), the sophomore album of pop singer-songwriter Mike Posner. And lastly, one of his proudest achievements in his music career thus far was, “My string quartet, which was performed on the very stage where Ravel premiered his string quartet, during my time at the Nadia Boulanger Institute in 2018, is one of my proudest achievements, especially since I studied his string quartet obsessively when I was writing mine.”

Want to hear some of Forrest’s work for yourself? If you have Apple TV+, check out the fun, animated series Pretzel and the Puppies. The show is based off of the H.R. Rey book of the same name and all of the show’s songs and theme music were created by Forrest. He also contributed music to the first season of Netflix’s Bridgerton and the first two seasons of Apple TV+’s The Morning Show. He has started working on music for The Morning Show’s third season and recently wrapped on Barber, an Irish Noir feature film with an expected US release later this year.

When asked what advice he can give to our current and prospective Ross students, he says, “This advice might not be well-received, but your grades don't define you! Of course I'm not suggesting that you neglect your schoolwork outright, but don't get too caught up in the rat race of academic merits.” He continues, “You'll learn more from staying after class with a teacher, discussing a topic that interests you, than you will from acing an exam. Of course the two aren't mutually exclusive, but my point is that you can get good grades anywhere. It's the culture of Ross School that sets it apart from other schools. Make sure to take in as much of it as you can in your short time there.”

“As far as starting a career in music goes, I have one, crucial piece of advice, finances permitting: go to school! Yes, it's true that making it as a successful musician is more democratic than ever with the advent of social media and at-home recording studios, but that also makes the marketplace far more competitive. A degree from a music school not only gives you a certain imprimatur that will help give you a leg up in the industry, but a proper music education can help you find your voice as a composer. And if school isn't an option for you, find a mentor or private teacher who will take you under their wing.”

We are excited to hear all of the magical music Forrest will create in his very bright future. To stay up-to-date on his work, click below to view his website.