By Ashley McLeod, Senior staff writer
Jun 11, 2016, 11:33
CHESTERFIELD — Chris Johnston spends his weekdays at Thomas Dale High School, working as the chamber orchestra director, teaching musicians studio classes at the Specialty Center for the Performing Arts, and teaching a few college-level AP classes in music theory, piano, and sometimes guitar.
But other than shaping the musical minds of Chester’s teenagers, Johnston has been busy over the years in another industry, one that has become more and more common in the Tri-City area over the years: the film industry.
Since 1999, Johnston has been working in the film industry, sometimes as an extra, sometimes as a historical musical consultant, and sometimes playing in television shows and movies. He has worked with productions from several companies such as HBO, National Geographic, CBS, and DreamWorks.
Johnston said he began his journey with music as a teen when he played in the high school band at Monacan High School. He continued to play through college, where he got his bachelor’s degree in psychology from Virginia Tech. Johnston then went on to get his master’s degree in Music Education from Virginia Commonwealth University. Throughout his schooling, he continued to play on the side when he had the opportunity.
During this time Johnston was a concertmaster for the Richmond Philharmonic, and in the early 2000s, he regularly played as a substitute with the Richmond Symphony.
Johnston started teaching in 1997 at Thomas Dale, and also music theory classes at John Tyler Community College.
His time in the film industry began when he filled in for a friend who was working as an extra. The crew ended up needing more musicians to work, so Johnston helped out.
He was able to get a marching band into a movie that was being made, and then got a whole group of students to be a part of a parade for an HBO film, and from there he didn’t stop.
“That kind of expanded and before I knew it I was doing a lot more music consulting for the film industry,” said Johnston.
As a consultant, Johnston was given the responsibility to coordinate musicians and music scenes for television shows or films, whether it was finding musicians and music to play, or making sure the actors look like they should while playing instruments, teaching them the proper way to strum and move their fingers.
Johnston worked two series from National Geographic, “Killing Lincoln” and “Killing Kennedy,” and has done several HBO films, including “Iron Jawed Angels,” and the series “John Adams,” which was produced by Tom Hanks’ production company, Playtone.
Most of his work involves knowing music history, as most productions in the area are set in the Revolutionary or Civil War era.
One of the biggest jobs for Johnston was being a part of the DreamWorks production of “Lincoln,” directed by Steven Spielberg.
His job on this production began with the formation of a historical brass band from Lincoln’s time, which isn’t as easy as it seems, according to Johnston.
“They wanted them to play live on the film. It wasn’t a pantomiming thing. They were really playing,” said Johnston. “They had to play historical instruments that are no longer made today. So these are expensive, collector’s item instruments that only certain people know how to play.
Johnston used his connections and pulled together musicians from all over to form the band used in the movie.
In this film, Johnston wasn’t in his normal role as a consultant. He originally was to be the bandleader for the group, but then ended up becoming the drum and cymbal player. Along with the other band members, the group found the instruments needed for the group to look historically accurate.
“We restored a historical clarinet just for the movie,” said Johnston. “We had to have the original ones from that time, which was 1865.”
The band also wore distinct historical costumes while playing, which were Marine band uniforms from that time period.
Johnston said receiving the music was one of the best parts of the gig, as it came directly from the man behind the music for such great films as “Star Wars,” “Indiana Jones,” and many more.
“The music came from John William’s office, so I was thrilled to get the music. When it came into my email box, to me that was more exciting than anything,” said Johnston.
Afterward, a colleague who had helped Johnston with the band decided to try and buy the uniforms, so he could form a band just like the one in the movie. And so began Johnston’s next project, called President Lincoln’s Own Band.
The band began practicing, and before they knew it, became known.
“We learned a bunch of tunes, and the next thing we knew we were playing at the inauguration up in DC,” said Johnston.
The band then were called to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City and played at the 150th reading of the Gettysburg Address.
Along with his work with the band, Johnston has continued to work in the film industry also.
When AMC came to town to begin filming the series “Turn” Johnston began working with the show as an extra. He worked with someone on the production team who had also worked with him on the John Adams miniseries and was able to come on the crew as a consultant on set. He has worked on all three seasons of the television show and can be seen in the first episode of the series as a fiddle player.
While his work with the film industry is rewarding and interesting, Johnston says that he still considers it as his second occupation, with teaching being his first.
“(Teaching) is my job. This is my primary income, this is my work, and this is my passion. My profession is teaching, so it always comes first,” said Johnston.
While he has had to take a few personal days in order to work on films, Johnston said that he hasn’t had to take too much time off and that the two schedules rarely collide with each other.
The film industry in the area has been on the rise in the past decade, and Johnston believes that his role in the industry is a monument to his success in teaching music and also shows students the number of possibilities that pursuing a career in music could bring, other than just being on stage.
“I think it’s really important that I have working professional experience, both playing music, and as a music consultant, and letting the students know that the music industry is much bigger than just going out and singing into a microphone,” said Johnston.
“There are so many other avenues: there are music therapists, there are business people, managers, concert tour people. There are people that are doing copyright issue, there’s people that work in the film industry like I do, there’s people that do historical research, there’s just a ton of ways you can go with your music career because very few of us are going to be in that spotlight. For every person that’s sitting up there on stage, there’s a hundred people behind the making it all happen and often working 9-5.”
