Loz Kaye - Recording Session With Guo Yue.

On Tuesday it was finally time for the recording session with Yue of his contributions to the music for the show. Right from the outset when Alison, Bob and I met Yue and Clare we were all agreed that the flute playing of the Little Leap Forward character should be done be Yue. Apart from anything, despite my attempts on wind instruments on everything from the Slovak fujara to the euphonium I would not say that playing the Chinese bamboo flute is one of my skills. It seemed most fitting that it should be Yue- after all the play and book are based on his life, and Clare explained there is something very characteristic about his playing, a sense of freedom, fluidity and spontaneity that is unique.

I had been looking forward to this for a while, but was a little nervous too, we had one shot to get what the show needed. There had already been quite a lengthy exchange of emails setting out what we felt we needed for the show and how we work, and reflections from Clare and Yue. And some very helpful advice on types of flutes. He carries a case with a whole family of different sized flutes. So now it was reality rather than theory, and Yue picked me up from the station in leafy Richmond.

The destination was Chris Bemand's studio just outside Richmond which Yue describes as a 'shed'. Sure enough from the outside Chris' studio is in the backgarden of an ordinary house and does look like a rather generous sized place to store gardening equipment. But inside, Tardis like, it contains an impressive array of computers, screens, mixing equipment and so forth.

Chris and Yue work together a lot so that makes the whole process easier. We started out with coffee and tea and just chatted about music for a while. Yue's enthusiasm is infectious and he is generous with his praise. Whilst talking about some of my ideas he responded eagerly 'Very good, very good! Very beautiful!' Chris and I discussed composition, he does a lot of TV which has even stricter boundaries and requirements than theatre. We looked at one of his cartoons on Youtube, and he explained how often in animation you have to change mood second by second. I felt my 30 second blocks to fill for Little Leap Forward are positively luxurious suddenly.

Down to business, and Yue went off in to the recording booth, apparently made out of conservatory doors. The first track to lay down was the sound of a tiny little flute to represent the singing of the bird Little Cloud. In fact the flute was so tiny that it disappeared completely in to his hands while he was playing it. It was this flute that was the original inspiration for the book, so it is fitting that we include it in the soundtrack. Also Alison and I agreed that it is easier to accept a musical sound rather than a sound effect as the voice of a puppet bird. Yue produced a symphony of twitters, chirps and trills.

My only angst about this now is that it needs to be the sound that attracts the Little Leap Forward character in the show to the bird for the story to work. At the moment in the script it says 'her song is incredibly beautiful'. My heart always sinks at stage directions like that, because you have a tall order to live up to, suddenly the sound carries the full weight of the narrative. But I am always up for a challenge.

The next section threw up its own type of challenge, a sequence representing the young Little Leap Forward learning to play the flute. We discussed that we couldn't be too literal about the first stages of starting to play an instrument. Anyone who has been through that knows how excrutiating it can be! There was also the question of what the material should be, I was clear that it should be a revolutionary tune, rather than a traditional one, as this section dovetails in to filmed sequences of red guards and propaganda in the show. We hit on a structure of a tune repeated three times, starting slowly at first and rather breathily, then growing in confidence and elaboration as it went on.

Finally we recorded a sequence for the end of the show, a melody that is described as 'a song from the heart' in the script. This took a while to get to - with Yue taking various pauses to focus and get 'in to the zone' running through the music in his mind. Once the right instrument was found his playing did indeed soar freely, a sound version of all the pictures painted so vividly in the book which is the inspiration for the show. All in all, a great session, and a joy to work with such a talented artist.

Loz Kaye