Context
Deep Peace from Dickensian by Debbie Wiseman
Debbie Wiseman composed the music for BBC1 series, ‘Dickensian’, where characters from Dickens’ novels are brought together in a London drama.
Listen For
This music is very atmospheric and has echoes of the theme from ‘Schindler’s List’ (John Williams) which you can also listen to on the Inspiration page.
- Begins with a low-pitched double bass pedal note which sounds ominous and mysterious. This note continues until 00″43, when more accompanying strings are added in harmony.
- Listen to the intervals of the haunting violin solo: starts with a perfect 5th, then a perfect 4th and then a minor 3rd.
- Notice how the violin solo is played with vibrato (this adds expression to the music).
- At 00:43 the drum part enters, though only plays every 2 bars, on the first beat of the bar.
Q: What effect do you think the drum has on the atmosphere created in the music?
Things To Consider
- If you were asked to compose a dark, haunting musical score for the opening credits of a film, how would you use the musical ‘elements’ (pitch, rhythm, instrumentation, melody, harmony, texture etc)?
- How did the composer use the range of the violin throughout ‘Deep Peace’?