The Making of Night Music: Notes on Violins

I modelled the violins on wild and crazy birds, specifically the ones we see in Hitchcock's The Birds. In a way, I suppose the violins are not entirely different from the ravens in Torn Pages. Of all the instruments, the violin is most personal favourite -- some of the classical music, arranged for violin, is my very favourite. Think of Scheherazade. Danse Macabre. It's all so eerie and wiry and evocative. The violins appear so much in the book because they had that ghoulish nature, as so much of their music sounds sinister, and it was fun writing the swarming scenes in which they attack the characters.