Writing the music
|
The Team: |
page 1 narrated by Don Caron |
I set up a studio at home geared specifically
for writing a lengthy orchestral score. The center of this studio is the Kurzweil
2500 loaded up with all the latest features. This electronic keyboard can
effectively simulate orchestral instruments when used with discretion. An IBM computer is
the brains of the system, running Cubase VST Score. Cubase is a sequencer program
which records information played from the Kurzweil and allows extensive tweaking, editing,
and playback.
I began to develop the themes for the
movie. Rich Cowan (the director) wanted a musical theme for each main character (a
Star Wars approach with a serious touch). I developed a Main Theme for the opera and for
the underscore, Brigitta’s Theme, Helmut’s Theme, and a Love Theme for Martin
(Peter Coyote) and Bessie (Karen Allen). Once these met with the director’s
approval, I went ahead and began writing the rest of the opera segments. The director
wanted the opera finished prior to filming so that certain scenes could be timed with the
opera while being filmed.
Somehow I needed to create a version of this
opera material that was complete enough to be convincing (It needed to be approved by a
team of producers - six of them). I began auditioning local singers using the rough
versions of the opera tracks for the auditions. The opera required a solo soprano, a solo
baritone, a solo tenor, a boy soprano, and a choir.
One of the problems with the limited budget was
that there was no music supervisor, nor music crew of any kind. My time was extremely
limited, consumed with writing the score, so I was unable to devote much time to these
auditions. Instead, I called on people I knew: Susan Windham, Ann Fennessy, and
Tamara Schupman for the soprano parts. I recorded them all and let the director decide
which to use. For the boy soprano I used Jonathan Westfield, at Tamara’s
recommendation, and used Jim Swoboda for the Tenor and Baritone parts because he could do
both, and because he worked at NxNW and was readily available. Also because he’s a
very talented guy.
At Linda Siverts’ recommendation, I went to the Spokane Chorale and asked for volunteers to sing the choir parts. Over forty of them participated, and made an awesome contribution to the credibility of the score.
While the movie was being shot, I spent a lot
of time on the set, watching how the actors were choosing to portray their characters, and
getting a feel for the mood and character of the locations. At night, after the shoot, I
would sketch ideas and developments of the themes based on what I saw and heard.