Jordan Seigel: The Piano Behind Snoopy in Space (Episode 131)

Work begets work.

Some careers are built on one skill. Jordan Seigel's is built on three. In Episode 131 of The Career Musician, Nomad sits down with the composer, orchestrator and pianist whose credits run from orchestrating on Ant-Man and the Wasp, The LEGO Movie 2 and Trolls to playing on-screen piano on Glee, and he is the featured pianist on the Apple TV+ series Snoopy in Space.

The two first met working on the Babyface concerts with the National Symphony Orchestra at the Kennedy Center. If you want to know how a film composer career actually comes together in LA, and how to keep a versatile career going, Jordan lays it out plainly.

Be in the room, and be ready

The story of how they met is a lesson by itself. During the first week of production rehearsals, the keyboard player got sick. Jordan was only there to help on the orchestration and arranging side. But he had written the charts, so Nomad turned to him: you could sit down and knock some of these out, right? He did.

Jordan calls it a movie moment. It is also luck = preparation + opportunity. He happened to be in the room, and he had the skills to say yes.

Plant seeds everywhere

Jordan is a rare LA native. His dad played piano for fun, he fell in love with jazz in his high school jazz band, and he went to Berklee for jazz before deciding the jazz lifestyle he saw was not for him. Film scoring hooked him: making music that moves people while they watch.

When he came home to LA, there was no list to sign up for. He got some early gigs through Craigslist around 2010. He played in LA rehearsal bands, where musicians play for free to make connections. Through one, he met a bass player whose wife was a contractor, and that led to on-camera piano work on Glee. Another connection took him to a jazz festival in Jakarta. A college friend got him three or four years as a rehearsal pianist on The X Factor.

"It was a lot of planting seeds. You meet this person, you meet this person, and you never know which one's going to lead to anything. But you try and be a good person, you try to be nice, you try to be responsible, you try to hone your craft."

Jordan Seigel, 8:47

That is work begets work in its purest form. Gigs like Glee also let him earn from music without the pressure of a non-music job while he kept building his reel and his connections.

Learn the takedown

On The X Factor, Jordan would get five or ten minutes to learn a pop song while the producers and artist talked. Headphones on, arrangement down, play it. Then: we don't like that key, change it. Learning a tune fast and changing keys at will is a skill he calls really important.

A takedown means listening to a song and writing a chart of it. Jordan thought that was a college exercise. It turned out to be a constant part of real work: arrangements of existing songs and "sound alikes" need a takedown first, so you know what is there, what to avoid and what you can borrow. That is reliability beats virtuosity: being the player who can deliver on the spot.

Composer, orchestrator, arranger: know the difference

Jordan balances all three, and the mix changes month to month. He admits it can invite a pessimistic view ("he's just a pianist trying to be a composer"), so he keeps working on each craft. His clear breakdown: the composer writes the music. The orchestrator fleshes out the composer's vision for real live players. The arranger usually orchestrates too, but adds new elements inside the composer's structure.

On big films, the composer usually sends a MIDI file plus a mix or stems. Some MIDI comes in flat, with no shape at all, so you have to ask: do they want it flat, or do they want you to add shape? It might sound good in the sequencer, but the orchestrator's job is to make sure it translates to the page and to the players, sometimes 60 to 90 of them. Any mistake or confusion on that session costs the studio a lot of money.

"The sessions are the best part. It's a joy to go there, because the hard work is done. You already made your decisions."

Jordan Seigel, 20:36

Nomad adds the point for players outside LA: those sessions are stressful only if you are in over your head. If you have done your homework, it is just the job.

Protect your focus, and your life

Jordan's time management is simple: no notifications. When it is time to compose, he turns everything off for an hour and a half and sets mini goals, like a minute of music in that block. If he owes 15 minutes in a week, he divides it up with a buffer, because it always takes longer than you think.

He also makes room for himself. His debut album, Beyond Images, is a calling card of his own voice, with each song dedicated to a great film composer and filtered through jazz. And he is a big fan of enjoying your life: good food, movies, his dog, ping pong, travel with his wife. If you want to write something meaningful, he says, you need some joy in your life.

Kind and good wins

His definition of success: love what you do and live comfortably without worrying about putting food on the table. His advice for anyone moving to LA: be responsible, be professional, and know what service you can provide. Ask how you can help someone, not what you can take.

"If you're really good at what you do and you're really nice, then you're going to be okay."

Jordan Seigel, 39:18

That is low maintenance / no drama plus Humility from the ETHOS code. And it paid off: Jordan now plays piano for the Apple TV+ Peanuts projects, including re-recording Vince Guaraldi's "Linus and Lucy" for a documentary. As a jazz piano, film and TV guy, he calls that the dream.

The takeaway

Be in the room. Plant seeds. Master the practical skills like takedowns. Know your crafts, protect your focus, and be the kind of person people want to call again. If you are working toward your first big call, start with the free Get the Gig guide, and check out more of Jordan's work at jordanseigel.com.

Get the gig. Keep the gig. Build the career.

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