in the forest
for flute and fixed media
Background:
While living in New York City working towards my master’s degree, I met a young playwright, Yaakov Bressler, with an idea for a show. We worked together with theatre director, Chris Erlendson, to create a quirky Off-off Broadway production, Magic the Play, that ran in Theatre Row to sold-out audiences in February 2018. Magic the Play tells the story of a fictional kingdom where citizens rely on potions and flying brooms, but chaos ensues when magicians begin losing their powers. Unable to solve the problem, crooked government officials blame the crisis on two lowly street performers. Facing arrest, the street performers must decide whether to flee as fugitives or expose the government’s lies.
In the Forest is a flute and electronics adaptation of the show’s themes, including some of Magic the Play’s main themes, leitmotifs, and narrated script excerpts. “In the Forest” was the original title I gave to the show’s prelude, scored for violin and cello duet, which played as the stage lights came up and cast members set the scene. I imagined the story set deep in a magical forest in a quasi-Renaissance era, as heard in the folk-like main theme and its variations throughout the piece, starting at Rehearsal A. Isadora, the show’s protagonist and one of the two lowly street performers, eventually discovers the source of the kingdom’s magical problem. When she discovers a natural source of dwindling magic, the ethereal leitmotif introduced in this piece in m. 24, floats over the audience. Isadora herself has a simple leitmotif representing good will and innocence, heard first at Rehearsal B.
There are three narrations of script excerpts throughout In the Forest. These excerpts tell the abridged tale from the perspective of a government-employed scientist, Professor Schwarz, who is pressured to fabricate scientific data falsely proving that the magical problem will simply go away on its own in order to calm the masses and re-elect the crooked Prime Minister. I wanted to immerse the audience in this fictional world, telling the story in words as well as melody. By the climax of the piece, around m. 205, the flute wails high in its third and sometimes fourth octaves, supported by driving orchestra and electric guitar.
Equipment:
To perform In the Forest, this is the basic equipment you will need:
· A computer to play the fixed media file from.
· A set of speakers connected to the computer directed towards the audience and, if necessary, a monitor speaker directed back at the performer. Many of the works for flute and fixed media on this album do not require a click track if the performer is able to hear the fixed media file well enough.
To control the balance between the fixed media and live flute in addition to adding live reverb, the live flute may be amplified. I find that micing the live flute helps it blend better with fixed media sounds. To accomplish this, I would recommend the following setup:
· A computer to play the fixed media file from. Optionally, one could use a Digital Audio Workstation (DAW) to add live reverb to the flute microphone input.
· Dynamic microphone (this choice will be explained in the following section) and microphone stand.
· XLR cable with male and female ends.
· An audio interface or mixer connecting the computer, microphone input, and speaker output. One of the least expensive options for a basic audio interface with one XLR analog input and one Dual RCA stereo analog output is the Behringer U-Phoria UM2 USB Audio Interface. Audio interfaces range in quality and varying quantities of available inputs and outputs; choose one that fits your goal functionality. You could also use the Mackie Mix12FX 12-channel Compact Mixer with Effects, which comes with even more live performance versatility and the ability to easily add live effects/reverb right on the mixer.
· A set of speakers connected to the computer directed towards the audience and, if necessary, a monitor speaker directed back at the performer.