Coming to Auburn Ave: Harpist-composer creates plucky new music for historic film
Published 1:25 pm Thursday, January 12, 2012
Movie-loving musician Leslie McMichael brings the long-lost silent film “Peter Pan” back to the silver screen with her live harp accompaniment Jan. 22 at the Auburn Avenue Theater.
The 2 o’clock matinee showing of the 1924 film is part of the City of Auburn’s Bravo Performing Arts Series.
Harpist-composer McMichael will accompany the classic film live with her original score on three different harps – concert, Celtic and electric.
Northwest Film Forum commissioned McMichael to create a new score for “Peter Pan” in 2007, and since then the harpist has toured and played live with film screenings throughout the U.S.
“Leslie’s score, filled with cleverly repeating themes and stunning interludes, breathes new life into this film from the dawn of cinema,” said Elizabeth Shepherd, director of children’s programming for Northwest Film Forum.
How did McMichael approach the project of scoring the film? The harpist says that her DVD remote and digital timer were two modern tools that she relied on to compose a soundtrack that seamlessly fits the onscreen action.
After watching the film and writing longhand notes about every scene and character, she developed musical themes to reflect the moods in the storyline. Certain motifs reappear in her score whenever an actor appears – Peter Pan’s “cock-a-doodle-doo” when he is pleased with himself, sea shanties for Captain Hook and the pirates, and of course, fairy glissandi for Tinker Bell as she flies.
Rivet Magazine wrote: “With three different kinds of harps, McMichael creates a soundscape that is both varied in texture and tone, alternating between the various sounds with cinematic panache. Her score shifts between a distinctly Irish rogue for Hook and his men, and Celtic soothsaying arpeggios for Peter, Wendy, and their families. The mermaids … are given the lush, grainy sound of an electric harp, their glistening tail fins perfectly matching the shimmering, unorthodox sound that in effect is more like a pedal steel than anything else. … It’s hard to imagine what the more standard musical accompaniment would have been, now with the harp washing over all the sepia-toned images.”
McMichael adds, “It’s thrilling to play live and pair the visuals of film with my music. With every performance, I get to use my harps to underscore the expressive acting so typical of the silent era – very fun!”
McMichael, who grew up in South King County and now lives on Vashon, has just released a CD recording of selections from her “Peter Pan” score. The CD will be featured on the nationally syndicated radio show, The Score. Locally, it will air on KING FM this weekend and also can be heard in archive files at www.allclassical.org.
For information about the Auburn event, call 253-931-3043 or visit www.auburnwa.gov/community/arts.
