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that landed Garth Brooks the hosting job
on
Saturday Night Live." During her
time
at Capitol, McDonough worked with Cindy
Williams, then vice president of interna-
tional for the label. When Williams moved to
Gaylord Entertainment to head up
Country Music Television (CMT) International,
she offered McDonough the chance
to expand her publicity capabilities on an
international scale. "The international
aspect is what sold me on the job," says
McDonough, who joined Gaylord Cable
Network in 1998 as director of public
relations. McDonough rejoined Capitol
Records Nashville a few years later, as
director of media and public relations, most
notably working with superstar Keith Urban.
www.capitolnashville.com
MUSIC DIRECTOR
JOB OVERVIEW
Music directors are, in basic terms, musical
contractors. They are responsible for
making the visiting guest artist comfortable,
for any re-recorded music, and if there is
a theme to be written, they either contract it
out, or write it themselves. They are
charged with overseeing all source music,
walk-on and walk-off music, and the
musical segments. "If it is an awards show,"
says Harry Stinson, "you've got millions
of artists on the show that all have musical
needs. They may bring their own band, or
they may supplement their band with the show
band. You hire all the musicians, get
all the charts together and rehearse them
alone, and then with the artists."
PREREQUISITES
Strong musicianship and the ability to compose
music and write charts.
SPECIAL SKILLS
To succeed, you should be able to manage and
direct other players, and have a
friendly and outgoing personality. "My ear for
music and my voice are probably my
biggest assets," says Harry Stinson. "Singing
teaches you a lot about music. You can
tell when a song is too fast if you personally
can't sing it, and you write with the right
feel if you understand about spitting out the
lyrics too fast."
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