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About the Music Music plays an essential part in the plays. John Tams and the band ‘Home Service’ produced a stunning score from sources ranging from Shaker hymns and dance tunes to Bob Dylan. Rooted in the folk tradition, their music weaves a thread through the narrative, a perfect match for the story telling tradition which produced and preserved the Mystery Plays themselves. Like the plays, the music is presented in a distinctive, contemporary style. The Turvey productions use a large live band, allowing orchestration similar to the Home Service original. The arrangements for Turvey have been created by Tim Brewster using lead sheets supplied by Graeme Taylor (original Home Service member and Musical Director of the National Theatre's revival production in 1999) and published recordings. Here are some links to samples from the score of The Nativity. These samples are only tasters, 'played' by computer diectly from Sibelius 3 score writing software - of course, the actual productions use only live music!
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