Want Some Music for Your Spells?

by Daniel L Rappaport

Please read to the bottom, as there is a surprise!

“I don't make a particular distinction between 'high art' and 'low art.' Music is there for everybody. It's a river we can all put our cups into and drink it and be sustained by it.”

- John Williams

"Music soothes the savage beast and has the power to uplift and exalt.", said Lazul.

"What? This album a bunch of noise, as far as I'm concerned.", said a perturbed Morgana. "Woman! What is it now? Too many notes?", asked Kabire.

"It's derivative. Most human music is.", quipped back Morgana.

"Morgana, my friend. Your viewpoint is extremely limited. Go. Fly around Earth, and take a listen for yourself, at all of the music from the different countries.", said Grenadiya. "Uuuuggghhh! If I must!"

So, with The Spellbook, I have done something, actually, what I believe to be, quite groundbreaking. Well, at least, I have never seen it done before. I have integrated a musical soundtrack right into the Apple Book.

Please understand... This does not take away from your enjoyment of the material, but rather, is meant to enhance it, just like how it does in film, television and theme park mediums.

With all of the immersive technology at our fingertips, I always wondered why, for the most part, eBooks (and, for the rest of this article, I am going to lump Apple Books into this, as well) are just not all that media rich (for the most part).

I'm of the camp that eBooks can, and should be more media rich. Steve Jobs did an amazing job with iBooks Author, in this regard. Sadly, Tim Cook replaced iBooks Author with just Pages, and, to be quite honest, it isn't as good.

In terms of any decent software that Amazon has created for media rich eBooks, it, quite honestly (when compared to the Apple products), are a total joke, in and of themselves. Amazon should stay out of the software creation business and focus on e-commerce. It's just my personal opinion, but, it really is deplorable.

So, what does one do, to create media rich eBooks (that aren't Apple Books)? Well, at this point, I would have to recommend Adobe's InDesign.

Why?

It's been around long before eBooks were ever even a thought, and just remains king in the professional publishing industry. Nobody else can really touch it.

And, yes.... It has grown into the eBook market quite remarkably.

I mean... Use whatever software package you want. This is just my opinion, after being in this business for over twenty years.

But, getting back to the music...

I definitely approached the creation of the music in a narrative sense, as it is meant to be, but, also, from the standpoint of a film composer.

If you were to go here: https://pixiedustrecords.hearnow.com/the-spellbook-special-edition-soundtrack , and play the “Main Theme”, and then go here: https://youtu.be/j0YJZDPjrdg , and play this music, you will definitely hear a direct correlation.

I love, love, love music from the Renaissance. In fact, the Renaissance is one of my favorite periods in history.

It may come as no surprise that I highly revere Leonardo da Vinci, as I am a man of multi-talents as well. It’s a ton of fun!

Moving on…

Please go here: https://pixiedustrecords.hearnow.com/the-spellbook-special-edition-soundtrack , and play "The Spell from the Wizard Ariel".

Now, go here for a bit of Cirque du Soleil: https://youtu.be/bCpnyazy7D0 .

Again, you will be able to definitely hear the inspiration.

And so on, and so forth.

Exactly how the music is integrated into the Apple Book is through the magic of Keynote slideshows. This gives a beautiful, animated and media rich presentation.

Please enjoy!

_____________________ "Intriguing. I could've done much, much better!", complained Morgana. "But. You. Didn't!", said Kabire.

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