Finding just the right music for a film

We’ve got the right script for a film and it has been edited.  Now we need to add some music.  Solving the problem of just the right accompaniment has been nearly a sixty-year challenge for me.  I can remember spending hours in the Juilliard library listening to music to find the right piece for a work I was creating for Louie Horst’s choreography class on Group Forms. More recently I have been challenged to find music to go with the films that Healing Voices – Personal Stories has made, related to domestic violence.  Often, the music has been the final step in the filmmaking process, and that was the case with our most recent film, One in 7, which we completed in December 2021.

The earlier films for Healing Voices were focused on women, but this new one was focused on the fact the one in seven men also are victims of domestic violence.  As I watched the early drafts of the film I thought that it might be a good idea to ask my friend and colleague Newman Taylor Baker to create some music for the film using the washboard.  Newman is a percussionist whom I have worked with since 1990, when I directed The Avodah Dance Ensemble.  He provided the accompaniment or an original score for a number of the dance pieces in the company.  I thought this might be a project for him and discussed it with my co-director and co-producers.  They all liked the idea, and my co-director David Lindblom had a good suggestion that Newman also film his hands while he was playing.

Newman was enthusiastic.  We sent him a draft of the film so he could get an idea of what we might use in the opening and then in the credits at the end.  That was where we thought we needed music.  When Newman got the short film of 7:14 minutes he decided to improvise and create a score for the whole film.  He was about to go on a trip to Poland and thought he knew some people in Poland who could film him playing in a studio there.  David and I said sure.  We imagined that we could find sections to use for our original idea, and we were curious what Newman’s music would sound like for the full film.

Then we got his score, and what an amazing surprise it was that we liked the music throughout the film.  It gave a rhythm and intensity that fit perfectly and in fact greatly enhanced the impact of the film.  It was a challenge for David who was doing the film’s editing to sync everything correctly, and I am so grateful that he took his time and worked on it until he felt it was just right.  It was important to balance the level of the washboard with the voices of the speakers in the film too. David also used visuals of Newman playing in different places, and the image of Newman’s fingers inside bullet cases playing on the washboard added another dimension to a story focused on the three men describing violence they had experienced.

The whole experience reminded me again of the importance of how the arts complement each other.  Filmmaking — like theatre, opera and dance — is bringing together more than one art form.  Yes… it may be driven by a script, or choreography, but it is the blending of other art forms with the primary one that makes the work complete, taking the viewer on a total journey.  Newman’s creativity and fascination in experimenting with accompanying the film from beginning to end made a huge difference.  David’s vision of not just hearing Newman but making sure we had a visual of him playing was essential for the final result.

I come away from this project celebrating collaboration and keenly aware of how the right musical accompaniment can drive a work whether it be in dance or in film. A special thank you to Newman Taylor Baker, David Lindblom, The Family Place in Dallas, TX, and the three men who bravely shared some of their story with us.  Here is a link to watch the film.

A screen shot from the film of Newman’s hands playing the washboard!