Krankenwagen: A Siren Song

So about a month ago I got it into my head that I should try to write an orchestral piece for Berlin. And as of now, one month later, I believe I’ve succeeded, more or less. The result is a song called “Krankenwagen”, which was inspired by some of the sounds I’ve heard walking around Berlin: bike bells, trains, the clicking noise the walk signal makes, and of course that god-awful German ambulance siren.

My music-writing program does an automatic playback, which doesn’t sound too bad, all things considering. For this blog post, I’m attaching an MP3 of that, as well as a few notes explaining what I was thinking.

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Listen here >Krankenwagen.mp3

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Time: 0.0” -- This is what a German ambulance sounds like. I started with the siren, and then built the melody around it. Variations on this siren sound crop up throughout the song, although this opening one is exceptionally obnoxious. 

Time: 0.36” – Bike bells, played on glockenspiel.

 Time: 1.0” – This is supposed to be the sound of a S-Bahn or U-Bahn taking off, as heard from inside the train. The actual sound is considerably higher, but I liked the brassy glissando effect that you can only get from trombones. Anyway, setting it low made it easier to put a melody on top of it.

In all honesty, the only reason I added a glockenspiel to this song at all is because glockenspiel is a really stupidly German-sounding name for an instrument. I would have thrown an accordion in too, but I have no idea how to write for the accordion.

Anyway, it was a happy choice. In addition to being the bike bells, it creates a neat mechanical sort of effect here.  

Time: 2.04” – This is the ambulance theme again, just very rhythmically altered and set much lower. At around 2.26” the timpani comes in with the original rhythm.

Time: 3.40” --  Berlin looks very modern, except for when it doesn’t. You can be in a very newly-built looking area, all concrete and glass, and look across the street and see a church that, if not actually very old, at least looks it. This weird pseudo-churchy bit that comes out of nowhere in the middle of this very rhythmic song is a sort of nod to that.

Time: 4.19” – This is the sound the walk signs make when it’s safe to cross the street. I believe it’s so that blind people know when the light’s green. I started with this constant one-note pattern (glockenspiel again!) and then riffed off of it.

Time: 5.19” – Originally there was a melody here, which I didn’t like, so I got rid of it and just left the drum part. The only problem is that this playback is really wussy about dynamics. Basically, this should be played louder. 

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Hope you all enjoyed!