What forums are there to get involved in producing music for theatre?

Convener(s): John Challis

Participants: Jenni Roditi, Steno Vitale

Summary of discussion, conclusions and/or recommendations:

Defining a musical style is important to help you establish your identity or brand. This is similar to the idea that composers look to find their inner voice.

Collaborations exist between singers and composers to understand the musical process from both points of view.  Singers connect with the body, and use this to project their voice.

Steno: ‘Composing by stealth’ allows you to disconnect the head from the music making process and instead use your body and feel it, and just go for it. 

Creativity happens when you don’t use your head.

More and more people want to cross roles within artistic practices, and this has led to schemes being set up to allow writers and musicians to work together and understand the process from both sides.  Both can leave feeling inspired with a fresh outlook on their discipline.

What point within the theatrical process should we bring in the musicians and composers?  The earlier the better was the general consensus, which was discussed in an earlier session hosted by Steno.

More composers search the world for musical worlds to suit the projects they are working on. Adrian Lee did this for the RSC.

Naturalistic singing and music is seen as more engaging to the heart space.  Too much singing relies on style.  This can remove the character and rely on imitation of popular singers.  A natural voice is favoured.

A good avenue for musicians wanting to get involved in producing music for theatre could be on the cabaret, performance poetry and stand-up comedy circuits.  Often performers in these areas are looking for musicians to collaborate with to add to their shows.