Stephen Arnold Music Scores CNN 9/11 Specials

Music production company Stephen Arnold Music has created music for CNN’s 9/11—Ten Years Later. The news network will use the music in a range of shows and promotions during the week leading up to the commemoration, and a secondary, more sparse arrangement will play behind CNN’s live coverage of the unveiling of the 9/11 Memorial on Sunday, Sept. 11.

“Being entrusted with this tremendous responsibility is an honor and a thrill for us,” says Stephen Arnold, president of the Dallas-based company. “It reminds us of why we became musicians in the first place — music’s power to heal, to translate and elicit emotions, and to draw us together as humans.”

In the creative process with the network, CNN requested that Stephen Arnold Music compose music that carried a sense of dignity and remembrance. At the same time, the music had to fulfill more practical needs by effectively branding and unifying CNN’s weeklong coverage of the commemoration.

The main theme, 9/11: 10 Years Later, primarily features strings, French horn and orchestral percussion. This music will support CNN programs during the week and through the Sept. 11 coverage, including:

• Dr. Sanjay Gupta Reports: Terror in the Dust (Sept. 7 at 11 p.m. ET/8 p.m. PT and Sept 10 at 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT)
• Beyond 9/11: Portraits of Resilience (Sept. 9 at 11 p.m. ET/8 pm PT and Sept. 10 at Sept 10 at 8 p.m. and 11 p.m. ET/PT)
• Footnotes of 9/11 (Sept. 11 at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT)
• Beyond Bravery: The Women of 9/11 (Sept. 11 at 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT)

The second, sparser arrangement will accompany live coverage of the official dedication ceremonies of the 9/11 Memorial at the site of Ground Zero in Manhattan and in Shanksville, Pa. This second arrangement, titled 9/11: Memorial, features classical guitar, strings and a touch of female voice.

To hear 9/11: 10 Years Later and 9/11: Memorial, click here.