Composing

Music…Where to start…

What are the fundamental

building blocks of music?

• Melody

• Harmony

• Rhythm

• Texture / Timbre

STYLE OF

MUSIC

These aspects need

to be established

appropriately and

stylistically to ensure

the coherency of the

composition

Questions? How do composers make music interesting?

What is the context of the piece of music?

How do composers develop music during a piece?

What kind of feeling / mood / message does the music

evoke?

Are there any further influences?

Patriotism? Technology? Love? Anger? Imagery?

Composing at A2 Level:

3 compositional briefs to choose from:

Music for Image (Film / TV / Video Games)

Words and Music (Poems / Song writing)

Soundscapes (Electro-Acoustic music)

Film Music: Used to emulate and extend on the image on

screen – this can be done by:

Creating mood

Mickey Mousing (think Tom and Jerry!)

Building tension

Emulate and Juxtapose between music and

image

Aaron Copland said that the purpose of film

music was to do the following:

Create a convincing atmosphere of space and time

Underlining psychological refinements – the

unspoken thoughts of a character, or the unseen

implications of a situation

Serve as a neutral background filler

Building a sense of continuity

Underpinning the theatrical build up of a scene, and

rounding it off with a sense of finality

Some terminology and concepts:

Diegetic (music in the film)

Non-Diegetic (underscoring)

Leitmotif (Origins in opera – a musical theme representing a character, event, place or time)

Theme development variation (the same theme varied to represent different moods)

Ostinato (a repeated theme or motif that is established and developed throughout)

Different approaches to film scoring:

Orchestral (traditional) – John Williams, Hans Zimmer,

Michael Kamen, James Horner

Orchestral (innovative) – Jerry Goldsmith

Electronica – Vangelis, Brad Fiedel

Others of note:

Danny Elfman, John Barry, Bernard Hermann, Enio

Morricone, Michael Nyman, Lalo Schrifrin

Some musical ideas: Harmony and Melody:

Tritone creates tension, can be chordal or melodic

Minor 6th Interval – a tone for sadness, loss or despair

Diatonic harmony (within the key)

Tertial (patterns built on 3rd intervals)

Chromatic (outside the key) can create dissonance / atonal shapes

Homophony (2 or more parts move together rhythmically creating chords

Polyphony (2 or more parts creating harmony but rhythmically independent)

Counterpoint (2 or more parts rhythmically and harmonically independent)

Imitation / Repetition / Patterns / Shapes