Download Chapter 2 – Delia Derbyshire – Doctor Who Theme

Listening Guide 2.8
Title: Doctor Who Theme (Closing Credits)
Artist: Delia Derbyshire
Year: 1963
Duration: 2:25
Genre: Tape composition
Electronic Instrumentation: Twelve audio oscillators controlled by a keying unit, audio filters, Wobbulator (a low
frequency oscillator), white noise, reverberation, tape loops.
Background: Composed by Ron Grainer and realized by Delia Derbyshire for the BBC television production of Doctor
Who, the theme is one of the most widely known and enduring works of electronic music. Created before the days of
voltage-controlled synthesizers, the signature tones of the melody were produced using a bank of twelve audio
oscillators controlled by a special keyboard device. The oscillators were tuned individually to the desired tones and
then triggered by the keyboard. The piece was constructed in short segments, moment by moment, and then combined
through editing and mixing to create the final work. This version was heard during the closing credits of the program. A
shorter version, lacking the instrumental bridge in the middle of the work, was used for the opening titles of the show. A
testament to the timeless quality of the theme is that its opening frequency sweep is still being used today in the latest
production of Doctor Who, nearly fifty years later.
Listen For: Segments constructed by multi-tracking multiple audio oscillators, each tuned to
a different frequency, filtered white noise, a bass line that originated with a sampled, or
prerecorded, string instrument, and various manually modulated changes in pitch,
amplitude, and texture.
0:00–0:15
The piece opens with a whooshing sweep of oscillator tones—some rising in pitch and some
falling—that was constructed from several individual tracks of manually-adjusted oscillators. As the
sweep ends, a bass motif is introduced. This was a sampled string instrument, processed and
looped to create a regularly recurring bass line for the theme. Percussive sweeps and loops of
filtered white noise also become audible in the upper registers, adding to the rhythm.
0:16–0:35
The main melody is heard for the first time. It was played by Derbyshire using a bank of twelveoscillators, treated with reverb, and tuned to provide a strong subharmonic foundation for the motif.
0:36–1:35
A middle bridge section is heard, that rejoins the original theme at about 1:08. During this section,
as the main theme is repeated, a bed of sound effects composed of looped and filtered white noise
increases in volume and consumes the theme.
1:36–2:25
The bridge theme is repeated, followed by the main theme. The piece concludes with a droning,
pulsating, slowly dissipating boom accompanied by a fading loop of percussive white noise.
Compare and Contrast
Melange (1977) by Klaus Schulze
Six Fantasies On A Poem By Thomas Campion: Her Song (1978) by Paul Lansky
©Routledge/Taylor & Francis 2012