DANNY ELFMAN COMPOSER & MUSICIAN

Born May 29, 1953 Grew up in LA, California Mother was a novelist, Father was a teacher After staying in Europe in his teens Elfman and his brother started a band named the Mystic Knights of Oingo Boingo in the 1970’s Elfman sang vocals, played guitar, trombone, and percussion DANNY ELMAN

OINGO BOINGO

PEEWEE’S BIG ADVENTURE It just so happened that Tim Burton was a fan of the band Oingo Boingo. In 1985 he called Danny Elfman and asked him to score his film Peewee’s Big Adventure. Elfman was not very good at reading and writing music so he was worried about composing for a film. With the help of a friend and “pounding out” music on the piano Elman was able to create his first score. The relationship with Burton would not end on this first film. Elfman went on to create countless pieces to coincide with Burton’s creations.

DANNY ELFMAN AND TIM BURTON Elfman has scored all but two films that Tim Burton has produced, Sweeny Todd and Ed Wood He has been magically adding whimsical and creepy sound to fantastic movies such as The Nightmare Before Christmas The Corpse Bride Sleepy Hollow Batman Beetle Juice Edward Scissorhands

EDWARD SCISSORHANDS Edward Scissorhands has been a personal favorite of mine since I was a teenager. Although the movie is inspiring and so different the music in the film really develops another layer to the film and allows the viewer to be pulled into the emotions and events that take place. Below is a listening guide to a combination of the main theme and the ice dance composition. The piece was performed by the City of Prague Philharmonic group in 2008 as part of an album titled The Film Music of Danny Elfman. Edward Scissorhands Main Title/Ice Dance- composed by Danny Elfman and performed by the City of Prague Philharmonic orchestra 0:00 Bells begin to play the introduction into Edward’s world, the range is small 0:08 The strings begin to play a deeper melody to contrast the bells 0:15Choir begins to sing, the strings and bells continue to create a polyphonic texture 0:25 Tempo of violins increases, polyphonic texture continues 0:48 Brass, trumpets, play four single notes 1:00 Bells and violins continue to play in similar range but the choir increases and decreases creating repetition and contrast in the piece 1:06 Flutes join the choir increasing polyphonic texture 1:12 Choir ceases momentarily, bells and strings continue, pizzicato is used 1:18 Oboe begins in a soft range echoing the same form already created 1:35 Melody becomes allegro 1:45 Percussion joins in and creates a cadence 1:47 Choir regoins in soft repetition 2:10 Violins stop and only bells and vocals 2:23 Cadence to break from main theme to ice dance composition 2:26 Only a xylophone is played continuing the repetition from the theme song but in a higher scale 2:38 Violin plays allegro contrasting the choir 2:45-3:35 Pitch continues to increase 3:42 A second harmony is added within the choir 4:16 Flute introduces coda 4:26 Harp plays melody 4:41 Coda ends; all music fades out

SERENADA SCHIZOPHRANA Danny Elfman was approached to create his first piece of absolute music in 2005 by the American Composers Orchestra. While Elfman was excited to write a piece he found it constricting to create a piece without reference to a character or film. He named it after schizophrenia stating that the piece was a slice of his brain. The piece is composed of six movements. In order to create this piece he started by creating numerous short pieces of music and he little by little they grew and he would develop the ones that he liked. The piece is not meant to be a smooth composition but one full of contrast to represent his different ideas while writing it.

INSPIRATION As a teen Elfman always enjoyed going to the movies and listening to the music that brought the emotion to the film Composers that Elfman finds inspirational are: Ravel, Stravinsky, Orff, Tchaikovsky, and Philip Glass The Jazz of the 1920’s and 30’s are his favorite and continue to influence his music

WORKS CITED "Biography." IMDb. IMDb.com, Web. 07 May Chambers, Jeff. "RSFans' Favorite TV Theme Songs Pictures - 'The Simpsons' | Rolling Stone." Rolling Stone. N.p., 4 June Web. 08 May Elfman, Danny, and City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra. "The Film Music Of Danny Elfman." Rhapsody. Silva Screen Records, Web. 08 May Elfman, Danny. "Edward Scissorhands - Main Theme from the Motion Picture (feat. Dominik Hauser)." Rhapsody. N.p., July Web. 07 May Lustig, Jessica. "An Interview with Composer Danny Elfman." An Interview with Composer Danny Elfman. American Composers Orchestra, Web. 07 May "OINGO BOINGO." Progarchives.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 08 May Serenada Schizophrana. Danny Elfman, n.d. Web. 7 May