DrewSwinburne

I was asked to make some music and sound effects for the play “The Story of Invention”, by Baltimore theatre troupe The Un Saddest Factory. I really like scoring for video, but there’s something really fun about the flexibility of working with live actors. Timing is obviously important in both mediums, but when you’re scoring for visuals that have already been shot, or if you’re editing visuals to fit to prerecorded music, you can easily hit a wall – the length of a scene can constrain musical phrases to an unnatural rhythm, or maybe the editor needs a little extra footage to make the scene work with the music she has. There’s always creative solutions to these problems – but when you’re doing it live every time, these problems don’t even exist.

I’d done some work in the past with The Missoula Oblongata, notably arrangement of the score by Bob O’Brien for “The Most Mysterious Day of the Year”. I lived on the other side of the country at the time, and our collaboration was limited to email. As they workshopped the play, the music (pre-recorded) needed frequent revisions before timing and mood were where they needed to be. While the experience was fun, it left me wishing I could just be there rehearsing with them, and arranging on the spot. I think there’s a notion that us computer music dorks aren’t as flexible as live musicians (which is kinda fair), but it really doesn’t have to take much time at all to make big changes to elaborate arrangements – cut out parts, change the timing, add instruments or sound effects – anything really. I’m hoping to do this more in the future, I imagine that directors could really get down with working with a composer with the same kind of flexibility they expect from their actors.

ANYWAY, tonight is the last night to see The Story of Invention, so if you’re in Baltimore, I hope you can make it to The Bell Foundry to see it. Here’s the info: https://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=192955354075345

And here’s what it’s about!:

“The Story of Invention follows an insomniac inventor as she attempts to build a machine that allows humans to experience more than one feeling simultaneously. Pressured by investors who want another profitable product, and by a color-blind botanist who studies dream plants and needs an invention of his own, she navigates what it means to make something new in a crowded world. Her only assistant may be imaginary and is definitely a puppet. The play was workshopped at Whartscape 2010 as well as the 2010 Delaware Fringe Festival.”