Rock 'n' Moses

Rock ’n’ Moses
an opera by Aryeh Har-Even

SNAPSHOT
Rock 'n' Moses is a full-length crossover opera that tells the biblical story of Israel in Egypt (1 hr 45 min not including intermission). Entirely sung, except for the show's host and a handful of supporting roles drawn from the chorus, the work is largely through-composed with a sprinkling of scenes in modified strophic song form. Brimming with snappy melodies and toe tapping rhythms, the music is a seamless mix of pop, rock, jazz, country, blues, funk, gospel, rap and classical styles.
The libretto bears a positive message of hope for humankind. (See “Reviews & Testimonials” on home page.) As far as biblical accuracy is concerned, in addition to working from the Bible, I have drawn extensively on ancient Jewish legends which are considered by scholars to be integral to the story. (See “Primary Research Sources” below.) Ultimately, whether one takes the story literally or not, to quote The Beatles, “A splendid time is guaranteed for all.”

A UNIQUE ONE-MAN PROJECT
One of the things that makes Rock 'n' Moses rather unique is how it ultimately remained a one-man project, from composition (book, music and libretto) through the “composer-does-it-all” reference recording (instruments, vocals, spoken character parts and studio production). See “A Brief History Of The Recording,” below, for more insight on how I recorded the show and why I ended up doing everything myself.

LOOKING TO THE FUTURE
My vision is to have a professional cast voice the characters in a film — live action, animated or live-action animated — accompanied by symphonic orchestra with an interwoven rock band. Of course, to see a grand opera company stage the work would a dream realized.

VIDEO
a short scene from the show

As Quiet As A Dormouse
I made the following video in the room I rented for many years in Manhattan’s Upper East Side. The reason for the earbuds was to not disturb the neighbors. My goal in making the video was to convey the possible tone of a stage or film production.

Once You Held It All (Let My People Go [Reprise]) (3:33)
The ninth plague, darkness, has come to an end. Moses and Aaron pass through the streets of Egypt on their way to Pharaoh's palace. The Egyptians show great respect for Moses as he makes his way, many joining him on his walk.

AUDIO
the composer-does-it-all recording

ACTS 1, 2, 3 ON YOUTUBE
For MAXIMUM experience, find a quite place, close your eyes and have a listen to the entire show from A to Z — people tell me that they forget they're listening to one guy and can visualize everything in their head.
Not everyone, however, is the type of opera or music theater aficionado who’ll drop the needle and listen to a show from A to Z, i.e. including the spoken parts, so please don’t get bogged down by the brief transitions between scenes as they are intended for a theatrical or film production. (Note: the prologue to act one, which follows the overture, is two minutes and fifty seconds in duration. Introducing a handful of colorful characters, a few of whom appear throughout the show, the prologue is largely set to incidental music, provides important story background and is the longest spoken transition in the show by almost two minutes.)

HOW TO NAVIGATE THE VIDEOS
If you'd like to jump to a specific scene, it's easy: just refer to the timings to the left of the scene titles when dragging on the video timeline.

SHEET MUSIC
Using Finale notation software, I’ve prepared a transcription of the “composer-does-it-all” recording in two formats: 1) full score with a piano reduction at the bottom of each system, and 2) vocals with piano.
As mentioned below, in “A Brief History Of The Recording,” in order to accommodate my voice for the reference recording, I made adjustments to Moses and Aaron’s vocal ranges, transforming them from tenors into baritones. The sheet music incorporates both versions.
Available in PDF file format, upon arrangement.

PRIMARY RESEARCH SOURCES
• The Five Books Of Moses (aka the Bible or Torah).
• Rashi’s medieval commentary on The Five Books Of Moses.
• The Midrash (ancient post-biblical legends, stories and elaborations), with "The Legends of the Jews," by Louis Ginzberg (public domain), being a primary source.

A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE RECORDING

As mentioned on the bio page, I recorded the instrumental midi tracks for Rock ‘n’ Moses between the spring of 1998 and fall 1999, while living in New Mexico. (Equipment list: Apple Quadra 630 computer, Motu Performer sequencer software, AKG K240 headphones and an Alesis QS7 synthesizer with 16 MB of ROM.)
Initially, I thought that I would start recording the vocals at the start of 2000; however, events beyond my control (see bio) cast me into a nomadic way of life, putting the project on hold for over four years.
In the fall of 2003, I took a room in a rent controlled, two bedroom apartment in Manhattan's Upper East Side. As recording technology had greatly advanced since the last time I recorded vocals, now making it economically possible to track professionally at home, bypassing the financial burden of booking many days in a studio, a budget which I did not have, I soon got to work, taking advantage of the opportunity.
Finally having a space where I could record, albeit with headphones so as not to disturb the neighbors, the following spring I purchased a new Apple laptop, as well as other recording peripherals, and began tracking the vocals for my Moses project in a makeshift vocal booth. (Equipment list: Apple PowerBook G4, Motu Digital Performer DAW, Metric Halo ULN-2 audio interface, Shure KSM44 microphone and Beyerdynamic DT 770 headphones.)
Having worked with amateur vocalists in the past on an earlier attempt to record the show and being mostly frustrated with the results, never mind months of auditions, rehearsals and the financial cost, I opted to try and perform all the parts myself, regardless of gender. My thinking was that I would focus on conveying the characters personalities, which might serve as an inspiration for future performances, and not get bogged down by what naysayers might say. (A few production details: I made adjustments to Moses vocal range, successfully changing him from a tenor to a baritone in order to accommodate my voice. Pitch correction was rarely used. I also made minimal use of pitch shifting technology, primarily doing so for upper harmony parts in the chorus.)
In 2008, after four grueling years, the vocals were finalized. In 2010, two years later, I mixed the project. (A few production details: Other than adding reverb, plug-ins were rarely used. And as with the vocals, I used headphones, only occasionally referencing my work on speakers.)

AI VOCALS

Recent developments in artificial intelligence have made it possible to turn my composer-does-it-all vocal performances on the Rock ‘n’ Moses recording into other voices—e.g. imagine James Earl Jones or George Carlin as the show’s host, a speaking role with occasional rapping; Beverly Sills or Karen Carpenter singing Moses mother’s heartbreaking lullaby; Enrico Caruso or Freddie Mercury rocking it out as Moses… Or perhaps a blend of popular voices with opera singers? I wrote about AI vocals in more detail in “A new recording of the piano score Pt.2. / The Future Is Here: AI” found at the bottom of the "Chasing a Dream: A Backpacker’s Odyssey in Mexico" page.

Notes Regarding the composer-does-it-all reference recording, if I would have had this AI technology from the get-go, I might have gone this way; however, I’m delighted with the way the things turned out and see no reason to spend further time on the matter at this point. In short, I am confident that those who take the time to listen to the recording will understand that it is of no fault of the composition itself that it is unknown. For that matter, the same thing can be said for pretty much everything on this website. From the homepage, in case you missed it:

I’m a composer who has largely led a reclusive life. From as far back as I remember, I’ve spent countless hours creating my art only to not follow through so well when promoting it. Because of this, my body of work remains mostly unknown. But I believe in my work and don't want my efforts to have been in vain. So, better late than never, I've set a goal to overcome my personal issues and be consistent about getting the word out that I exist so that my compositions might see the light of day. Yup, Johnny Appleseed, that's me.