“HAPPY DAYS”, a light-hearted musical theater piece performed by The McLean Mix from 1996-2000, had its inspiration from Barton McLean’s fascination with music boxes.  While living in Austin, Texas and directing the University of Texas Electronic Music Center (1976-83), McLean had recorded some of the sounds from a huge collection of antique music boxes a neighbor and fellow musician, Richard Blair, had collected in his house.  Then in the early 1990s, McLean came upon a set of small brass music boxes sold at a Hallmark gift store in Bennington, Vermont that were hand-sized and malleable.  He purchased the entire collection immediately.  McLean then began the composing process, stating, “As I worked with the material, combining the looped melodies from the boxes (including “Happy Days are Here Again”) with others I had already recorded on a digital sampler, I felt the need for more depth of timbre.”  Next to the McLean music studio is a large closet filled with instruments and sound makers, including the party horns and Happy Apple, a Fisher toy chime, used along with the music boxes.

Priscilla McLean takes the role of a clown happily playing with the boxes, actually organizing them to perform and stop at the music score’s exact bidding, a difficult and humorous task.  Halfway through the piece she becomes a music box herself, and later a conductor of two opposing beat structures at once— a Chaplinesque rendition guaranteed to make anyone smile.

Music boxes are played live and captured with a mic. Prophet 2000 samples of music boxes also employed.  Recording was made live at Engine 27 in New York City. Score is readable but probably not performable due to lack of principal instruments.

 

Happy Days is recorded on CRI CD 846,  released in 6/2000 and is now available online through New World Records.

Happy Days is © and ℗ 1996 Barton McLean