Time to Prune

The famed shrill stabbing thrusts at violin strings played in their topmost register induce fear and conjure up images of Marion bleeding in the shower at the Bates motel. When asked what thought was uppermost in his mind when creating this unique and hair-raising cue. The composer Bernard Herrmann replied in one word: "terror." It’s an unmistakable composition to any movie fan, it is also the precise sound produced by the dry twisted branches scraping on the cold window of the library below our bedroom. As the wind picks up the branches rake back and forth mimicking the rhythmic horror of Hitchcock’s score just audible enough to wake you from a good sleep.