The Decent Date was written by Miriam Schechter, and at the beginning of the process we had two very different visions for how we wanted this scene to start. Miriam wanted a really lovely piece of violin music to transition the scene beautifully from the opening, and I wanted the most grotesque, horrible piece of music to listen to that’s harsh on the ears but should be accepted in a peaceful way by the actors, as if it’s beautiful to them.
I persuaded Miriam to have a horrible sounding violin transition piece, and I scored it with big jumps, lots of foot stomps and excessive bow pressure to get the harshest sound possible. As our musicians found the instruments they are seen playing (having had no formal training) I scored this violin piece so it would both look visually entertaining and start by using just the open strings, imitating a violinist tuning.
Have a look at the score for the first part here: The Decent Date 1A
Violinist: Olivia Shotton
We agreed the violin should underscore the entire scene, so I wrote a ‘nicer’ melody that wasn’t too distracting, and set the scene of a restaurant. I included an unpredictable modulation in the middle so it didn’t sound repetitive or irritating. Whilst Olivia Shotton was playing the violin to accompany the restaurant, Will Shaw (drummer) and I were customers dining. Our meals included a variety of different vegetables, including peeled onions, banana skins and celery. Yum.
Check out the score for the second part here: The Decent Date 1B
Featured Image by Cordelia O’Driscoll
