Making Movie Magic with Brian Maloney

On screen, this action-packed adventure pits man against prehistoric predators in the ultimate battle for survival. On stage, the musicians of WASO are pulling of their own equally epic feats.

We caught up with Principal Percussion, Brian Maloney, to learn more about how this legendary score is getting brought to life and the unexpected instruments behind some of the film’s key moments.

We’re kicking off our 2025 WASO at the Movies Series with the highly-anticipated Jurassic Park in Concert! What’s your earliest memory of Jurassic Park?

My earliest memory of Jurassic Park would have to be when I was an early teenager. I remember begging my parents to let me rent it (in those days we went to Blockbuster to actually rent movies on VHS!). I was so excited to see it and remember being astonished by the graphics of the time. It was also one of the first films where I was old enough to understand about film composition and recognised John Williams as the composer. 

There’s a lot that goes into creating the percussive atmosphere for our WASO at the Movies concerts – no doubt, the audience has seen you running between instruments on stage. How do you prepare for a performance, both mentally and physically?

Preparing for this type of performance is incredibly challenging, mentally and physically. Part of the challenge lies in the fact that these films weren’t originally meant to be played through in one straight performance; they were recorded over a series of months with sometimes multiple orchestras, so it’s a real effort to deliver all the music together in one night. Much of my preparation involves making sure I’m physically and mentally fit enough sustain that level of concentration and power throughout a two-hour (or longer) performance. It also involves extensive planning around my “choreography” of jumping from one instrument to the next.  

Jurassic Park features a massive range of percussion instruments, including some that aren’t typical in the symphony orchestra arsenal. As a performer, what are the highlights and challenges of getting to play these more unusual instruments?

Part of the beauty of playing percussion is the sheer variety of instruments we play (over 100 different instruments in semi-regular rotation), but it can also be an exciting challenge when the more unusual instruments come up. Needing to know their specific technique requirements takes a broad understanding of cultural history of the region in which those instruments are from, as well as a more specific understanding of the history of those particular instruments. Very often we are not formally trained on a particular ethnic or unusual instrument, but we are still expected to be able to play it. It is one of the things I love about the vast and ever-expanding world of percussion–constantly growing, learning, and becoming a more well-rounded musician. 

With so many instruments to manage, how do you as Principal Percussion decide who will play what?

Every Principal Percussionist manages this differently, but there are essentially three main things that dictate the instrumental rostering of my section. The first is player strengths, and understanding which players in your section prefer to play which instruments. The second is the setup; with complex scores, such as Jurassic Park, often the logistics of the stage and general instrument proximity will determine who plays what. The third is knowing the challenging parts and taking that into consideration as a Principal Player, taking the hardest and most exposed parts myself. 

Thongophone, slide whistle, cork pop, log drum – there’s a lot of fun to be had with this score! What’s your favourite instrument that you play in Jurassic Park?

I’d have to say my favourite percussion instrument in this score would be “metal chain”. The idea John Williams had of a percussionist dropping a metal chain onto a wooden table when the audience first gets a glimpse of a dinosaur coming onto screen at the beginning of the film, and the accompanying foreshadowing of the dinosaur being “unleashed” is nothing short of genius. It’s a prime example of how John envisioned the role of the orchestra in film, and how he perfectly executed idiosyncratic instrumental writing in all sections, but particularly with percussion.