Q: Tell us how "The Fall" came about. Structure, theme, instrumentation, etc. Was it written for the show?
Did you perform all the parts? [Susan]A: The actual process of writing a piece of music is not only fairly impenetrable, but also not that interesting. The piece was written for the show. I played all the parts except for the violin, which was played by my long-time collaborator Andre Burke. I wanted the piece to feel like film soundtrack music with an underlying hip-hop influence, which I guess it sort of is.
It's so different than anything else in the show, and I think that the piece has gotten
better as it has aged, but through no fault of my own. After 50 episodes it becomes iconic and ritualized, and
hearing those hi-hats kick in is very satisfying by this point. But the first time we all looked at it against the
end of episode 1 as D'Angelo walks away under the trees, it didn't have that weight. I was surprised at the time that
David Simon and Bob Colesberry gave it the nod with few changes. I think Bob thought the electric piano was too
loud, and David wanted the strings to play less of the time, sort of thinning it out. That was pretty much it, and
it has been there since.I do remember that I initially tried a longer, sparse string intro that began as D'Angelo was in the crowd, about thirty seconds of music which built until the groove kicked in under the fade-out, but David and Bob were adamant that there should be "no score" in the show, even though putting music under a dramatic moment certainly heightens things. At the time I didn't really get that, but now I get it.
<< Back || Next>>