Duration: 11:18
Key: F minor
Subcollection: guitar pieces
Story sound clip: lion roar
I felt a lot of pressure when composing and recording this piece because it had to set the tone for the entire album and entice the listener into taking a two and a half our journey with me. Additionally, I wanted this to be a strong and memorable track on the album because it was "The Veldt" that led to my eventual engagement with The Illustrated Man. During my 9th grade English class at Rudyard High School, "The Veldt" appeared as a short story in a collection of readings. We read it as a class (thanks, Mrs Spencer!) and I enjoyed it very much. Then, about five years later, I was browsing Book World in Sault Ste Marie, MI, and picked up Bradbury's The Illustrated Man because I had recently read Fahrenheit 451. Upon opening the collection of short stories I recognized "The Veldt" and promptly purchased the book.
Music
Because of the importance of this particular piece of music with regard to the album as a whole, I put off recording it for two years. Eventually I stumbled upon the guitar chords and strumming pattern that would become the core of "The Veldt" and so set about recording it in the summer of 2006. However, I wanted an opening sequence to lead to the full music. My inspiration came from Pink Floyd's Wish You Were Here, which has those four great and haunting opening notes - if you don't know what I'm referring to, I recommend listening to the opening minutes of that album as soon as possible. For my album, I wanted to have a similar short sequence of notes that were somewhat haunting, memorable and primarily a call to listen. I sat with my guitar and at various pianos (and at one point asked my little brother for ideas) until, late one night at my grandparent's old piano, I found what I was looking for. (Ironically, the sequence of six notes that appear on the album is probably the simplest of the different varieties I was toying with.)
In order to firmly establish the sequence of notes -- Bb, Ab, Bb_C, Ab, F, G -- it appears in "The Veldt" a dozen times in its entirety, and over twenty times at least in part. The introduction of the notes by the panflute was originally conceived to be done with a cello sound. When this didn't work out, I then tried to play it on guitar but it didn't have the right mood. So I had to spend time learning to play the panflute with pitch-modulator, which is what ended up happening.
Story
As I read it, the story of "The Veldt" is about familial connections (or lack thereof) as exposed by technology and its intrusion into the family dynamics. More generally, in reading "The Veldt" I think about the way that so much technology exists as a medium for and often a barrier to genuine human interaction. To represent these ideas in sound, my musical thesis for this piece was to present natural sounding music that in the end is corrupted by technological sounds and instruments. I also wanted to have somewhat of an African plains feel and so listened quite a bit to the Diga Rhythm band and also went with my fiancée to her World Music class on a day in which they were discussing African music. I am not claiming to have provided authentic African music with "The Veldt", but I did incorporate the notion of establishing a rhythm and riding it for all its worth...repetition is nothing to be afraid of. I also made a concerted effort to use only "real" and recognizable instruments during the natural sections (e.g., panflute, guitar, harp, piano).
The idea behind the veiled rhythm and strumming at the beginning is that the children's true selves are hidden from the parents at that point - the parent think they know their children and their values, but this delusion is ripped away by the lions as the roar removes the veil from the music at 1:50. Coincidently, the lions do more ripping later in the story (and later in the music).
The piece ends by coming full circle to the opening notes being completely corrupted by a Synth Talk guitar.
Tidbits
The handdrum being played from 4:41 to 6:10 is actually a plastic cookie bowl that my then-fiancee (now wife) used to deliver sweets to the Upper Peninsula.
I was sitting on the family living room couch toying with palm-muting of the main chord progression and asked my brother if I should include it as a lead-in to the tech section. He said yes, so I did.
The double guitar solo in the tech section was inspired by John Frusciante and Omar Rodriguez-Lopez, who have done overlapping solos with one another on several occasions.
The techno-babble which enters at 8:30 was inspired by the Red Hot Chili Peppers' "Throw Away Your Television." (Apropos, I took them up on their advice for two academic years during the recording of this album and this definitely encouraged my academic and musical productivity as well as increased my face-to-face interactions with others.)
Composer Trademarks
(flirting secondary part) Flute behind the main flute at the beginning.
(meter/phrasing change-up) Descending chords at 5:12 and 5:58 compared to 6:46.
My Favorite Moments
Entry of the rhythm at 0:20.
The guitar line from 6:47 to 6:54.
The reemergence of the opening notes at 7:19 and the reemergence of the opening chords at 7:30.