Hey,
I'm currently involved in this project with a bunch of people who are building some kind of modernized version of a traditional traveling circusgroup, with the intention to go from town to town this summer like a real circus, performing a show which tells a story with music, dance, acrobacy and i don't know what.
Point is mixing tradition with 'something different' in some kind of gesamtkunstwerk...
So: i'm one of the people writing the music for it, it should involve live musicians, and if possible some interaction with computergenerated music/sounds/noise.
The atmosphere they want is klezmer-oriented, circuslike also (as you might imagine from a circus), with a lot of brass; the composers have a lot of freedom, as long as we stick to telling the story with our music really...
Ok, seems like a nice thingie to me. But... I'm not exactly what you'd call experienced in circustunes and the likes.
Anyone have any tips, general advice, scores of well-known themes that could fit in this kind of ambiance or other useful material to share?
Any help appreciated, thanks in advance,
p
Circus music and scores
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- Banned
- 12367 posts since 30 Apr, 2002 from i might peeramid
a circus is a public event. they prolly wouldn't want you to do something that only sounds like you're trying to counjure the image of last century, so i'd say focus more on adherence to the performance you're composing for more and producing something novel, with all the "public semantics" rather than a hackneyed "i can sort of imitate the music i heard associated with other circii" thingy :p
that said, they need a geek?
that said, they need a geek?
you come and go, you come and go. amitabha neither a follower nor a leader be tagore "where roads are made i lose my way" where there is certainty, consideration is absent.
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- KVRAF
- 1981 posts since 26 Oct, 2003 from Toronto
A real interesting soundtrack to take a listen to for inspiration would be to Errol Morris' film 'Fast, Cheap, And Out Of Control'. Fascintating movie centered on a Robiticist making mechanical insects, a Anthropologist discovering and displaying mole rats, a 'taupiere'(?) gardener (the dude who makes shapes out of hedges, you know.), and a lion tamer. The soundtrack is amazing how the music morphs into a 'circus theme' for some segments, and then becomes furistic and mysterious watching these robotic insects run around, and then airy and fragile for this gardener and so on. A brilliant soundtrack, and I forget who the composer was? 
(Bits sound like Phillip Glass at times - but it's not him, I know THAT much. 
)
Awesome movie as well!
(Bits sound like Phillip Glass at times - but it's not him, I know THAT much. )Awesome movie as well!
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- KVRAF
- 7316 posts since 7 Mar, 2003
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- KVRAF
- 6937 posts since 4 Jun, 2004 from Utrecht, Holland
Circuses on different continents have very different "typical" music styles. If I watch an American film that features a circus and hear the very small organ do a waltz, I have to laugh. Thats not even close to circus music here in Europe.
Cirque Du Soleil has proven that there is no such thing as typical circus music. Awesome music that goes really well with the acts.
Cirque Du Soleil has proven that there is no such thing as typical circus music. Awesome music that goes really well with the acts.
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- KVRian
- 1496 posts since 10 Nov, 2002 from Earth
I think the most popular circus tune is "The Gladiators' Entrance". Try to find a MIDI file of it and rework it some way
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- KVRian
- 1496 posts since 10 Nov, 2002 from Earth
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- KVRist
- Topic Starter
- 339 posts since 16 Aug, 2004
@cookie: well you're partly right i think, in saying that circus music is not a very precisely defined concept, but on the other hand, there are kinds of music, themes and such, that make you think of circus right away.
I'm in belgium btw, so i think we have similar thoughts on what 'cliché' circus is- been thinkin about the differences with circus in america too, but any input is welcome... (and i have absolutely no idea what the differences could be, i'm interested to find out)...
@munchkin: already used it, but i'm kinda at the end of what i know on circusthemes. But in fact that's kinda what i wanted to do: take well known themes and mess with them- something might come out...
@Steven West: thanks for the tip, looks interesting, i'll see if i can find that film...
@xoxos: yep, you have a valid point. It's not that i want to use traditional themes for the full five hours of the performance, just from time to time, or just once. But there's also this introduction in the beginning, which should set the atmosphere, and that's what i need this for...
i'm actually looking for some good reading on harmonic structure of this kind of music- chord progressions, keys they use, theme scores and all that. Anyone know an online scorebook/articles about this?
I'm in belgium btw, so i think we have similar thoughts on what 'cliché' circus is- been thinkin about the differences with circus in america too, but any input is welcome... (and i have absolutely no idea what the differences could be, i'm interested to find out)...
@munchkin: already used it, but i'm kinda at the end of what i know on circusthemes. But in fact that's kinda what i wanted to do: take well known themes and mess with them- something might come out...
@Steven West: thanks for the tip, looks interesting, i'll see if i can find that film...
@xoxos: yep, you have a valid point. It's not that i want to use traditional themes for the full five hours of the performance, just from time to time, or just once. But there's also this introduction in the beginning, which should set the atmosphere, and that's what i need this for...
i'm actually looking for some good reading on harmonic structure of this kind of music- chord progressions, keys they use, theme scores and all that. Anyone know an online scorebook/articles about this?
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- Banned
- 12367 posts since 30 Apr, 2002 from i might peeramid
mmm.. spouting jic it's protean.. saying 'concept' in circus music is all ~florid.. like when you turn saturation all the way up on an image. super-dynamic crescendos, dncers w/ exaggerated hand movements.. "performance" vibe... the minor is magnified to grotesque and the major just scoots past your foot unnoticed :p
could go garish, eg. trying to cram as many notes into a chord as possible, making it a bit dissonant, y'know.. setting the stage for a thrills-n-spills sensory overload situation where some thing may seem shocking and unpleasant.. so make sure you get fire and dischord in there... sudden transitions in mood and tone.. suddenly a cymbal crash and smooth and serene.. that "big life" dynamism of mood..
like burroughs' descriptions of some 50 year old, sanguine overweight dead drunk italian mobster staggering going "life is so beeootyful" before he puts an atom bomb in your guts or something :p
play what you know, because you know it best w/o faking it, but play your extremes.
could go garish, eg. trying to cram as many notes into a chord as possible, making it a bit dissonant, y'know.. setting the stage for a thrills-n-spills sensory overload situation where some thing may seem shocking and unpleasant.. so make sure you get fire and dischord in there... sudden transitions in mood and tone.. suddenly a cymbal crash and smooth and serene.. that "big life" dynamism of mood..
like burroughs' descriptions of some 50 year old, sanguine overweight dead drunk italian mobster staggering going "life is so beeootyful" before he puts an atom bomb in your guts or something :p
play what you know, because you know it best w/o faking it, but play your extremes.
you come and go, you come and go. amitabha neither a follower nor a leader be tagore "where roads are made i lose my way" where there is certainty, consideration is absent.