One thing that was really fun at last night's session: Vinnie did really rough band mixes for the singers to sing to, and boy do elmore's orchestrations sound swellegant. It's fascinating to me - sometimes he sticks precisely to my piano part and chooses the perfect instrumentation - and sometimes, always at the right time, he fills out things in ways I could never approximate because I don't play all that well and can only do what I do. A perfect example of that is the bridge to The World Of Tomorrow, where he literally takes us on the trip that the lyrics promise.
BK, what a very sweet thing to say! I feel like the kid in the Sixth Sense: I Hear Things!
Often, I really don't know what I channel or where in my psyche the things I put on paper come from. I pretty much scored the show in sequence, starting with the three versions of the title song, and I couldn't proceed with any of the score until I figured out what the opening number should sound like. I'd scribble out a score, go back and listen to your sound files, make notes, erase a lot and rewrite. I can't work on a computer; I need that eraser and that pencil like a oouija board needs its planchette! I really liked the songs for The Brain, and I liked the fact that I could take the feel of the songs you as you played them and run with them. I knew the score was fun, although I completely underestimated how much I would fall in love with the heart and silliness of the book.
It depends, too, on what dramatically and emotionally in the material appeals to me. I wish I'd been in LA during the rehearsal process because I like to get input from what's going on in rehearsal and hearing what the singers are doing. I also missed listening to your ad lib doo-waps in rehearsal because they often gave me an idea of what youre hearing, whether I take what you're doing or play games with it.
I always go into a project with the theory I'm going to be fired after the first band rehearsal: there's always that bit of fear while you're working "what if they hear it differently than I do?" Usually, though, you're hired because the employer's heard your work and knows what you can do. And you've certainly heard enough of my work in the past 12 years.