How Mahershala Ali Learned to Play Piano for ‘Green Book’

Music is crucial for any film, but for a film about music, it’s make-or-break. That means Kris Bowers, composer for “Green Book,” a biopic about pianist Dr. Don Shirley, had responsibilities that went far beyond your average project—including teaching Academy Award (and newly-minted SAG Award) winner Mahershala Ali (“Moonlight”) how to play piano. Bowers recalls the actor’s commitment to authenticity and how other performers can convincingly portray a musician on camera.

How would you describe a film composer’s duties? 
I think the best way to explain it is that a composer is translating the emotional arc of the film into music. Our job is to try to find the best way to support whatever is happening onscreen, either emotionally or action-wise. It’s finding the balance between the music having impact enough to make people feel something, and not letting it be too much that it’s distracting from the actual story.

READ: What You Need to Know About Auditioning With an Instrument

How did you first start composing?
It’s something I’ve always wanted to do. Ever since I was pretty young—even as early as 9 or 10—I would tell my parents that I wanted to become a film composer. As far as actually getting to do it, it wasn’t until after I won the Monk Competition [for jazz composition]. There was a woman who became my manager for a couple of months, and she recommended me to a project for a documentary about Elaine Stritch. The woman who was directing it actually brought Elaine to my scene recital at Juilliard and we met so they could see how they felt about me and my music. They decided to hire me, and that was the first job that I had.

‘Green Book’ is about a musician—did that make for a unique experience?
They needed somebody to take on two different roles. They needed somebody to come on early to not only learn all the Donald Shirley music—there’s no sheet music, there’s only the recordings, so I had to transcribe it all from the recordings and then rewrite it out for the rest of the musicians—they also wanted someone who could help Mahershala learn how to play the piano. I spent three months with him. Usually the composer is just worrying about the music.

What was the process for teaching Ali to convincingly play on camera?
The thing that was most incredible to me was his dedication, focus, and attention to detail. Our first lesson, I figured we’d start with basics. I’d give him a major scale and some other things. We were only supposed to be there for an hour, and I spent three hours with him playing the C major over and over again. It was just because he was so focused on trying to make sure his feet were correct, making sure the sound he was getting out of the instrument was really great, making sure that his posture was OK. After three months, I was teaching him a few of the simple melodies for the songs.

What advice would you give to an actor to convincingly portray playing an instrument in a performance? 
Do the research. I know the best actors always do, but even beyond my lessons with Mahershala, he would be watching documentaries about other classical pianists. He started to give me feedback on how he thought our posture should be for the film…. He was saying that when you see a dancer on the subway, you can tell by the way he or she is standing that they’re a dancer. So, for example, if you’re playing a trumpet player, trumpet players are a little different because even when they’re not playing the trumpet, they’re always doing little things with their lips and they’re always messing with their fingertips. You can tell just by the way an actor sits down at an instrument that they are performing. Even if they do some visual effects and have someone else playing, you can tell by where they are at the keyboard or their posture; these little character things are really important in defining someone who is a musician.