“You are old, Father William,” the young man said,
Alice In Wonderland
“And your hair has become very white;
And yet you incessantly stand on your head—
Do you think, at your age, it is right?”
World premiere performance.
“Music begins where the possibilities of language end.” Jean Sibelius At last, there is to be a world premiere of the work to the film, this month as part of the concert series at Jazz at the Blue Lamp, Aberdeen, Scotland. It’s been harder than I thought it might to find appropriate venues willing to … Continue reading World premiere performance.
Improvisation on “Father William” theme
Here is an improvisation on one of the themes I’ve written for #aliceinwonderlandjazzscore. This is for the short section with the verses about Father William’s antics – standing on his head and balancing eels on his nose. As this was a piano improvisation, the film clips have been added afterwards – I was not playing … Continue reading Improvisation on “Father William” theme
Thoughts
Here were some initial notes I made before starting composing the music.
Themes – Part 2
Continuing a look at themes, this time showing how I developed a simple whole-tone motif into several different melodies. This sequence of 8 notes, when played, at first, sounds just like a descending C major scale. But it misses out the first C, so the first 4 notes form a sequence of whole tones. On … Continue reading Themes – Part 2
Themes – Part 1
Something that composers have done for centuries, particularly when writing music for drama – film, theatre, opera or whatever, is to make use of themes that recur in different ways. Perhaps the most studied example is the ‘leitmotiv’ in Wagner’s epic operas, but this practice is everywhere in TV and film music. The repetition and … Continue reading Themes – Part 1
Why am I doing this?
I’ve previously written music for film, as a collaboration with drummer and percussionist Stu Brown, in our duo Herschel 36. This was a commission from Hippodrome Festival of Silent Cinema to write music for the 1929 German silent documentary “Wunder Der Schöpfung”. This was a massively challenging and enjoyable project, and the music that … Continue reading Why am I doing this?
The Band
I’m writing the Alice music for a group made of 5 musicians including myself. I have worked with all of them before, but this will be the first time they will have played together. Between them there is a wealth of different ideas, stylistic knowledge, and experience of collaborative practise. Their feedback and suggestions will … Continue reading The Band
Introduction
Hello, my name is Paul Harrison, and I’m creating a new score for the 1915 silent film “Alice In Wonderland”. I’m a jazz musician based in Scotland. Over the coming weeks I’ll be posting here about the creation and development of this project. There’ll be clips from rehearsals, excerpts from the musical score, and of … Continue reading Introduction
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Alice In Wonderland 