Stir Q&A: Halfway through ViolaLicks video series, Thomas Beckman talks Bridgerton and busking
Each week in 2024, violist is releasing an arrangement of a new film or television theme accompanied by a short YouTube video
Thomas Beckman at Villa Vista Montagna in Langley, where he filmed the ViolaLicks Bridgerton theme video.
Thomas Beckman releases a new ViolaLicks music video on YouTube every Friday until January 3, 2025
AT THE BEGINNING of this year, violist Thomas Beckman set out on a journey to release one music video each week of himself playing a film or television theme arrangement, for a total of 52 installments. Now that he’s past the halfway point, the series—aptly called ViolaLicks due to the short nature of each piece—is still going strong.
He kicked things off on January 2 with Jerry Goldsmith’s 1979 Star Trek theme at the H.R. MacMillan Space Centre. Since then, he’s played John Williams’s Jaws theme at the Vancouver Aquarium, James Horner’s “Hymn of the Sea” from Titanic at Whytecliff Park, and Cliff Richard’s “The Next Time” from Summer Holiday at Robson Square, among several others.
In 2010, Beckman was busking every week with guitarist Matthew Lenox, and the pair soon started the successful instrumental band Sons of Granville with percussionist Jarrett Plett. They went on to win the Telus Storyhive video competition, and though Lenox left the group shortly afterwards, guitarist Justin Brown stepped in to keep them going.
Those busking roots are at the foundation of the ViolaLicks project, which Beckman has accomplished with the help of cinematographer Darko Šikman. A cover of the Bridgerton theme posted back in February recently blew up on social media, boosting the series’—and its undersung instrument’s—popularity online.
In celebration of ViolaLicks’ success and of what’s to come for Beckman, Stir touched base with the composer and arranger to learn about the ins and outs of the project.
Thomas Beckman.
What initially inspired you to start the ViolaLicks series? How did you land on the topic of film and television themes, and how did you choose which ones to arrange and perform?
Traditionally, I had produced music videos sporadically and felt a certain frustration with the long gaps in between releases. The idea to make a series allowed me to tuck in, so to speak, by not just making one or two recordings, but a whole slate, which in itself opened up for a more creatively rewarding and in-depth process that took close to a year to fully produce. The inspiration lay in showcasing the viola as a solo instrument for some of our most popular film and television music, a genre that first attracted me to music as a child.
The viola is not well known outside of the classical sphere, and so I felt encouraged by the paucity of recorded popular works on viola to fill a void. I chose themes that carry a high level of recognition with the public in order to boost the search visibility of the ViolaLicks series, but also indulged in choices that catered to my own preference, like some of the tunes by John Williams, which were both artistically rewarding and popular.
Your uplifting arrangement of the Bridgerton theme earlier this year recently gained a lot of traction online. What did you enjoy most about putting together that video in particular? What has the reception from fans meant to you?
We filmed the Bridgerton theme at the beautiful Villa Vista Montagna in Langley, where the fountain and scenery seemed a perfect match for the style of the Netflix series. Part of the joy in a series like this is discovering little unknown gems for film backdrops, as was the case with the fountain featured in the video. The reception serves as the first time I’ve experienced “trending”, which started off with some influencers on Instagram lauding the recording a couple months after the video’s release back in February. Once it began to trend in July, CBC Radio reached out, and since then it has garnered over 50,000 views on YouTube, been used as an audio in more than 60,000 Instagram Reels, and received over 80,000 streams on Spotify. Not bad for a small fish like myself!
Your ViolaLicks videos are filmed at a variety of interesting locations around Metro Vancouver, spanning Robson Square, Whytecliff Park, the Vancouver Aquarium, and beyond. How do you choose where you’ll play each theme? What is the filming process like—and do you ever have an audience watching?
Part of the challenge of this series is to keep things fresh by choosing thoughtful video locations. Working with the Vancouver Aquarium in front of the shark tank, or in the H.R. MacMillan Space Centre’s Planetarium Star Theatre with stars projected all around us, or late at night beneath the Christmas lights at Robson Square amid the rats keeps each new subsequent video looking unique and exciting. We’ve of course filmed at many other locations and in a way, my hope was to showcase some of Vancouver’s diverse geography and institutions. We even filmed in a New Westminster cemetery at five in the morning!
Due to absences of funding, we’ve kept the videos short and mostly on natural light. Darko Šikman, the chief cinematographer on the ViolaLicks series, has found ways to instill genuine beauty and dynamism with just the minimum, so he’s been absolutely integral to the visual realization of the series. I’ve also worked with Michael Yeung, Charlotte Porro, and Milton Ng, who’ve each brought something special to the fore. Sometimes people stop to watch us film, and clap and say nice things, so that’s always felt encouraging.
Thomas Beckman performing at the H.R. MacMillan Space Centre’s Star Wars–themed May the Fourth event. Photo by Raymond Ng (expressive motion photography)
In a similar vein, what is your relationship to (and history with) street performance and busking? Do you plan on busking this summer as part of the series—and do you have any hints as to when and where fans may be able to watch you?
There does feel a connection between busking and filming in public. From 2010 till 2014, busking was my main preoccupation during which time I freed myself up to think and plan more adventurously for musical projects. Because of how short each video is, we’re able to get away with filming in all the locations we have. I do plan to busk some this summer, but the main idea is to expand the ViolaLicks into an actual show starting next year at the H.R. MacMillan Space Centre. We’ve been invited to return after our sold-out show back in May, where we did an all–Star Wars show. To achieve this we’re creating backing tracks from the ViolaLicks series so that I can perform them live, and with other musicians. Eventually, show times will be released on my website.
What is your beginning-to-end process for each ViolaLick, from selecting the song to releasing the video? Is there a theme that has been your favourite so far to arrange, perform, and film?
Last year, the process was to select only the most celebrated film themes (there are so many) and bring them to life at audio-engineer and producer Sam Ryan’s studio in Ladysmith, B.C. After a successful Indiegogo campaign, half a dozen of the themes were also selected by donors, two of which are originals.
The majority of the themes covered draw from the rich canon of the most celebrated and performed film themes for the sake of relevance and accessibility. I would arrange them—mostly by ear—on Avid Sibelius, my music notational software, then send the parts over as MIDIs to [audio engineer] Sam Ryan, head over to the Island, and spend a day recording my solo parts. After that, we’d build the backing track by calling on sample libraries, or through collaboration with other musicians, as I did for The Deer Hunter’s “Cavatina” and The Sound of Music’s “Edelweiss” with guitarist Bojan Bugarinović, Chariots of Fire and the NFL theme with keyboardist Eddie Lam, the James Bond theme with Jim Hopson, and Blood Diamond with Nigerian singer Michael Obiora Chicheerem. So far, my favourite has been “Cavatina” by Stanley Meyers. It’s such a stunning piece.
Looking into the coming months, what are your hopes for the rest of the ViolaLicks series? When is the last video scheduled to come out—and once it’s all said and done, do you think you would embark on a similar venture again?
As we pass the halfway mark, it’s been a tiring but rewarding experience. I hope we’ll have a few more hits as we did with Bridgerton, but the main thing is to stay consistent and construct a brand and an audience that’ll lend to the next project. I hope a live show will find places to grow and attract support for the next series.
The last video of the ViolaLicks series premieres on the first week of January in 2025, an original with a tentative name: “AI Rising”, an ode to the new era of artificial intelligence, for which I’m planning to combine live action with AI animation. Showcasing the viola and helping to encourage the next crop of violists into the popular mediums would be good for the instrument’s evolution, as we’ve seen happen with the violin and cello, with players such as David Garrett, HAUSER and 2CELLOS, and The Piano Guys and Lindsey Stirling. We don’t have a massive viola star, yet... 
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