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Jay Chattaway, Film Composer, Papers

 Collection
Collection Number: A&M 3895

Scope and Contents

Sketches and scores of music by WVU alumnus Jay Chattaway (born July 8, 1946), an Emmy Award winning American composer of film and television music. He is best known for his work as composer for several Star Trek television series, including Star Trek: The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager, and Enterprise. This collection includes production materials related to music composed by Chattaway for these series and other projects, including sketches, scores, cue sheets, breakdowns of spotting notes, spotting notes, and other material (such as manuscript notes, letters, etc.). These material types are described in greater detail below.

This collection consists of 8 series:

Series 1. The Next Generation, Seasons 3-7; 1990-1994; boxes 1-17.
Includes production materials related to music by Chattaway for 42 episodes (nos. 168-276) of The Next Generation television series.

Series 2. Deep Space Nine, Seasons 1-6; 1992-1999; boxes 18-31.
Includes production materials related to music by Chattaway for 47 episodes (nos. 403-570) of the Deep Space Nine television series.

Series 3. Voyager, Seasons 1-7; 1994-2001; boxes 31-44.
Includes production materials related to music by Chattaway for 35 episodes (nos. 721, 104-272) of the Voyager television series.

Series 4. Enterprise, Seasons 1-4; 2001-2005; boxes 45-57.
Includes production materials related to music by Chattaway for 28 episodes (nos. 003-097) of the Enterprise television series.

Series 5. Miscellaneous; 1998-Undated; box 58.
Includes miscellaneous items related to music by Chattaway and shipping the original collection to West Virginia University. Materials included are a book detailing the production and other behind-the-scenes looks at Star Trek: Voyager, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, and Star Trek: Insurrection, a floppy disc, and shipping information.

Series 6. Assorted Music Charts; 1964-2005; boxes 58-68.
Includes various music charts/scores for concert pieces, television and movie scores, and jazz pieces along with others.

Series 7. Audio/Visual Materials; 1980-2016; boxes 69-70.
Includes audio/visual materials relating to the career works of Chattaway. Materials included are vinyl LPs and 45s, cassette tapes, CDs, VHS tapes, and a DVD.

Series 8. Addendum of 2022 October 28, Jay Chattaway, Film Composer, Papers, Audio Recordings; 1962, 1976, undated.


Materials within series 1-4, and series 6 include:

Sketches consist of manuscript music notations on pre-printed, letter-size, music manuscript paper of two or four staves.

Their headers include the production's title (e.g., Voyager), cue title with related alpha-numberic code (e.g., M53 -- Still Friends), creation date, and page number. Durations (measured and indicated in minutes and seconds) are printed above the staves; subdivsions by beat are indicated between time codes.

Instrumental assignments are indicated by abbreviations (e.g., "ww" for woodwinds, "tpts" for trumpets, etc.).

Scores consist of manuscript notations on letter-sized pre-printed, or tabloid-sized (11 in. x 17 in.) blank, manuscript paper.

Headers of letter-sized scores include the production's title (e.g., Voyager), and cue title with related alpha-numeric code (e.g., M53 -- Still Friends). Creation dates, page numbers, and durations (measured in minutes and seconds) are indicated within the headers for letter-size scores only.

Instrumental assignments in letter-size scores (identified by "scores" in the contents list below) are indicated by abbreviations for groups of instruments (e.g., "ww" for woodwinds, "tpts" for trumpets, etc.).

Instrumental assignments in concert scores are indicated with a separate staff for each part.

Cue sheets are pre-printed letter-sized documents that contain production-related information for an episode. They are for planning the assignment of music within an episode.

The headings of each cue sheet indicate the "studio" (i.e., Fox), "date", "series", "episode number", "composer", and "orchestrator" (orchestrators are usually not indicated) for an episode. Following the heading is a listing of cue titles with their related alpha-numeric codes (e.g., M12 -- "Mr. Worf's Distortion", etc.), durations (measured in minutes and seconds), and instrumentation. The ordering of the cues in the list corresponds to the order in which they appear in an episode.

Breakdowns of spotting notes are pre-printed letter-sized documents that contain production-related information for an episode. They are for planning the assignment of music within an episode.

The headings for these documents indicate the "series", "composer", "show number" (episode number), "spotting date", "editor submitting", and "score date".

Following the heading is a listing of alpha-numeric cue codes (without titles) and durations. The footers contain general remarks, and the total length of time in an episode for which music has been composed.

Spotting notes are pre-printed letter-sized documents that contain production-related information for an episode. They are for planning the assignment of music within an episode.

The headings for each spotting notes sheet include the production name (e.g., "STAR TREK: TNG"), production number (e.g., 40275-209), episode title (e.g., "A MATTER OF TIME"), and cue name. The footers contain page numbers and creation dates.

Following the heading is a listing of time codes (in "SMPTE" standard) with their corresponding scripted events. For example, for episode 228 of Season Six of "The Next Generation", the spotting notes include:

d1:32:15:00 worm shape is visible in the beam and music starts

d1:32:16:10 clearest view on Enterprise - worm in view

d1:32:16:23 Barclay reacts to thing

etc.

Dates

  • Creation: 1962-2016

Creator

Conditions Governing Access

Special access restriction applies to box 7.

Researchers may access born digital and digitized materials by requesting to view the materials in person by appointment or remotely by contacting the West Virginia & Regional History Center reference department at https://westvirginia.libanswers.com/wvrhc.

Conditions Governing Use

Permission to publish or reproduce is required from the copyright holder. For more information, please see the Permissions and Copyright page on the West Virginia and Regional History Center website.

Biographical / Historical

Born on July 8, 1946, Jay Chattaway was raised in Monongahela, Pennsylvania where he began playing piano at the age of 7 before later adding the trumpet at age 10. Shortly after he began writing music for his junior high band and the band at Monongahela High School where he graduated from in 1964. Awarded with a Board of Governors' scholorship to study composition and music education at West Virginia University (WVU), Chattaway continued his studies at WVU, earning his master's degree while working as the Assistant Band Director.

Interupted by the Vietnam War, Chattaway's graduate studies ended when he joined the arranging staff of the U.S. Navy Band where he was soon promoted to Chief Arranger and Composer-in-Residence. Many years later, Chattaway returned and completed his master's degree before being inducted into the Academy of Distinguished Alumni. Chattaway also undertook post-graduate studies at The Eastman School of Music. After leaving the Navy, Chattaway moved to New York City and began writing and producing music for CBS. His first album contained the hit version of the theme from the movie “Rocky,” earning him a gold album and the first of many Grammy nominations. Chattaway has worked with such musical luminaries as Carly Simon, Herb Alpert, Maynard Ferguson, Bob James, Doc Severinson and the Von Trapp children and has written music for over 30 feature films, including “Red Scorpion,” Chuck Norris’s “Missing-in-Action” and Stephen King’s “Silver Bullet.” He has also composed for National Geographic and Jacques Cousteau.

In 1991, Chattaway was asked to be a guest composer for “Star Trek: The Next Generation,” and subsequently worked on scores for “Star Trek: The Next Generation,” “Deep Space Nine,” “Voyager” and “Enterprise.” His television work has garnered nine Emmy nominations and one Emmy. In addition to his work composing music, Chattaway also served as Director of Artists & Repertoire for CBS Records and has been the President of the Society of Composers and Lyricists and Governor of the Academy of Television of Arts and Sciences.

In 2019, Chattaway was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Music from West Virginia University.

*adopted from https://honorarydegrees.wvu.edu/past-recipients/2000s/2019/jay-allen-chattaway and https://barnhouse.com/composer/jay-chattaway/

Extent

27.25 Linear Feet (27 ft. 3 in. (58 flat storage boxes, 3 in. each); (2 record cartons, 15 in. each); (8 document cases, 5 in. each); (3 document cases, 2.5 in. each); (8 flat storage boxes, 1.5 in. each); (17 flat storage boxes, 3.75 in. each))

6.98 Gigabytes (170 .wav files)

Language

English

Overview

Sketches and scores of music by WVU alumnus Jay Chattaway (born July 8, 1946), an Emmy Award winning American composer of film and television music. He is best known for his work as composer for several Star Trek television series, including Star Trek: The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager, and Enterprise. This collection includes production materials related to music composed by Chattaway for these series and other projects, including sketches, scores, cue sheets, breakdowns of spotting notes, spotting notes, and other material (such as manuscript notes, letters, etc.). See scope and content note for details.

Physical Location

West Virginia and Regional History Center / West Virginia University / 1549 University Avenue / P.O. Box 6069 / Morgantown, WV 26506-6069 / Phone: 304-293-3536 / Fax: 304-293-3981 / URL: https://wvrhc.lib.wvu.edu/

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Gift from Chattaway, Jay, 2013/01/29, 2019, and 2022.

Title
Jay Chattaway, Film Composer, Papers
Author
Staff of the West Virginia & Regional History Center
Date
2013/01/29
Description rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin

Repository Details

Part of the West Virginia and Regional History Center Repository

Contact:
1549 University Ave.
P.O. Box 6069
Morgantown WV 26506-6069 US
304-293-3536