The video above is Three Snake Leaves Song from The Secret in the Wings by Marry Zimmerman. Directed by Amy Lynn Budd. Music by Jing, Sound Design by José Manuel Conejo. Vocal performed by Molly Bader, Kenneth England, Carly Christensen, Matt Duncan, Wyndham Maxwell, Brianna Lewings and Jing. Scenic Design by Kyle Ransbottom. Costume Design by Brian Butler. Lighting Design by Allison Newhard. Video by Alyssa Fritz.
The song for the story The Three Blind Queens. Music by Jing, Lyrics by Marry Zimmerman, Vocal by Brianna Lewings.
The Secret in the Wings
Mary Zimmerman
Directed by Amy Lynn Budd
Music by Jing
November, 2016
Nancy T. Hansen Theatre, Purdue University
| Highlights |
| The Process |
​
The music sweeps the audience into a playful, weird, surreal world.
Main colors of the composition will be the music box, the piano, and a multi-layered synth pad. The piano is chosen as a symbol for reality. And the music box is chosen for its childish, nostalgic and dream like quality. The pad will add to the mysterious atmosphere of the play. A musical theme will be developed for each of the 7 tales, and reiterated in different flavors throughout the play.
The concept of time is crucial to this play. The play unfolds in a fan like structure. Fairy tales are broken into two parts, and the first halves are told first and then the second haves are told in the reverse order. The music will aim to bring subconscious connections between the
separated halves of the fairy tales to the audience's minds and by
doing this we manipulate time. The diagram to the right depicts
this unique structure of the play with the red curves representing
the fairy tales The Three Blind Queens, The Princess Who Wouldn't
Laugh, The Three Snake Leaves, Allerleira, and Seven Swans. The
blue dots represent the story Stolen Pennies,and the green line
represent the framing story Left in the Forest.
Before the play starts, the audience will hear a realistic solo piano playing a sweet and peaceful, lullaby like version of the musical theme. It will segue into the same piece performed by a solo music box as the play opens and the audience is brought into the dream of a little named Tony (which is not revealed to the audience until the very end of the play).
In the first half of the play where the first halves of the fairy tales are told, the music will gradually pick up momentum by incorporating more layers of sound. The musical theme will be altered to suit the level of tension of each scene.
At the center of the play, the music will reach its climax as the play goes in to telling the second halves of the fairy tales.
In the second half of the play, the music will essentially do the reverse of the first half of the play. The instrumentation and mood of the pieces will match their counterparts from the first half of the play. And hopefully, the audience's perception of time can be manipulated subconsciously.
The play ends as the boy Tony wakes up and realizes it has all been a dream. The audience also learns this fact right at this moment, as the music segues from a solo music box at this point to a realistic solo piano which matches the music before the play starts. And we've come full circle.
2. Conceptual Statement
4. Paperwork
Click to download:
Music Cue Sheet
6. Production Photos
Photos by John Underwood.
3. Rehearsals
A lot of the music was inspired by the rehearsals in the acting studio. The video below demonstrate how I composed the cue Side to Side based on a rehearsal footage.