Post-Production: Music Improvisations
With a complete rough cut of the dancers accompanied by the marimba loop, it was time to add additional musical improvisations to the film. I had the opportunity to work with amazing local musicians living right in my town of Northfield, Minnesota.
Marimba With Dave Hagedorn
Dave Hagedorn has spent his career studying the percussion arts, having received degrees from Eastman School of Music, The New England Conservatory and The University of Minnesota. He taught percussion and led the award-winning Jazz I program at St. Olaf College, my alma mater, and though I did not study with him (I was a wind instrumentalist), I greatly admired his performing and teaching.
Dave Hagedorn, marimba
Today, Dave is retired from St. Olaf College, and is spending his time gigging with groups around the nation, including Minnesota Opera, Miguel Espinoza Fusion, Phil Hey Quartet, Minnesota Dance Theatre and more.
The Recording Setup
Dave was familiar with my work through my frequent collaborator and friend, Birch Carlson (Dave just so happens to be Birch’s stepdad). He graciously agreed to record the marimba track for the film, which Stephanie Henry had improvised earlier in the production process using composition software. Because I had looped Stephanie’s MIDI track and played it continuously for the dancers, I decided that I would like to keep Dave’s instrumental recording consistent with that. In other words, I needed Dave to learn and play an improvised, fluid rhythmic track to exactly match the original composition recording.
The irony of this setup is not lost on me – Dave is a world-renowned jazz improviser and I asked him to play another person’s improvisation straight. But, Dave is a total pro and game for a challenge and set to work. He transcribed the melody and practiced along with the recording – all I had to do was show up and witness his mastery (with a recorder running, of course).
Capturing the Music
Dave just so happens to have a vast collection of percussion instruments, including a marimba, and a studio in his home that is acoustically prepared for a good recording. I gave him a monitor for listening to the MIDI file and started playing the track on loop for him to play along with and match.
This was not an easy feat because the loop I created had some inconsistency between the timing of each loop segment restarting. Because that’s what I had played for the dancers, that’s what we had to go with for the recording (sorry, Dave).
The good news is that Dave performed wonderfully, even before I had informed him that I had started recording. He asked for notes, and I offered that I’d like the chords arpeggiated, which he executed beautifully for a few last rounds of the loop. I think when all was said and done, we captured what we needed in about twenty minutes.
Artist Life Financial Balance
One of my favorite parts of working with Dave during this process was our discussion after the recording session. We talked about the balance of having a day job and creating the art that you want to make. In Dave’s case, he spent years impacting the lives of hundreds of students at St. Olaf, which is of course a gratifying proposition, but not as artistically rewarding for an individual as performing. Now, after retiring from teaching, he can take whatever gig he likes and enjoy that income without scraping by. At the end of the day, he has the freedom to focus on what he wants to do without worrying about rent, which is not the case for many performers.
I can absolutely relate to this. I have often felt remorse about not pursuing the arts full-time for a career, but as I’ve aged and my self-awareness has increased, I have learned that I would never have been happy with that scenario. I need to know where my next paycheck is coming from. I am very good at lining up my projects and grants so that I constantly have a project in the hopper, but I never make money on my work. I have chosen to keep creating rather than marketing myself, and I have learned to be happy with this arrangement.
Cello With Martha Larson
From the beginning of the project, I knew I wanted to work with Martha Larson, a close friend and amazing improvisational musician. Larson, a leader in sustainability engineering by day, studied mechanical engineering at Northwestern University in Chicago, Illinois. While in Chicago, Martha became interested in the gypsy jazz scene, and participated in regular jam sessions led by guitarist and multi-instrumentalist Alfonso Ponticelli. Gypsy jazz was greatly influenced by Belgian jazz guitarist Django Reinhardt, and Martha learned to play tunes in this style on her primary instrument, the cello, which she originally learned to play in the classical style.
Martha Larson, cello
As I wrote in my initial article about the inspiration for the film, attending jazz jam sessions at Martha’s community music space Hot Spot Music helped me discover the magic of improvisation. Having listened and watched in awe as she shredded during her solo improvisations at jazz jam, I admire what she can do when she is creating music in the moment.
Take One: Arco
Martha and I met at Hot Spot Music to record her cello improvisations. We set up a laptop to screen the rough cut of the film and I gave Martha an in-ear monitor so she could listen to the sounds of the dancers’ movements synced to Dave’s marimba loop. Martha came prepared with lots of different ideas, and we decided to try the first take with the traditional style of using the bow to play the strings of the cello. As Martha viewed the film, she naturally responded to the dancers, offering smooth, melodic lines for the ballet dance, rhythmic lines for the tap dance, and low sustained notes for the modern dance. We were off to a great start.
Take Two: Pizzicato
For the following take, Martha interpreted all of the dances with pizzicato lines. Pizzicato notes are played by plucking the strings of the instrument instead of using the bow. This method was a great match for the tap dance, but the entire track offered great options for use in the final cut of the music.
Final Takes: Drama and Sound Effects
After two solid takes with Martha’s improvisation, we had lots of great options to work with. At this point, we were able to take experimentation to the next level. Martha began by doing a take where she interpreted the dances much more “dramatically,” adding more vibrato, sweeping glissandos and a variety of dynamics. From my perspective, this track was where Martha was taking more risks and being playful with her experimentation. To round out the recording session, we got weird. Martha tried different playing techniques like col legno, where the player strikes the strings with the back of the bow, or playing harmonics, when the player touches strings lightly rather than firmly stopping the string to produce a note. At the end of the session, I had tons of quality footage for editing together the final track, which I accomplished in a week’s time so I could screen the marimba and cello lines for my next performer.
Accordion With Leanne Hill
An extremely accomplished musician and scholar, Dr. Hill received a bachelor’s degree from Harvard College, a master’s degree from the University of Minnesota, and a doctorate from Yale University. She spent a year as a fellow at the Bach Archive Leipzig in connection with her dissertation research.
Leanne Hill, accordion
I had the pleasure of getting to know the accordion stylings of Leanne Hill while attending jazz jam and other events through Hot Spot Music. She and Martha collaborate frequently in their group Can Duo, where they perform a wide array of selections including jazz, opera and even 40’s Andrews Sisters covers. I am an avid groupie of theirs and love the sound they create together.
Martha Larson and Leanne Hill performing
Leanne would say that improvisation isn’t her strongest suit, but I beg to differ. She has much expertise in the baroque music of Bach, which features lots of improvisation. In this era, many performers added ornamentation to pre-composed works, and basso continuo performers regularly improvised based on chord structures. Leanne’s strong knowledge of theory and composition gives her the ability to analyze and perform quickly on her feet.
Take One: Listen
This skill was very apparent in her first take. We set up to record in Moira’s home with a laptop and headphone monitors so she could watch the film in its latest iteration: the dancers performing with the marimba and cello tracks added. Leanne had a lot of elements to process as she performed her improvisation, and she listened carefully to how the other instrumentalists interpreted the work. I was blown away by her ability to play with the rhythms of the tap dancer, which were extremely complex. As Leanne explained, the accordion often serves as a rhythmic accompaniment to groups, and with the loose rhythm of the piece, it was a challenge – but one she rose to.
Take Two: Watch
With a great take under her belt, I encouraged Leanne to let go of listening so intently in the next take and instead begin to watch the dancers more closely and respond to their movements. Leanne also rose to this challenge, adding scales and arpeggios with dancers’ change in levels and height in the space. She also started to experiment with dissonance and dynamics, adding lots of interest to the track.
Take Three: Sound Effects
The final take with Leanne was extremely playful and creative – I think she invented new techniques rarely used with the accordion. We recorded tapping and stroking of the bass buttons and switches on the instrument, an “exhalation” sound created when the player empties the air bellows to store the instrument, and drumming on the bellows and scratching against the grill. In the end, I had an arsenal of other-worldly sounds to include in the final track.
Putting It All Together
After Leanne’s recording session, all of the pieces were finally collected to finish the film. I analyzed all of the musical recordings and marked my favorite moments, avoiding what I learned are called “clams” in jazz lingo. Martha taught me this word – it is used to denote an improvisational phrase that ends on a crunchy note that doesn’t fit into the chord structure.
As I wrote in my previous article, I wrestled with the idea of removing mistakes, but in the end decided that I wanted to move forward with the best moments of each live performance.
I hadn’t considered this ahead of time, but I turned into a composer of sorts for this final stage of the editing process. I took phrases and melodies and blended them with others, selected textures and our “sound effects” and layered them in ways I felt fit the visual cues of the dances. It was great fun and I’d love to do more experimenting with this form of composition.
Finishing Touches
With the music track complete, I had a few finishing touches remaining. One piece included what I dubbed, “the finale.” This is a triptych shot of all three dancers performing at once with all instruments accompanying. I envisioned this final sequence to be like the finale of a fourth of July fireworks display, offering the viewer so many stimuli that they didn’t quite know where to look. It was also intended to be a celebration of everyone coming together.
When that was complete, the last step was the credits sequence. To be honest, usually I put very little thought into the credits. Oftentimes I have a deadline to meet, I am tired out from all the work that has led me this far, etc., etc. This time, I approached them with intention, capturing the main titles as they were written out in real time in my own handwriting. I loved the final effect of this approach, but I did have to speed up the timing of the writing – I guess I write pretty slow.
In true artistic fashion, I wrapped up editing and exported the final file the night before the premiere. I wasn’t sure what the world would think of the end product, but I was proud of the collaboration and feeling lots of gratitude for all of the people who added their talents to the project.
