Act I, Scene I, is done! (in concept!)

So, I've been pondering over Act I, Scene 1. It's really important to me that I make a good first impression to the audience musically, and remain true to the movie as well.

However, this also involved a little more thought into the background of the staging and actors. What I'm thinking is having six square rooms set up like a 2-story dollhouse on stage; this way, we can have six apartments for the characters to live in. It will look something like this incredibly detailed sketch.

In any case, The lights will only be up in Louison's apartment (at this time in the show, the apartment is not Louison's, since he has not yet been introduced), and in the Delicatessen. An unnamed actor (probably one of the folks who will eventually play a Troglodiste) will be dressing in trash in that room while Clapet sharpens his knives. Musically, there will be a low drone and slow, quiet, menacing statements of Clapet's leitmotif, slowly combining with the "scheme" leitmotif because of the trash dresser's scheme. Eventually, the "fate" leitmotif will begin playing, and intensity builds as the escapist jumps in the trash can and the trash truck comes up. The scene can play out exactly as in the movie, except this time we'll be seeing it from the outside. Clapet throws his cigarette into the trash can and hears the "ow!", which causes him to carry the trash can back inside and pick up his cleaver. When he swings his cleaver into the trash can, the lights go out and the escapist screams.

The lights come up in the outer rooms, where the other actors will be situated with instruments playing a piece in ironic contrast to the previous scene: probably a nostalgic musette which introduces the leitmotifs of Louison and Julie, foreshadowing a Love Duet. This should probably be brief, as overtures tend to bore modern audiences, so I'm thinking a standard ABA' form or something along those lines, which is not uncommon for musettes anyway. The B section may introduce the other characters and their interactions, especially including Aurore and the Troglodistes.

As for what else I'm going to work on, I think what I want to do next is decide where to end Act I and work on a big finale for it. I'm sure there's a perfect scene to do it in, so I'm just going to review my notes. I'm imagining a big ensemble number, though it also occurs to me that I could just do something fantastic with the first appearance of the Troglodistes to leave the audience excited for when everything goes sour.

Thank you all for reading, again. I'm sorry if this got overly musical and esoteric, but I'd still love your input!

And I have a Leitmotif!

So, after pondering further and further on the point of quoting Dies Irae, I think I've got a great way to start the show in a way parallel to the movie. The first scene of the movie is rather vague and dark, establishing the evil that is Clapet. It features him sharpening a knife while an unnamed character in another room dresses himself in trash and hops in the trash can.

Now, establishing this musically can be an interesting thing. The silence of the movie is beautiful--eerie, off-putting, and full of anxiety. So I don't know if it would be distasteful of me to adulterate the silence. However, my goal is to portray the story musically, and I was thinking I could establish Clapet's power by giving him a piano solo on stage while the character dressing in trash monologues about fate.

This gave me a wonderful idea of having all of the actors play instruments respective of their personalities on-stage. It would be fantastic. I mean, Julie already plays the cello in the movie, and Louison the musical saw. I could really bring out the characters through their instruments--I imagine Aurore playing clarinet, her husband Georges on the accordion, and for some reason I think Plusse should play something sophisticated, like the harp. I really think there's a depth of character to Plusse I could really play with.

But as for the opening scene, what I'm thinking is opening with the Dies Irae quote as a big flourish on the piano as if to say "I am Clapet, and I am in charge of this music!" and then going straight into a combination of two leitmotifs I have in mind--a descending chromatic scale representing fate, and another churning, engine-like sound to represent Clapet's scheming. The two come to a head when the trash can workers throw a cigarette into the trash can (in the movie, it's Clapet who does so, but he won't be able to do so on stage when he's playing the piano) and the unnamed character says "ow!" The trash can workers then bring the trash can into Clapet, who suddenly stops the music, picks up a meat cleaver and walks over to the trash can in silence. The lights suddenly go black, and Unnamed Man screams. This is followed by all the lights coming up on stage, and all of the actors start playing a joyous, quirky Musette, highlighting all of their leitmotifs, and I think I'd like to end it with a good ol' fashioned Rossini crescendo à la Candide.

Technology Fails Me

The compositional process is different for everyone, but it is a basic fact that every person needs a compositional vessel. When I am at school, this vessel is most frequently the keyboard in my bedroom, at which I hand-sketch notes on looseleaf staff paper. If I'm feeling particularly ambitious, I go to a practice room and use a real piano--there's still nothing as wonderful as sitting down at a real piano to play my own music. However, when I am at home, as we do not have any kind of keyboard instrument, I am left with notation software.

Now there's nothing inherently wrong with notation software--it does a wonderful job of notating what you've written, and has been swiftly increasing in playback quality. But I can tell you from personal experience in writing my Canto III that notation software always obscures what real sounds will be, and can be incredibly discouraging to use--that which sounds beautiful suddenly sounds cheesy, and that which is dissonant suddenly sounds ugly.

That being said, I have no real issue with using notation software to copy down the music running through my head, as I have had enough musical training that I can copy it down easily without having to hear it at all, thus negating the need for auditory confirmation.

This is all thrown down the proverbial toilet, however, when your laptop's keyboard starts acting up. If you've seen me on Twitter or Dailybooth, you know I've been having issues with my F key constantly signaling (The only reason that it's not occurring now is that I have the opportunity, now that my brother is at school, to use the illustrious Family Computer to check the internet. The Family Computer, however, has no option I can readily transfer for notation software, so I am again at a loss!)

This constant F signaling doesn't seem like it should be an issue--after all, in notation software, what need is there for text? Well, F is a note on the keyboard, and subsequently, F is a hotkey to insert a note on F in the notation software. So unless I suddenly become extra minimalist and want my entire musical to be everyone singing unison F's for two hours straight, I will have to change course.

The fortunate thing is that I have a hand-written notebook of ideas that I can play with, themes to bring out, scenes to imagine, and concepts to develop without having a note of music written. I can sketch out certain musical motives in the margins--nothing long or complicated--so that the foundation will be ready.

So, essentially, this is one long excuse for having made very little progress in the last few days. Hopefully there won't be many of these! Thanks for reading this if you've just found me. It's looking like it's going to be a very good year, and I hope to share it with all of you!

The Dies Irae Conundrum

So, the new year has begun, and thus has the official project!

Not knowing where to start in writing the music, I've chosen a few themes and characters of the movie to focus on and their possible leitmotifs (tunes associated with characters or ideas.)

And I'm already stuck with somewhat of an issue.

You see, the butcher Clapet will be easy enough to play off as the classic representative of Satan or Death itself. No problem. Have him played by a lustful, fat baritone, and the audience will know precisely what is going on. But when it comes to leitmotifs, there are so many ways to do that wrong.

I feel like, as a representative of the devil, it would be easy enough to have his leitmotif be a quote from the Dies Irae plainchant--it's enough of a tradition in the Classical world to do so. However, this is also the most hackneyed tradition there is! Rachmaninoff loved it, Berlioz has used his fair share of it, and it's even bled over into the Broadway scene--with my arch-nemesis Sweeney Todd, no less. The ever-so-famous Ballad of Sweeney Todd has the quote in the chorus: "Swing your razor wide, Sweeney, hold it to the sky!"

Clearly, this is the entirely wrong course of action if I want to distinguish myself from such a great musical rather than living in its shadow.

But the other day it occurred to me: I don't have to quote the plainchant. I can quote a different setting of it that those who have heard it will know, and those who haven't heard it will still feel the emotional impact.

And with my musical research showing that French cabaret music seems to have a fixation on rising and falling chromatic scales, I know just the setting to quote.

That's right. I'm going with Verdi's Requiem. Nobody's going to think Clapet is some fat clown with a knife. Oh, no. When you've got Verdi's Dies Irae punching the audience in the gut, he will scare the living daylights out of them. And that makes it just perfect.