From Forest Sounds to Poppet’s Soundtrack: Making the Music of The Big One Hundred

What does an ancient forest sound like? And what might those sounds become when they’re transformed into music for a giant, curious creature?

For The Big One Hundred, composer and puppeteer Peter Twose looked to the landscape of Ashdown Forest itself for inspiration, drawing on the sounds of its wildlife, from Nightjars and Adders to the footsteps of people moving through the heathland. Working alongside the puppeteers throughout rehearsals, Peter created a score that could evolve with Poppet as she discovered her movements, character and place in the world.

In this guest blog, Peter takes us behind the music, sharing how the sounds of the forest became the soundtrack to Poppet’s journey from a mysterious, emerging creature to the fully formed character audiences have come to meet.

“Where do you start when approaching making a score for an abstract, amorphous, evolving purple creature? From the original source of inspiration of course! Poppet began with the stimuli that the Ashdown Forest Heathland provided and so that felt a natural jumping off point. I thought that the animals that benefit from that very specific landscape such as Nightjars and Adders and butterflies could provide not only some of the visual language but also the musical. I started with various recordings of Nightjar song and one in particular, a mating call, which I then pitched down 24 semi tones and that gave me the tempo to begin composing to.

I wanted to compose using mainly acoustic sample instruments that wouldn’t feel too out of place in a natural setting. Marimbas and other mallet instruments were used along with wind chimes and flutes. Acoustic hand drums would provide dynamic shifts, extremely slowed down bird calls could be kick drum patterns and then field recordings of footsteps through the forest could be used as percussion. The hiss of an adder could be a riser or cymbal and heavy synth bass would be introduced later as Poppet began to gather herself and her power.

I wanted to create polyrhythmic melodies that evoked the feeling of being outside at dawn and hearing birdsong from many sources all around you, interweaving and clashing and complimenting. The challenge was that each stage of Poppet’s evolution would need its own flavour, that could last for a variable amount of time, that would feel a part of the score as a whole and could be moved on from at any point in its duration. To help with this I had various musical ideas that would appear, leave and then reappear later in the piece. The performers were using their mouths to create sounds that helped Poppet to communicate with the audience and the performers with each other and so it was important to me that the score would complement these.

I was composing during rehearsals whilst watching the performers discover and create Poppet’s movements and characters under the guidance of Laura Cubit. This was such a great way of being able to try different ideas and vibes to see if they complimented the physical work, develop them if they did, discard them if not. We wanted music that could inform and support the puppetry but not lead or dominate or lock down the physical. For that reason I tried to stay away from any clear rhythmical elements, or at least, only sit with them for a moment or two before letting them go. Near the end of the process I instinctively thought that we might need something joyful sounding to contrast with the moods we’d created so far. That became the underscore of the eating/feeding phase of Poppet which helped that feel celebratory and fun and not scary to any little ones helping.

Finally, we finish with a piece of music that sounds serene and calm, happy and curious, supporting the feeling that Poppet is now fully formed. Initially reversed and pitched down (for when Poppet is in a brief gestation phase) it then reveals its true self at the same moment Poppet does so. It incorporates musical ideas not heard since the very beginning so that when Poppet leaves us we are left with the feeling that something has been resolved and is at peace.”