Great Learning Orchestra’s third Texas Chainsaw Massacre congregation took place in Studio B of SAMI; Swedish Artists’ and Musicians’ Interest Group, one story down in the rock at Döbelnsgatan 3, Stockholm. The musicians crammed in there, despite the limited floor space, because this was the best of the studios available for the night, when much was going on in the building, with a jazz concert happening three stories down, in the very spacious studio that The Great Learning Orchestra has been spoiled with during many preceding rehearsals and workshops.

After some rearrangement of furniture we all found an acceptable place around the walls. I placed the microphones and got my Edirol going, and Peter Bryngelsson was already lecturing on the Anxiety Package when I started recording, defining a drone starting with Murder 1, which, incidentally, is tuned to F sharp! However, when the girl gets slaughtered, the drone jacks up to C, and Bryngelsson went on defining the drone to D by the time of Murder 3!

Peter Bryngelsson also conveyed some concerns that the people in charge at the Culture House of Stockholm had expressed to him. They had to do with security measures and means of ventilation concerning the chainsaws. They were a bit apprehensive about the build-up of smoke, and urged the Great Learning Orchestra to run the chainsaws on environmentally acceptable gasoline. They also jumped some at Pelle Halvarsson’s idea of sawing into animal bones and meat on stage. The Culture House leadership pointed out the risk of splinters that might fan out across the stage and eventually cause harm to the players as well as the audience, which the members present in Studio B all agreed were real concerns, to be thoroughly checked before the concert on 9 June. Sawing in wood was considered harmless, though, leaving only sawdust as a side effect. It was however decided that the odor of old meat being cut with chainsaws was something the attendants would have to put up with. The line was drawn at the risk of bodily harm, such as dangerously flying bone splinters.

An idea was raised to use soy beef to saw into, but that vegetarian approach was rejected with force (and laughter!)

The leader of the chainsaw pack was not present during this rehearsal, and hadn’t been around at the preceding two meets either, but he is a guy that used to work as a musician, and who has since changed over into forestry work. This coming concert is his one and only (I would assume) chance to combine his two professions!

Peter Bryngelsson had other duties and left before the actual rehearsal started. Pelle Halvarsson began the rehearsals, getting into the Sounds of Violence of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre…

He brought some score sheets that he handed out. Peter Bryngelsson, Leif Jordansson and Pelle Halvarsson hade split the film into three sections, which they transcribed, respectively. Pelle explained that his section starts at the point in the film when the guy in the wheelchair gets sawed apart. This part is preceded by the sound of cicadas. That section is called Night Falls. It contains a lot of percussion, a cello and a Theremin, which Pelle will play. Therefore he didn’t bring his cello on this night of 29th May. The cello will be played by Peter Schuback at the concert.
Peter Schuback is said to be very happy to participate in the Texas Chainsaw Massacre concert, since he has had ideas of his own to write an opera based of this movie.
Pelle Halvarsson also brought the Gas Station part for the orchestra, since that scene also belongs to Pelle’s section of the transcription.

A reading of the Night Falls part proceeded. Night Falls and Gas Station has a score duration of about 14 minutes, while the actual scenes of the movie are longer. Night Falls is directly followed by Gas Station. Night Falls has a duration in the score of 8 minutes 30 seconds. The scream of Night Falls reaches a bit into the Gas Station part.

Pelle described a kind of falling tones in Night Falls, which he has scored for high and low strings. The Theremin belongs there too, in those long, lasting glissandi, going on for several minutes. Percussion also blends in, and the wind instruments play a nice F sharp a few times, in unison, a strong as the players manage, representing the honking car horn in the movie. Pelle said that even though the cicada section in the movie is short, he wants it to be longer in the concert. The three first minutes of Pelle’s part are therefore similar. Then comes the Moog chugging, representing the generator in the movie. Franklin in the wheelchair is then sliced by Leatherface, using his chainsaw. A lot of playing directly on piano strings kicks in, plus electric guitar with effects. Pelle explained that he’d placed piano and electric guitars together, as effects, and told the present electric basses to join the guitars. The wind instruments are to mimic animal sounds, while the woman screams. Franklin (being cut up) is to shout twice, and heavy percussion keeps on keeping on. The woman is being chased (in the movie) and there are clinking sounds and tiny effects, while the Theremin comes in to embellish… In minute no. 6 the sounds suddenly stop. In the film this is when the woman enters the house. Pelle noted that the orchestra had to get a door to saw into at this stage. Howls come in violins and cello. They’re in unison. Some nice a creaking is heard when the woman discovers the people sitting up there; Grandpa and his wife! The tingling of glass is heard, and then the chainsaw gears up. Pelle informed us that he had scored the wind instruments for a “bass murmur”, i.e. very low wind tones, as low as possible, and the strings play their glissandi, the piano participates, and percussion with all big sheets of steel and such – and it ends after 8 and a half minute, sharp, and then the orchestra goes straight into the Gas Station section. The woman screams, but things calm down some after 10 minutes. Country music is heard. George Kentros will do the radio voice at the concert. He gives a weather forecast and talks about how body parts have been stolen from the cemetery. A lot of rattle instruments (for example so-called eggs) are needed here. Pelle asked everyone who owned such a percussion instrument to bring it. These rattling instruments represent the grill that sounds stronger and stronger, and in the movie you see close-ups of old thumbs, while the woman’s breathing is closely miked. This keeps on for a good while. Another C/W tune appears, some bouncing is going on, and there is some sort of interplay between the woman’s calls and percussion in minute 3 of the Gas Station section. There are some saliva sounds; sounds of fat dripping, closely miked wind instruments just making extraneous sounds. The rattling sounds (of the so-called eggs) fade out, succeeded by crickets and country and western music, plus muted groans, like you had a piece of cloth in your mouth.

Leatherface’s pig sounds emerge. Pelle Halvarsson explains that the music isn’t quite in time with the film, i.e., not quite in sequence, and the film sequence is, as he said before, longer than the music section that represents it. Electric guitars appear. There is some drilling in rock to be executed on stage in this phase. High-pitch saxophones will do the sounds of barnyard fowl and exhilarating pig sounds.
Five minutes into Gas Station there is anxiety and high strings again, in unison, plus nice squeaking that keeps up. Then everything dies down, and a cello solo represents a fly…

After this thorough reading, the attending orchestra members tried playing through the sections. Someone had brought some little gadgets that made continuous cricket sounds, and some very inventive percussion “instruments” were brought into the studio, such as empty cookie jars etcetera.

Leif Jordansson marked the durations for the orchestra to be able to synchronize. Great Learning Orchestra commenced from the very beginning, with Visiting the Cemetery, which hade been rehearsed one week earlier, on board M/S Svalbard in the Hammarby North Harbor. Some extra instructions were provided the players that hadn’t been present aboard Svalbard.

Visiting the Cemetery was thus played through. Jonna Sandell offered some wonderfully scratchy, gnawing Malcolm Goldstein fiddle bowings! Jordansson called out the minutes. Cookie jar percussion sounded magnificent. The cricket boxes provided a Southern atmosphere. Downwards wind glissandi hovered and dipped brutally!

Discussion followed; one of those fruitful Great Learning Orchestra deliberations that probably are unique for this orchestra.

Jordansson lead the orchestra through yet another Cemetery Visit, followed by another round of discussions. A rehearsal of the 25 seconds glissandi alone – at 2’30 of Visiting the Cemetery – was conducted, to really get it defined and chiseled.

The orchestra proceeded to play once more, beginning with pig sounds and the spasms of the dying Kirk kicking. Lily Bigestans called for Kirk who had disappeared, and the section unfolded beautifully and quite madly… Lisa Hansson called out the timings, while also imitating a hen successfully! Lily got into moaning and screaming insanely as if in great pain. Leatherface - Girilal Baars - joined in from across the studio with pig sounds, and later a hen mimicry, thus imitating a woman imitating a hen…

More discussions among the orchestra members were followed by a short break, spent upstairs – at street level – with coffee or wine.

Before the rehearsals picked up again, and as the orchestra seeped down into Studio B again in scattered groups, I had a discussion about Stravinskij and Ives in my left ear and a most wonderful piano improvisation by Nils Personne in my right.

Pelle Halvarsson hushed the crowd and called for a play-through of Night Falls. First he guided us through the plot of the section of the movie.

Jonna’s dry, scratchy violin and the brutal car horn honks in the wind kicked the section off brilliantly. Jordansson gave the timings this time around. The play-through passed the place in the score where Leatherface cuts up Franklin in the wheel chair, and the female screaming began. Lily Bigestans made the most incredible vocal efforts. She partly works as a cartoon vocalist for animated films, so she has a lot of extraneous practice – and she enjoyed this! Lisa Hansson joined with yet another woman, and the female screaming choir was complete.

The SAMI staff that happened by the studio door – which wasn’t fully closed – grew startled looks on their faces…

The last part rehearsed was Gas Station. In this part the woman is put into a sack, which is why she is supposed to sound more muffled. Gas Station takes 12 minutes of film, but Halvarsson has compressed the music to 6 minutes. Pelle H. told everybody not to be startled at the indication “anxiety” in the Gas Station score. For the screamers he had a special sob-scream instruction. This section also harbors a radio voice and country music.

Pelle Halvarsson demonstrated some extremely grouchy sounds achieved by pressing the violin bow onto the back of Jonna’s violin.

Gas Station hit it off famously, although the country music had to be imagined. The saliva sounds were ample, though, as were sobs!

It was a night of joyful horror and pleasant pain all around in Studio B with The Great Learning Orchestra at the third Texas Chainsaw Massacre rehearsal!