Music for the performance

I have recently been researching into the music I want to use in the performance now we have found our concept. Through the music and the voice overs, the audience should be immersed within the experience of the performance; ‘the shape of sound is round and I am in the middle’ (Brown, 2010, 141). I have specifically chosen tracks that accomplish just that, encompassing the audience to accompany the scene. Below, I have linked my current Spotify playlist that either has tracks being used in the actual performance or songs that I have been inspired by.  In the playlist, there are a range of different genres of music from drum and bass for the faster, upbeat tempo physical theatre sequences, classical, instrumental, minimalist beats, and acoustic music. Each track has been chosen for a specific reason because ‘music is an exceptionally emotionally rich and engaging sensory stimulus’ (Agustus et al, 2015, 232). Therefore, I have chosen quite a number of instrumental piano songs as the piano is such a emotional, thought provoking and gentle yet dramatic instrument. One of the pieces I am aim to use in the final ending song is Call to the Dance by Michael Jones. With the melody in a major key, the piece uses only the higher end of the octave notes which evokes memories happy, playful times, due to its fun, almost magical feel to it, truly capturing the name of the piece.

Throughout our piece, we have chosen to incorporate a lot of physical theatre sequences to portray the story of the relationship. During one of the scenes, we have taken inspiration from Frantic Assembly’s ‘Chair Duets’; ‘a very physical scene of touches, embraces, flirtations and rejections’ (Graham and Hoggett, 2009, 141). After this scene progressed and changed in rehearsals, I tried out what it would be like to have the movement sequence in silence the contrast the scene that preceded it; a heavily fast up-beat drum and bass. It was indeed very effective, subtle and understated which is what this scene showed. An important point that Kendrick and Roesner raise in Theatre Noise is ‘how loudly the absence of sound can ‘speak’ (Kendrick and Roesner, 2011, xix). It forces the audience to focus on what is happening on stage through the stillness and sometimes this can be more effective than having music for the sake of it.

-Naomi.

 

Works Cited

Agustus, J. L Mahoney, C. J Downey, L. E Omar, R. Cohen, M. Warren, J. D White, M. J Mancini, L. Scott, S. K (2015) Functional MRI of music emotion in frontotemporal dementia. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences. 1337 (1) 232-240.

Brown, R. (2010) Sound: A reader in theatre practice. Basingstoke: Palgrave MacMillan.

Graham, S. and Hoggett, S. (2009) The Frantic Assembly book of devising theatre. London: Routledge.

Kendrick, L. and Roesner, D. (2011) Theatre Noise: The Sound of Performance. Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars publishing.

 

 

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