A Midsummer’s Night Dream
Penn State School of Theatre’s Production of “A Midsummer’s Night Dream”
Music
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Composer, Original music for “Fairy Lullaby” and “Bottom’s Song” (Lyrics provided by William Shakespeare)
Speaker Twitching recordings used in sound design of show
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“Fairy Lullaby” - Full Version = 2 minutes
“Bottom’s Song” = begins at 0:34, ends at 1:09
Videos Below
Full Performance from Tech Dress Rehearsal before Opening Night
*Taken from IPhone
“Fairy Lullaby”
Titania asks her attending fairies to sing her a lullaby to go to sleep. The music for the lullaby consists of five soprano singers along with accompaniment.
During the performance, the accompaniment parts were rendered through Logic Pro X and also includes a speaker twitching notated by the sound wave in the bottom part. To create this effect, speaker heads were attached to a battery with two lead cables making up the complete circuit. Attached to the lead cables are two needles, which when placed together above the speaker, completes the circuit and creates a screeching/twitching noise as the speaker head moves up and down.
Performance Taken from Dress Rehearsal before Opening Night
Begins at 0:34
*Shot on IPhone
“Bottom’s Song”
While rehearsing their play for the Duke and Duchess’s nuptials, the fairies intervene and turn own of the play masters, Bottom, into a transformation of a human with a donkey head. Not understanding why his fellow play masters run away in fear, Bottom sings a song in protest.
This song is built in with a simple modal melody and rhythm, allowing the actor to sing as off-key and donkey-like as they desire.