finishing the hat
This was probably one of the first instrumentals I made where I took a lot of liberties - adding new melodies, adding new instruments that weren’t previously there, and changing the ending completely. Sondheim is always the most fun to experiment with.
“Finishing the Hat” to me sounds like pure hypnotic tranquility, which of course is what Sondheim was trying to go for. And as far as tranquility is concerned, nothing is more serene making to me than a piece by Thomas Newman, so I definitely wanted to find a way to bring him into the mix.
When I was playing Hogwarts Legacy - okay, SUE ME - there was a particular piece made for the game that really caught my attention. It’s a piece called “Coastal Vivarium” that plays in The Room of Requirement after you gain access to a sea side habitat for some of your little animals that you rescue throughout the game. It is just STUNNING. And it immediately reminded me of Thomas Newman. But the best of Thomas Newman in my opinion is his real downtempo stuff - I’m thinking American Beauty and Finding Nemo and Shawshank Redemption. This piece had a little bit more movement to it with the harp and the mandolin. “Finishing the Hat” for all it’s rocking and soothing flow also has a bit of a drive to it. So “Coastal Vivarium” was a great piece to ween some inspo from.
What came out was something that to me feels like floating. Some atmospheric synths, some added marimba and vibraphone moments, and some really playful and bittersweet moments with the winds.
One of the benefits of getting to play around with these pieces I love so much is that I’m not beholden to the musicals they come from. Meaning, if I want to add an extended 45 second outro or new instrumental bits, I don’t have to worry about them slowing down the pacing of the musical or drowning out the poor actor onstage who would now have to be competing with a nearly 40 piece orchestra. Since the ending of “Finishing the Hat” has always felt so abrupt to me, I wanted to give it a chance to breathe a bit in the end. Hence the big build up to the psyche out ending. The effect that I was trying to go for was tension tension tension, building up to a summit, crashing, and then the pieces of this metaphoric whatever all just sort of shatter and scatter and float away into the atmosphere in slow motion. I think I got pretty close to that desired effect! It’s one of my favorites to listen to.