If the Halloween Town of Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas
had a resident keyboardist, it would be Kristen Lawrence. “I’ve always
loved autumn,” she says. “Something about the angle of the sun, the chill
in the air, and the energy I felt as Halloween neared—it was magical to
me as a child, and it still is.” She also cites a childhood spent in Orange
County, California: “Basically, I grew up at Disneyland, and my favorite
ride was the Haunted Mansion. I still remember the music from it.”
Trained from age 12 in classical organ, and possessing a tremulous
soprano that evokes a less breathy Kate Bush, Lawrence has appropriated
the Christmas spirit on Halloween’s behalf with an elegance Jack
Skellington never quite managed: The songs on her EP Arachnitect and
album A Broom With a View are unmistakably carols—in both their
structure and their sense of joy—but they celebrate ghosts, bats, black
cats, spiders, and vampires.
“There’s so much wonderful music for Christmas,” she reflects, “but
what does Halloween get? Bach’s ‘Toccata in DMinor’ and ‘The Monster
Mash’ is about it. I wanted to change that.” Though the skeletons of her
songs are sing-along rounds (“I love rounds. They’re harmony 101 for
dummies.”), there’s plenty of musical meat on those bones. Pipe organ,
strings, and harpsichord weave counterpoints as intricate as any spider’s
web, and influences run deep—from Camille Saint-Saëns’ Symphony No.
3, which lent themes to “Cats in the Catacombs,” to Richard Einhorn’s
score for Carl Dreyer’s 1927 silent film The Passion of Joan of Arc. How
did her journey begin?
A favorite of Kristen’s, the C.B. Fisk pipe organ at the Orange County Performing Arts Center boasts four manuals and 4,322 pipes.
“At age 12, I was actually tall enough to reach the pedals on the pipe
organ. My teacher, Bob Cummings, noticed that I always preferred the
Bach pieces that were in minor keys. As a reward for having practiced,
he’d let me pull out all the stops! The majesty of that sound coming from
all around you, it hooked me for life. Later, in September 2004, I was playing,
appropriately enough, at a funeral. I kept hearing the children’s song
‘The Ghost of John’ in my mind. I went home and wrote out the first four
carols that day.”
Kristen’s mission to make Halloween as musical as Christmas
received a major nod in October 2008, when she performed with Orange
County’s Pacific Symphony at their yearly “Spooktacular” concert.
“Segerstrom Hall at the Orange County Performing Arts Center had
recently installed a gorgeous, four-manual C.B. Fisk pipe organ. I can’t
believe I got to rehearse on it. I can’t believe I still do. The console sits right behind the orchestra and under the pipes, because it’s a tracker
organ.” That means that the keys are all physically connected to the
valves that let air into the pipes, and it’s only your finger pressure—not
an electrical servo as on many modern pipe organs—that opens those
valves. “Playing a tracker is a workout,” says Kristen, “but there’s nothing
like it. The sense that you’re functioning as the brain of this living,
breathing creature is awe-inspiring.”
Web Extras
KRISTEN’S
GEAR
Korg Triton Studio
“It’s my main controller. The harpsichord on ‘Vampire Empire’
is actually the ‘HarpsiKorg’ patch.”
Hautpwerk
“My favorite virtual pipe organ. Not only does it get the interaction
between different combinations of stops right, but you
can voice the pipes individually. Plus, you can add models of
historical pipe organs from all over the world.”
EastWest Quantum Leap
Symphonic Orchestra Gold
“This is my source for strings. I tend to use solo instruments
and build up sections by recording parts separately, to sound
more like how a string section would actually play.”
Allen MDS-35 Organ
“I’m lucky enough to have this organ at my parents’ house. Allen
makes such beautiful, well-built instruments. It’s a joy to play.”