Film Scores and the Soundtrack of Our Lives

Since the time of the first orchestras in Western Classical music, orchestras and the repertoire has expanded to the large hybrid orchestras we hear today in films. What I mean by hybrid is that orchestras are full of the typical classical formation, with added technology, voices, world instruments, and ambient sounds. In Angels and Demons, the composer used 12 double basses when the usual configuration is 4-6. And after recording the strings with the large bass section, he added virtual orchestras (computer generated instruments) on top and created this huge sound. I happened to be blessed enough to see this in person. Yes, I did meet Hans Zimmer, and he was as intense as his music. (Not scary, but very passionate about his work.) If we played the music from Angels and Demons back in the Baroque period, people would burn us with for the reason of devil worship and witchcraft. The music is so powerful, and today, we are so desensitized to it, that we barely notice that our mood changes with the direction of the music. To us, it is all a part of the movie going experience. 

We use music as the soundtrack to our lives. We turn on the radio and let the music wash over us. Speaking from personal experience, in the morning I will switch on some soothing and happy music to get me ready for the day. If I am feeling anxious, I will choose the same music. If I am driving a long distance and/or am really bored, I will turn on some driving music such as Boston. I believe the majority of people who are driving know what I am talking about. HOWEVER, has anyone tried driving to film scores such as Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Inception, Mask of Zorro, Lord of the Rings, etc? I highly recommend it- for who does not want to drive around feeling heroic for the rest of the day? Below are some of my most favorite soundtracks and yes, I have driven around while listening to them. I've also turned on an epic soundtrack right out of bed to start my day. It really has a powerful impact, music. For those of you who are adventurous, try out film scores for a little bit and see how it affects your day.

Harry Gregson Williams- Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas Suite

John Powell- How to Train Your Dragon- Test Drive

Thomas Newman- Road to Perdition- Cathedral

Short Ride in a Fast Machine and Modern Technology

Short Ride in a Fast Machine- John Adams

This is one of my favorite pieces of all time. Short Ride in a Fast Machine, although not included in the College Humanities book, is a work done by second generation minimalist composer, John Adams. Minimalism originates from America and is a genre of experimental music. It's name is based off of the steady pulse or drones, continuous harmony, and stasis or gradual transformation. It often reiterates musical phrases or smaller figures. As a second generation minimalist, Adams uses more harmonic progression and tonal changes. This piece stands out to me because it is energizing, upbeat, continuous, and constantly in flux.Unlike first generation minimalist music, this song by Adams is going somewhere, however, the continuing pulse makes it seem as if it will never stop. The name, Short Ride in a Fast Machine, is perfect for the imagery that is music evokes.

This music reminds me of modern technology when I hear it. What I mean by modern technology is technology that has been discovered and invented from the mid 20th century to the present. The continuous pulsing rhythm in the music makes me think of the inside of a computer chip or program. One line leads to another and that line leads to another until it all comes back around full circle. The pulsating rhythm in the music is shared throughout the instrument sections, each taking turns and having solo moments. As the music progress, there are times that the low brass play syncopated rhythms providing imagery that the computer is working harder than usual to process data or something. The modulating and constant chord progressions make me think of different processes the computer goes through to share and evaluate the data or command. This song makes me think of a machine, and I think specifically the computer, but that could even be expanded to electricity and where it travels to or a factory or an automobile. This is a song that should catch your attention and make you imagine many different wondrous things.

Gershwin and Sublime

Sublime- Doin' Time

Disclaimer: Sublime's lyrics and song content do not reflect the values and honor upheld by BYU Honor Code

George Gershwin- Summertime

Both songs start off with the same lyrics "Summertime and the livin' is easy." Both songs then continue describing the careless life that the summer can bring. With Gerschin's Summertime, the music paints a picture of the American cotton farm back in the 1700s. It is a positive picture of hope and furture. With Sublime's Doin' Time, the picture is a lot more unfortunate. There is a man who is living the good life, carefree and having fun dating his girlfriend until she sleeps around. He talks about his life having a veil over it and how he was blinded by his affections for her. He then looks inside and talks about the evil he contains and the thoughts of revenge he has toward his girlfriend.

Both songs started off with the same lyrics, however, both took an extremely different direction with those lyrics. Gershwin's song is truly about the summertime and how it is calm, beautiful and comforting. Sublime's song is a sarcastic take on summertime and how living easy can really blur the reality of what is really going on. There is no doubt in my mind that Sublime was inspired by Gershwin because the song has the same starting lyrics. Sublime also borrowed the feel of the song, which is relaxed (Sublime does a reggae kind of tone.) Sublime's music is also a sarcastic and pessimistic reply to Gershwin's song. I believe Gershwin was honoring the good times and saying to enjoy life and the good times that come along with it. Life is good. Sublime's reply was that good times are nice, until you realize what really is happening, and then life isn't so good. I tend to hold more toward Gershwin's idea, but I also find it important to take Sublime's reply into consideration and to try to take life as it comes and realize it for what it really is, verses just adding a cherry on top to make it look better. 



Debussy and Twilight

Claude Debussy- Clair de Lune (1890)

This song was composed by a french composer who was more concerned with making music the created a mood rather than an emotion or intellectual stimulation like those of the Romantic and Classical eras. He is one of the first composers in the Impressionist music movement, coming at a time when artsists such as Monet and Renior were painting impressions of images and colors. The music is considered impressionistic because it, like the art, deals with colors and impressions of melodies or focuses. The melodies are an interconnected part with the harmony and rhythm, meaning that one cannot easily sing the melody without it's accompaniment. It just is not the same, and the melody is not a simple eight note phrase or idea as it would be with Beethoven or Mozart. The melody instead flows from one idea to the next, never really having a concise line to draw between moments and phrases.

It is interesting that Stephanie Meyer, author of the popular "Twilight" saga, included Clair de Lune, a well known piece by Claude Debussy, in her novel. It is the male protagonist, Edward's, favorite song. He listens to it at night when he doesn't sleep (for those of you who don't know, it's because he is a vampire.) Why did she choose that song? Of all the possible songs I could think to fit with a vampire, this would not have been one of them. But her story is a little different than most vampire stories anyway: making the vampires wanting to be more human than monster, making them sparkle in the sunlight, and making them vegetarian by only eating animals. The song, Clair de Lune is about the calmness of night as it grows mystical and lovely. Although Debussy probably didn't imagine a vampire when he wrote it, he did write it to reflect the beauty of the night and instead of a shadowy scary place, it becomes this enchanting and calming place. That is what I think Stephanie Meyer was going for, helping to further her story and opinion that vampires are not evil or scary, but instead quite enchanting and smooth and possibly calming. I may have to disagree with her on a few of those things, but I can see where she is coming from in selecting a piece from Debussy over a grunge piece from Nirvana.

The Wanderer above the Mists and Moses

The Wanderer above the Mists 1817-18 by Casper D. Freirich

This painting is one of my all time favorites. It evokes such emotion and inexplicable amazement at the wonder of nature and all of the creations thereon. The mists are beautiful and at some point, I expect them to disipate and reveal a whole new scenery to gaze upon. I have stood at the tops of mountains before. My husband is a rock climber and so we often climb up the beautiful rocks to look down on the amazing scene below. I've overlooked Provo at midday and at night during all seasons. There is something incredible about looking over your home and seeing the big picture and how everything comes together. Light on the water, trees in abundance and a perfect view of the temple.

When I look at this image of the man, I am reminded of other men in history who have looked out from high above to see the scene below them in introspect. Some of them you may recognize: Moses looking down on the 12 tribes of Israel after having spoken with God and recieved instruction from him. Christ looking down from his cross and thinking of the people below, asking for forgiveness on their behalf. Mormon looking out over the carnage and complete destruction of his people the Nephites and mourning for his once delightsome people who became proud and sinful. I'm sure people like Noah, Columbus, and Magellan did the same thing when they first got off the boat to see the new land before them. The world is full of wonder and when the mists finally rise, a new world emerges.

La Traviata and Aladdin

La Traviata - Franco Zeffirelli's version of the opera in film 

La Traviata, a beautiful opera with music by Giuseppe Verdi, is about a lovely woman named Violetta who is in love with a man, Alfredo. Violetta is a free spirit who loves to entertain and have the freedom to do as she wants. Months after she recovers from an illness, she throws a party and there meets Alfredo who lovingly had been coming to visit her in her sickbed. He proclaims his love for her and she originally dismisses it because she does not really know him and she wants to be free to live her life. Eventually, she realizes there is something more to Alfredo and they move to a country home together. After a few months, Alfredo is out helping to secretly save the country home while his father angrily comes to visit Violetta. He tells here that if Alfredo continues to court and marry her, his other daughter's suitor will leave her because of Violetta's reputation as a party girl. She is devoted to Alfredo so much that she sacrifices her relationship so that he can return to his family and his sister can marry well. Her heart breaks and Alfredo feels betrayed and publicly humiliates her. Months later, an unfortunate twist is that Violetta has tuberculosis and the disease along with her broken heart are killing her. Too late to heal her, Alfredo and the father come to visit her minutes before she passes away. Alfredo and Violetta sing one last love song and she passes away. This is a sad story of a woman, once a free spirit died alone for love. 

 

One interesting thing I saw in the Zeffirelli version is that while Violetta and Alfredo are in the country, she has a large bird cage full of beautiful white doves that she visits frequently. The peaceful birds are content to be in the birdcage it seems and as she visits them, she is happy to see them. This could be interpreted as Violetta's situation. Once a free spirit, now a docile and happy woman content to be the cage of love. When Alfredo's father visits, Violetta looks at her beautiful cage (representing her love for Alfredo and the relationship they share), and makes the decision to let it go for the sake of his family. (Birdcage shows up about 10 minutes into this clip.)

There is another film that comes to mind when looking at the symbolism of a girl, a father, and a birdcage full of doves. That movie is Aladdin. Princess Jasmine is also a free spirit, trapped in her own home (although it is quite spacious as it is a palace.) As she visits the doves in their birdcage in the gardens, she feels connected to them in the sense that the palace is her birdcage and all she really wants to do is to fly free and to marry for love. Her father, the sultan, comes down to speak with her about her obligations as the princess to get married to a prince. This becomes another kind of birdcage for Jasmine as she feels trapped by the law as well. When her father leaves, she takes the birdcage and rips the doors open and longingly watches all of the doves fly free.

The birdcage is a symbol used for the main reason of being trapped, whether that is trapped by the authority, situation and law, or captured by the realms of love. In one case, the doves looked longingly at the cage, while the other case the doves looked longingly on the outside. The doves are also symbols, symbols of good, beautiful, and feminine. The fathers in both cases represent the authority and realities of life. Symbols are important in film as they add an extra element that the story does not. The lovely Violetta, died peaceably still yearning to get back into her birdcage where things were simpler, happier, and she was not alone. As she died, all dressed in white, I could not help but think of the doves she so lovingly took care of back in her  garden.

 

No Country for Old Pangloss

"I still feel now as I did at the outset... I am a philosopher after all. It wouldn't do for me to go back on what I said before..." (Voltaire, "Candide" Chapter 28 page 83).

This is spoken by Pangloss, a philosopher who has at this point in the story had many terrible things happen to him. In this quote, he is referencing his philosophy that everything was made for a purpose and everything is necessary for the best purpose. Basically, 'all is for the best.' Despite the many terrible things such as plague, near death and continual beatings he suffered, he would still hold his philosophy that everything happens for a reason. His philosophy is surely flawed in the sense that all is not for the best. That would mean that the Holocaust and murder and every possible sin is also for the best, when it is not. 

His insane immovable philosophy reminds me of a villain known as Anton Chigurh from No Country for Old Men. This villain lived by the rule of never going against his word or against chance. When people were offered to live or die by the flip of a coin, he gave them the option to choose heads or tails. If they guessed correctly, they would live. If they didn't, he would kill them because he "had to." He could not be flexible or merciful, only justice ruled his life and his actions. He is not human in my opinion for this reason. He is a villain that we cannot win or understand. His code of conduct is strictly ruled by chance murder. All is NOT for the best. Pangloss, the immovable philosopher needs to think more infinantly rather than totality. Once he thinks he has life figured out, he has lost his connection with it. Like Pangloss and Chigurh, we cannot think that everything happens for the best. Everything just happens, and it is our choice on what we do with each happening.