String you up in violins
Hi everyone. I finished the string and horn arrangements for Parks & Recreation's forthcoming album. It took a month or so of work, but I finally finished. I thought you might like to hear the demo I made for the rest of the boys to hear. The song you're going to hear is called Don't Get Caught Up In Your Dreams. Once again, it's difficult to talk about the mechanics of writing and arranging here, but I can tell you a bit about my process, if you're curious.
Well, in my mind, the orchestral music in a song should function like orchestral music functions in film, that is, to underscore the emotional content of a scene, to move the story along, or to highlight the subtext of the song. That's what I tried to do here. During the overture I used some of the main melodies from the song to create a kind of fantasy world introduction. In the first verse I applied light strings playing long, light melodies. I left the strings off the choruses entirely, because the lyrics here are very down to earth and intimate. In the bridge parts, I used a fuller, more sweeping string texture, because I imagine these parts of the song to be about the main characters' fantasies. As the verses move along, the orchestral music becomes thicker, but more tender as the singer talks about his suburb crumbling.
Anyway, here is the demo version. Judge for yourself. More later!
Well, in my mind, the orchestral music in a song should function like orchestral music functions in film, that is, to underscore the emotional content of a scene, to move the story along, or to highlight the subtext of the song. That's what I tried to do here. During the overture I used some of the main melodies from the song to create a kind of fantasy world introduction. In the first verse I applied light strings playing long, light melodies. I left the strings off the choruses entirely, because the lyrics here are very down to earth and intimate. In the bridge parts, I used a fuller, more sweeping string texture, because I imagine these parts of the song to be about the main characters' fantasies. As the verses move along, the orchestral music becomes thicker, but more tender as the singer talks about his suburb crumbling.
Anyway, here is the demo version. Judge for yourself. More later!