November 1, 2000 - Los Angeles - Tiffany White has been named the 2000 BMI Film Scoring Scholarship at the Berklee College of Music, it was announced today by Doreen Ringer Ross, Vice President, Film/TV Relations, BMI. White is a Film Scoring major in her seventh semester at the college, and she was presented as the scholarship recipient by Emmy Award-winning film composer Basil Poledouris and Ringer-Ross at a ceremony at Berklee on October 26.
The BMI Film Scoring Scholarship is a yearly tuition scholarship based on compositional maturity and talent as well as financial need. The Dean of the Professional Writing Division, the Chair of the Film Scoring Department, in conjunction with the Department for Scholarships, chose the recipient they felt had the greatest potential for a creative career in film scoring. This year's scholarship was given in the name of composer Poledouris.
"This scholarship continues our mission of supporting young and emerging composers at the college level," stated Ringer Ross. "We support Berklee's commitment to excellence in music and film scoring and their determination to further the growth of talented, trained and educated composers."
Michael Rendish, Assistant Chair of the Film Scoring Department at Berklee, said, "Tiffany has won the admiration of all of her instructors, and she shows a high level of talent and promise in her chosen profession. We feel she is certainly deserving of this generous award."
The scholarship presentation was followed by a master class taught by Poledouris. The class was attended by film scoring and composition majors at Berklee. Poledouris began by giving the students some background on how he got started in the film industry, and told many anecdotes about his experiences in creating appropriate scores for films.
White's, '01 of Georgia, previous awards include first place in the NAACP's ACT-SO award competition's Regional Division for Composition and third place in the National Division for Composition.
Past recipients include John Eastep and Enrique Menendez, and the scholarship has been given in the name of composers Michael Kamen and Alan Menken.
BMI, founded in 1940, is an American performing rights organization that represents more than 250,000 songwriters, composer and music publishers in all genres of music. Through its music performance and reciprocal agreements with sister organizations around the world, it grants businesses and media access to its repertoire of more than 4.5 million songs and compositions.