FADE IN
Act 1
INT. STUDIO - 10:30
Using his phone's GuitarTuna App, PETER starts tuning his guitars.
PETER (V.O.): Since Jan 3, 2023, I've been reading and watching media reports about the late composer Joseph Koo.
Tuning a 12-string acoustic one.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): In a special TV programme, I learned from his disciples that they had to learn experientially.
Tuning a red electric one.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): And in a video clip, I watched that he and his friends, with pre-written lyrics, could compose a melody on the spot.
Tuning a blue electric one.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): For me, I like his first published music in a 1961 song called "A Dream" (夢).
Peter begins to play the song's melody.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): How did he compose it?
Act 2
INT. STUDIO - CONTINUOUS
Repeating.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): It seems that he made use of the pentatonic scale of Eastern Asian music.
Playing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): A major scale is a 7-note one. The pentatonic scale is a 5-note one.
Repeating.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): The major pentatonic scale consists of the root, 2nd, 3rd, 5th and 6th degrees of the scale - the 4th and 7th intervals are left out.
Playing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): As the 4th and 7th intervals are semitones, they're generally considered as dissonant.
Repeating.
PETER (V.O.)(Cont'd): There's no 4th interval in the music...
We hear Peter playing the 7th interval at times.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): The timing of the 7th intervals is so appropriate that it resolves any tension and adds a dreamy mood.
Playing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): That's why the catchy music has staying power.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Who was the lyricist?
Peter surfs the web with his phone.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): He's Doe Ching 陶秦, the film director of the 1961 movie "不了情" (Love Without End).
Reading texts on phone.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): He wrote the lyrics of three songs for the movie and invited contestants in a competition to provide the melodies.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): The film director was more concerned about the songs' messages than the tones.
Peter examines the lyrics of the song "A Dream" (夢) on screen.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Oh, his structured lyrics were song-like already.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): The same for my recent Cantopop number with the "HKUST" cum "Red Bird" theme.
Reading.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Doe told the story of "life's but a dream, within a dream", in three verses and a chorus.
Reading.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): He died in 1969 at the age of 54.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): If life is a dream, one must wake up before one can dream again.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.): For the dead, I like to think that they're having an eternal dream.
Act 3
INT. STUDIO - CONTINUOUS
Staring at his guitars, Peter is in thoughts.
PETER (V.O.)(Cont'd): Whether "life is but a dream, within a dream" or not, it's fleeting.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): If life's a dream, I've been striving to make it musical, meaningful and colourful.
Peter grabs a guitar to play.
'PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): I only began my singer-songwriting in my late 50s. My best song is the last one that I've written.
Having played the minor pentatonic scale, Peter plays the major one.
THE END
FADE OUT
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