Film Score Deepens Our Experience

When viewing a film, the musical score is one of the first things I think about.  Imagine my surprise when I learned that some people don't pay any attention at all to the score.  The music communicates in a way that goes beyond words whether the scene is happy or tragic, or whether the scene has a sense of foreboding or anticipation.  The score deepens our experience as we watch the film. 

Here’s a short video, narrated by composer John Williams about some of the thinking that goes into a film score:

Students of music history will recognize that the film composers for the Harry Potter series utilized the leitmotiv technique, developed in nineteenth century European opera (notably, Carl Maria von Weber’s Der Freischütz) and especially exploited with a vengeance by opera composer Richard Wagner.  Students of film also will acknowledge that composers for epic films have been using this technique — which associates musical ideas with theatrical ideas — for years, perpetually as far back as the 1930s.  In the Harry Potter clip, we hear the leitmotivs called “The Face of Voldemort” and “Buckbeak’s Flight.”

Unfortunately, film audience members often pay little or no attention to the film score.  Poor dears!  Some of the best in pop culture derives directly from classical culture, and wonderful film scores are no exception. 

Next week: How to Read Music (Reading) 9