Sarah Talbot

Surfing around the blogs about music and scoring, I came across this discussion focused on this particular quote;

“Film music is no more than wallpaper, filler material” – Igor Stravinsky

So I’ve decide to throw my ‘2 cents’ in. This topic is a little bit different then my usual topic matter, but I love most forms of music, and this blog is by the “CrazyMusicChick” after all.

“You can find the whole world of a film in one instrument, or you can find a world of sound in the orchestra”. – Howard Shore.

I would have to say that some of my favourite music is not music that has lyrics, or would fill large arenas. I’ve always had a special place for soundtrack music, or film scores (if you will). I’ve grown up with listening to soundtracks on my parents LP records, such as Jeff Wayne’s “War of the Worlds”, and “The Pirate Movie”. Even though both have songs with lyrics, there is music that is only….music. It’s atmosphere, feeling, emotion. It’s more than just wallpaper.

I can also say that I haven’t met a lot of people who would openly say that they would turn on a OST album, or film score instead of the Top 40 (or the like). I have heard a few people say that film score is the ‘background’ , and is not as important as to what is happening on the screen. To me, film score is just as important. It provides that dramatic atmosphere, the sadness, the love, and even identifies characters. Some scenes don’t need words for the audience to understand the emotion or the action. Montáges often adopt this approach (eg. “Deep Impact” (1998) has a montáge depicting how society falls apart due to the impeding impact of a meteor that could wipe out civilisation).

I know that people are not ignorant of film score, as many would identify many scores based on themes, such as the opening to “Star Wars” or the “Superman Theme”. They would be aware of composers/arrangers such as John Williams (Star Wars, Superman, and Jurassic Park), Howard Shore (Lord of the Rings and Hobbit films) and James Horner (Titanic, Bicentennial Man and A Beautiful Mind). They would be able identify opening themes of television (but not necessarily the composers) such as “The Simpsons” and “X-files” (Danny Elfman), “Sherlock” (David Arnold and Michael Price), and the various Star Trek series themes. Even video games these days have full orchestrations.

Having played in orchestras (playing the cello) on an amateur level, I have always loved watching and appreciated the “Behind the Scenes” of movies and television music making. I watch the interviews of the music makers of how themes are created and are associated with characters, how instrumentation can determine the ‘mood’ of the scene, and the intricacies of getting orchestrations recorded and than ‘synced’ to the visuals. All the finicky stuff.

On a personal level, film score is great for clearing my mind after a hard, busy day. Kind of a meditation zen of sorts. With no words, I can focus just on the orchestration. I can picture the scenes or create originals in my mind. I’ve sometimes broken down in tears, just by sitting down, turning off the lights and playing the “Lord of the Rings” or “Hobbit” soundtracks. 

“It should sound like good music,…but basically it should be musical and listenable. And it should be able to, away from the picture, conjure up the same sort of feelings and images that it was meant to on the screen” – Patrick Doyle.

If anyone happens to travel with me, they are often subjugated to my playlist mix of eclectic music, which includes soundtrack orchestrations. I have “Sherlock” (Series 1, 2 and 3), “Outlander”, “Arrow”, certain songs from “Lord of the Rings” and “Hobbit”, “Superman” (Williams version), and multiple songs from the “Batman Arkham” game series. My apologies to my passengers.

The past few years, I’ve noticed that orchestrations are no longer limited to the tv, screen or in amateur performance, but are now being performed in full gala concerts, playing in large music halls. Professional orchestras practice and perform full movie length scores or full television episodes, and play them live whilst the visuals are being screened (sometimes with the vocals and sound effects taken out). Some orchestras have even toured. Such performances have included “The Lord of the Rings”, “Star Trek” (2009, and 2013), and “Doctor Who”. I don’t know if such performances have always existed, but definitely with the right promotions and PR, such concerts are becoming a regular event.

With the ‘Oscars’ coming up, I usually look forward to finding out who wins the ‘Best Music, Original Score’ categories, just as much as the best actor/actress, or overall film. Call me weird, but film music is more than just wallpaper.

If you read this, please comment on you’re favourite soundtracks, orchestrations or even your favourite composers/arrangers. 

“Music is essentially an emotional language, so you want to feel something from the relationships and build music based on those feelings” – Howard Shore.

 Until next time…