Demos
- Amanda Riddell
- 2 days ago
- 1 min read
For those who aren't showbiz people: demo is short for demonstration (seems obvious). What that means is that, in musicals, we literally have to demo the songs to the cast in some way (Rodgers usually whistled). I used synth for my early shows. It's simply part of the process, and it's a pretty effective process that still rakes in billions. - In mainstream new music, the composer writes something, the ensemble reads it, and that's the end of the story. They don't rehearse a new piece for weeks or months like we do. So, instead of what's essentially a very closed loop of a composer's thoughts being faithfully executed for a premiere, musicals are constantly re-iterating until opening and often change a lot. The Perfumed Garden demos sound great, but they're not an end point. They're not real: just the cutting edge of synth and human feeling. It'll be better with lyrics on stage, and I'm saying that as someone that has never really loved stage shows as shows. Love the scores, love the best ones, but there's so much dreck.