Above is a musical accompaniment, “Dragonheart,” meant to parallel the dramatic structure, intensity, and style of “Protector of the Two Worlds,” a book currently in progress at Written Out Loud. I had some time to talk with William Padera, the wonderful story director responsible for arranging this piece, and he had this to say about his creative endeavor:
“There are actual staves of sheet music in the book as an important element of the story. I used the themes I composed for the music in the book and expanded upon them to create a fully formed piece of music.While it is not a direct one-to-one translation of the book's scenes into music, careful listeners will find that the arc of the story and the arc of the book are similar.
Because of the nature of storytelling, authors can't always include every idea they have. We wanted to represent the ideas that played important roles in our process, so “Dragonheart” is also informed by the ideas that built Protector of the Two Worlds but didn't make the final cut!”
The book, written by Noah Beck, Caitlyn Cai, Madeline Hayston, Oliver Hing, and Kush Patel, follows Ming Hong, a young Chinese girl, as she navigates an American school for "delinquent" children. While there, she meets Ms. Aisha, the musical director, and is soon ushered into the realm of dragons where she learns just how powerful - and dangerous - the magic of music can be...
Enjoy!
