Making of…

In previous posts and guest entries, we have already reflected on the value of “making of” or “how to” contributions to the field of theatre music: insights into the working processes and thoughts behind creating and performing compositions for theatre. Sometimes, these take the form of handbooks (e.g. Bruce 2016), academic studies (e.g. Taylor 2018; Roesner 2019) or public talks (e.g. with Benjamin Kwasi Burrell or Paul Clark).

In addition, some theatre musicians / composers are making the effort to produce making ofs and/or tutorials to demonstrate what it is they do, how they work and reflect about their process and their aesthetics and to lift the curtain on some of their “tricks of the trade”: technologies they use, tools they have found useful etc.

A great example (with many thanks to Kornelius Paede for recommending this to me!), are two videos by Berlin-based composer Hainbach, in which he documents and demonstrates his process for creating music tracks for the theatre. They are a fascinating watch for composers, theatre directors and academics alike, I would suggest.

Hainbach: Composing Music for Theatre: Acoustic Instruments, Synthesizers and Tape (2018)

Hainbach: Composing On The Modular Synthesizer: Theatre Soundtrack

In the spirit of making this blog an accessible and useful hub for thoughts and information on theatre music, please feel encouraged to suggest further videos / talks / articles / making ofs in the comments, which shed light on this arts and its crafts, which are too often not appreciated enough or understood sufficiently.