June 1996
As in all movies and TV shows, music plays an enormous part in soap opera. At its best, music sets the mood and controls the momentum of a piece- all without our realizing it. Marty Davich is the composer on General Hospital and he was the music supervisor on Days of our Lives from 1980 to 1993. (Many of you DOOL fans remember him as “Marty the piano player” on that show). In addition to GH, Marty also does the music for ER, Beverly Hills 90210, and an occasional Movie of the Week.
When we shoot a soap opera, the actors don’t hear any music or sound effects. That’s all added later. The music supervisors watch as we shoot the show and get ideas about what the mood should be or perhaps, think of a popular number that they might incorporate. Then they take this information to the composer and together they create the music for the show.
“Sometimes we’ll use a certain song on a certain piece, like ‘Lady in Red’, says Marty. “Or a song in tribute, such as ‘Pretty Woman’, when Roy Orbison passed away.”
Sometimes the music on a soap can become a popular hit, like “Friends and Lovers”, by ex-DOOL’s Gloria Loring, and “All I Need” by GH’s Jack Wagner.
Almost all supercouples have their own theme songs which can be either familiar tunes, or perhaps something composed especially for them. “Sometimes I use bits of recognizable music and incorporate it into a piece I’m composing,” says Marty.
“In the Civil War storyline on DOOL, I sampled bits of authentic recognizable music such as ‘Dixie’, ‘Shenandoah’, and the ‘The Girl I Left Behind Me’ to give people the feel and flavor of the era.”
On a higher profile show, such as ER, you have far less freedom. There’s no room for experimentation and no margin for error. “That’s the wonderful thing about soap operas,” says Marty. “It’s a wonderful proving ground. Your music is on the air, the atmosphere is friendly, there’s room to explore, to try new things, even to make mistakes.”
I reminded Marty about the time on DOOL when we were shooting a club scene. We were all out dancing on the floor, whooping it up, dancing, snapping our fingers- you know, really getting into it. Because we’re actors, we’re expected to act and we don’t feel stupid doing all this in complete silence.
Well, I happened to tune into that episode when it aired a few weeks later and to my horror, Marty had neglected to add the music to that scene. There we were, boogying down, flailing and flinging, and whirling and dipping and dancing- in stony silence. I called Marty and reminded him that people usually dance to music!
“And that is another great thing about working on soap operas,” says Marty “They didn’t fire me for that one!”
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