Behind-the-Scenes Super Secrets #2

Okay, so I know it's been months since I promised you installment #2 of the Behind-the-Scenes Super Secrets series.  And I'm super sorry. 

Here is Behind-the-Scenes Super Secrets #2: Music!

This sad puppy has been waiting for months for this blog.

When we left off back in January, we were talking about the script -- how the words on your page get from someone's brain onto the page and into actors' hands. We discussed playwrights, lines, and stage directions. We talked about how there are usually lots of versions of the script -- called drafts -- written before the playwright shares his or her work with other artists.

One important part of those drafts is developing the music and the lyrics, and that's what I'll focus on today. I write the lyrics (the words in songs) and the melody (the main tune, the series of notes that go up and down -- and that get stuck in your head) for songs in Compass Creative Dramatics scripts. As I work on lyrics and melodies, there are a couple of things I try to keep in mind.

1) Compass students have to learn fast. Right? Once the show is cast on Monday, we might go through a scene or two together that afternoon. But after that, each group in the cast gets to meet with one of our educators for just an hour or two on Tuesday to learn the entire show - that means all of your scenes, songs, and dances.

Therefore,

2) Catchy is a good thing. After we teach you your scenes, songs, and dances, we let you know that it is imperative (that means very, very important) that you go home and review them on your own or with your families, so that you are ready for rehearsal the next day. If you walk out of Alice in Wonderland rehearsal with, say, "It's a Fine Day for a Picnic" stuck in your head (and you will!), it makes it that much easier for you to remember your melody and lyrics so that you can rehearse at home.

Once I've written (most) of the music, we'll bring on an arranger -- someone with the musical skills to take the melody I've created for your voices, and add an instrument (or two, or three, or twelve) to back it up. With Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, we opted to go for one instrument -- piano.

For Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, we asked musician and composer Josh Holte to create the piano arrangement for us. Once we had Josh on board, I handed the music over to him. With most of our collaborators, we use a program called Dropbox (shoutout to Dropbox! woo!) to share digital files. We'll also use email, or meet with artists in person or via Skype (shoutout to Skype! woo!).

Since Josh lives in Wisconsin, we relied a lot on email to send files back and forth, make notes, and communicate changes. I sent him the original melodies, as well as thought about feelings I wanted people to have listening to the accompaniment, and anything other notes about the song.

Here is an excerpt (a small piece of a larger hole) from the original notes I sent Josh along with mp3s of the melodies.

See?

Josh took those notes and created some pretty great first drafts. When he emailed me his first drafts, I was able to provide him more detailed notes -- what worked well, what we wanted to keep, what sorts of tweaks needed to be made. We worked together to create several drafts of his compositions, and between his writing and my notes we ended up with lots of fun tunes that we got to try out with students at the Script Development Workshop in Waukegan in March -- and which we'll get to share with all of our summer campers in 2015!

I. Can't. Wait.

But for now, IN TWO DAYS we begin Summer Camp 2014 -- The Wizard of Oz. We are going to have four spectacular weeks of Munchkins, Flying Monkees, Winkies, and of course, Dorothy, Toto, and all of their friends. 

Come check us out!
Bedford, IN (July 7-11)
Sheboygan, WI (July 14-18)
Waukegan, IL (July 21-25)
Chicago, IL (August 4-8)

There is still time to join us in all four cities - so check out the link above to learn how to register for the fun.

I can't wait to see you!

- Cathlyn

P. S. This is Josh, with his family. Josh is the one in the bunny suit. Looks good, right? 
j/k j/k. He's the dude on the left.