So although I was locked into the quartet, I was liberated as well. It was a great experience, a true collaboration between myself and the director. Peter usually worked from my pre-existing music. He also loves the challenge of the film-making and composing process running in tandem together, like John Cage and Merce Cunningham working on the same piece simultaneously. The one film of Peter's that was finished before I wrote the music was Drowning by Numbers , and Peter thinks it suffers because of that.
Music enables a filmmaker to extend a visual sequence beyond the limits of extendability.
Had Peter had the music prior to shooting, he would have made certain sequences longer, because music will make them more bearable. Yes, I write everything at the piano. I like the idea whereby an instrument can be percussive at one moment, lyric at another, carrying the melody at one point, and suddenly becoming the rhythm section. Since my music evolves directly from my piano playing, I think more in terms of attack, dynamics, and articulation rather than how tone colors sound. That was Christopher's idea.