9/11: One Day in America

I spent a large part of lockdown working on this six-part series for National Geographic, made in collaboration with the 9/11 Memorial & Museum. Rather than focusing on the politics, the buildup or the aftermath of the attacks, this series concentrates exclusively on the detailed testimony of witnesses and survivors on that day. It’s sometimes a harrowing watch, but a compelling and ultimately a very humane one.

I was approached in early 2020 about scoring the show by director Daniel Bogado and producer Caroline Marsden. I was immediately interested as, like everyone else who is old enough, I vividly remember the day of 9/11 and being glued to the TV with a group of friends in my small London flat. I had been to visit New York just a few weeks before in August 2001, and had been to the top of the World Trade Centre. Several months later I went to collect a few rolls of film that had been processed at the local pharmacy and was haunted by a series of pictures I’d completely forgotten taking of a building that no longer existed.

As well as the subject, I was really excited by the stylistic approach that the team were taking on this show, concentrating entirely on human stories and individual survivors’ testimony. I had grown up in a world of oral history, as my mother (Pam Schweitzer, MBE) was a pioneer of reminiscence theatre (making plays from memories) and my whole view of the 20th century was shaped by transcribing interviews on different subjects (World War II, the foundation of the Welfare State, UK immigration). When I started watching the interviews with the 9/11 survivors, I was gripped by their individual stories, and the humanity that came across from all the contributors.

Musically, I was keen that the music wouldn’t overwhelm these human stories, but I also knew that – especially over several hours of television – we would need moments of reflection and emotional release. I hadn’t really watched much footage from the attack for nearly 20 years but I began in April 2020 by immersing myself in the archive material that the team sent me, and started writing some early musical sketches. Mostly these were sparse, simple pieces with a strong emotional pull. Many of these tracks (Loss, Battery Park, First Strike, Falling) formed the basis of the score and the soundscape for the series. Later in the process, editors Chris Nichols and Audinga Kucinskaite would send me new characters and scenes and I would write new pieces, and help shape the narrative arc of the films.

I began writing for 9/11: One Day in America at the start of the Coronavirus lockdown here in the UK, and so I started working with musicians remotely. Many of the tracks feature many layers of solo strings provided by the brilliant Nick Holland (cello & bass) and the amazing Flora Curzon (violin). Getting these live performances into the early sketches really helped bed the music into the series from an early stage of the edit. Later on in the process, I called on the skills of New York based singer, DeAnna Choi to provide vocals on some of the tracks (her husband actually helped in the clear-up effort after 9/11). Also at the start of the process, with the help of my assistant, Richard Collins, I created a bunch of bespoke sampled instruments, manipulating sounds from the archive footage and turning them into textures and beds. This helped the music weave more closely into the fabric of the story.

As the episodes took shape, I found that the music would often take a backseat for the first half of the films – creating atmosphere and tension, but allowing the individual contributors to tell their stories, and then it was only later, once you were immersed in the story, that the music pulled you into a more emotional place.  Despite the challenging subject matter and the epic scale of the project, this was actually one of the most rewarding shows I’ve had the privilege to work on.

UPDATE: I’ve been really moved to see how strong people’s reactions are to this series. It’s not for the faint-hearted, as many of the stories are really gut-wrenching, but it’s a powerful experience watching the films. Thank you to those of you who have reached out commenting on the music. There are currently no plans to release a soundtrack for 9/11: One Day in America, but I’ve posted a few tracks here in case you’re interested.

UPDATE 2: Delighted that the score has been nominated for an Emmy in this year’s Documentary Emmy Awards. Also, for those of you in the UK who missed this series last year, it is now available on the Disney Channel if you have a subscription to that.

AWARDS