T H E D E F T T O U C H O F S U B T L E T Y

Transcription

1 Chapter 6 T H E D E F T T O U C H O F S U B T L E T Y This chapter will look at various approaches in film music composition, all of which share the virtues of subtlety, understatement, intricacy and nuance. We ll look at how composers make subtle shifts and manipulations to tradition and structure in order to illicit emotion. Sometimes music communicates emotionally because it offers us a different type of listening experience compared to what we have become used to. If normal music is applied to film, frequently it doesn t distil the emotion off the film sufficiently for it to be of any use. It can be distracting and fail to bring us closer to the story. This is why film music, when listened to purely as music, can often sound abstract, intangible and confusing. Sometimes it can seem to have no direction or bearing. This is of course because its main function is to serve the movie, not to exist on its own, as pure music. In some situations subtlety and restraint can sometimes create interesting, exciting and stimulating film music precisely because the incompleteness of it all poses more questions than answers. It asks more of us as listeners and compels us to hear it in context of the film; the film almost becomes part of the music. The two are meant to work as one experience, not as film and music. Sometimes music which is not obvious or transparent in its harmonic complexion can be all the more effective for it. Music which blurs harmonic reality in an impressionist way or which simply fails to define itself fully can, ironically, be all the more striking for it because it can force us to engage with the film on a deeper, more emotional level. Sometimes a whisper truly speaks louder than a scream. Film music which requires more interpretation or imagination from the listener can sometimes benefit the way the film is perceived. These are the kinds of issues this chapter will address. The music analysed in this chapter will be from World Trade Centre (Craig Armstrong), American Beauty, (Thomas Newman) Road to Perdition, (Thomas Newman) The Descent and Insomnia, (David Julyan) Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence, (Ryuichi Sakamoto) 2012 (Harald Kloser & Thomas Wander) Crimson Tide, The Rock, Pearl Harbour, The Da Vinci Code & The Ring (Hans Zimmer) Hopilola (Sigur Ros) Unbreakable, Signs, The Village and Outbreak (James Newton Howard) A Beautiful Mind (James Horner) The Butterfly Effect (Michael Suby) 28 Days Later (John Murphy) The Firm (Dave Grusin) Jaws (John Williams) WORLD TRADE CENTRE Craig Armstrong Fig.1 The harmonic movement below, abbreviated from Craig Armstrong s score to World Trade Centre, looks definite and absolute. The top-stave open voicings penetrate fully. Audio World Trade Centre 1

2 However, if we look at the completed version (below, fig.2) it has a pedal bass throughout and the appearance of denser harmony toward the end. The effect of the pedal bass merely serves to confirm the first few chords, but in bar five (highlighted) we effectively have a poly-chord, fusing the implied G chord in the treble stave with the C octaves in the bass stave. Fig.2 In bar six (highlighted) the G (5 th ) and D (9 th ) are added to the bass stave C chord voicing. No 3 rd appears which leaves the chord open and ambiguous. But there is a deeper relationship between the chords, in that the G and D on the bass stave directly relate to the G and B on the treble staves, belonging as they do to the chord of G. The point then is, do we hear the B and G (treble stave) and the G and D (from the bass stave) as part of an overall G chord (with a pedal C bass) or do we hear them as the maj7 th, 5 th and 9 th of the C chord? The omission of want would be unequivocal defining the 3 rd creates the ambiguity; it creates a sense of both chords at once. Although in all probability few people are aware of the complexities at work, they are beneficiaries of the effect, which is profound subtlety created by complex harmonic interaction. By giving the senses little to go on, you deflect expectation and create a different, more transparent, subtler experience. The different ways of rationalising these chords are therefore not just theoretical; they are actual because they create two subtly different ways of aurally interpreting the chords. In this music a whole myriad of different harmonic reactions, combined with the distinct soft textures, combine to create a slightly mesmerising soundscape feel. If this seems like its minimalism, it only seems that way. 1 st and 3 rd of G chord or maj7 th 5 th of a C chord 3 rd and 5 th of G chord or maj7 th 9 th of a C chord Fig.3 Does the G and D represent the 1 st and 5 th of a G chord with the addition of a pedal C? Or does the G and D represent the 5 th and 9 th of the C chord? The lack of the 3 rd creates ambiguity, which makes the experience mildly mesmerising 2

3 The subtle emotional contours of Craig Armstrong s music for the film World Trade Centre work so well because they are so deftly stated. Because the events portrayed in the film are grounded in profound reality, more than almost any film the music for World Trade Centre cannot and must not sentimentalise. Almost any music might be considered an intrusion but much of Armstrong s music is emotional commentary. We do not really hear it as typical film music; it is an emotional response to the narrative, to the story and to the pictures. If any composer had tried to replicate or counter the images with a typical formulaic film score response, this wouldn t have worked; it would have turned tragedy into melodrama. ROAD TO PERDITION Thomas Newman Road to Perdition is a thoughtful and complex film which explores many difficult and emotional themes. Director Sam Mendes said Michael Sullivan is in a battle for the soul of his son. Can a man who has led a bad life achieve redemption through his child? Gangster Michael Sullivan is on the run after taking the life of his boss in revenge for the murder of most of his family. The film explores themes of violence, guilt, redemption and also father-son relationships, not only between Michael Sullivan and his son, but between Sullivan and his boss, John Rooney. The abbreviated excerpt below is taken from Road to Perdition. One of Newman s most profoundly communicative approaches is to slightly obscure the harmonies by painting in subtle extensions. This works well, underpinning the pedestrian pace and sombre and dark context of the movie. Newman has used this style and approach in numerous films and has created an emotive musical dimension to films which function on many levels and is which is much copied and emulated. By writing music which is open and free to interpretation Newman allows the viewer chance to experience the music and the film in a deeper way. The first bar in this excerpt features the added 2 nd. Newman uses this again in bar two over a different chord. When listening we would be forgiven for thinking the sound of the chord in bar one is created purely by the polite clash between the notes of D and E (min 3 rd and added 4 th ). We think this because this is the most surface-level, noticeable, observable element. Audio - Road to Perdition Movie Fig.4 As discussed elsewhere in this book the true power of harmony and intervals are best seen and heard in their full context, not simply their localised context. The intervals below are simply the ones from bar one, spread out, and are seen only in context of the root note; the perforated line represents the harmonic contour of the intervals. 3

4 Fig st 5 th th 11 th th th 5 th 11 th 1 st Fig.6 5 th 6 th 11 th 10 th 7 th 2 nd In fig.6 (left) all intervals within the chord (transcribed at one note per bar) are seen in context of each other. Altogether there are six separate harmonic relationships which define and govern the sound of this chord. When people hear this chord, this is what they experience; this is one of the main reasons it sounds like it does. Fig.7 To presume, therefore, that the reason for this chord sounding the way it does is purely the tone-interval between the D and E is to miss the point completely. The 11 th (E) does indeed make the chord interesting, but because of its interaction with the other three notes in the chord, not just the one nearest to it. Understanding these deep and profound relationships helps us rationalise the complexity of harmony and its potential to subtly affect how we listen and emotionally digest music. Below we have the complete transcription. As we can see, in addition to the subtle nuances created in the piano harmonies, Thomas Newman places behind it an E chord played by an ethereal-sounding sample. So the finished sound is a subtle poly-chord with the E/B chord set back in the mix. (add11/#13) In the example below I have scored out a composite and amalgamated version, complete of the harmonies from piano and synth staves. The amalgamated chord symbol is Bm. In terms of hearing it, the listener is aware of two chords; two realities Bm and E. 4

5 Fig.8 Because of the harmonic ambiguity of the poly-chord, the G# can be heard as the #13 of the Bm chord OR the 10 th (3 rd ) of the E chord Because of the harmonic ambiguity of the poly-chord, the E can be heard as the 11 th of the Bm chord OR the root of the E chord Because of the harmonic ambiguity of the poly-chord, the D can be heard as the 10 th (3 rd ) of the Bm chord OR the 7 th of the E chord Because of the harmonic ambiguity of the poly-chord, the B can be heard as the root of the Bm chord OR the 5 th of the E chord The B and F# serve the Bm which makes the overall harmonic complexion more weighted in favour of Bm than E. AMERICAN BEAUTY Thomas Newman American Beauty is described by many as a film about the meaning of life and by others as a film about the hollow reality of the American Dream. It is a story which shines a light on what some see as a rotting American Culture what some describe as a kind of spiritual bankruptcy. The needless, meaningless material things America holds onto with so much conviction are ridiculed in this thoughtful film. Director Sam Mendes himself called it a kaleidoscopic journey through American suburbia; a series of love stories. Above all it is a satire on what s wrong with American life. Mendes also called American Beauty a rites of passage film about imprisonment and escape from imprisonment. One of the most beautiful scenes is the scene in which a paper bag is take freely by the breeze; a symbolic representation of letting go. How does a composer write music which addresses such a potent mix of complex and composite themes? The example below features music from the paper bag sequence. In the film two characters watch a home movie of a paper bag flying freely in the wind. The viewer therefore watches a film of two characters who are themselves watching a film. The music works so well because it provides a kind of distant, mesmerising and ethereal emotion which serves two purposes: it bonds us to the characters and bonds us and the characters to the film of the paper bag. Newman s identifiable style has been copied the world over and this track specifically has been used in numerous film & TV sequences. Why? How and why does this music communicate so well? How does it translate the emotion of the scene and the film and how does it function as a musical version of Mendes narrative? Sound, music and production Listeners are invariably seduced into the easy presumption of the sound being principally responsible for the mesmerising and hypnotic effect of the music. 5

6 Certainly Newman s use of heavily produced piano with his archetypal and memorable accompanying samples, are what communicate the sound. But sometimes when people analyse music they stop at the sound without looking at what the sound is playing, e.g. the music. Save for electroacoustic music, where sound arguably has a different meaning, sound is nothing without the information; the actual music. We need both. Sound without music isn t music, and music without sound to carry it is simply silent, theoretical music. These sound like ridiculously obvious statements but so often people obsess over, and are preoccupied by, the sound without giving much thought to the music the sound is articulating. The distinctive sound (the choice of instrumentation, the mix, the production, the orchestration) is not in itself music; sound is the vehicle on which music transmits. The sound represents the eventuality of music. To presume that Newman s music is all about the sound is to miss the point completely. Thomas Newman s approach to harmony is exquisite and crucial to the success of the paper bag scene from American Beauty, and it is the sound which contextualises the information and turns it into music. This piece is one of the key reasons Newman s style has been obsessively appropriated, imitated and copied the world over. In terms of Newman s global success and the appropriation of his sound by thousands of young composers, most roads lead back to American Beauty. A cursory glance tells you immediately that this piece doesn t arrive at a resolved chord very often. It has a transitory feel. The resolved chords are circled in the transcription below. The rest are a collection of suspended or incomplete, impartial, fragmentary chords; the left hand displays very clinical, parallel writing but the right hand provides the expression; the colour. The power of this style of writing is that it sometimes provides an exquisite and heady mixture of extensions, but without the defining 3 rd in the main body of the chord. Fig.9 Audio, American Beauty Movie

7 The mixture of incomplete, partial writing represents almost a type of harmonic depravation for the listener. The listener, dispossessed of the normal harmonic indicators and signposts, has to work hard to find any kind of rationale. This creates the effect we experience when listening to this style of writing. Within this context, the pivotal chord sequence (the American Beauty chord sequence) has to be the first two chords of bar two, which appear again in bar five, seventeen and twenty. This is the signature of this piece. This is the musical centre of gravity for American Beauty. Why? The example below (fig.9) features the first four bars of fig.8. The first chord (in bar two) cannot be defined as Cm6 or C6 because it lacks the minor or major 3 rd which would define it. The bare fifth (left hand) is an octave lower than the added 6 th creating a little more ambiguity. The things which hint at the chord being a min6 rather than a maj6 are firstly the brief Bb which delivers the chord; we would find a Bb in a Cm natural minor scale but not in a Cmaj scale, therefore when we hear the chord on bar two we experience it as a Cm6 even though there is no min3 rd. Essentially this is what we might describe as implied or inferred harmony. The vast majority of people who listen will be happily oblivious to this, but that doesn t mean they aren t the beneficiaries of its effect. Secondly, and ironically, the second chord in bar two (the resolving Eb) provides the context for the chord before - the answer, the solution. This means that the next time we hear the same phrase we understand the unstated elements of the first chord even better; we get it. This system of partial, fragmented, broken and drip-fed information, more than anything else, creates the dream-like quality that defines this piece. Remember, although we hear music from left to right, from start to finish, from beginning to end, the emotional effect music has on us is cumulative. Fig Harald Klosser & Thomas Wander The transcription below is taken from 2012 by Harald Kloser and Thomas Wander. It appropriates the Thomas Newman style beautifully. It blurs harmonies subtly; the string section undercurrent delivers a Csus4 chord, but overlaid we have various chords, including F, Eb Gm, F, Eb and Cm Fig.11 Audio - The End is only the Beginning Movie, 01.16,30 7

8 This subtle poly-harmony mildly disorientates the listener, creating a slightly dreamy listening experience. The use of this music at the end of 2012 creates a reflective, emotional response from the viewer which, with the movie itself, gives the film a poignant and inspiring ending. THE DESCENT David Julyan The Newman examples we looked at showed how partial, fragmentary information can create a kind of dream-like quality. In the following example, by David Julyan, from the movie The Descent, we re going to look at a small section of the introduction, a musical chord sequence which came several times in the film and became in many ways its harmonic and sonic signature. The piece sounds seemingly unlike the section we analysed from American Beauty, but, just as in American Beauty, parts of the harmony are partial or incomplete, and also, like American Beauty the composer often overlays extensions onto chords whilst omitting important primary intervals. Although the two films seem different musically, they share similar approaches compositionally. This proves that although music conveys meaning through the appropriation of specific harmonies, no one chord can be said to create an absolutely precise emotional meaning with which it is inextricably and exclusively connected. Chords can be said to create within us some emotional meaning but ultimately it is the context of the film (which is, after all, part of the music) which places on the music its final immovable context. In The Descent the composer uses chords where two extensions which don t normally exist together, are placed in within the same chord. In addition Julyan omits primary intervals from chords. This can make chords very extension heavy or colour heavy, which can sound undefined, transparent, partial and spatial. David Julyan s score for The Descent is solemn and somber in places. It s not entirely unlike parts of Jerry Goldsmith s score for Alien. It is dark, ambient and minimalist sounding and has touches of Philip Glass. The movie itself features a group of women caving in the Appalachian Mountains who encounter monsters - referred to as crawlers - that gradually and perhaps inevitably pick off the group one by one. There are tensions between the characters which become exposed as the movie progresses. One of the elements that make the film such a convincing and classy horror movie is the music, which features some refreshingly abstract harmonies. This is not, thankfully, the kind of formulaic score it could easily have ended up being. The normal Hollywood gloss may well have ruined the film. Julyan s thoughtful, introspective and deep music raises this film outside the context of what could have been an atypical horror movie. It features little in the way of melody or formulaic Hollywood orchestration. The transcription in fig.11 is typical of Julyan s score for The Descent (and Insomnia which is covered later in this chapter). It possesses a serenity, stillness and tranquillity despite its preponderance toward difficult intervals and odd voicings. This approach serves the movie well. It lends the first few scenes a sense of foreboding which the pictures do not entirely reflect. Visually the opening scenes are on the nose ; but the music tends to betray the story long before the pictures do. The chord in bar two contains the strings playing the root, 5 th, 3 rd and 6 th whilst the trumpets play the maj7 th and 9 th. The 6 th and maj7 th would normally not be found in the same chord and the fact that they are lends the cue a distant, remote sound. Also the piece moves in and out from defined chords (containing a 3 rd ) to non-defined chords (no 3 rd ); for example bars four to five. 8

9 Fig.12 Audio: White Water Rafting Movie: Strings Defined chord Trumpet Non-defined chord min Horn Defined chord Non-defined chord When I say you wouldn t normally find a maj6 th and maj7 th together in the same chord, what I mean is that they possess distinctly different aural qualities. They offer quite specific characteristics and tensions. In scalic context they are only a tone apart but Julyan separates them by placing the 6 th above the maj7 th. But still it sounds a little odd. Bar six features a Bsus4 resolving to a B which then subsequently resolves to a bare C# chord, with no defining 3 rd but with an 11 th and a high 7 th. This is a classic example of a filmic, spatial, extension-heavy chord. In previous chapters we looked at the issue of the intervallic context of notes, whereby the emotion and character is dependent on a note s musical function and its intervallic context (what interval it represents relative to the chord in which it is placed). With this in mind, bar eight contains an F# (7 th ) which in the previous bar functioned as the 11 th. This tiny subtle nuance is crucial to how this piece functions. Bar eight also contains a high m6 (the E) which creates tension with the 7 th (F#) lower. Perhaps bar nine contains the best example of what harmony can achieve; chords normally contain either a 3 rd or a 4 th but not usually both; indeed the very concept of a suspended 4 th is that it takes the place of the 3 rd. However in this case the lower strings state the suspended 4 th (A) of the E chord whilst the French Horns state the 3 rd. This is not a semi-tonal clash; the notes are a maj7 th apart, mitigating and softening their potential for dissonance but not deleting it. This piece succeeds in being effective, emotional, sparse, dense, spatial and dissonant, all in the space of a few bars. The musical cue, which appears several times in the film, is crucial in underpinning the drama. The first time it appears, while the characters are white-water rafting, the music offers a sense of subtle foreboding. Set against the seemingly happy scene on film, this creates an effective juxtaposition. The dull inevitability of music Normally when we listen to music there is a sense of inevitability. As we discuss elsewhere in this book, John Cage criticised Beethoven personally for being the principal creator of what he termed goalorientated music. Whilst it might seem disingenuous and even absurd to level criticism at Beethoven for simply constructing music in a way that was absorbing, enlightening and entertaining, it would also be wrong to presume that John Cage was necessarily inaccurate about his central observation; music is goal orientated. It mirrors our lives, which are also punctuated by journeys and goals. 9

10 Perhaps the one area of mainstream music (listened to by millions) capable of exploring other ways of delivering music is film music. Music is linear by its very nature. Even if it doesn t possess goals, it has a beginning and a conclusion. But the real beauty of some of the more expressive film music is that it doesn t appear to have the same dull inevitability that most music possesses. Because of the nature of how film music is constructed - and although it still goes from left to right, from beginning to end - it seems sometimes as if it communicates cumulatively, as if the music is being fed to us from different directions, almost as if a labyrinth of chords and extensions are falling like snowdrops. It appears lacking of the kind of dull inevitability or grand scheme which so defines normal music. The music seems to breathe and evolve rather than move. It seems to inhale and exhale rather than progress or conclude. It evolves rather than develops. This is of course down to the nature of what film music is and the functions it undertakes. It is required often to come in halfway through a scene; it is sometimes required not to really have a beginning or and end but merely to appear briefly. It is almost an unwritten rule of music s central function that it ought not neccasarily exist as a separate, standalone entity because to do so could be distracting. INSOMNIA David Julyan The piece below, again by David Julyan, is part of the opening sequence to the film Insomnia. A glance at the chords below will show, once again, Julyan s use of incomplete fractured chords - ordinary chords deprived of some of their pivotal structural intervals. The opening of the film is visually stunning, with aerial footage of Alaska. Sent to investigate a murder in Alaska, cop Al Pacino accidentally shoots his own partner while trying to apprehend a suspect. He hides his guilt, which adds to an already emotionally entangled movie. Julyan s music works brilliantly well in this deeply emotional and psychological film in providing densely textured but harmonically incomplete and mildly dissonant music. The music is introspective and pensive throughout the opening sequence, which adds an unsure, apprehensive and ominous context to the visually dramatic pictures. Fig.13 Audio, Opening Titles (Blood Drips) Movie: F Bb Bars one and three feature an Am but minus its 5 th ; bar two features simply octave unison; bar 4 features a Bb chord but minus its 3 rd. This is particularly striking when the chord evolves to a Bbmaj7 later in the bar. A maj7 chord minus its 3 rd is an interesting chord because the lack of the defining interval (3 rd ) makes the maj7 into a slightly different listening experience. The aural qualities of the maj7, although in part due to the maj7 interval between it and the root, are partly the product of the completeness of the chord. This is what gives it its niceness. Omitting the 3 rd partly aurally recontextualises the maj7. All extensions rely on the completeness of a chord to determine the way their aural qualities are heard. If we omit the vital 3 rd from a chord which has extensions, we expose different intervallic dynamics within the chord. The penultimate bar of fig.13 is rationalised as an F over a Bb bass. The lack of an F or C in the chord, however, means the description falls between different possibilities (Am/Bb for example) as does the sound it creates. The real success here is that Julyan s use of fragmented and incomplete harmonies creates a kind of apprehension and tension in the film. It works as an effective musical accompaniment to the desolate but striking panoramic mountain scenery in the film s opening. As listeners we re conditioned to be able to fill in any confusion or missing gaps with supposition, assumption and hypothesis. 10

11 This is an instinctive process by which we attempt to understand and comprehend. The harder this process is, the more effective the music can be, within reason; if the process was impossible due to unfathomable dissonances or sonically impenetrable textures then we would be confused to the point of irritation. Because the piece doesn t reveal itself easily or immediately, the process we go through to rationalise what we re listening to is, to some degree, what creates and defines its inherent communicative ability. It s why it s so effective and emotional. The music creates an emotional response in us. The absence of crucial intervals creates insecurity in the listener. Absence apparently makes the heart grow fonder, but it also makes the musical receptors and aural cognition more heightened. The following short abbreviated transcription (fig.14) is from the same film and shows again the use of minimal harmonies, e.g. chords which appear to be missing intervals which normally define them. The first chord sounds like an A6/9 chord but on closer analysis has no 3 rd or 5 th. Fig.14 Audio - Will hides the gun (no 3/5) (b9/no3) (no3) A6/9 G# G# G# (no3) A6 This chord creates emotion precisely because it lacks complete identification. Indeed the only reason for rationalising it as a chord in the first place is to show a benchmark by which it can be classified; to show how near it is to the chord on which it is loosely based. Rather than see the chord as a bunch of notes, we have to look in context of what it s nearest rational reference is, then look what is being omitted and to what degree this dictates its effectiveness. The chord in bars four to six is another incomplete one; this time it s the A6 but minus maj3, which makes it a different listening experience. The lack of the 3 rd recalibrates the harmonies and redistributes the emphasis of each of the notes in the chord, giving the chord a stark bareness. MERRY CHRISTMAS MR LAWRENCE Ryuichi Sakamoto Fig.16 looks at the manipulation of harmony to illicit very slight and subtle harmonic blurring by examining the main theme from the film Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence. First, in order to acclimatise, it would help if we glanced at fig.15, which contains chords which are followed with the isolated extracted elements of the chords that offer tension. Fig.15 pppp maj

12 The chords on the treble and bass clef above (fig.15) in bars one, three and five offer a slightly different chord, simultaneously. The differences are so subtle as to be hardly recognised but their effect is crucial to the emotional impact of the music and in order to garner the slightly dreamy feel of the chords. Although the bottom and top stave of bar one feature a distinctive flattened 5 th, the top chord features maj 7/9 whereas the bottom stave features the 6 th. As in the Julyan piece at the start of The Descent, finding a 6 th and a maj7 together can create a cluster of colour to which we aren t accustomed. When one listens to the title track from this movie there is a temptation to assume the theme itself is the main propellant of the emotion, resplendent with its far-eastern style textures. However, the preamble which precedes that section completely sets the tone (texturally and harmonically) for the rest of the piece; this is the section we will analyse. Technically the section below is the introduction but it is completely crucial. It manages to present a sad, melancholy innocence whilst retaining textural clarity. How does it do this? The crystal-clear synth instrumentation in the melody is crucial to the sense of textural clarity but the melancholy innocence is greatly aided by the sequence of accompanying harmonies. The subtle, blurred distortion created by two subtly different chords at the same time creates emotional impact. Listeners are unable to rationalise the subtly indistinct harmonies which creates a slight dream-like mesmeric quality to the sound. Subtle differences in the precise harmonic complexion of the chords create a warm, evocative and mystical sound which can be misunderstood for texture rather than content. Audio: Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence title track Fig.16 12

13 The mesmerising and expressive top-line melodic movement goes too fast to be rationalised as a melody and so is absorbed into the chords and functions as rapidly moving horizontal harmony. Film music s primary function is to aid the telling of a story told through images and narrative. Because music for film lacks the habitual great incentives of normal music the need to serve itself, the need for musical goals and the desire and need to entertain as music it is free from its customary structural shackles, as this piece displays, however subtly. Music for music s sake carries with it the burden and expectation of commercial expectation and musical entertainment. Music for film s sake has no such incentive. This is why composers can deliver ethereal sounding textures and harmonies for films like Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence. PEARL HARBOUR Hans Zimmer How Harmony leads us into temptation Take a look at the following excerpt, which is abbreviated from a sequence from Pearl Harbour Audio, I will come back Fig.17 s? The sequence is crying out to be resolved at the end of bar four. We are lead to the assumption of a resolution to Gm. But one of Hans Zimmer s defining characteristics is on the one hand to immerse us in cotton-wool orchestration and dense but soft textures, but on the other hand to take the road less travelled. With Zimmer expect the unexpected. One of the things that can make music original is not what it is, but what it is not. The level to which it weakens our assumptions and subverts our expectations can, in some circumstances, also be the level to which it succeeds. Something which subverts completely, suddenly, abruptly or starkly will disorientate a listener and in terms of a film experience, it will distract, but not in a good way. Something that subverts unexpectedly but subtly will titillate, tantalise, tempt and entice. Take a look at a fuller version of the excerpt. 13

14 Fig.18 D to Dm (boxed) is unexpected. It s an acutely anticlimactic harmonic sequence which creates a sense of insecurity, sadness and foreboding. This happens again between bar 8 and 9 (Am to Ab). Zimmer does these things at crucial moments within the structure of music to extort the maximum emotional impact at the right time. In music, architecture and placement are everything. In order to put this into some kind of context, below in bar one we have a D note. The idea is deliver it into a sequence which contextualises it harmonically, e.g. works and makes the D note mean something. The first example (fig.19) is a simple no-brainer: the D note becomes a D chord. In fig.20 the D note becomes an inverted 7 th of an E chord. This causes a sense of freshness and surprise. By beginning the sequence with a note which we presume is the tonic but turns out to be the inverted 7 th, we surprise people. Fig.19 Fig.20 The change in fig.21 is slightly less expected, where the D note becomes part of an Ebmaj7 chord. The change in fig.22 is even less expected, where the D becomes the flat 5 th of an Ab chord. Fig.21 Fig.22 14

15 Fig.23 Fig.23 features the D note becoming the 1 st inversion of a Bb chord. Again, this is unexpected because the chord of Bb is outside the key centre of the chord of D we expected. The note of D links the two chords together and alters the harmonic weighting of the Bb chord which makes it more interesting. It is effective also because the interval of the destination D note is a 3 rd which is a penetrative descriptive interval. Fig.24 is perhaps the most unexpected and severe. The D becomes the flattened 10 th of a B7 chord. Subtle complimentary textures and orchestration will soften the impact. 5 6 Fig.24 Fig.25 THE DA VINCI CODE Hans Zimmer Zimmer uses the expect the unexpected tactic again in this short opening sequence from one of his most successful movie scores. Audio - Dies Mercuri Martius - Movie: (add2) Dm A Dm Dm C 15

16 There are several ways in which Zimmer disturbs and blurs harmony in this cue. For a start, the initial opening chord has an added 2 nd, clashing faintly with the min 3 rd and is also built over the inverted A (5 th ). Secondly, the bass motif, which comes in three bursts, although normal (3,5,1) in the first instance, reverts to a more harmonically blurred state; in the second statement (bar seven and eight) the line rests on the 4 th (G) and then again on the 2 nd and 4 th (bar twelve). These are the harmonic tactics which ensure the piece doesn t descend unduly into normality and tunefulness. This is what makes it dramatic and makes it filmic and makes it suitable for picture. Later on in the same cue (01.05 movie ) Zimmer s harmonic tendencies come through again. Fig.26 Audio - Dies Mercuri Martius Movie: (omit5) (omit5) (maj7) D Bb D Bbsus4 D Bb#4 D Bb D Bm Bm6 Bm Bm Bm9 Bm Choir / Orchestra The initial bass note of D becomes the inverted 3 rd of a Bb chord. This is classic Zimmer, confounding the expectation. When we hear a single note, or octaves, we default to the natural assumption that we re hearing the tonic, the root. We re not particularly conscious of this presumption but given that classification forms part of aural cognition, this process forms part of how we listen, how we understand and how we enjoy. If it turns out that the note we presumed was the root isn t the root, the realisation can be very mildly surprising; this is one of the many ways music communicates a sense of identity, character and meaning. In the next bar the chord changes to Bbsus4. The sus4 is the Eb, which causes mild dissonance between it and the D bass, mitigated by the D being so low. If the Bb inverted chord in bar three was played in isolation it would sound like it is supposed to sound, like you would expect it to sound; but played after the two bars which precede it, it sounds different because its context is different. Harmony does not communicate to its listener as a singular linear experience, despite this being the method of its physical delivery. Chords communicate collectively in a cumulative style. The emotional feel and identity of a chord is something that communicates, but when that chord is delivered or prepared in a certain, specific and unexpected way it can change its characteristics slightly and subtly. The effect of the D even continues after the key change because although it no longer represents the bass, there is a D note within the Bm chord. This piece of music runs behind the opening credit sequence from the film and as such has only graphics to accompany. Thus it is almost exclusively responsible for preparing the context of the film for the viewer. If we now take a look at the same cue, this time from the beginning, we can observe other factors which help the piece communicate. A scene in the same film gives us a perfect example of the simple power of the inversion in creating a subtle but nevertheless dramatic distortion of the harmonic equilibrium of a chord in, the film presents a scene in which the two characters punch in a sequence of numbers (the Fibonacci sequence ) which results in the arrival of safety deposit box. This is a key moment of the film and is preceded by Tom Hanks character stating the moment of truth. Before we look at this sequence let us first analyse the two simple chords below. 16

17 Fig.27 G Fm Almost parallel motion Although the two chords sound dramatic, they are a little obvious; they lack any real subtlety in voicing. The voicing is almost parallel and has a clinical chromatic feel. How can we make the transition smoother? By making the second chord inverted, we create contrary motion in the voicing (top note goes down, bottom note now goes up), and create dramatic tension in the second chord by virtue of its inverted nature. G Fm/Ab By such simple devices music is manicured and manipulated. What we re doing when we alter chords for more dramatic effect is sculpturing the raw materials of harmony to create a more dramatic aural shape whilst retaining the basic feel of the chord. Although it is important to understand the technicalities of how the inversion has affected the sequence in terms of subtle dramatic tension, just as important is to understand that contours created by contrary motion could be described as being how music breathes. Every time music is performed and listened to, it lives. One of the reasons it sounds alive is because of the internal evolving architecture of the harmony moving. Just as we are programmed to breathe by our brain, the level to which music breathes is determined by composers, arrangers, orchestrators, producers, mix engineers and of course, the musicians who interpret and perform. Although people might presume that the rhythm or pulse of a piece would constitute it breathing, every subtle nuance in voicing, every small bit of harmonic architecture, is one more way in which music contracts and expands. The sequence is transcribed full [fig 28] complete with the crucial, dramatic but subtle inversion which creates the contrary motion. We hear the chord going down but the bass line going up. The chord goes from major to minor but the minor-ness is disguised by the inversion. What s really happening here is that we re experiencing competing perceptions which cause dramatic emotional tension. In addition, if we look carefully from bar six onwards with the use of alternating 5s and #5s, articulated with classic orchestration, we see what could almost be described as Hans Zimmer s John Barry moment. Fig.28 Audio Fructus Gravis Movie Strings Harp Strings 17

18 THE ROCK Hans Zimmer In the transcription below (fig.29) from the main theme from The Rock, bar seven features Asus4 and A chords. The expectation is for the sequence to resolve to a Dm. As with The Da Vinci Code, Zimmer chooses instead so resolve to a Bb/D. This chord sequence, again containing the inversion, is almost a semi-trademark of the composer. Our analysis of it is in context of its ability to generate an emotive response from the listener / viewer. The piece below, like many Zimmer pieces, possesses an anthem-like quality with its slow, deliberate, unhurried harmonies and pedestrian pace. This piece, like so much of Zimmer s music, is not so much written to be synced to a precise point in the film, but rather exists as an uplifting, elevating, stirring response to the narrative of the film as a whole. Fig.29 Audio: Hummel Gets the Rockets Movie CRIMSON TIDE Hans Zimmer The excerpt below is taken from Crimson Tide and, as with bars seven and eight of The Rock (fig. 29) features the same harmonic approach in bars nine and ten. Also, in bars seven and eight Zimmer uses the distinctly John Barry 007 -sounding chord sequence (boxed) Fig.30 Audio Roll Tide 18

19 THE RING Hans Zimmer In terms of creating delicate and subtle harmonic dissonances, we ought to examine the following section from The Ring. The music is a defining aspect of the film and works with the narrative to deliver some memorable moments. Zimmer s harmonically and texturally opaque music works well. The music below is one the central musical cues of the film, and is first heard during a car journey which follows character Rachel s meeting with her child Aiden s teacher in which the teacher expresses worry over Aiden s recent behavior. The scene in the car is initially silent apart from this eerie piano and synth line. The two characters glance at each other but the music describes the anxiety and strain. Fig.31 Movie:

20 What this piece highlights, yet again, is the effectiveness of subverting the listening experience; the denial of what the listener expects to hear. Broken harmonies can and do communicate more profoundly in some cases than regular more exacting harmonies. There is a vague and unsettling impreciseness which draws us in and makes us think more than harmonies which are complete and delivered on a plate. The defining moment is bar three, where we would expect a return to the chord in bar two, but are instead given a mildly distorted version of it, in the form of a sparsely voiced Dm(add4). There is no actual D note (root) in what we assume is a Dm simply because a chord of Dm preceded it. Even the A note (5 th ) is only heard thanks to the sample line on the bottom stave. In the spirit of less is more, harmony by suggestion or innuendo where central pillars of the chord are omitted can be more powerful because the listener s interpretation is more acute. The chord contains the 4 th, which, given the lack of a root note, displaces the harmony further. Taken in isolation we wouldn t even hear the chord in bar three as a Dm(add4); it is the slightly more certain chord in bar two which delivers this aural assumption and chord symbol name. Ultimately with less definite and fractured harmony perception is everything. Placing fractured chords after more definite chords is therefore one of the cornerstones of this kind of writing. Beginning with a fractured chord in many respects gives the listener nowhere to go. Moving in and out of harmonic focus is what makes this style of writing so effective. This subtle denial of what we expect is one of the main harmonic approaches in this film. Bar four is technically the most dissonant, featuring an implied Bbm chord (no 5 th ) but with the added major 7 th on the synth line underneath. This would sound more challenging than it does were it not for two things; firstly the soft sample textures deliver the dissonance subtly and secondly, bar three offered a much more subtle dissonance, leading us up to the main dissonance. We therefore have an emotional arc created by an harmonic contour which delivers a gradual swell of intensity before subsiding in bar five (see fig.32). Fig.32 Definite/ consonant Mildly dissonant Heavily dissonant Mildly dissonant Other subtle dissonances come in the following, which appears several times in the film. Fig.33 Audio - The Well Strings / samples maj7 maj7 7 m3 rd This short section displays a Dm chord being offset by an alternating major 7 th and dominant 7 th melodic line. However, closer scrutiny and different contextualization below reveals that the first two bars are in fact polytonal. The melodic line is in Bbm whereas the accompaniment is in Dm. thus we have the irony that the more visually complex explanation is actually easier to rationalise. 20

21 Fig.34 Strings / samples Bbm 3 rd 2 nd 3 rd 5 th F#m Polyharmony is not beyond comprehension but often makes music seem beyond conventional rationalization. But it only seems that way; in music most things can be rationalised and understood. In the section below, which is abbreviated from the opening few bars of probably the most iconic musical motif in cinema history, we have an open key signature with all context deliberately removed apart from the notes in bar nine, which we naturally perceive to be the root, 3 rd and 7 th of an Eb chord. Fig.35 Horns 1 st maj3 rd 7 th As we can see from the fuller version below, from the movie Jaws, this is classic polytonal writing. The bottom stave contains notes which tell us one thing, whilst the horn line in isolation is in an entirely different key: simple polytonality. Because we aren t able to separately rationalise each line, we hear something which is effective but which we don t understand; brilliant but baffling. After hearing several bars we understand the basic concept of the semitone movement between E and F. Then we hear something that doesn t fit. The point is, one of the main reasons it is effective is because we don t understand it; because it doesn t fit. If you played the horn line a thousand times featuring three notes which worked it would probably not have the same impact. Fig.36 Audio - Main Title from Jaws Horns Strings 21

22 The section below, which is a continuation of The Well, from The Ring, offers an intriguing insight into how and why music which has been subtly disfigured communicates so well Fig.37 Audio - The Well Dm (maj7) Bbm/Db Piano The first issue is the context of the lower note of the arpegiated piano line. The D in bars one to three constitutes the root of the Dm chord, where as the Db in bars four-five constitutes a minor 3 rd of what is an implied inverted chord. Therefore although the musical notes D to Db drop by a semitone, what the intervals represent rises by a minor 3 rd. This simple duality of perception is one reason why sections like this work so well. The reality of this particular sequence is skewed further by virtue of the A which appears in the left-hand accompaniment, which represents a 5 th of the Dm chord, then a major 7 th of the inverted arpegiated Bbm chord. The note itself clashes but of course what it represents changes too. (maj7) (#5) We only call the chord in bars four and five Bbm/Db and not Db because the melody line in bar four hits the Bb. This kind of loose chord classification is not just a theoretical observation; these vagaries affect how we hear. Listeners hear chord symbols even if they don t know what they are, which means they also hear the subtleties which shave the edges of the certainties of the harmonies too. The transcription below, which is from the hit US television drama series Rubicon, features music written in a similar style to the example from The Ring. Fig episode 2, season 1 - Rubicon G G Note Gb Gb 3 rd 3 rd 1 st Interval 1 st Again, if we look and listen carefully we notice that the G in context of the Gm piano arpeggio represents a root. The Gb note in bar two has dropped by a semitone but the interval rises to a minor 3 rd of the Ebm/Gb chord, so the intervallic ratio rises, offering a kind of contrary motion between the note we hear and what it represents, which we also hear. The final example from The Ring is entitled this is going to hurt and is a slower, more languid and expressive example of same concept of note v interval. Fig.39 Audio - This is going to hurt from The Ring Strings 22

23 Fig.40 The D bass note (seen as a continuous line in the example below) in the double basses, drops to a Db. The intervallic context (what the notes are as intervals in context of the chords they imply) seen here as a perforated line, is from root to minor 3 rd. This is one of the reasons this cue sounds so effective and dramatic. This is one of the reasons why it works. The transition from Dm to Bbm/Db lets out a stream of emotion, almost as if the piece is literally breathing out. This is how our senses are tweaked, our responses titillated and the predictability of our reactions challenged. Music structure delivers these possibilities. We find them only by looking hard at what music can offer. This is why the crossover section where the musical and representational contexts cross over (the end of bar two into the beginning of bar three) is so interesting and relevant. The idea of contextualizing music not just as notes but also as intervals can be rewarding and enlightening. It s not that it necessarily makes us better writers; it s just that we can understand how harmony works and creates emotional reactions within listeners. Take a look at the simple bass line below; the key is Db, so taken on face value the notes, as well as being Db, F and Ab, are root, major 3 rd and 5 th. If we were trying to harmonize this section we would probably default to a relatively safe approach where the key signature and perceived key centre guides us. This is natural but it does underscore to what degree we are hostages to conformity and tradition. When we sit at a piano keyboard we naturally default to a normal way of approaching composition and harmony. Our fingers are programmed to automatically reach for favorable chord voicings. Even if we attempt to buck this trend by, for example, placing our entire arm on the keyboard to deliberately create harmonic chaos, even this is a caricatured overcooked extreme reaction. We are programmed to obey the rules of music. But of course in reality there are no rules, only traditions. There is no truth, only opinion. Fig.41 Db Fm Ab Db Db/F Fm/Ab Bbm/Db F Db/Ab Above are written three alternate chord sequences to fit the bass line provided. In truth none of them sound that good because none of them stray outside the key centre. The bass line is quite restrictive. So let s see what Debussy did. Fig.42 The first two chords are root-position but in bar two the Ab has been re-contextualised enharmonically as a G#, which means the interval is different and now provides the inverted major 3 rd of the E chord. 23

24 Fig.43 This simple shift is typical of someone who thought - as Dr Emmet Brown from Back to the Future, might have said fourth dimensionally. Chords or notes are not always hostage to their key centre. They are only hostage to their key centre because we allow them to be. Why is this sort of harmonic device effective? What are the unique and distinctive harmonic relationships that make this work so well? First of all we have the contrary motion contained in the chords and voicings, in which the top and bottom notes move in contrary direction, avoiding static or parallel movement. Also, look at the difference between the musical direction of the notes (fig.43) and the subtly different contour of the intervals. Db F Ab/G# Fig.44 1 st 1 st Sometimes there are two completely plausible but different ways of rationalizing a chord, theoretically, visually and aurally, just as there may be two completely different, equally valid interpretations of a picture. In the picture in fig. 46, do you see a girl s face or a caricatured saxophone player? 3 rd Fig.45 Fig.46 What is the chord in fig.46? (sus4) (omit 3 rd ) B7 or an Em11 B Technically from a chord symbol perspective it can be both. Although you will probably settle on the B7 because it is easier to interpret, in terms of hearing it, the chord has two possibilities. Just like the picture, the chord can be described two different ways which means it doesn t possess an absolutely definitive theoretical or aural identity. Chord symbols give a name to the way something sounds. If the chord only sounded one way if it was simply heard in one definite way then however many abstract and ridiculous theoretical chord symbol names we tried to apply to it, it s irrelevant (for example, if we called a chord of C an Am7 minus the root this would be theory gone mad it would quite literally only be theoretical). The situation in which it s not irrelevant or merely theory is if a chord has two equally valid and compelling chord symbols, because then it has two different aural definitions. It is like an aural version of the picture in fig.45. There are two equally valid simultaneous ways of interpreting it. Chords like the one in fig.46 communicate in a similar way to the picture in fig.45; they both offer two simultaneous realities which are equally plausible. Most chords come to us already zipped-up and ready to be heard; heard rather than listened to. The composer has offered us a definite context and we have no alternative than to accept it because there are no alternative contexts. But when harmony comes in ambiguous forms which have more than one interpretation, as listeners we are involved more in the process. We are no longer passive and reactive. We are titillated, perhaps mildly stupefied, but equally we may be more proactive and engaged. We may be listening rather than merely hearing. That the chord has more than one type of recognition available can sometimes suggest an unfinished incompleteness. 24