Program Notes: Scoring Dr. Jeykll and Mr. Hyde
We’re thrilled to welcome back Not So Silent Cinema for a string of live performances of their new, original score to Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Here, Philadelphia-based composer and band leader for NSSC, Brendan Cooney shares insights into his process of crafting new music for this silent era classic.
When I begin writing a new score to a classic silent film I begin like this: I watch the film in silence and see what my imagination suggests. Then I sit my computer on the lid of my 1911 Steinway piano, (that’s for viewing the film) pull out a book of manuscript paper and a freshly sharpened pencil, and start writing.
I like to think about this old piano, built in the heyday of the silent-film era, and of how its first owner, in all likelihood, went to see all of the films I am now composing scores to. Maybe she came home after seeing The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920), or Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1920), and sat down to touch these very keys before turning in for the night.
I have been writing new scores for old films for a long time now. People sometimes assume that means I am a real expert on silent film—I am not. But I know a lot about the films I have scored. The best way to really get to know a film is to write music to it.
At the piano, pencil in hand, I watch each scene, each movement, countless times. How many seconds does it take for John Barrymore, as Dr. Jekyll, to transform into Mr. Hyde? 31 seconds. 59 minutes into the film, the camera cuts to a kitchen scene for just a few seconds before cutting back to a slasher/stabbing sequence. How many beats of music does this kitchen cut require? 2 bars at 138 beats per minute.
After I have finished a score, I sit down to practice it before the band comes over to rehearse. That’s when I really get to know the film. I have to remember the tempo for each cue, know what to look for in the film to cue each new section, and remember the pacing of the action to know if we are still in the right place.
This is where scoring for live film score performances differs dramatically from recorded film scores. My scores are full of tricks, devices I have created over the years to allow us to keep up with the film while making adjustments if we fall behind or ahead of the film. For instance, the cue “Poole, the Family Servant 2:47” is preceded by a two-bar vamp* with a bass solo and some piano fills. The bassist improvises while I throw in some color on the piano. The improvisation creates a longer arc to the figure so that it doesn’t feel like just a repetitive vamp. We watch the characters and respond to what they are doing. When we see the title “Poole, the Family Servant,” I cue the band to start the next section.
Vamp: A short introductory musical passage often repeated several times, or as necessary before moving to a new section.
The vamp can be 10 seconds, or 30 seconds. In this way we can always catch up to the film and be ready for a cue. My scores are packed with little compositional fail-safes like this.
There are some very deliberate musical choices that I made in this score that set it apart from some of my other scores. Because the dramatic and moral themes of the film involve an extreme polarity between good and evil, a lot of the harmonic material in the film involves the alternation of harmonic poles. When Dr. Jekyll transforms into Mr. Hyde, the ensemble plays a rising figure that alternates between D and A♭. This interval, known as the tritone (or “the devil’s interval”), is the farthest two notes can be from each other in our harmonic system. The score contains a lot of this toggling between opposing harmonic poles.
Hopefully all of these devices, tricks, and harmonic schemata go unnoticed. The goal in any score is for the music and the film to be a dramatic whole. A good score should highlight the psychological drama of the film, like a subconscious commentary.
Brendan Cooney
Band Leader & Composer, Not So Silent Cinema
You can join us for live performances from Not So Silent Cinema as they accompany screenings of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde on the following dates:
at the County Theater—Thursday, October 3rd at 7:30pm
at the Princeton Garden Theatre—Thursday, October 17th at 7:30pm
at the Ambler Theater—Thursday, October 24th at 7:30pm
