Ian Escario is a songwriter, musician, and producer, who after playing in a few different bands, found success in helping one of them create an effective DIY marketing strategy.
This was soon rewarded, with their music getting noticed by an indie label to which they were soon signed. Since then, Ian has gone on to carve out his own career path as an indie musician, with his songs landing a number of high-profile sync placements and commercials with companies like Nokia, Coca-Cola, and Channel 5.
In 2021, Ian founded the Music Incubator, a programme dedicated to helping budding music artists create a strong song catalogue, gain more exposure, and monetize their music, by making connections with other professionals in the industry, includingthe producers and sync managers who will potentially take their readied tracks into consideration.
He is currently rolling out a new membership-style programme due to formally launch in March called the ‘Music Incubator Membership’ dedicated to helping those artists take that next leap forward, of discovering their unique audiences, and then building their own fanbases with whom they then share the joys of their kind of music.
Ian reflects on his own musical journey, and how he sees the intersection of classical music with modern music from a historical standpoint.
How did you get into music?
Escario: “…One of the values that my parents wanted to instil in me was music from the get-go. My dad was a jazz pianist… and my mom was very adamant on getting me started on classical(music). …So, when I turned around 4-5, they started me on piano lessons…. the very first sort of inspiration I took was from playing classical piano… At 7-8 years old, I would step on the stage, and I would have to (play) on my own…so that was my first sort of entry into performance.”
What was the specific point where you realised that you were influenced by classical music?
Escario: “For sure… I started hearing classical music elements when I started ‘copying’ pop music. There was a time when I was a bit disenfranchised from playing classical (music)…. I gave up piano during my early teens and I switched to drums…but I still had my piano skills.
…I started copying songs that I really liked that were piano-based… but I’d realise like ‘Ah, I know (these phrases, these passages) because I learned this when I was a kid.’ Obviously, they were more pop-oriented, but it’s just the way that it was derived from that classical phrasing…”
How do you incorporate that into your music-making?
Escario: “…In some of the music that I help arrange today, I will take a lot of the transitional sections, where there’s no sort of lyric/vocal, and I’ll create some sort of melody or harmony based on a classical line, because it leads nicely into the next line.”
Do you see a place for indie musicians with classical backgrounds integrating that with contemporary music?
Escario: “… Pop music as we know it is less than 100 years old, so with the amount of classical music out there, there’s so much that new artists can learn… Classical lines (have) been used for hundreds of years; they never really die, and that’s why they’re used again, and again,…you will hear those in popular music all the time. Paul McCartney is very good at doing that, Quincy Jones, as a producer, also was excellent at that.”
“Classical music is timeless, it will keep on being there, and there will always be artists playing classical music. This crossover really enriches music nowadays because…it allows people from all ages to really appreciate music.”