In a world where music is often associated with enjoyment and pleasure, there exists a unique instrument that defies this expectation. Meet The Apprehension Engine, a creation born from the collaboration between composer Mark Korven and musician Tony Duggan-Smith.
Usually, when you listen to music you will expect it to be enjoyable. Otherwise, what’s the point of listening? Music is everywhere these days. You may wear headphones on the bus to school; music is frequently played in shopping malls and shops. And when we go to the movies we expect music to accompany the images we watch. It can help stir our emotions and make the experience much more pleasurable. Unless, of course, we are watching a horror movie. Then, we expect something different, something that is not pleasant, or something that may even scare us to death!
Mark Korven is a composer, and he writes music for movies and TV. He provided the music for a successful horror movie called The Witch. Its director, Robert Eggers, asked Mark not to use any electronic music for this movie. He wanted to create a more real sound. Following this experience, Mark began to think about how a more natural sound could be made for future horror movies. He contacted his good friend, Tony Duggan-Smith, a well-known musician and maker of musical instruments. What Tony came up with is quite extraordinary.
Tony created a unique instrument that he calls The Apprehension Engine. If you look at pictures of it, you will see that it looks a little like a mechanic or engineer’s workshop table. Every section of the instrument is there to create a sound or noise that is guaranteed to scare you. When it’s put into the hands of an expert like Mark Korven, you begin to hear sounds that will turn any horror movie into the scariest experience you’ve ever had.
Mark has said that his goal when writing music for The Apprehension Engine is to help produce sounds that are disturbing. He demonstrated his skills recently by giving a hugely successful performance one dark evening in a cemetery in Brooklyn, New York – on Friday 13th, of course! In the eerie shadows of candles, members of the audience literally jumped out of their skin.
So, is The Apprehension Engine a musical instrument, a machine, or an engine? If you believe that the objective of music is to stir the listener’s emotions, you can probably call it a musical instrument – it’s just that the emotions this instrument stirs do not necessarily make you feel happy or relaxed.
Question:
Try listening to The Apprehension Engine here:
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