The producers of this Christmas-themed television spot for the Archdiocese of Washington, D.C. needed a highly customized version of Joy to The World to bring their vision to life. The spot called for a group of everyday folks to create the tune one by one using found objects as musical instruments, beginning with a ruler tapping on a desk and ultimately swelling to the sound of a full orchestra—all within 30 seconds.

My job was to invent, arrange, perform, record, mix, and master this unique take on the music from scratch, long before any cameras rolled, using the client's storyboards as a guide. I was then asked to supervise the music playback and help choreograph the actors' movements to the music on set. The result is the illusion that each note of the song was “played” by the actors on camera. But in reality, every single sound you hear (minus the gleeful checker player's laugh) was created in my studio.