When it comes to writing a musical, I don't have a formula, but I do have a method.
But when it comes to writing a song, I don't even have a method. I start with whatever inspires me the most, whether it's a lyric, a melody, or an image.
Still, sometimes you just get stuck.
If you've read the story of Peter Rabbit, you know that Farmer McGregor chases Peter all around the garden. But how to show this on stage without it getting boring?
Add music, of course!
My choices were to either write a song to be sung by Peter and Farmer McGregor as they run around, or write incidental music (also known as underscore.) I chose the latter, so I really needed to think about the feel I wanted to convey in this scene. Frantic? A little. Scary? No. Silly and fun? Maybe.
But how to convey this with music?
I was stuck.
Then... an idea. (You really never know from where inspiration will arise!)
I had written a ragtime piece earlier and it sat on my piano without a name. Or at least, I thought it was on my piano. I looked for it, and was almost in a panic when I thought to look behind the piano. Ah, there it was.
And it was the exact feel I needed! I could picture the chase in my mind, like I was watching a black-and-white Charlie Chaplin film–sped up, goofy, exciting. I looked up when ragtime music was popular, and it was right around the time when Beatrix Potter wrote Peter Rabbit–even better!
So the piano piece finally got a name, "Rabbit Chase," and it became the underscore for the chase scene in my musical. And, what's even more amazing is that that little piece of music, initially not written with the musical in mind, has inspired more music in the musical! I'll share more about that in my next posts!
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