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Posted: |
Mar 20, 2015 - 10:54 PM
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By: |
bobbengan
(Member)
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This must be one of the most common orchestral colors in film scoring history, at least from the late 60's onward.
Being that it's a non-tonal coloration, it's obviously never really discussed, but... I just find it amusing somehow that it's never addressed or mentioned, despite being SO ubiquitous. Th earliest score I can think of to use it extensively is John Scott's ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA but surely there must be earlier examples in film scores.
In non-film music, the earliest use I can think of would be Wally Stott's sumptuous rendition of LOTUS LAND from circa 1965:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-gR_mg_qKhA
Personally I think it can make a great tool for adding lush splashes of color to scores, so long as it's not being used as an orchestrational "helper" for thinly-written music.
Nicholas Dodds-orchestrated scores use them EXTENSIVELY, as did tons of James Horner scores (particularly those for children's animated films in the late 80's/early 90's).
Interestingly, Wikipedia claims the instrument was devised in 1967, but that Stott piece obviously pre-dates that point by at least two years:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_tree
Thoughts on its MANY uses throughout film scoring history? Cases where it was used in an especially interesting or original way?
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Hi, bob b.
There's several different terms referring to such percussion: "Bell Tree", "Chime Tree", "Handbell Tree", "Mark Tree" or a set of Bar Chimes (named after percussionist Mark Stevens).
These various names are not interchangeable, though, as these are different instruments.
Not being a musician myself, I'm unable to describe their differences but apparently Mark trees and Bell trees have been confused with each other.
Perhaps there is an FSM member who is also a percussionist and would be able to divulge more information on this subject?
To answer your question a little bit, Jerry Goldsmith's THE ILLUSTRATED MAN (recorded in August of 1968) utilized one of these types of percussion arrays [and one of the photos within the FSM CD booklet shows a part of that instrument (if I am recalling correctly)].
Also, I feel certain that quite a number of compositions by Toru Takemitsu make usage of such percussion.
P.S. It's interesting to me that from the mid to late 1960s, there had been several instrumental inventions such as echo delay (the EchoPlex being one) and electronic versions of keyboards [check out that FSM created by lexedo on the clavinet (electric piano)]
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Personally I think it can make a great tool for adding lush splashes of color to scores, so long as it's not being used as an orchestrational "helper" for thinly-written music.
By the way, I don't consider "thinly-written music" to be as derogatory as it sounds.
I've a number of favorite soundtracks which contain static/suspended chords to produce musical sound effects rather than melodic themes.
Consider the Digitmovies albums like Carlo Savina's LA CRIPTA E L'INCUBO and A.F. Lavagnino's IL CASTELLO DEI MORTI VIVI.
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Posted: |
Mar 21, 2015 - 9:32 AM
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By: |
Mike West
(Member)
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usually when the word "tree" is in the name the things which give sounds are arranged on a vertical thing.
And those bells or whatever are usually a bit more massive and larger.
When it is just "chimes" or "wind chimes" the things which sound are arranged on a horizontal thing, and these can be of wood, or glass, or stones, or actually every material you can think of.
Percussionists build them themselves often, to have a lot of possibilities.
I had used a lot of different ones, including one without a very delicate sound,
It had like 50 barbs of see urchins, attached to the down-side of a circular plate.
There are also a lot of wind chimes you can buy, usually when they are asked for they use
thise with like 25 metallic cylindric bars, arranged in one line, the longest on the left side and
every bar being shorter.
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Bell trees have the bells concentrically arranged in a vertical line. Just google it.
I recall what I took to be a chime tree (possibly more than one) in the occult grove scenes in Schaffner's 'War Lord' by the great Moross. If you have the album, see a small segment of this tacked onto the beginning of the 'Forsaken Village' track. But this well may be an illusion, since there are lots of perfect glissandos in there, thoroughly 'composed' artfully.
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I'm reminded of the Peter Davison DOCTOR WHO serial "Kinda", in which the natives have wind chimes to induce slumber.
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