16 - Snakedance

Composer: Peter Howell
Director: Fiona Cumming

What's the score?
Peter Howell returns to provide music for the sequel to Kinda, which he worked on the previous year. There's a heavy reliance on atmospheres and diegetic music; in other parts of the score, Howell lets himself be guided by the narrative in his choice of sound. The score overall is unusually experimental, a departure from Howell's normal melodic style. Deep scraping synths and dry serpentine rattles are the order of the day.

Musical notes

• There are two prominent atmospheres in Snakedance; the first of them is the ambient sound of Dojjen's mountaintop retreat. It consists of wind and a sort of dry crystalline sound. It might initially be mistaken for the ambient sound used in the wind chime glade scenes in Kinda, but it isn't - in fact...
• Atmosphere number two is the glade sound. Curiously, it's heard in scenes in the lounge area of the Manussan palace. Is there any significance in the decision to musically connect the dreaming glade of the Kinda with the home of Manussa's bored royal family? The palace isn't the place in which the Mara enters the story this time, nor is it said to serve a particular function as the glade does. It's a bit of a stretch, but we might argue that the atmosphere stands for a kind of soporific quality in both environments that makes Tegan and Lon vulnerable or receptive to the Mara - Tegan by putting her to sleep, and Lon by frustrating him with idleness.
• The other major element of the incidental score is the music played by the band in the marketplace; several different tunes are heard during the course of the story. Although they're not named as such on screen, ancillary material (notably the track listing for Doctor Who - The Music) describes the players as a Janissary band. Time for a quick history lesson: the yeniçeri (or "New Soldiers") were a branch of the Ottoman Empire's armed forces, originally comprised of press-ganged prisoners of war, then of the conscripted children of conquered nations. They became the world's first salaried, uniformed, standing army, gaining in prestige and political power to the point that ambitious freeborn Turks started to enlist their sons in the Janissaries. They were also notable for their marching bands, which consisted of shrill shawms and horns, booming kettledrums and clashing cymbals - essentially the combination of sounds Howell uses in the market scenes. The way it was told to me by a wise percussionist Dojjen, the hammering and crashing of the Janissary band was used as a form of psychological warfare, which would make the choice of this musical style particularly appropriate for this story.
• One other piece of (presumably) diegetic music features during the dinner party in Part Two, while Ambril is boring Tanha with his display of antiquities. It's a lovely off-kilter slow waltz in plucked and bowed string sounds.
• Other cues are clearly influenced by what's happening on screen. Scenes of the various Mind's Eye crystals glowing with psychic energy are accompanied by an appropriately crystalline sound, something like a sustained note on a glass harmonica. Clashing swords are heard in the Part Three cliffhanger, when the Doctor and friends are menaced by armed guards. The standout cues, however, are those that play during Tegan's nightmare in Part One and when the Mara finally manifests through her in Part Four - a blend of distorted screams and roars with a scattering of weird vocal samples. It's freaky stuff.

Vox pop
This score's a real tour de force for Peter Howell, thoroughly exploring the ways in which incidental music can supplement a story. Although there are some beautiful bits in it, there's no way it could ever be described as "easy listening" (uneasy, certainly), but it's a superb soundtrack to the TV episodes.

Availability

• The BBC DVD release includes the full isolated score as an audio option.
• Doctor Who - The Music included one track from this story: "Janissary Band". It's specifically the music that the band play in Part Four during their procession to the Mara's cave.