Film Noir Music

Hello,

Last year when I went to the IMS Teen Meditation Retreat in Massachusetts I was surprised at how much music there was.  In every chunk of free time people would pull out guitars, drums, violins, harmonicas, and jam.  This year I brought my keyboard and had an awesome time improvising.  There was some pretty neat jam sessions with saxophone and even a french horn.

One of the highlights of the retreat was meeting David Corenswet, an actor and now film maker who was looking for and has now found a film score composer!  It was difficult to be in the moment during meditation when my mind was filled with excitement and inspiration, eager to get home so I could watch David's films and begin composing the melodies whirling about my head.  After meeting, David and I began jamming a bit, him on the drums, sometimes asking me to play certain styles to get a feel for my ability.

The real highlight of the retreat and probably one of the greatest musical experiences of my life was when David came over while I was at the piano.  He listened to me for a moment, thoughtfully, then began describing a scene: a detective walking down a dark, dingy street on his way to a crime scene....  I played along to his narrative, requesting more details about the mood and back story until I knew the feeling he was looking for.  A crowd began to gather as we went on to other narratives, other people adding in pieces of the story (some times unhelpfully) and we got really into it.  It helped having David's frequent exclamations of joy whenever I hit a melody that perfectly portrayed the mood of the story being told.  I was having the time of my life.  True improvisation.  True film scoring even in the absence of a film.  We went on until the bell rang for our afternoon yoga class and we were forced to stop.

Now that I am home I have been hard at work trying to absorb the Film Noir genre of music (mellow jazz, melodic saxophone, distant trumpets) for scoring a detective film he is working on.

Best,
Clayton