MUSIC FOR TELEVISION
In 1987, I won the job as all-around music person for a new half-hour children's TV show on KDKA-TV in Pittsburgh called "Let's Read a Story". Over the course of four seasons, we made about 40 episodes. The show aired at 7:30am on Saturdays, which guaranteed that nobody I knew would ever catch it! It contained two or three storybook readings per episode, plus a song that was often a Goldberg original, with lyrics by either me or our creator/director Galen Speilman. The show was very popular, and even won a prestigious award for the music. In addition to songs, I wrote the show's theme and improvised musical underscoring for all the story reads. I was also on the set with my electronic keyboards, playing all the music live. (There was rarely any pre- or post-production on the show!) I even had a few spoken lines in every episode. It was a hectic, fun, creative experience! Below you can find the theme to the show, as well as a few of my original songs.
As a result of my relationship with KDKA, I was also hired to supply music for several public service announcement campaigns and other in-house local productions, as well as a locally produced syndicated hourlong special entitled "Secrets of Success", which took interviews with five successful personalities (Oprah Winfrey, Malcolm Forbes, Eileen Ford, Andrew Young, and Michael Landon) and analyzed the traits that helped make them successful. Below are a few tracks from those projects as well.
When I started getting hired for national tours of musicals, I left Pittsburgh for good and never got back to working in television. Perhaps I will again some day, but for now this represents an exciting time early in my career that was all too fleeting.
In 1987, I won the job as all-around music person for a new half-hour children's TV show on KDKA-TV in Pittsburgh called "Let's Read a Story". Over the course of four seasons, we made about 40 episodes. The show aired at 7:30am on Saturdays, which guaranteed that nobody I knew would ever catch it! It contained two or three storybook readings per episode, plus a song that was often a Goldberg original, with lyrics by either me or our creator/director Galen Speilman. The show was very popular, and even won a prestigious award for the music. In addition to songs, I wrote the show's theme and improvised musical underscoring for all the story reads. I was also on the set with my electronic keyboards, playing all the music live. (There was rarely any pre- or post-production on the show!) I even had a few spoken lines in every episode. It was a hectic, fun, creative experience! Below you can find the theme to the show, as well as a few of my original songs.
As a result of my relationship with KDKA, I was also hired to supply music for several public service announcement campaigns and other in-house local productions, as well as a locally produced syndicated hourlong special entitled "Secrets of Success", which took interviews with five successful personalities (Oprah Winfrey, Malcolm Forbes, Eileen Ford, Andrew Young, and Michael Landon) and analyzed the traits that helped make them successful. Below are a few tracks from those projects as well.
When I started getting hired for national tours of musicals, I left Pittsburgh for good and never got back to working in television. Perhaps I will again some day, but for now this represents an exciting time early in my career that was all too fleeting.
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Let's Read a Story Theme from the TV show
Here's the opening theme from the show. (If you listen closely, you can hear me singing backup vocals.) Unfortunately I don't remember the name of the lead singer-- she was recruited by the TV station. (Music & lyrics by Lawrence Goldberg © 1987) |
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Sam Was a Mouse Maggie Stewart
This was one of the rare songs that we pre-recorded in a studio. Galen loved the song and was inspired to do a crude animated video to it. It's sung by Maggie Stewart, our cast member who handles most of the singing duties. (Music & lyrics by Lawrence Goldberg © 1989) |
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Doghouse Rock Dave Christy
Here's another pre-record that got an animated treatment, this time sung by visiting folk-singer Dave Christy. (Music & lyrics by Lawrence Goldberg © 1989) |
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Secrets of Success Main Title Theme
Here's the theme music for "Secrets of Success". Note that the first five notes of the repeating phrases scan in the rhythm of the title-- I was a big proponent of the notion that one thing that made an instrumental theme good was that you could sort of sing the title to it. I just wish I had used a real saxophone. (Music by Lawrence Goldberg © 1990) |
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Atlanta Secrets of Success
Most of the cues I wrote for "Secrets of Success" were highly tailored to the narrative and video, so much so that very few of them make much musical sense out of context. This was one of the few cues that could stand on its own musically. It accompanied Andrew Young, former mayor of Atlanta, talking about how the city had grown to become the modern business capital of the South. I wanted something breezy and optimistic-sounding to accompany it. (Just wish I had used a real flute!) (Music by Lawrence Goldberg © 1990) |
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Walking Into the Sea Secrets of Success
This was one of the more dramatic cues from the show. It accompanied Michael Landon's astonishing narrative of the time his mentally ill mother tried to kill herself by walking into the ocean late one night! (Music by Lawrence Goldberg © 1990) |
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The Great Race Main Theme
Pittsburgh has an annual running race called "The Great Race". In the late 80's, KDKA asked me to write some theme music for their broadcast recap of the race. Doesn't it just make you want to get up and run? (Music by Lawrence Goldberg © 1989) |
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Earthguide PSA Bed
As environmentalism was coming to the fore in the late 80's, KDKA produced a series of public service announcements that provided tips for saving energy and conserving the environment, called "Earthguide". I provided some background music for the series. I chose a pseudo-Brazilian feel, since thoughts of the Amazon seemed environmentally vibrant to me! (Music by Lawrence Goldberg © 1989) |