What music do I hear in those words...

This is not a grand, sweeping tale, nor is it one devoid of emotion. Rather, it is internalized, kept close, even. Meredith must escape, but does she really know what that entails? And how to personify this struggle in music, the unseen, uncredited actor?

I 'hear' music all the time - I must write down around a dozen melodies a week (which doesn't mean they're all good). Sometimes I hear a specific instrument playing them. And instruments are starting to take certain roles for me. There's the erhu:

Essentially, a 2-string Chinese violin.

I started thinking about it for Meredith's 'theme' after hearing it in 'world music' on Last.fm, then also on Battlestar Galactica (SciFi) and the new Star Trek movie; it has a mournful, vocal tone in the female register. And doesn't sound anything but musical, especially with the piano, harp, string quartet & percussion I'm hearing in my head. Speaking of percussion...

I scored two short films last November that had the music performed live for an audience of about 200 at Christ Church Cathedral in Nashville. I went to an old friend, Dann Sherrill, looking for sounds that weren't cliché and hit the gold mine with a 'heco-heco' created by Paul Englehart, and a 'spinner' and metal strips created by Farrell Morris. What do they sound like? You'll have to wait until I finish the score...