Septet Music
MUSIC UPDATED: July 20th, ‘09
So I’m working ever diligently on the Dysfunction Septet and I’m extremely satisfied with how it’s coming along. Looking back at my past work I concluded that I do better work when I write for multiple instruments rather than just piano, so with that in mind I’m writing the Dysfunction Septet for piano and violin so far, possibly adding more as I feel the need. I’m thinking I might throw in a double bass or cello, but we’ll see. We shall see.
In general though, this song is so much fun to write. Tonnes of emotion upwelling with every line, characters are pissed, nerves are raw, it’s awesome. The song was inspired by the Tonight Quintet in Westside Story (the name is a major nod to it). The way that the Quintet elevated tension and brought all the different plot lines up to speed in WSS worked so well that I thought a similar format would be perfect for the scene in Dysfunction. The Septet is going to contain a handful of melodies that weave in and out of depending on the characters on stage, but all of them sing the Septet melody at some point. It’s going to be legendary.
The song opens with Cam, Peter and Ryan at their office, with Cam debating what to do about Charlotte, and he’s singing a very flat and monotone version of the Voicemail refrain. The ending of that grows dramatically and then Pete and Ryan get on his case about being stupid for giving up. It’s here that we hear the Septet melody for the first time. The melody is sung over this awesome chord (which you’ll hear in the clip below) composed of D#, E and G#. It’s an inverted major 7th chord without the fifth. Very jarring and dissonant. After that (which is where the clip ends) the scene switches to a brief solo with Cam, then over to Kim, Natalie and Justin for a brief spell, followed by an intense duet with Kim and Cam, that quickly grows more complicated and dysfunctional. And then, well, then we have the 7th person in our Septet. And it’s fracking awesome.
Just the music for the first little bit. Let me know what you think.
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Off to Mom’s to introduce her to the amazing show that is Brothers and Sisters.
-Travis Conrad