Uncovering the Story: Unbreakable
In August 2021, we released our third musical storytelling film, Unbreakable, which paired Jens Ibsen's contemporary classical work for bass clarinet and piano with storyboard art to tell the story of Empress on her journey of self-love and empowerment. To celebrate its one year anniversary, let’s uncover why we heard this story within the music! As you read, listen to the musical examples inserted throughout the post. (Warning: Some of the audio snippets get loud. Take care before playing them at full volume through headphones.)
Unbreakable storyboard illustration by Rick Troula
This duo, as with Jens’ other compositions, is heavily inspired by metal music. We knew we wanted to play with the idea of “metal” in our story. Perhaps it would be a commentary on the environment and climate change? Or maybe the character would be made out of metal? Or could there even be a special metal object central to the plot?
The beautiful, but delicate glass world in Unbreakable
Yet, the edgy sound produced by extended techniques on the bass clarinet was magnificently contrasted by sweet, delicate melodies in both the bass clarinet and piano. What if, we thought, this could translate into a theme of metal versus glass? And this is where our story began to take shape.
A glass flower shattering at the opening of Unbreakable
We began to hear (and therefore, see) everything within this framework. The dissonant piano chords that mysteriously begin the piece now sounded like glass cracking and shattering. What could this be? We ran through many ideas: a puddle of water, the sidewalk, a flower growing through the cracks in the street, someone’s reflection.
Empress walking through her glass world
As the bass clarinet joins the texture and becomes increasingly distorted, we hear a character coming into focus. She is powerful, steampunk, bulky – an outcast. Inspired by the title that Jens gave his piece, we named her, “Empress.” Continuing within our framework, we formed the concept of Unbreakable: a young woman made of metal, living in a delicate world made of glass. The music brings us on her journey of self-love and empowerment as she learns that unbreakable power is just as valuable as delicate beauty.
Emmalie Tello, bass clarinet, and Yifei Xu, piano, recording “Empress” at Skillman Music in Brooklyn, NYC.
A bit further into the music, Emmalie heard a clear, detailed vision of Empress’ turning point, where she realizes her full potential. At the start of the passage, a metal butterfly struggles to fly, but grows stronger and stronger with each swift, articulated clarinet lick until it soars into the air, smashing through a tree in an ethereal, glass forest. Interestingly, we had a difficult time detailing what came before this part, but as it goes with musical storytelling, sometimes a story can jump out at you right in the middle of the music, completely take you by surprise and change how you listen to the parts that came before it. So once we secured this section, we worked backwards to fill in the parts we missed. But for now, let’s continue forward…
The metal butterfly in Unbreakable
Based on our story thus far, what do you hear in this next section (snippet #6) as the music comes to a close? Let us know in the comments! Then, go watch the Unbreakable film or flip through the comic book to see where we heard Empress’ story take her.
Quick Links:
Watch the Unbreakable film for free through our YouTube channel.
Check out the listen-along Unbreakable comic book in our shop.
Curious for more tips on how you can practice musical storytelling? Check out our blog post about it.
Are you an educator interested in bringing musical storytelling to your students? Reach out to us! We would love to work with you and create a custom program that best fits your students’ needs.
