Scoring Live Theater
Over the years I've scored about many live theater productions. I love live theater. I even have my undergraduate degree in acting and directing for theater. Composing an original score for a theatrical production can be an exciting experience; it can be daunting as well. Especially if what your composing is underscoring action on stage. Not difficult if what your working with is an opera. But your normal run of the mill dram? That's a different story.
If your reading this you are probably familiar with what I am referring to when I say underscore. It's that music that accompanies a scene that adds mood or creates a certain emotion. Most of the time your not aware it's there. That's a good thing! It means the composers ego got out of the way and actually supported the scene. In theater, music is usually found during transitions, preshow and intermission to help set the mood and maybe cover over the sound of stage crews changing scenery. As a sound designer for theater through the 90's most of the music I would either compose or assemble was for preshow, intermission and transitions; however in the mid-ninties I had the chance to try something different. I was commission to direct a play for a theater company that I was already contracted to be the sound designer for that same season. The sound designer/composer side of me said to the director side of me, "Let me compose some underscore for the key scenes to help create some needed tension." Now the key to composing a good film or TV score is a sense of timing. You have to know where the marks are, how to hit them at the right times with the right orchestration. With film, TV, and dance performances (yes I've written some pieces for dancers) there is a rhythm, a tempo created by action, dialogue, and the pace of the camera. Many thing contribute to the tempo of a scene. Because it's film or TV these things are locked in by first the medium and secondly by the post production. It's most likely not going to change. Although it sometimes does during final editing. With live theater however, things change. If the music is pre-recorded, how does this all work? That my friend is the daunting part. I should qualify the last statement by saying that when working with professional actors, and veteran directors; by opening night most things are rock solid. A large part of being a professional is about being consistent. I remember being taught that if a person came on opening night, then came at the next to the last night; that person should expect to see the same show with the same level of enthusiasm from start to finish of a run. That make the composers job easier. But…
Recently I composed two pieces of music for a stage production that my two of kids were in. Now the production was small. It had a first time director and 98% of the cast were first time actors. I volunteered to do the sound design and run the sound during the shows. Typical parent volunteering to help a community activity their kids are involved in. However this parent also was asked if I could compose something for two scenes. Actually the words "I can write something" fell out of my mouth before I realized it. I then locked myself in my studio for a day and composed the "big" death scene music. It turned out great. On it's own it was moving and nice to listen to. The first tech rehearsal came, I played the cue where I thought it should go based on the blocking indicated by the director. The second tech rehearsal came and that's when the director and the actors changed everything about the "death scene" with out telling me. So the whole scene wrapped up before we got to the crescendo part of the cue. The director then changed his mind and went back to the original blocking. Whew! Then however one of the stage crew members that was an integral part of how the scene worked broke their finger, so we were back to some edited version. No problem, I edited it. But wait we found a replacement, so the original was back on. All the while I should note that the scene's pacing was never consistent. Close, but never consistent. Did I mention there was narration that went over this whole cue that is read from off stage? Yeah, that pacing is never consistent either. It may sound like I am complaining; I'm not. I trying to get to the part about how to pull this off with out making you pull you hair out as a composer.
First thing I learned is RELAX. Most of the time we are only talking about a few seconds of change. In film and TV that's huge; in theater it's not. Second give yourself some wiggle room in the score. How? You'll want to compose something that is loosely tied to what's going on. For example does the crescendo have to happen exactly as the main character hits downstage center? Then you might need to do that live. But perhaps write it in a way that as the actor get close to down center the crescendo happens and it works. or you can right a cure that doesn't have definitive "statements" but are fluid and can let the listeners make the connection themselves between what the music is doing and the action on stage. It's using the ability of the brain to matrix, make sense, out of what they are seeing and hearing. Kind of trippy I know but we do it all the time with finding faces in wood paneling and animals in the clouds.
Do the above tips solve everything? No. It helps, as it did in this case, to have a director that realizes the importance of actors hitting marks to coincide with the music so as to have the greatest impact. it also helps if the director has no problems rehearsing it over and over again until it all times out. It's worth it. Because when lights, sound, and staging are matched; the dramatic result can be magical.
If your reading this you are probably familiar with what I am referring to when I say underscore. It's that music that accompanies a scene that adds mood or creates a certain emotion. Most of the time your not aware it's there. That's a good thing! It means the composers ego got out of the way and actually supported the scene. In theater, music is usually found during transitions, preshow and intermission to help set the mood and maybe cover over the sound of stage crews changing scenery. As a sound designer for theater through the 90's most of the music I would either compose or assemble was for preshow, intermission and transitions; however in the mid-ninties I had the chance to try something different. I was commission to direct a play for a theater company that I was already contracted to be the sound designer for that same season. The sound designer/composer side of me said to the director side of me, "Let me compose some underscore for the key scenes to help create some needed tension." Now the key to composing a good film or TV score is a sense of timing. You have to know where the marks are, how to hit them at the right times with the right orchestration. With film, TV, and dance performances (yes I've written some pieces for dancers) there is a rhythm, a tempo created by action, dialogue, and the pace of the camera. Many thing contribute to the tempo of a scene. Because it's film or TV these things are locked in by first the medium and secondly by the post production. It's most likely not going to change. Although it sometimes does during final editing. With live theater however, things change. If the music is pre-recorded, how does this all work? That my friend is the daunting part. I should qualify the last statement by saying that when working with professional actors, and veteran directors; by opening night most things are rock solid. A large part of being a professional is about being consistent. I remember being taught that if a person came on opening night, then came at the next to the last night; that person should expect to see the same show with the same level of enthusiasm from start to finish of a run. That make the composers job easier. But…
Recently I composed two pieces of music for a stage production that my two of kids were in. Now the production was small. It had a first time director and 98% of the cast were first time actors. I volunteered to do the sound design and run the sound during the shows. Typical parent volunteering to help a community activity their kids are involved in. However this parent also was asked if I could compose something for two scenes. Actually the words "I can write something" fell out of my mouth before I realized it. I then locked myself in my studio for a day and composed the "big" death scene music. It turned out great. On it's own it was moving and nice to listen to. The first tech rehearsal came, I played the cue where I thought it should go based on the blocking indicated by the director. The second tech rehearsal came and that's when the director and the actors changed everything about the "death scene" with out telling me. So the whole scene wrapped up before we got to the crescendo part of the cue. The director then changed his mind and went back to the original blocking. Whew! Then however one of the stage crew members that was an integral part of how the scene worked broke their finger, so we were back to some edited version. No problem, I edited it. But wait we found a replacement, so the original was back on. All the while I should note that the scene's pacing was never consistent. Close, but never consistent. Did I mention there was narration that went over this whole cue that is read from off stage? Yeah, that pacing is never consistent either. It may sound like I am complaining; I'm not. I trying to get to the part about how to pull this off with out making you pull you hair out as a composer.
First thing I learned is RELAX. Most of the time we are only talking about a few seconds of change. In film and TV that's huge; in theater it's not. Second give yourself some wiggle room in the score. How? You'll want to compose something that is loosely tied to what's going on. For example does the crescendo have to happen exactly as the main character hits downstage center? Then you might need to do that live. But perhaps write it in a way that as the actor get close to down center the crescendo happens and it works. or you can right a cure that doesn't have definitive "statements" but are fluid and can let the listeners make the connection themselves between what the music is doing and the action on stage. It's using the ability of the brain to matrix, make sense, out of what they are seeing and hearing. Kind of trippy I know but we do it all the time with finding faces in wood paneling and animals in the clouds.
Do the above tips solve everything? No. It helps, as it did in this case, to have a director that realizes the importance of actors hitting marks to coincide with the music so as to have the greatest impact. it also helps if the director has no problems rehearsing it over and over again until it all times out. It's worth it. Because when lights, sound, and staging are matched; the dramatic result can be magical.
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