Silent Hill: The Musical!

[Li Tun-ye]

Okay, not quite to that extreme. But I can now boast that I've composed a 4 movement piece inspired by Silent Hill 2. It spans about 9:48 and has just blown the minds of an entire audience at the Eastman School of Music. Okay ... maybe not all of their minds, but I did get thunderous applause. What's more, I've got the performance recorded onto a CD of which I (and by "I" I really mean "Chase's Dad") will touch up into a more pristine format.

Okay, so maybe I'm tooting my own horn. But I've been going insane the past couple of weeks, seeing Pyramid Heads waltzing around a freshly raped monster, stealing metal pipes that happen to be lying around the construction sites. I feel as though I've come out of a great ordeal alive and I wish to share it with you all. Oh, and now that leaves what's going to be written next semester.

Here's where you guys come in. Jokingly, I suggested to my professor that I should write a musical parody of a terrible movie (or a terrible musical parody about any movie). She took it seriously and sees it as a good style that I should try my hand at. That being said, I need suggestions. And since you guys have gone down this road as well, you might have some ideas for me.

So far, I've been thinking about writing a musical on The Matrix trilogy. But the whole thing has the potential to be more ridiculous, MUCH more ridiculous.

So here's the criteria:
1) Any movie that may be terrible or overrated or a cult classic, etc.
2) People must have seen or at least know the movie. (I want people saying "Wait, they made it into a musical?!")
3) Mixed cast (male and female) but the lead role must most likely be a man, as I've managed to ring a few of my tenor friends into helping out.

At some point, we will watch them to develop a libretto (not sure if it's worthy of the term "libretto") as well as putting together some kind of rough outline. And if this does wind up as the Matrix musical, we must come up with as many ways of corrupting it as possible. As this class is for composing, I sadly can't "borrow" any existing numbers ... maybe with a bit of tweaking I could, but I'm not too sure how that would go over.

My friends, you have your task. Now go forth, my band of musical miscreants.

Until then, I remain your faithful friend and lunatic.

[Li Tun-ye]

Many apologies for my lax attendance. Things are shaky and hectic up here, but for the most part this semester is turning out well. Except for the looming idea-pitch that my composition professor is patiently awaiting and my lazy uninspired ass can't articulate my thoughts quite enough. What I need is a bit of advice and input, perhaps even some straight up ideas. That's not to say that the Matrix musical is derailed, rather it's just on the back burner (apparently a musical may be a bit too long for the semester project). What I have so far is this:

I don't remember how many of you saw the anime, but I got inspired by Metropolis (both the anime and the original silent film) and I may be composing another piece in the vain of my "suites" to narrate the story of Metropolis. If you've seen the films, perhaps you can suggest significant scenes that I could illustrate in the suite (much the same way I adapted four significant scenes from Silent Hill). I'm also interested in any suggestions for getting a "mechanical" sound: ratchets, gears, steam engines, etc. I probably won't be able to build any actual engines or mechanisms, so perhaps you gents would know ways to mimic the sounds much the same way a special FX team does sound effects.

Post whatever assistance you can. It means a lot to me that me best mates* are around to offer their insight for my musical vision.

Oh and if you haven't seen the anime, I highly recommend it. Made me weep like a little girl ...

Till then, I wish you all the best. See you one day soon.

_{*a slight side effect of my History and Musical Analysis of The Beatles class}

[Wallace MacBix]

hmmmm, I've seen both the anime and the silent film, unfortunally its hard for me to remember either (the film was 2 1/2 years ago and the anime 2 years ago, plus i fell asleep during it) but if i get the time in the next week or so I'll see if i can find the anime and rewatch it to help you with those ideas.

The only scene i can remember from the silent film is when the she-bot comes to life and even then its a bit hazy....hmm if i think about i can remember a little more, if you have the time give me like a 5-10 sentence break-down of the movie and i'm sure it'll come back, that or i'll just look up a summary later this week.

Besides the creation of the machine (which can be the more mechanical of the movments) , i'd say also to include the riot scene (more hectic and full of life, maybe on the brassy side, to try to bind it together withe the machine aspect) and finally the flood/little children scene that follows (slower, more clarinets, more flowy, hell you can use a water gong to go from the heticness of the riot/flood into the sadness that insues).

i really hope i'm remembering the correct movie, as for the anime i'll get back to you


as for sound effects you can use some pretty low tech stuff if its mic'ed correctly. for the ratchet/gear sounds use a socket wrench. when you turn it one way it makes a mechinal clicking sound. as for steam engins, now this is a bit kidish but it'll probally also be cheap, when i was a kid i had this little wodden whislte type thing that make a train sound, i don't have it anymore but i'm sure some e-bay searching will give you something similar to a train whislte.

as for just using metal on metal inteactions, i'd stay away from the cheaper alluminum because it usually has a lighter sound as apposed to steal.

A nice way to get a steal on steal noise is to bolt a piece of steal to a block of wood (you'll need some power tools for this most likely) and get another orb or block of steal, a hammer might be able to work in a pinch

i need to get ready for class, but i'll keep this in mind and see if i can come up with anything else.

[Gravius]

Bix has some very good ideas here for the sounds.

I think a ratchet would make an excellent percussive addition for a mechanical feel. If it's not loud enough, I recommend a kilbasa (sp?) for a similar effect. A steam whistle (the whistle Biczo is talking about) would make sense during this as well. Also, vibraphones plugged in could help create a cool and haunting wavering sound. Play around with various different noises and mallet types (like metal), and I'm sure you'll create some interesting effects of your own.

For musical effect, you can have pyramid stacking of notes. I say expand your horizons and include a quartet or small ensemble with this besides piano and percussion. A woodwind quintet might give you even more interesting things to play with: pitched air being blown through instruments during a quiet moment would be awesome. Bowing close to a bridge of string instruments provides a cool hissing sound, and snap pizzicato might be a fun effect to play with. Then there are harmonics and the like, as well as other bowing techniques to fit various styles you're looking for. Just remember, though: no col legno at fortissimo. String players will have your head.

On a side note, you should look into bowing (as in violin bow) various percussion instruments for rather interesting effects. (For example, crotales. Trust me, it's an awesome sound.) Just use your imagination, and I hope my suggestions were helpful at all.

[Li Tun-ye]

Thanks for the ideas guys. SO far I'm digging through random tools the engineers are lending me and trying to refit a bicycle pump to make the pneumatic steam release valve sound. Here goes nothing. And keep those ideas coming!

I just had my first lesson with my instructor and she was blown away by my ideas, she even gave me a few tips and suggestions as well as a few artists to lesson to who have composed "mechanical" sounding pieces.

Now here's a bit more I need to ask of you guys, specifically Dennis:

What tricks on a Clarinet can you suggest? I mean, I want to know just how loud on average the sound of blowing through a clarinet without making notes can be, and odd queries like that. I've been putting the piano through its paces and I feel that it's high time I drag my clarinet player into the madness. Anything you think could be helpful in creating machine sounds or effect sounds or any sound really.

Bix, if you could find that anime and let me know your opinions of the scenes and what not, I'd like your connoisseur input. I've got some basic images in my head, but I wouldn't mind a second opinion pointing out scenes and themes that I might overlook.

Thank for your help guys, you're all helping me turn this thing into a reality.

[Gravius]

Well, I can get to about the equivalent of piano (dynamic) without making vibration. I can also create a noise by inhaling, which is a bit raspier. I can practice flutter tonguing after my recital, so that's an alternative. Also, clicking noises on the instrument can be produced, but not that loud.

Blowing air through various brass and woodwind instruments could make an interesting effect. Flute would be a very airy noise. Metal mallets on the side of a timpani or bowing a cymbal might be a cool way of doing things.

[Wallace MacBix]

well holy hell looks like i've done it again, I found both the anime and the old silent verion. I won't have time to watch either of them until Friday/Sat. So hopfully I'll get back to you one of those nights. I'll watch the anime first just because I already gave some ideas fromt he other film.

also as for blowing sound through instruments, a trumpet might be another alternative. It should be louder (on average) then a Clarinet. I'm not sure if it'll make a different sound, but it might because of the longer tubing (sorry I just can't remember what a Clarinet sounds like with only air) also for another clicking sound that just came to me.

Take any brass instrument with valves, and when you press them down hard enough you'll get a sound, as Dennis mentioned it is soft. But, for a trumpet for instance, if you slightly unscrew the valve caps maybe only a 1/2 turn or so. It'll increse the sound by a lot and make a nice metalic clicking sound. If you unscrew it all the way and then try (and press hard enough that the valve will spring up a bit) you'll get another different sound.

On that note, why not use a spring of some sort. Now finding one you can use might be difficutly especally if you want a specific tone or note, but if you just want that kind of clinky noise (not a sproing) get an old strechy excerise device. I don't remember what they are called, but you hold a handle (which are connected by long, thin springs) in each hand and you pull. if you can find one of those you can take the springs off and use them by themselves, or you can leave them attached and use the noise they make when you either let a handle go or just bring it back really quickly. not too sure if that's the kind of sound you're looking for, but its a possibility.

I'll get back to you on the movies soon.

[Taemos]

A typewriter might be neat to try. I forget which one but I do remember hearing it used to great effect in a recent film score. It was the main percussive drive of the music. While you may not want it to be featured that prominantly I do think it can be a very effective filler for the mechanical sounds.
Horn players can hand-stop their horns to create very harsh brassy sounds. The trouble with this is that it will be fairly quiet unless they play loudly or use a stop mute.
I'll scan through some of my film score collection for some more ideas - those are some of the best things you can turn to if you want to find unique orchestrations and effects.

[Wallace MacBix]

don't worry dan, I haven't forgotten you, it's just hard to find the 2 hours and the willpower i need to sit through that film. (meaning school's a bitch and I'm trying to find some time)