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Introduction

The Open University — Wed, 13 Apr 2016 23:00:00 GMT

There are many approaches to using film music in the classroom, including:

a focus on pupil experience;
a focus on the structure of composition;
a focus on the relationship between music and image;

This course will explore some of these approaches through various activities.

Find out more about studying with The Open University by visiting our online prospectus.

Learning outcomes

The Open University — Wed, 13 Apr 2016 23:00:00 GMT

After studying this course, you should be able to:

understand methods of introducing film music to secondary school pupils
understand how the concept of music accompanying image can be applied to skills of composition
understand how to develop techniques of appraising and analysing film music through classroom activities.

1.1 Experiencing film music

The Open University — Wed, 13 Apr 2016 23:00:00 GMT

People hear and experience film music differently, and it is important to respect and explore this subjectivity. No answer is wrong, but merely representative of different cultural perceptions.

‘All that I can say about my method in writing music for films is that it is intensely personal. I work completely emotionally. I cannot intellectualize about the role of music in film. I decide if it should be there purely by my emotions.’
Jerry Goldsmith, composer for Alien (1979), The Sum of All Fears (2002) and the Star Trek films (1979–2002), quoted in Thomas, T. (1991) Film Score: The Art and Craft of Movie Music, Burbank, CA, Riverwood Press, p. 293.

‘In my mind's eye I create themes for the principal characters. I then begin to consider the all-important matter of timing the pace of the film – to speed up gradually towards the climax.’
Max Steiner, composer for King Kong (1933), Gone with the Wind (1939) and Now, Voyager (1942), quoted in Daubney, K. (2000) Max Steiner's Now Voyager: A Film Score Guide, Westport, CT, Greenwood Press, p. 51.

Film musicologists are still developing definitive approaches to interpreting film music, drawing on filmic, musicological and even sociological models to explore the relationship between what we see and what we hear. An important starting point in the classroom is to establish that the pupils are actually hearing the music in the soundtrack. Often there is so much to look at that music remains ‘unheard’.

Throughout this course, reference is made to a number of pieces of film music. It would be advisable to obtain all the clips you intend to use beforehand. The recommended clips are:

one item each from lists A and B from Suggested extracts in Activity 1
the James Bond theme
Hedwig's theme from Harry Potter
the Jaws theme
Fantasia
the music from the ski sequence from the Spy Who Loved Me
the music from the garage scene from Tomorrow Never Dies.

Have a look now at Activity 1 , which introduces pupils to the challenges of listening.

Activity 1

Click 'View document' to open Suggested extracts

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Click 'View document' to open Experiencing film music

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Click on the second 'View document' link above and choose two contrasting film extracts from the list Suggested extracts and play them for your pupils. Extracts from List A should be more easily heard, described and remembered by pupils than those from List B. Click again on the Text icon above and have a look at the question sheet Experiencing film music, which will give you a framework for directing discussion. Bear in mind that some pupils may hear the music in ways you do not expect, so be prepared to draw out their experience to stimulate discussion.

1.2. Motifs and memorability

The Open University — Wed, 13 Apr 2016 23:00:00 GMT

One of the reasons that we find film music memorable is that it uses distinctive melodic motifs to ‘catch’ the main characters it describes. The James Bond theme is a good example of this, but a modern composer who has had great success with memorable motifs in all his scores is John Williams (Jaws, Star Wars, Harry Potter). Click here to read an interview with Williams from 1998.

‘[We can] take themes and reshape them and put them in a major key, minor key, fast, slow, up, down, inverted, attenuated and crushed, and all the permutations that you can put a scene and a musical conception through.’
John Williams on Star Wars, quoted in Thomas, T. (1991) Film Score: The Art and Craft of Movie Music, Burbank, CA, Riverwood Press, pp. 334–335.

Activity 2 has components suitable for younger and older pupils to explore their abilities to identify and interpret memorable film music motifs. For younger pupils it will be enough to link instruments, rhythm, and tempo to how they feel about the characters. For older pupils, the activity explores how motif design reflects character personality.

With the activity for older pupils, you may also like to click on the icons below and use the video extracts from an interview with George Fenton, composer on Gandhi (1982), Memphis Belle (1990), Anna and the King (1999) and Sweet Home Alabama (2002).

Click "play" below to watch George Fenton dicuss musical ideas for film scores.

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George Fenton

Yes, I mean I think that nine times out of ten I think that movies scores, film scores are based on one or maybe two quite short musical ideas, maybe a theme or a rhythmic idea or something like that, and I suppose at its best it becomes a development of that, and at its worst I suppose it's a series of repeats of the same idea without really developing it.

Trevor Herbert

Right George, at this point I think we have to come clean and own up to the fact that I've set you a task in which you are asked to... prepare a fairly short melody with very simple harmonies specifically in C major, specifically with the three primary triads of C major: C, F and G. And we're going to see the effects that we can get by manipulating your skills in that particular context.

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Click "play" below to discover how George Fenton creates a theme.

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George Fenton

Given that the chords, there only 3 chords that I can use which in some ways is an unusual limitation to have, but given that there are only 3 chords to use, um, I tried to think in terms of writing a tune where I could, sort of, perhaps add a bit of tension to those three chords so the tune in a way depends on the harmony as much as the chords are a way of harmonising the tune.

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Click "play" below to learn about the type of theme created and hear the tune with harmonies.

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Trevor Herbert

That's fine. I should say it's a 16-bar tune which is one of the most common sort of structures for um, for example 4 melody, is made up really of four phrases of four bars each, a sort of 'A A B A'...

George Fenton

Yeah, absolutely – this is really the simplest – I think the simplest – structurally the simplest type of melody one could write which as you say is one phrase basically a repeated phrase with a slight variation, then a development of that phrase which becomes like a 'B'... yes a contrasting phrase, and then returning to a version of the original phrase to round it off.

Trevor Herbert

You can tell the shape from the melody then, now let's hear it with the harmonies.

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Click "play" below to learn how George Fenton inserts tension into the theme he has written.

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Trevor Herbert

There's a very nice point in the piece, in the B section, where you put a B natural very briefly against an F major chord, just there, can you just play that bit for us...

It's just a sort of bitter-sweet...

George Fenton

Yes, yes, just, er, just, I think it's a sort of... perhaps that's the most, that's the most tension I could get out of that particular, that particular chord because it's playing a B against a, against an A below, and um, in a way it's a very interesting exercise to try and write things given something as restricted, because in fact as one works on it, you begin to realise that actually it's not a restriction at all, it's really something that in a way, because of its limitation is what can in the end make the piece interesting. I think, you know, one's always looking for some kind of structural sense so that if you set up a little bit of tension in the first phrase that as much as you um, contrast that phrase in the third phrase, and develop it, that you should also develop the idea of – if there is an inherent tension between the melody and the chords that you should develop that as well. And um, resolve it each time so that it feels that it has a complete shape.

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Trevor Herbert

Yes, it certainly does. Right, now that's the basic piece we are going to work with, but I did ask you to give me a couple of sort of variations on this little piece. What have you come up with?

George Fenton

Well, um, I tried various things, I thought it might be quite interesting to play it and change the note values of the melody slightly, and by doing so sort of pull the melody ahead of the bar-line at certain points so that it would sound like this.

In a way perhaps a bit more lyrical than... previously, and I was thinking in terms of, if I was writing it for another instrument other than the piano, then perhaps if it was played by a solo wind instrument such as a flute or an oboe or something like that, that it would be, it would be probably more effective if there was a little bit more rhythmic interest in the tune itself.

Trevor Herbert

That's right, and the syncopations provide that, don't they.

George Fenton

Yes, that's right, the synco... and so not only is there a bit of tension in the harmony with the chords, but also, because things are moving at a slightly different moment, that gives it a bit of extra interest as well.

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Trevor Herbert

Now I know that you’ve come up with another version of this as well.

George Fenton

What I’ve done is just written a little figure, rhythmic figure for the left hand which is, um, which stays on the pedal note of C the entire time, and by putting the, er, some chords, again the same three basic chords, in the right hand, you get a quite different effect. So this is the rhythmic figure.

Etcetera. And if you put the tune over the top of that, it comes out sounding quite differently – quite different.

And that’s, um, that’s the same three chords, but again, but one can imagine it beingorchestrated with a totally different flavour and, um, but again, not a vast, not really a vast difference from the original tune.

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Activity 2

Part 1 (all pupils)

Play the main character motifs from a number of films (such as the James Bond theme, Hedwig's theme from Harry Potter, or the Jaws theme) to pupils. Ask them to write down the type of character or film which they think the motif might be associated with. Afterwards you can name the films and characters for each motif.

Part 2 (younger pupils)

Ask pupils to identify some of the qualities of the motifs that make them effective in those films, e.g. what is sinister about the Jaws theme? What is energetic and driving about the James Bond theme? What is mysterious about the music from Harry Potter?

Part 2 (older pupils)

Develop with pupils a list of four qualities for each key character.

Part 3 (older pupils)

Discuss with pupils the motif designs, concentrating on interval size, rhythmic patterns, diatonic/chromatic language, major/minor modes, range of pitches, and repetition of motifs in the theme.

Part 4 (older pupils)

Finally, ask pupils to match qualities of the character with design features of their motif (you may like to use the sample answers given here as a basis for developing your own answers).

Click 'View document' below to open Film music motifs – indicative answer sheet

View document

1 3. From experience to interpretation

The Open University — Wed, 13 Apr 2016 23:00:00 GMT

In almost all films, the visual story is completed first, dialogue and sound effects are then added and music is composed last of all. However, when Disney made the animated film Fantasia in 1940, they reversed the process, producing animations based on pieces of classical music. You may like to look at the Disney archives website, or read some information about the making of Fantasia from the Disney family museum website.

At the time, this was thought of as a way to popularise classical music, and to make audiences more comfortable with hearing music in films. The earliest audiences were often confused about where the music was coming from, especially if they couldn't see an orchestra.

Activity 3 imitates Disney's Fantasia process to help pupils analyse different expressive musical elements. A segment of music from Fantasia is a good basis for the activity. You might like to finish the activity by comparing pupil responses with the original film scene.

Activity 3

Click 'View document' to open Storyboard worksheet

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Choose a piece of film music from a soundtrack album (preferably without voice over) of about two minutes in length. An effective choice would include a change of melody, mood or tempo in the middle. Play this piece of music to the pupils several times and ask them either to:

draw up a storyboard (click on the link above for a storyboard worksheet) or
write a short scene or
write a short piece of prose to describe the action for this music.

Then share the outcomes, asking pupils to read their prose or scene aloud, or lead through the pictures on their storyboard. Ask pupils to compare with each other how they responded to mood, tempo, and significant moments in the piece.

1 4. Making the music fit the film

The Open University — Wed, 13 Apr 2016 23:00:00 GMT

It is a huge step from identifying how music can be expressive, to composing music which captures the essence of the visual images, mood and action of a story. Composers such as David Arnold constantly stress how personal their response to the finished film is, but they still manage to guide our expectations and we feel uncomfortable if the music is ‘wrong’ somehow: too loud or quiet, expressing action too explicitly, or not saying enough.

Click on the first link below to watch a video extract from an interview with Marvin Hamlisch, who gives his account of writing the music for the famous skiing sequence in The Spy Who Loved Me, click the second link below to watch this scene.

An extract from an interview with Marvin Hamlisch.

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Marvin Hamlisch

I just try to find a rhythm. So if I’m doing it for instance here, they are skiing and I’m trying bum unh boom boom unh boom boom unh boom boom so I try that out and I decide that’s a little slow. So I might try another one. Boom chicka boom chicka boom chicka and I decide no, that doesn’t make it. And eventually by looking at it and in a real kind of trial and error way, I come up with the beat that I like and in this case because we’re in 1977 I certainly wanted something, you know, rock, and I wanted something very up-to-date.

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The famous skiing sequence from The Spy Who Loved Me.

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If you have access to copies of the Bond films, watch the skiing sequence in The Spy Who Loved Me and compare it with the sequence in the more recent Bond film Tomorrow Never Dies in which the car escapes from the garage. This later sequence sounds more modern, because the composer David Arnold has been influenced by contemporary popular music, just as Marvin Hamlisch was 20 years previously. So not only do composers produce a personal response to the film, but they must also decide how their music is going to reflect both their personal era and that of the film. This affects the audience too, and again influences how much we hear of the music.

For other examples of composers who have brought contemporary popular influences into their scoring, click on 'View document' below.

Click 'View document' to open Suggested extracts using contemporary popular music

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This activity establishes a link between listening to film music and composing it. In Activity 4, pupils can build on what they did in Activity 2, changing a motif to symbolise different moods or to reflect different musical styles.

Activity 4

Part 1

Using a simple melody, such as Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, improvise variations at the keyboard to show the effect of different musical elements on our experience of the theme, e.g. use major and minor, loud and quiet, dotted rhythms and even ones, range of pitch, or chromatic embellishment to demonstrate mood, emotion, or action.

Now do either Part 2 or Part 3.

Part 2

Ask pupils to use instruments to develop different interpretations of a motif to reflect different personality traits. For the motif you could use something as simple as a scale, or a more complicated phrase you choose yourself, depending on the class. For personality traits, you can use the qualities from Activity 2, or you can provide a list of your own.

Part 3

If you have done work on different styles of popular music, for example Latin American, rock'n'roll or blues, you could link it into this activity. Ask pupils to develop a chosen motif in different popular styles to reflect particular influences.

1.5.1 Different ways of working

The Open University — Wed, 13 Apr 2016 23:00:00 GMT

Composing for an entire film is an intense and intensive experience, which must usually be completed in a very short time. Composers are always the last people to work on a film, and cannot begin writing the score until the final edit of the film is ready, often only a few weeks before the film is to be released.

Composers work in many different ways: David Arnold (the current James Bond composer) uses an electronic keyboard and computers to record and manipulate his ideas, which are orchestrated later. This is very different from the traditional method of writing directly onto paper by hand, either in a ‘short score’ of four staves which is orchestrated later, or straight into a full orchestral score. Many composers improvise at the piano or keyboard to begin with, then notate as their ideas become more refined, using music technology to produce a clear final score. Composers must also deal with the exact timing and synchronisation of their music with details in the film's visual images. Click on the link below to have a look at a section of a score by composer Miguel Mera from the short film The Goodbye Plane. This is a fully orchestrated segment, with references to visual cues.

Click 'View document' to look at the score

View document

Activity 5 explores the relationship between visual stimulation and compositional process. It is quite a large project, but is best completed during one session, particularly if pupils are not confident in notating their work in any form, conventional, symbolic or otherwise.

Activity 5

Using a short two minute extract you have chosen from a documentary or other film without soundtrack, ask pupils working in small groups to develop a piece of music to accompany the extract. They should explore matching mood, emotion, physical action and characterisation, and when music begins and ends. They should also explore musical language: mode, melody, rhythm, genre and instrumentation.

Pupils should then perform their compositions to the other groups and they should discuss their responses to their compositions together.

Finally, have a look at Resources in Section 5.2.

1.5.2 Resources

The Open University — Wed, 13 Apr 2016 23:00:00 GMT

Resources on film music can be difficult to come by. There has been a gradual increase in the range and number of books available, and the bibliography you can get by clicking on the link below should help guide you towards useful texts.

Click 'View document' to open Indicative film music bibliography

View document

Soundtrack albums are now released for many films, and DVDs occasionally include composer interviews. There are a number of useful reference and electronic journal sites on the internet, listed via this link, and there are several ‘composer appreciation’ fan-sites also. Obtaining original scores is extremely difficult, even for film music scholars, as they are kept by studios and by university archives, mostly in the United States. However, some British and American film music has been written into orchestral suites which are available through music publishers.

Conclusion

The Open University — Wed, 13 Apr 2016 23:00:00 GMT

This course has explored the ways in which moving and still images may motivate and inspire pupils in their understanding of music. You may find it helpful to share your experiences of using images with your peers, perhaps through a short presentation to your department.

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References

The Open University — Wed, 13 Apr 2016 23:00:00 GMT

Thomas, T. (1991) Film Score: The Art and Craft of Movie Music (Burbank, CA, Riverwood Press) p. 293.

Daubney, K. Max Steiner's Now, Voyager: A Film Score Guide (Westport, CT, Greenwood Press) p. 51

Marvin Hamlisch quote: extract from DE353/14, OU film no. 517, p. 6

Acknowledgements

The Open University — Wed, 13 Apr 2016 23:00:00 GMT

This course was originally prepared for TeachandLearn.net by Dr Kate Daubney, Visiting Research Fellow in Film Music Studies at the University of Leeds. She has taught film music to students from musical and non-musical backgrounds, and her research interests include comparative analysis of film music as written and aural texts.

The content acknowledged below is Proprietary (see terms and conditions). This content is made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 Licence

Course image: Tony and Debbie in Flickr made available under Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Licence.

Grateful acknowledgement is made to the following sources for permission to reproduce material in this course:

Score of ‘The Goodbye Plane’: Courtesy of Miguel Mera and Newhaven Pictures, Director David Bartlett

All other materials included in this course are derived from content originated at the Open University.

Every effort has been made to contact copyright owners. If any have been inadvertently overlooked, the publishers will be pleased to make the necessary arrangements at the first opportunity.

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