LA, Apr 22: Clint Eastwood's passion for music began when he was very young, playing trumpet and piano. "I played when I was a kid, but I drifted away from all of it when I got into the acting profession and then came back to it later on," he says. During his illustrious career, Eastwood has appeared in 55 features, starring in 43. He has directed 24 films and produced 17. He also has served as the composer on many of his features, including "Unforgiven," "The Bridges of Madison County," "A Perfect World" and last year's "Mystic River." For his musical vision, he was set to be honored Wednesday with performing rights group ASCAP's Opus Award at the 19th annual Film and TV Music Awards at the Beverly Hilton.
The Opus Award is bestowed on an artist "in appreciation for recognizing the singular contribution of music to film," says Marilyn Bergman, ASCAP president and chairman of the board.

"It's not just scores that he's written," Bergman says. "It's the sensitively he shows to the use of music in all his movies."
Eastwood says he found his way back to composing in the 1970s. "I just started writing various melodies for themes that I used in pictures and wasn't really trying to write songs; I was writing theme material," Eastwood says.

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Some of Eastwood's themes did translate into songs. For example, he collaborated with Linda Thompson and Carole Bayer Sager to write "Why Should I Care?" from "True Crime," which was performed by Diana Krall.
"One thing just led to another," Eastwood says. "Even though I gave up playing many years earlier, I can still kind of sit down and doodle a little bit. In hindsight, I kick myself for not having the discipline to spend more time with it when I was younger, but by the same token, I might have avoided doing some of the things I've done. One thing pays off when the other gets shorted."

For Eastwood, the melody or theme takes on a life of its own and comes to him at different times during the filmmaking process.

"Sometimes I hear the melody before the picture, sometimes afterward," he says. "For 'Unforgiven,' I jotted down a theme before I ever started the movie. Then I just sort of thought about it, revisited it again at the end of the movie and put it in. But for 'The Bridges of Madison County,' I wrote that theme while we were in the midst of shooting."

Films take on a feeling, a sound, Eastwood says. "A movie is either going to have very simplistic music or something very intricate," he says. If Eastwood envisions an intricate score, he'll often align himself with an arranger and co-composer.

However, sometimes silence is just as golden. "I like music in movies, but I don't like it wall to wall," Eastwood says. "If it's wall to wall, it callouses the ear. Sometimes when you have a musical theme, it should be offset by some moments of either silence or some other effect that's going on."
Bureau Report