Travis Conrad

The eleventh song of the musical is now finished! And what an emotional ride it’s been (musical speaking anyway). The song’s called Guys Always Disappoint: The Plan, and it involves Kim, Justin and Natalie plotting a way to break up Cam and his new girl, as well as them just ranting about guys in general. It’s a very busy song, and it has to be since it’s so far into the musical.

The songs that make up the middle chunk of the musical (After Dinner with Kim, After Dinner with Cam, Charlotte’s Monologue and So Much) are mostly slower songs, especially So Much, and while slow songs are important, too many of them can make a musical seem to drag on. Now that we’re in the second half of the musical, shit is hitting the fan and the audience needs to get stimulated with punchy melodies and exciting tempos.

The pattern in the first bar below (Quarter note/Eighth note/Quarter note/Eighth note/Quarter note) is repeated throughout the song, and if you can pick it out, you’ll see how it has an exciting effect to it. Also, if you notice the bass notes in the third bar, they follow the same pattern (Quarter/Eighth/Quarter/Eighth/Quarter). The punchiness of it is just freakin’ awesome and I’m thrilled with how I wove it in throughout the song.

Tempo and Melody example. Note the staccato used for extra punchiness

Another thing I should note about this song is the segment about three quarters in. I switched the playback instrument to a celesta to help me visualize (figuratively, of course) the sound better. I wanted that part to have a sinister yet haunting feel to it, something I couldn’t manage quite right with just a piano. Kim is pissed to the high hells and she’s not fooling around here, and I imagined her as like a witch in the forest. She’s planning revenge on the obstacles in her path, the key word here being planning. That’s one of Kim’s defining features, her ability to plan and problem solve, and this part of the song is meant to show how serious she takes the whole thing. Sure sometimes her foresight is utter shit, but her planning skills are always top notch. She knows what she wants and she plans a way to get it, that’s what Kim does, that’s who she is, and that’s why the celesta part works so well, because it’s so serious and dark that you know she’s not messing around.

I’m pretty pleased with the lyrics here. There’s one line I still need to rephrase, but other than that  I think most lines are bang on. The great thing about collaborating with someone is you get a second opinion, and you know it’s going to be earnest. Sean (the playwright) wants this to succeed as much as I do, and so I know he’s not going to sugar-coat his constructive criticisms like friends would, just like I in turn did with the script. He pointed out the line that I’m going to rephrase because he said it was confusing/unclear, and after a strenuous amount of effort on both our parts I came to understand what he meant. The outcome: a better song.

11. Guys Always Disappoint: The Plan

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Kim:

I’ve tried lying. And persuasion. I even tried TRUTH on a desperate occasion.
I’m not just gonna sit here and daunt.
I’m Kimberly Young and I get what I want!

Justin and Natalie:

What’s the plan Kim? What’s the plan?
How are you gonna get back your man?

Kim:

She doesn’t know who she’s messin’ with so I’ll have to teach her a lesson.
And keep her guessin’.
She doesn’t know the one thing you can count on men to do.

Send me your feedback if you love me! Gotta go! Desperate Housewives is on.

-Travis Conrad

Guess who just finished a song for a musical called Dysfunction? Wow. That was lame. I’m far too lazy and tired right now to delete it though and think of something wittier to write. Moving on….

I finished the song entitled Kim tonight, after several weeks of tweaking and hammering and fiddling with chords and rhymes and designers name. I’m pretty happy with the final product. The song started out as a 3/4 waltz, then spent some time as a 6/8 waltz, experimented briefly in 5/4 time (that was messy) and finally settled down in 4/4 common time BUT with a mean tango-esque rhythm. This is the first song where I’ve actually written the music independent from the vocals. Everything else I’ve done has been mostly derived from the vocals, something I’ve been wanting to get away from, and this time it just worked out really well. I can imagine this arranged for some heavy strings with a piano playing the upbeat sections, maybe even with a little snare drum too. Oh yes, a snare drum would be exquisite.

This song features Kim (Cameron’s ex-girlfriend) and her two best friends Justin and Natalie. This is where Justin really gets a chance to shine, granted that the actor playing him can act AND sing at the same time. If he can’t, well, then it’s just going to feel dark and out of place. Halfway through Kim takes over, and at the end she has a little reflection moment alone. The melody shifts notes but the beat stays the same and I think the effect turned out sharp, although I’m still finding sometimes I’ll write some music and it turns out different from what I envision but still awesome. There’s also the first couple lyrics included below. Let me know what you think!

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J: First we’ll get you out of the dumps.

K: I’m not in the dumps!

N: It looks like you are.

J: We’ll get you back in your Gucci pumps.

K: Okay, fine, I’m in.

N: You’ll look like a star!

J: Rather than looking like Courtney Love, you’ll be our Kim who’s worthy of the dresses and purses from Guess and Lacoste that you’d die if you lost!

Hehehehehe, yes, the whole song is like that. I tried my best here to emulate the banter and one-liners Sean’s written for the characters in the script. And I like it cause they’re not HAHA one-liners, but rather aha or hoho.

No word back on the job interview yet, but here’s hoping. Tomorrow I start on Guys Always Disappoint: The Plan. Yes I’m aware most song names don’t have colons in them but I’M THE GOD-DAMNED COMPOSER, I’LL NAME MY SONG Albatross ^_^: 81[The Final Seabird] IF I WANT TO…. ok that looks a little bad, convention and I are really getting along at the moment. Gotta go make pasta k bye!

-Travis Conrad the Maladjusted? lol. Malnourished maybe.