Performance cues and underscores

of the musical kind are part of a magician's repertoire. The music is as much a part of the entertainment as the illusion. Even in the earliest times a performer would have someone using music to help distract the audience at essential moments. 

The Senior Cat was very aware of the importance of music in the magician's repertoire. He was also aware of how difficult some magicians find it to build that sort of backing material for their performances. It was with that in mind he talked to someone who had an interest in theatre organs. He was then put in touch with someone else who performed regularly on both the organ in that theatre and on radio. 

Would this person be interested in developing some "music for magicians"? Could they work together on this? It was how the Senior Cat came to know someone else who died recently. 

The Senior Cat liked music but he was not musical. Does that make sense? He could, with difficulty, read the treble line and blow into a recorder. Mum would cover her ears. She was musical. Dad could not sing in tune. (I cannot sing in tune either but I know I cannot and there is a good reason for my not being able to do it.) At school dances Mum would warn the wife of the chairman of the School Committee (the chairman was always male back then) that the Senior Cat had "two left feet". Yes, he was that bad. It was a rather rotten family joke.

So how on earth did he manage to work with anyone on this? I came home on more than one occasion and there would be music issuing from the piano and "that car" would be parked outside. I knew B... was there and the two of them would be working on something. I would hear them discussing it. I would hear something be played faster or slower or with "more twiddly bits". I would hear it played up an octave or in a different key. 

"Got it!" "Yes that's it!" "What about this?" "How about we try this sort of..." and so it would go on. 

I would hear the Senior Cat saying, "Right...the patter goes like this and this is what I am doing....can you speed it up just a little...you're right that's even better..."

They worked well together. B... would give me a nod as I came in but he would not stop working until it was time to put the kettle on. I would make tea and leave them still talking. B...would take what he had recorded there away with him and make another recording in a studio somewhere. The result would be a tape for the Senior Cat and his fellow magicians to use.

It would all be done very differently now. Modern technology would make it much easier to use music from a wide variety of sources. It would not simply be a piano or theatre organ backing. There would be no tapes, not even a CD. 

I also suspect there would be many breaches of copyright. B... and the Senior Cat had permission for everything they used...and they worked for it.