My Composing Process: "In These Times" Season Two (2021)

Dear Readers,

It is such a pleasure to compose the theme music for the University of Pennsylvania School of Arts and Sciences podcast “In These Times”. The second season explores the nation’s complex history with race and discusses the Black Lives Matter protests, racial injustice, and Black lives and culture. Episode 1 premiered on March 10th, and can be heard on all streaming platforms, in addition to the “In These Times” website: https://web.sas.upenn.edu/in-these-times/.

I wanted to take this opportunity to share with you how I went about reworking my music from season one - while also composing new melodies for season two.

Reusing and Improvising

I began this project by revisiting my score from season one, listening through it multiple times, thinking about what elements I could reuse and also what I could add .

I chose key elements to use again: the metallic beats and other percussion, the repetitive piano notes and the synth string note. I thought about orchestration, deciding to bring back the basses, the guitar, and the various piano sounds. I then recomposed the bass line by adjusting the rhythm. This gave it a bouncing feel, with more drive and more momentum.

I began experimenting with new sonic textures, and new melodic material. I wanted to widen the scope of the score. So I started recording sounds of various objects and instruments that I have in my studio. I took the metallic beat from season one and improvised rhythms underneath it with my tambourine, castanets and a small container of mint Altoids. The effect was immediate. The rhythms suddenly had more complexity and momentum. From there, I recorded repetitive lines on my melody harp, flute and kalimba that blended nicely with the repeated piano note. To complete the texture, I played the bass line with the guitar.

Near the middle of the track, the music returns to the original bass line and chord rhythm (played by the basses and pipe pianos), with the main theme played by the piano. It feels like a different sonic space; a different perspective. Then the score transitions right back into the new material. I did this partly as an homage to the first season’s score.

Finally, I use the chord progression Eb Major - Db Major - C major at the beginning of the season two main theme, the same chord progression that ends the theme for season one. Through discussions with the podcast’s host and editor Alex Schein, we decided that this progression of three chords would be a perfect way tonally to open and close the podcast, like a bookend. I orchestrated this chord progression for a large string ensemble (which I programmed using Spifire Studio Strings) for the end of the piece to add a sense of gravity and finality.

The New Melodies

As I set out to compose some new melodic material for season two, I turned to the piano. While playing the updated, driving version of the chord progression, I discovered an ascending melody that communicated with the bass line really well. It was fairly simple, just a melody traveling from C to G and then gradually back down to C. But it felt right. I recorded myself playing this theme on the flute and also the piano.

Then I picked up my tin whistle in the key of D and improvised a secondary melody. It felt like a call-and-response to the flute line.

Both of these melodies have a sense of longing and determination. They emerge out of the chaos of the piece and carry a sense of hope.

Experimentation

I experimented quite a bit with production in this score. Many of the instruments have an echo placed on them, so they feel a bit “off” and chaotic. I also added distortion to a number of the instruments, including the kalimba, castanets, melody harp and tin whistle.

From a performance standpoint, I pushed the boundaries slightly by playing bizarre and discordant sounds with my flute and working them into the overall texture. I added echoes and odd equalizations (i.e. adjustments of the frequencies within an electronic signal) to these recordings to make them sound even more dissonant.

One of my favorite additions to this score is my use of a glockenspiel sample instrument that I created. I recorded myself playing a single note on a glockenspiel and then fed that into a sampler in my digital audio workspace Logic Pro X. The sampler pitched that sound accordingly so I was able to “play” the glockenspiel on my keyboard. You can hear the result here:

The final bit of that recording was actually born out of an accident. I played in a fast line into my computer and accidentally quantized it (i.e. making the notes more precise to a given note value) incorrectly so many of the notes ended up stacking on top of each other. The effect was so fascinating that I kept it in. You can hear it isolated here:

Final Thoughts and Reflections

I was brought onto this project the day after the January 6th insurrection. I was horrified, terrified and deeply angered by the attack on the Capitol that day. I channeled some of those feelings into my score for season two. Underneath the surface of my composition are chaotic echoes, discordant distortion, bizarre flute lines and a melee of different instruments and sounds. At points it feels like the piece is hanging on by a thread and it could collapse at any second.

It’s an honor to be a part of this fantastic podcast. “In These Times” addresses important issues with some of the most important scholars working today. I urge you to listen to it.

If you have questions about my composing process, or my music for this podcast, feel free to email me at nicholasescobarcomposer@gmail.com.

Your’s Musically

Nicholas Escobar