I've been thinking a lot about how I was just in NYC, learning all this new stuff about musicals, and whether or not I managed to fall into the groove? I was there for three weeks but it feels like a hit-and-run dream. I'd walk to the studio and work with Paul, my frequent collaborator, friend, and guitarist song-doula. We have been writing them on demand and so quickly I can’t always recall their melodies from one day to the next. Thank goodness for voice notes or we’d be royally hosed. Writing for a musical is so much more demanding than writing for myself. Having just written that sentence I am flaccidly disgusted with myself for saying something so freakishly obvious. Duh, Neko.
I don’t have the brain capacity to explain how a musical is made because A) I barely have a clue (but I am enjoying learning it) and B) I’m wrung out like a skanky old mop. It isn’t a bad thing, you just have to be ok being a skanky mop. Hello from the bucket! I can tell you that the generative process is fast and furious. It’s like a marathon relay race that constantly changes direction and there is a great deal of vocabulary to learn in a short time. My brain hurts but I love the collaborative chaos!
My favorite thing I’ve learned is the term for the fascinating style of singing-speaking that you know about but have maybe never heard the proper “write it down on paper” term for. I know I didn’t! Only the German language seems to have the syllables to name it, it’s called “Sprechstimme” pronounced “sprek-shtimm-e.” It’s in my top 10 favorite words for sure. It’s pretty much speaking with momentum and/or cadence and launching in and out of melody. Rap music is rife with Sprechstimme as is opera. I love that those two genres go hand-in-hand as its biggest purveyors. Music is a small world in the best ways.
The most tender thing about this process is learning the characters in the story and falling in love with them. You want everything to be O.K. for them, even the bad ones. You want them to live. The first couple times I heard actors sing something I wrote, bringing the character that much closer to being real, I crumpled with emotion. It was just too much. I have had to toughen up but I still do a lot of crying. Haha! Thank god I don’t wear mascara on a regular basis…
When I can tell you more about the musical I will. For now it’s just a baby even though we are five years into the process. That’s not unusual though, most musicals take as much as seven or eight years to make it to the stage. It’s a lot like being a little sea turtle hatching on the beach and hauling ass toward the ocean. There are so many factors that determine whether or not you make it to the water. Any old seagull could take you out and you just have to be zen about it.
I have a ticket to the Seattle show tomorrow, the one at the zoo. I have social anxiety so incredibly bad I haven't left my apartment in about a month, and I'm deeply depressed (my brother just died, my dog is not far behind), but I desperately want to make it out because every time I see Neko live it heals me, and I need it so bad right now. I wish I could get an Uber, I think having to drive is really freaking me out. Anyway, wish me luck... I hope anyone I encounter is gentle with me, I feel like cracked glass.
Dang, those Germans have a word for everything under the sun! "Hello from the bucket" made me laugh, and my cat stared at me.