For each of the main characters, I have decided to compose a theme for each of them, which will be used in the story to break up the story into each thirds. One for each respective character, with each third taking place from the perspective of each character (Excluding chapter 4 in which the narrator is absent and the scene is instead acted).
For Emeline’s Theme, I decided for to also act as the opening piece, so it also becomes the theme for the whole story. The instruments I used were Acoustic guitar and Harmonica, with a distorted acoustic as a lead guitar. I wanted this to be as close to a grand western theme as possible so I used many of the traits of Ennio Morricone’s western themes, such as the Spanish influenced guitar making use of the Phyrigian Mode (A minor Harmonic Minor) and the harmonica (as used in the Once Upon a Time in the West Theme).
For Jacks theme, I wanted to stray further from the conventions of the western, genre but still maintain some familiarity. I decided to 7/8 time to make it a bit more interesting than another tune in 4/4. I also made use of the fretless electric slide guitar I built last summer which I feel keeps the western aesthetic consistent within the theme.
For Celeste’s theme, I have decided to make in the style of an old-time banjo ballad. For this, I also used an alternate Banjo Tuning (triple C: gCGCC) to pay homage to one of my favourite old-time folk songs, Darling Cora, which uses this tuning to create an almost droney effect with the three C strings. I also used the acoustic guitar, harmonica and my whistling to maintain a sound that fits with the rest of the music.