Music Connects People Emotionally - Movie Music

 People have emotional reactions to music. However, the emotion to a particular song can vary from person to person, as people have different tastes. Despite this, a well done movie score has the ability to make every person watching feel a certain way. While a movie typically does not have the ability to change a nation, movies do play a large role in our everyday culture. Take Star Wars for example, and the massive following it has. A generation of kids grew up watching those movies, and that is part of their culture. True, the series does have great visuals, and there are qualities about any huge movie franchise that make it special. However, if you have ever felt a particularly tense, romantic, or exciting moment in a movie, I would be willing to bet that the music is a large part of what caused it. This is one big way that music can influence a culture.

I know that I used this movie and this specific song for another assignment, but it's such a good example of what I'm trying to illustrate. I have two videos of this song in this blog. Please listen to the song above first, before watching the one below. While listening, try to imagine what the scene might be based on the music playing. I assume a good number of you already know what happens, but it is still a good exercise. At the beginning, the music is calm, but with a swelling nature that seems to indicate that something exciting is about to happen. This continues for a while, getting louder and quieter as the song goes on, showing both that things are going well from the major tones of the music, as well as building excitement for something to come. Suddenly, halfway through, the music changes. It becomes tense and a bit angrier. Something went wrong. There's some conflict now. There are more minor tones, as well as conflict of notes within the music. This continues, gradually building in both tone and tension, until it hits a breaking point, where it crescendos to the same theme from before, but more epic, with more instruments and drive. This is the payoff from the excitement before. Whatever the conflict was, it has led to a story defining moment. Now, if you watch the clip below, you will see that although we didn't get the specifics of the story from just listening to the music, we can gather enough to tell the general flow of the scene. This is the role of music in movies, to elicit an emotional response from the audience that simple visuals can't. The music is what really connects the audience in shared emotion.

The music above is Test Drive, by John Powell, who writes all of the movie music that Hanz Zimmer and John Williams don't. The movie soundtrack was released in 2010, and the country of origin is the U.S.A. The music below is also by John Powell, also released in 2010, and called The Downed Dragon. I know I've already talked about this film, but I love the expressiveness of the music. John Powell really seems to have a love for what he does, and it translates to the audience. The movies would not be nearly as loved without the great soundtrack, which provides so much emotion to the movies. Again, I encourage you to listen to the music below and try to decipher what happens. 

There are several things that a musical score can do to elicit emotion from an audience, but the tone and tempo are two of the most common and easiest to understand.

Tone

The tone of the music encompasses a lot, but we can focus on minor and major. Minor and major play different roles in music, because they sound different and elicit a different response. In both of the tracks, major is used to symbolize all being good, or a good decision being made. It is somewhat calming, and pleasant to hear. When hearing major tones, the audience gets the feeling that good things are happening or about to happen. Minor is used for the opposite. In both tracks, it is accompanied by dissonance. Together, these tell the audience that something is wrong, or something bad is about to happen. Overall, they elicit uneasiness from the audience. 

Tempo

Tempo is used to elicit a large variety of emotions from an audience. A slower, more somber song can elicit sadness, and faster can elicit excitement. In both these songs, tempo is used to tell the audience that something is happening, or something is about to happen. The swelling in the first gives some excitement for what is about to come, and in the second there is a section that gives the sense of a rush to complete something. 

The point of all of this is that movie music has the unique ability to make every person in the audience feel a very similar emotion, while most other music does not. This music is a huge part of what makes movies like Star Wars and How to Train Your Dragon so beloved, and is part of the culture of the people who love those movies. In this way, music truly does have the ability to bring people together. 

Personal Journey

This class has caused me to learn a lot more about a very diverse selection of music. I still like mostly the same music that I liked before, but I have started listening to a lot more Acapella music as a result of my studying for the Role of the Performer assignment, and have realized that I enjoy it a lot. To add to that, seeing the music that other people are interested in has broadened my musical horizon. I have also become a lot more analytical with movie music in particular, which I honestly love studying. This class was the catalyst to that passion. Blogging was also a first for me. Overall, this class has broadened both my learning in the music field as well as my interests.

References

Nyfa, and Nyfa. “Sound in Filmmaking: How to Use Sound to Heighten Emotions in a Film.” NYFA, Nov. 2022, www.nyfa.edu/student-resources/use-sound-heighten-emotions-film.

Patches, Matt. “How to Train Your Dragon’s Music Is Star Wars-level Great. Here’s Why.” Polygon, 27 Feb. 2019, www.polygon.com/2019/2/26/18240326/how-to-train-your-dragon-music-score-soundtrack-john-powell.