I was the composer, musician and animateur on the 6 week social-cultural project Altenburg am Meer, (Germany) in summer 2021. I worked with 50 other professionals across many art disciplines focused around the restoration and re-imagining of a boat brought to the city. My job was to compose and create the music and sounds for a weekly podcast, a documentary and short clay-animation films.
COMPOSITIONS
Podcast Theme Tune: In Sinnfluten
I was commissioned to write a 50 second intro/outro track to be used for the German podcast 'In Sinnflutten'
The Brief: To sound as if you're sitting by the sea, perhaps on a beach, relaxing under the shade. The sun is shining, you feel the heat on your face, there is a gentle breeze.
Performer: Rosanna Ter-Berg
Together We Are Stronger:
Dance track! This is an extended version of the featured track in episode 1 'Gemeinsam & Anders’ (Togetherness & Otherness). I worked with residents at Horizone (a theraputic rehabilitation clinic), this is the finished result.
Production and composition: Rosanna Ter-Berg Performers: Rosanna Ter-Berg, Horizonte, Jessica and Luna
Text and translation (mainly German, some English):
Teilen - Share
Fühlen - Feel
Verstehen - Understand
Sticking together is a gift
Together we are Stronger
Unterschiede feier - Celebrate differences
Freundschaft Liebe - Friendship, Love
Together we are stronger
Träume - dreams
Future
Sounds of the Shipyard:
A photo montage storyboard of the 'Sounds of the Shipyard' underscore, documenting the start to end of the project.
Click on the picture to hear the composition and to view the montage.
I composed this soundtrack from 126 individual recordings I collected at the shipyard. It's a ‘nod' to the journey of the many hands involved working on the restoration and re-imagination of the boat over the 6 week project: architects, carpenters, mechanics, joiners, artists, electricians, painters, the list goes on.
This track was used throughout the project. It was heard at the entrance to an audio walk/puppet show when the audience arrived, when the boat docked at ports, and it was featured in episode 2 ('Wasser & Grenzen / Water & Boarders’). In the podcast it acted as an underscore, cushioning a heightened dramatic text delivered by a fictitious mermaid, the emblem of the project.
I also wanted to make this for the boat team as a sort of souvenir, to capture the memory of their work and spirit.
Photo credit: thisismywork.online
Meluzine’s Leitmotif:
Here’s the mermaid Meluzine, the face of the project. I created a leitmotif for her, heard here. A leitmotif is a sound or melodic moment representing a particular character. It’s used a lot in ballet/opera/pantomime/film etc.
Meluzine narrates the journey of the project through the podcasts, the documentary and also in clay animation form. It was important for her to have 'a sound', something recognisable so that listeners would immediately know who was talking.
Click the video to listen.
Meluzine’s Call:
This is Mermaid Meluzine’s speech in the podcast no.2 subtitled ‘water & borders’. The podcast discusses border security and human rights abuses, global warming and the consequences of capitalist structures. After the podcast was aired there was unbelievably, (and ironically!) a terrible flood in the city. Meluzine is using ‘sprechgesang’- a musical technique in-between singing and speaking.
Composition, production and direction: Rosanna Ter-Berg
Meluzine: Ilana Reynolds
Text and dramaturg: Helena Wölfl
Dramaturg: Alex Hennig
Translated English text:
I am in my element in the water.
If your living world becomes smaller and smaller, mine becomes larger and larger.
So please keep it up, dear human family. I am happy about every centimeter more that melts at the polar caps.
And you? You can admit it gladly opposite me. You do it on purpose.
Up to now, I have taken paths to get to know the world on land. But imagine that everything was under water. I would love it. So please keep it up, dear human family. Mike told you. Altenburg has been by the sea before. What are you waiting for? Full speed ahead!
With full speed ahead, full waters are unavoidable. What do you care!?
At full speed ahead, full waters are unavoidable. What do you care!?
The waters are not deserted.
Cast off, my dear human family. Close the bulkheads. Seal yourselves off!
Form islands, they will sink. The water seeks its way.
German text:
Ich bin im Wasser in meinem Element.
Wenn eure Lebenswelt immer kleiner wird, wird meine immer größer.
Also mach bitte weiter so, liebe Menschenfamilie. Ich freue mich über jeden Zentimeter mehr, der an den Polkappen schmilzt.
Und ihr? Mir gegenüber könnt ihr es gerne zugeben. Das macht ihr doch mit Absicht.
Bisher habe ich Wege auf mich genommen, um die Welt an Land kennen zu lernen. Aber stellt euch vor, dass alles unter Wasser wäre. Ich fänd’s toll. Also mach bitte weiter so, liebe Menschenfamilie. Mike hat es euch erzählt. Altenburg lag schon einmal am Meer. Worauf wartet ihr!? Volle Kraft voraus!
Bei voller Kraft voraus sind volle Wasser nicht zu vermeiden. Was kümmert es euch!?
Bei voller Kraft voraus sind volle Wasser nicht zu vermeiden. Was kümmert es euch!?
Die Wasser sind nicht menschenleer.
Leinen los, meine liebe Menschenfamilie. Macht die Schotten dicht. Schottet euch ab!
Bildet Inseln, die werden untergehen. Das Wasser sucht sich seinen Weg.
Dream Big, Dream Strong:
'Dream Big, Dream Strong' was written originally for the cabaret Der Neue Mensch (The new Human) but it seemed so apt for episode 3 of the podcast 'Stadt(t)räume & Zukunft / City dreams and futures', so in it went!
The Brief : Schlager-esque (1950's German pop-music genre, positive and sentimental style, a sweet kind of romance). To be sung in English, but it needs to be very simple, accessible language.
Voice and piano: Rosanna Ter-Berg
Two Short Audio Plays:
Unexpectedly, an audio play landed on my desk at the start of the week with exact instructions of the audio needed. This was my first experience of sound design and foley. These two short audio plays book-end episode 3 of the podcast 'Stadt(t)räume & Zukunft/city dreams and future'.
Part 1: Marko crashes his car in Altenburg, the mermaid Meluzine appears and takes him on a tour of the city.
Part 2: Marko returns back to his car, escorted by Meluzine. She disappears. He wonders if it was all a dream...?
All sounds, production, mixing by Rosanna Ter-Berg.
Text by Marko Kruppe
Performed (in German) by Marko Kruppe and Ilana Reynolds.
Meluzine’s Farewell Shanty:
A final 'farewell' from the mermaid Meluzine who appeared throughout the community project. She's seen and heard throughout in the podcasts, documentary, on the local news and in person at the market square. She even got an actual ice cream especially made for her by a local gelato maker!
Production and direction: Rosanna Ter-Berg
Lyrics and performance: Ilana Reynolds
Accordion: Alan Bern
Lyrics:
I come from a far away land below, a-ho a-ho a-hoi
It is the sea I call my home, and it is where I'll die
a-ho a-ho a-holi-lo a-ho a-ho a-hoi
a-ho a-ho a-holi-lo and it is where I'll die
The sailors that come within my reach, I'll lure them to the sea
I take them under my fin, and swim, and sing them to sleep
a-ho a-ho a-holi-lo a-ho a-ho a-hoi
a-ho a-ho a-holi-lo and sing them to sleep
The sea is a place of mystery and much diversity
We come from it's ebb and flow, and you are part of thee
a-ho a-ho a-holi-lo a-ho a-ho a-hoi
a-ho a-ho a-holi-lo and you are part of thee
I ask you all to stand up high and make your voices heard
The sea, you sea, it must survive or else you will all die
a-ho a-ho a-holi-lo a-ho a-ho a-hoi
a-ho a-ho a-holi-lo or else you will all die
Short videos & clay animation
I worked with the clay-animator Dirk Hornschuch to create the sounds for some short animations to be used in a documentary. Here are some examples (more to come):