Hush in the Hall

Moving from Oregon to Maine has kept me away from my music for many months (including a whole lot of projects fixing up our 200-year-old house); however, I recently and finally got my creative studio set up again… which is a very good thing, because some musical passages have been clamoring to get out.

For quite a long time I have been inspired by “Arrival of the Birds” by Swinscoe and Smith, as well as Wygens’ theme song for “Escape to the Country.” And since I have just made such an escape, the timing for this song felt just right. These works are similar to one another in being cinematic, appealing to broadly sweeping and swelling development.

Given that classical feel, and no pressing topic about which to write that might involve a classical or operatic theme, on a whim I wrote the lyrics based on the descriptions of what I was getting the music to do (e.g., “pizzicato cello,” “melody in high violins,” and so on)… only poeticized (timpani isn’t just prompted or played, but rather it “rolls like thunder in the distance”).

There were a number of challenges with this song, such as writing the scores to play some of the parts through Muse Score (like the timpani and glockenspiel and the primary melodies and so forth).

The climax/apex (i.e., “dynamic swells on wide chords, bright chords burning...”) is one of my favorite parts, as it strikes me sensorily and emotionally. I am quite taken with it, and was intensely determined to preserve that passage as soon as it decided to make itself known to me. I feel like I have heard similar types of music, but I am not able to remember anything specific.

There are still some small bits here and there with which I am not entirely content, so I will tinker after the immediate familiarity wears off. But largely I am very, very happy with this song.

[March, 2026]

Lyrics

Hush in the hall…

pizzicato cello

staccato strings in the dark

low brass drones beneath a trembling heart

legato violins and lone viola breathe in slow

rising brass floats up from velvet shadows down below

timpani rolls like thunder in the distance

snare hits lock in…

heartbeat persistence

melody in high violins

woodwinds trace a steady quarter cello

bass line pacing

contrapuntal lines weave textures warm and tight

low brass accents hum in your bones tonight

dynamic swells on wide chords, bright chords burning

rising brass

the whole room turning

glockenspiel sparks on every peak

snare on 2 and 4…

the crowd can’t speak

orchestra flies all in

no hesitation

violins soaring over a lush foundation

upper strings in a blazing crescendo

timpani fire

brass in innuendo

first violin answers the cello’s call

motifs collide,

then rise and fall

woodwinds double the sky-high theme

rhythm section driving vivid dreams

staccato ostinato turns to a wave

(tremolo ostinato turns to a wave)

tremolo strings

brass bold and brave!

glockenspiel glissando on the last refrain

every chord a spark in the pouring rain

sustained low brass

eyelids closing…

string tremolo slowly decomposing

upper strings hold the final chord

then fade…

to silence

hush in the hall