Shirley Walker

Her apprenticeship in film music included working as orchestrator and conductor, working with a substantial list of established film composers such as Danny Elfman, Hans Zimmer, Brad Fiedel, Mark Snow and Carter Burwell. It is not unusual to be a composer, orchestrator, or a conductor, but what is unusual is to be one that does all three, and Walker was such an example. She reportedly knew exactly how music worked, how it was written, and how (or if) it could be played by musicians. Her roles would include making sure each cue was recorded how it needed to be with the speed, tone, and musical sound design in mind, based on the composer’s wishes as well as her own.[9]

While she was still writing for television in the early 1980s, Walker would be frequently hired by other composers to orchestrate and/or conduct their scores. Some of these included Murder in Coweta Country (1980) for Brad Fiedel, Cujo (1983) for Charles Bernstein, and Ghost Warrior (1984) for Richard Band for which she also wrote additional music. Shirley would also team up with Band as co-composers on The Dungeonmaster (1984) and Ghoulies (1985). Walker's imprint makes these latter two scores stand out. The score for Ghoulies specifically sounds much like a classic Danny Elfman score, though it predates Walker's work with Danny, and even his very first film score for Pee-wee's Big Adventure (1985) by six months.[9] Walker continued to score various television projects and work simultaneously as an orchestrator/conductor into the late 1980s, continuing a long-running collaboration with Brad Fiedel. Around the time of orchestrating and conducting Fiedel’s score for The Accused (1988), Walker would conduct the score for Scrooged (1988), marking her first work with Danny Elfman. She would go on to orchestrate and/or conduct his scores for Batman (1989), Nightbreed (1990), Dick Tracy (1990), Darkman (1990), Edward Scissorhands (1990), and finally Article 99 (1992). Walker also composed additional cues for both Nightbreed and Dick Tracy, and unless it was Elfman regular Steve Bartek, she likely orchestrated and conducted the theme for Tales from the Crypt.

One of Walker's most important efforts was the uncredited job of conducting the score for National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (1989). Chevy Chase, who would play the lead in John Carpenter's 1992 film Memoirs of an Invisible Man, recalled visiting a recording session for Christmas Vacation and being impressed by the conductor. She was suggested to work on Memoirs of an Invisible Man when Jack Nitzsche fell through – a landmark decision, not just because Carpenter often composed his own scores, but because it was one of the first times a female composer had a solo credit on a major studio picture. It would become Walker's first official solo film score. Walker has the distinction of being the first woman to have composed an entire symphonic score, which she also orchestrated and conducted alone. "The first two days of that score, there were a lot of people who had come to visit the scoring stage because they were here to witness this event," Walker said in an interview in a 1998 issue of Soundtrack Magazine. "I was almost in tears about that. I had to ask somebody why all those people were here, and when they told me it was just incredible."[9] Walker later collaborated with Carpenter on Escape from L.A.[10]

Walker served as composer for numerous productions, including films such as Willard, the first three Final Destination installments, and television series such as Falcon Crest, Space: Above and Beyond, China Beach, and The Flash.[11] The Flash was one of many collaborations Walker did with composer Danny Elfman. While managing her working relationships with Elfman and Fiedel, Walker would mentor and collaborate with up-and-comer Hans Zimmer (who would provide synths for Mask of the Phantasm). She would orchestrate and/or conduct his scores for Black Rain (1989), Bird on a Wire (1990), Backdraft (1991), A League of Their Own (1992), and Toys (1992), among others. She would also collaborate with Carter Burwell at the end of her orchestrating/conducting-for-others days, including the score for Fear (1996).[9]

She served as a Board Member (1986–1994) and Vice President (1988–1992) for The Society of Composers & Lyricists (SCL), often speaking out on behalf of composers and their working conditions. Articles and interviews are written by and about Shirley Walker in the SCL's publication, THE SCORE,[12] a publication in print since 1986 by and about professional film/television/video game composers, songwriters and lyricists—and where Walker would speak her mind.

Walker served as composer for Batman: The Animated Series (1992–1995), Superman: The Animated Series (1996–2000), The New Batman Adventures (1997–1999), and Batman Beyond (1999–2001); setting a standard for the musical tone of the DC Animated Universe.[13] Walker worked with Danny Elfman on many DC Comics works. She served as conductor for the film Batman, wrote most of the scores for Batman: The Animated Series using a theme inspired by Elfman's, scored the pilot and all the episodes of The Flash (the main theme was written by Elfman) and scored episodes of Batman Beyond with Michael McCuistion, Lolita Ritmanis and Kristopher Carter. Though her involvement in the DC Animated Universe ended after Beyond, several of her themes would be used in Justice League and Justice League Unlimited.

Following the success of Batman and Batman Returns (1992), Batman: The Animated Series (1992–1995) was created. Elfman composed the main theme and Walker wrote additional themes. She became one of the show’s primary composers/directors. This ultimately led to Walker scoring the animated feature, Batman: Mask of the Phantasm (1993), which is still one of her most highly-regarded works. The lyrics which the choir sing throughout the Mask of the Phantasm score, often presumed to be in Latin or some similar language, are actually the names off all the orchestra members backwards, so what’s being sung is essentially nonsense.[9] Walker would continue to compose and shepherd the music of sequel series The New Batman Adventures (1997–1999) and Batman Beyond (1999–2001). She even returned to Batman on film one last time in 1995 with uncredited orchestration on Batman Forever.[9]

Bruce Timm, who co-created Batman: The Animated Series alongside Eric Radomski, told Vulture he was watching The Flash starring John Wesley Shipp and recognized the score sounded familiar. They subsequently found out that it was Shirley Walker who was working on it. The rest was history, according to Timm: "I made a note as I was watching it: Who did the music? It was Shirley Walker. Did some research on Shirley Walker, found out that she had actually worked with Danny on that first Batman movie, and had orchestrated much of it. We contacted Shirley and she was happy to come in and do the show. Back then, it was almost unheard of to score every single episode of a show. Fortunately, we mentioned it to our boss, Jean [MacCurdy], and she said, 'Oh, yeah! We should totally have an original score for every episode!' That was a huge plus."[14]

Walker was a key part of bringing characters from DC Comics to life on screen. "Though Shirley had enjoyed her stint composing for [The Flash],” notes Batman Animated, an art-book and history of the show, "she thought the last thing she wanted to do was to work on a cartoon version of Batman."[13] Still, she met with producers for Batman: The Animated Series, and was so impressed with the direction of the show’s art and the intended depth of its characters that she agreed to come onboard. Her relationship with Danny Elfman facilitated the use of that film’s music in the series, though Walker also composed her own equally memorable theme. You can hear her explain the difference between the two pieces of music, the tonal sections of her Batman theme and how she would blend them together to map over the show’s various moods and scenes, in a track from the soundtrack album. She would go on to work on Superman: The Animated Series and Batman Beyond, setting the musical, well, tone for the slew of DC Animated Universe shows that spun out of Batman: TAS — an interconnected cinematic universe including Static Shock, Justice League and Justice League Unlimited.