original song list (subject to change)

(but I probably won't change it very much)

1. Possible Intro, arranged for a capella over Bernard Hermann’s opening credits number.
2. Lunch Hour - the song Marion and Sam sing to one another as they grapple with their feelings and their situation.
3. Debate Song - the song Marion sings as she debates whether or not to steal the money from Lowry.
4. Dinner Song - Norman and Marion’s conversation over dinner. will likely incorporate a LOT of original dialogue into the lyrics.
5. Debate Song (Reprise)/Norman Finds Marion - the song Marion sings as she debates, once again, whether or not to return the money. This is cut short when she is stabbed; Norman sings briefly when he finds her.
6. Love Song - three parts - Sam to Marion, Lila to Marion, and Norman to Mrs. Bates. Perhaps think “Johanna (reprise)” from Sweeney Todd. Ends with Norman bodily removing his mother from her room and forcing her into the cellar.
7. Love Song (Reprise) - Lila’s reprise of the earlier piece, interspersed with singing or talking from Sam’s conversation with Norman. Ends with Lila discovering Mrs. Bates’ body.
8. Explanation Song - the psychiatrist explaining Norman’s condition to the police station. Ends with a variation on Mrs. Bates’ closing speech - “she wouldn’t even harm a fly,” etc. etc.
9. Possible finale to the same arrangement as the intro piece

original character outlines (subject to change)

MARION CRANE

Age: 28

General physical description: medium height, blonde, short hair, somewhat curvy, very pretty

Hometown: Phoenix - she and Lila live in the house they grew up in.

Type of home/neighborhood: lives with her sister in Phoenix (okay part of town, not great).

Relationship status: dating Sam Loomis. would like to marry him.

Current family: one sister, Lila, younger

Family background (parents, previous marriages, etc.): father absent, mother passed away while Marion was in college. before then, she was kind and intelligent, but also generally tired and not mentally present. spent most of their childhood supporting the two sisters on her own. provided a strong role model in that she was so independent, but didn’t push her kids a ton. Lila was the stronger-willed of the two, and pushed herself and Marion on her own. neither finished college, though - both ended up in day jobs.

original story outline (subject to change)

On Friday, December 11, in Phoenix, Arizona, Marion Crane is meeting her boyfriend, Sam Loomis, in a motel during her lunch hour. They have just finished having sex, and continue to flirt with one another as Marion gets dressed. Flirting, however, soon turns to lamenting their situation: the pair live in separate cities, and Sam is stuck paying off his debts. They grapple frustratedly with the situation, and with the idea of getting married on the little money that they have (“Lunch Hour”). Finally, just before Marion leaves, Sam declares that he loves her, and she returns his feelings.

Marion returns to the realtor’s office where she works as a secretary. Her boss, Lowry, has just finished making a big sale, and the older man who is his customer flirts with her shamelessly before turning over his payment - $40,000 - in cash. Marion’s boss orders her to place it in a safe-deposit box in the bank on her way home. Instead, however, she heads directly home. Turning the envelope of money over in her hands, she debates over whether to bring it to the bank or to steal it for herself and Sam so that they can get married (Debate Song). Finally, deciding that she and Sam deserve it, she begins to pack her bag to go and see him.

four days in

UPDATE: Listen to Lunch Hour here:



So I've been meaning to post again every single day since my last post, and every single day it hasn't happened. A lot of other things have, though, which I'll now talk about.

First of all, I've sort of discovered a rhythm. It's not quite as productive as I'd hoped it would be, but on the other hand (in other ways) it's a lot more productive than I expected it to be, which is nice. It goes like this:

9:30-11:30 (depending on the day) - get up
after that: exercise (running, yoga, gym, etc. - I've actually done one of these every single day since I got here, which is still a surprise to me.)
after that: shower/dress, and then go make some type of breakfast food. the time is usually between 11 and 1 at this point, and the meal counts as both breakfast and lunch.
after eating: clean up the kitchen in some capacity. I hadn't expected to spend a ton of time cleaning up the kitchen, but a lot of other people don't, which means it gets really gross, so my friends and I end up cleaning up a lot. this might sometimes happen after dinner, rather than lunch.
sometime around 2pm: start working! (I'll go into more detail below)
sometime around 6pm: stop working and start making dinner.

first post!

For the next 25 days, I will be turning Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho into a musical. Well, kind of. A script treatment and a handful of songs, actually - 7 or 8 if I'm lucky, 6 if I'm realistic. I got home today, around 5:30. Tomorrow will be the official Day One: mapping the plot through the songs (this involves rewatching the movie), creating backgrounds for all of the characters, and starting the script treatment. I'm not officially making myself start writing music until Thursday, although I already have the first verse and chorus of Lunch Hour (title subject to change, but I probably won't change it) reasonably fleshed out.

Anyway. More specifically, here are my goals for this month:

• Create a script treatment
• Compose 6-8 songs
• Chronicle everything 3-5 times a week on this blog (this includes stir-crazy, Oberlin-in-January thoughts as well as composer ones)
• (unlikely bonus goal:) Roughly record all of the songs that I compose. Bonus points if the recordings feature singers who aren't all me, and super bonus points if they feature instruments that aren't just piano.