What is Birdland? It's a big question. I suppose it's a
musical, it's a music drama. It's nothing as grand as an
opera! But it was specifically designed for young people, but
it's a piece that can be performed by anyone really. And,
you know, it has a mix of characters and a mix of
resources within the piece that basically can be done by anyone.
There were three moments which I really enjoyed writing, but were
challenging for various reasons, because they have to have the
effect in the piece. And the first one is where Pip goes down
into the 'bower of power'. Now the bower of power is the place
where Pip is going to be reconstructed as this new,
wonderful person - and, of course, they fail miserably. But
I had to write this recurring chorus - 'Welcome to the bar of
power, welcome to the place of healing. We can make it better,
whatever you're feeling' - it's such a great lyric that Charles
has written. And it's got a lot of energy, this movement, it's
very fast moving. And I went into a bunch of schools a few
weeks ago, and we worked on these pieces. And in every
school, the teacher said, 'They love the bower of power!'. So I
thought, well, I've done something, right! It's got a
good energy actually, and I think it's quite fun to sing.
The other bit, which I felt had to really communicate, is the
point at which Pip and the Golden Nightingale are released
from the spell - they release each other from this spell that
they're under. And they both needed to have a combined song
that would really articulate their newfound strength - their
newfound confidence. And this piece of the music is called
Dream Vision - it's a wonderful lyric that Charles has written.
And in this piece, I had to find a way to combine two melodies
that I thought would communicate - it was quite challenging, but
I managed it, I think.
And the final section, which was really important for the piece,
is the Dawn Chorus, which is what Pip wanted to be a part of
- Pip wanted to be the person who would be able to star in
this piece. And so what I decided to do in this instance
was to have an aleatoric section, which lasts probably 20
seconds to half a minute, where Pip starts a pattern and then
everyone else sings consequently, in sort of
imitating patterns, so you get this wide sound spectrum of kind
of bird sounds, but it is started off by Pip, which is
significant. And actually the performers love doing it so I
think I might have achieved that and it'll be interesting to see
how how it's done in the theatre.