Final Project!!

For my final I had to design sound for the show 'Legends'.
What made this specific project difficult was the fact that there was no initial script and the cast had to develop one within the rehearsal process.
After a few meetings it became clear that there were gonna be two definitive settings: an urban one and one that had to do with each specific legend. The director asked specifically for sounds that could help paint each setting as there were no major scenic shifts.
At this point we decided that each urban setting should have traffic and such city scape ambient sounds flowing through the scene. This was the easiest part to build.
When it came time to find an ambient sound for the legends, I went blank. But then i just started searching freesound and all those web sites for different tribal/ african sounds that I thought might lead me in a more narrow direction.
In these searches I came across the Kalimba and absolutely fell in love. The sound that this specific instrument made was perfect for transforming an audience into a fairytale type of place.
So having this specific sound in mind I then searched for songs for this instrument. I came across some, but not necessarily enough to be ambient for the seven legends.
It was in a youtube search that I actually found all the ambient tracks that were perfect for the legends. Some were made by the Kalimba and the others by similar instruments.
It is hard to explain how I chose each ambient track for the legends, but basically when I listened to the tracks I tuned into what emotions the music evoked from me and married that to the emotions we wanted each legend to evoke from the audience.
In the end i felt as though it was a great success as the actors as well as the audience felt completely transformed with the music and said it added a deeper dimension to the entire story.
I also felt that I gave the director what she wanted in terms of sound that reinforced the acting and that did not detract from the major action on stage.