Big cheques, standing ovations, irate adults \u2013 there are surprising sides to composing a children\u2019s TV theme tune. From Bluey to Byker Grove, the creators of the best reveal the secrets<\/p>\n
How do you write TV theme music for children? Does\u00a0it make you mega-rich? And does the tune itself\u00a0eventually drive you (and parents everywhere) nuts?<\/p>\n
We tracked down the creators of half-a-dozen of TV\u2019s greatest children\u2019s show themes in order to find out. As Bluey\u2019s Joff Bush told us: \u201cThe key lesson is that if you\u2019re going to write a theme tune, make sure you really like it because\u00a0you\u2019re going to hear it a helluva lot!\u201d<\/p>\n
From nostalgic cult classics to current hits, from cartoon animals to live-action school soaps, six composers confess the secrets of\u00a0kids\u2019 TV music \u2026<\/p>\n
Composer Julian Nott scores Peppa Pig, as well as Wallace & Gromit, Bing and Ben & Holly\u2019s Little Kingdom.<\/p>\n
It all started at the National Film and Television School\u2019s animation department. Two fellow students became friends: Nick Park, who did Wallace & Gromit, and Mark Baker, who did Peppa Pig. They\u2019ve been collaborators ever since.<\/p>\n
Peppa was just another job that came along. I worked on the pilot episode for free as a favour. It wasn\u2019t just the same theme tune as today, it was the same recording. We\u00a0finally updated it last year but for two decades they used the demo version. It\u2019s only 10 seconds long which is shorter than most title sequences. It was a challenge to write a short, sharp, catchy tune. It had to be fast and fun with a memorable melody. The gaps in it were exploited by Mark, who inserted oinking sound effects.<\/p>\n
We classical musicians tend to laugh at pop writers for only knowing three chords but Peppa has two, which is probably a musical outrage. There was zero budget, so it\u2019s all played on synthesisers and samplers. The instrumentation which became associated with Peppa \u2013 marimbas, timpani, glockenspiel, vibraphone \u2013 were only chosen because they were the most convincing samples you could get back then.<\/p>\n
Peppa took over the world, so I hear my music all the time. I\u2019m often in a cafe or airport and a child will be playing it on their iPad. I\u2019m\u00a0tempted to lean over and say: \u2018I\u00a0wrote that!\u2019 but never have. There was a time when I couldn\u2019t get on a train without hearing it. It\u2019s a strange feeling. Kids watch their favourite shows on repeat, so it can drive parents mad. Toddlers work out how to switch on Peppa Pig and their parents get woken up at 6am by the theme music. It might be one of the most unpopular tunes ever written! But I\u2019m very lucky that it\u2019s given me financial security. Peppa Pig was like winning the lottery. It\u2019s enabled me to sustain a career. It\u2019s all upside and it\u2019s marvellous.<\/p>\n
Scott Gale wrote the theme song for\u00a0NBC\u2019s 1990s teen sitcom Saved\u00a0By the Bell.<\/p>\n
I was music coordinator on The Golden Girls. One Friday, the producer of this new teen comedy called and asked me to try out for the theme tune. My wife had left me that morning but I put down the phone, picked up my guitar and,\u00a0bingo, it just poured out of me.\u00a0It was the luckiest two minutes\u00a0of my life. We recorded it over the weekend at my partner Rich Eames\u2019s home studio.<\/p>\n
On Monday morning, we handed in our cassette. Little did I know that executive producer Peter Engel had told all the other prospective composers not to include \u201csaved by the bell\u201d in the lyrics because he wasn\u2019t sure the name would stick. But I never got that message, so the title appeared five times in mine. Peter later admitted he was glad I didn\u2019t get his instructions.<\/p>\n
Saved By the Bell was the first live-action Saturday morning kids\u2019 show. Everything else was cartoons. I thought it\u2019d be lucky to last seven episodes but it ran for four seasons. And the show, thank goodness, was heavy on music. We wrote it all. If there was a jukebox playing, we\u2019d write the songs. The characters formed a rock group. We\u00a0wrote what they played. There was something new every week.<\/p>\n
Saved By the Bell was very good to me. I still get royalties from Spain, South Africa, everywhere. Those gigs are hard to get but it\u2019s the gift that keeps on giving. I\u00a0never tire of hearing it. I\u2019ll chance across it while channel surfing and it whisks me back to those wild times. Nearly four decades later, I\u00a0still get to talk about it. It\u2019s nothing\u00a0but wonderful.<\/p>\n
Martin Brammer is the frontman of\u00a0pop trio the Kane Gang, whose track became the basis of the theme tune to Byker Grove.<\/p>\n