Cue of the Week: The Tension Mounts

Next in the Penguin Who Wouldn't Swim series is this action cue with a storybook feel. One reason I enjoy writing in this style is that it tends to be very thematic, and offers opportunities to compose music that's well, musical,rather than just dramatic accompaniment.

One technique I employed here (or, "trick", depending on how fancy you want to be) is what's sometimes referred to as linkage. This means taking the tail end of one section and making it the basis for the next, almost as if the composer were free associating. I like the effect a great deal. (Sometimes because I am free associating. :)

The Tension Mounts

Cue of the Week: The Whale

Once in a while, you just need to play killer whale music.

The Killer Whale

Cue of the Week: Broken - Alternative End Titles

Why record one end title cue when you can record two? In this case two competing musical ideas tugged equally at my heartstrings, so we decided to record them both and see which worked better against picture.

Last week's cue, the "official" end title music, has a a more extemporaneous and heart-on-the-sleeve quality than this week's alternative, which is a bit more structured melodically. Both versions are similar in tone and texture, and differ in details of flavoring. (And in both cases we cheated with the cello overdubs.)

Broken - Alternative End Titles