What Makes Themes Memorable?

One of the many jobs of a composer is to make the music for their film memorable. But what can composers do to make their music memorable? Well, I decided to look at some examples of really memorable themes and try to find patterns. This may prove to be more challenging than I'd like, but I'll take a stab at it anyways.

The first step is to find some examples of memorable music, which might be the easiest part of this. I went to a friend of mine and played some film music for him without telling him the movie and asked him if he knew what it was from. All of the scores were ones that I, as a film score nerd, would probably know. I then looked at the examples of ones that he recognized, especially the "obvious" ones and saw the patterns in them. Here's what I could come up with.

Repetition
This one is kind of obvious. The music that was repeated a lot in the movie it was in tended to be easier to recognize. The really fast recognitions were pieces like Hedwig's Theme or the theme from Finding Nemo, both of which are hear often throughout their themes.. On the other hand, the really slow realisations were pieces like Rey's Theme from Star Wars, Time from Inception, and Your Father Would Be Proud from Rogue One. This, however, does not appear to be a constant factor.

Uniqueness
The music that wasn't very similar to many other movies were the easiest to be recognized. I noticed that music by John Williams was easily mistaken with other pieces, specifically other scores by him as well. For example, my friend thought music from Hook was from Harry Potter, and music from E.T. was confused with music from Harry Potter as well. On the other hand, Hans Zimmer's music was never confused with anything else. Again, this never really seemed like it was true for all music.

Fast Build
Pieces that didn't take a long time to get to the real juice of the song were also easy to recognize. The really big one was Hedwig's Theme. John Williams wastes literally no time to start the song, opening with the iconic notes as played by a celesta. This piece took less than one second to be recognized by our volunteer. Other music that has a fast build, like Monster's Inc., was easy to be recognized. Still, this third factor didn't help in making all of the pieces more recognizable.

John Williams scoring Harry Potter, the most easily recognized score. Courtesy of Wikia

In general, it seems like repetition, uniqueness, and a fast build all help in making themes more memorable. However, some pieces with all of these things were still not easily recognized. So then, what does make a theme memorable? Something... Unexplainable, especially by me. The only underlying factor that I've found in every single piece is that it certainly helps to have a musical ear. As a musician, I find that it's much easier for me to recognize scores than it is for a "normal" person.

Either way, I can't find any "formula" for a memorable theme. I'll soon be reviewing some of the scores that I found were particularly memorable, especially the ones found on my list of top five film scores. Until then, keep listening to more film scores.

My Favorite Film Scores

I kind of knew that one of these days, I'd have to make a list of my favorite film scores. Really, the only hard part about this is deciding which ones! I have so many scores that I adore, and wanted to put tons on the list... But still, I've decided to think of my favorites that come to mind first. Buckle in for a terribly made list of my five favorite film scores.

I tried not to just pick movies that won Academy Awards, but I'm not sure how well I succeeded there.

5) Finding Nemo
Right of the bat, a film from one of my all time favorite composers, Thomas Newman. The emotion that he is able to draw from the movie is incredible, particularly in the case of the leitmotif for Nemo and Marlin. It's one of the few scores that I've heard live, and that may be what pushed it onto this list.

4) Up
Yeah, another Pixar movie... Another one of my favorite composers, Michael Giacchino wrote the music for this one. A perfect example of how you don't need a violin solo in a minor key to create sadness, the music from Up is able to make it onto this list.

3) E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
Finally, a John Williams movie on this list. Took a while didn't it? Either way, this score is one of my all time favorites, yet I still never want my symphony director to tell me we're playing it. The score is one of the first ones that I really noticed how much the music helped the movie along. The light yet triumphant theme of the movie is really one to remember. Can you imagine Elliott flying in his bike with E.T. WITHOUT Williams' music? Exactly, and that's while this score made it onto the list.

2) Star Wars: A New Hope
Oh dear, I don't know how I managed to find something better than this score. I may just be in a bad mood today, but this iconic score did not make it to the top of the list. However, there are still a lot of reasons for why it's this high on the list. For starters, it's music by John Williams, so it must be good. After that, it has leitmotifs... Which are great. Finally, I would argue that this score revolutionized film music. Those are some of the great reasons why this movie made it to number two.

Honorable Mention
I may not have mentioned this, but this was a really hard list to make because of all the great scores there are. For that reason, I've decided to add one very honorable mention.

Schindler's List
If you've ever watched this film, you know why I couldn't leave out this score. The pairing of John Williams composing and Itzhak Perlman as a violin soloist is a match made in heaven. I'm currently playing the famous violin solo from the movie, so it came to my mind sooner than a lot of other movies did. Either way, this score definitely deserves to be mentioned.

Such an Honorable Mention I added a picture. Courtesy of IMDb

1) Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Rings
Now that I'm this far, I'm almost ashamed of putting this as number one. But as a total fanboy of leitmotifs, there's nothing better in my opinion than Howard Shore's score for this movie. I talked about this film score in a previous post, so I won't go into much more detail about it here. But no matter what, the leitmotifs of this movie are why it's number one on this list.

That was a rather lengthy post, but it really needed to be done. In the near future, I'll probably do a review of one of the movies on that list. But until then, keep listening to more film scores.

Goals... and how bad they're going.

In a post from long ago, I stated that I wanted to write forty some posts by June. That of course, won't happen. I also said that a wanted about a third of those posts to be reviews. That's even less likely to happen. As it turns out, it's pretty difficult to review a film score. First, you have to know the movie inside and out. Then, you need to know the music inside and out. Personally, I like to get a rough transcription of some of the leitmotifs and themes from the movie as well, making my life that much harder. For that reason, I'll probably start leaning towards the majority of my posts being about writing film scores instead of specific film scores themselves.

On the bright side, I'm getting kind of close to the goal I set for composing. If you remember, I wanted to have written four different pieces of music by June. That counts both film scores and absolute music of any genre. Since that post was written, I've written three pieces in my spare time. Two were film scores for student films, both of which were totally out of my comfort zone. 

The first was something that took me a span of about thirty hours of work. It was a horror movie, and the music was something that I put together in GarageBand with almost twenty different tracks. I had just gotten a new keyboard to do it on, which was a blast to work on.

The second took me much less time because it needed much less music. It was a spoof on a Bear Grylls kind of nature show. I worked with the same director as the other film, and he wanted African Tribal music. Ironically, I used Chinese drums instead of African Tribal drums. After I messed with the EQ levels for a while, I was able to design a sound that really fit what the director wanted.

The third piece I've done so far was a piano/violin duet. It came out with a lot of emotion, which is something that I was really looking for. Because I have limited piano experience, it's a fairly easy part for the piano, but it's rather difficult for the violin. I wrote it in Eb Major, which is a key I've honestly never really worked in before. Here's a picture of the piano part that I recorded on GarageBand with a MIDI Keyboard...

Yeah... That's a really easy piano part...

Finally, I'm going to be starting the score for another film in about three weeks. It's for a movie that a friend and I wrote and are currently in production of. I feel like I'll be able to get a really powerful score out of it, and will finally be able to add in some live recording as well. I've already begun working on some themes (leitmotifs) that should add a lot to the movie. I'll only have about five school days to get the music done, so anything that I can do to get an early start is crucial.

Anywho, that's basically how all of the goals that I've set have been going, and a quick update on a project that I've been working on. I'll see you again in three weeks when all four compositions are done!

Leitmotifs in Lord of the Rings

Lord of the Rings. Courtesy of Roger Ebert

In a previous post I explained the differences between leitmotifs, motifs, and themes in music, specifically film scores. Throughout this post, I’ll be talking about one of my favorite film scores and all of its leitmotifs. This score, of course, is The Lords of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, directed by Peter Jackson with music composed and conducted by Howard Shore. I won’t actually be reviewing the music in this post, or any other post for that matter. Honestly I’m probably too biased about it to review it fairly. Let’s just leave it at the fact that’s a great score, and totally deserving of all of its awards. I’ll just be focusing on the smaller aspects of the music.

The score was nominated for won an academy award for best original score in 2002, despite other outstanding scores by John Williams (x2), Randy Newman, and James Horner being nominated. Utilizing all aspects of an orchestra available to him, Howard Shore created several leitmotifs and called on them all several times throughout the film to compliment the already great film.

Throughout the entire film, Shore only uses a handful of different main leitmotifs, but has so many variations on each it honestly feels like there are more. I’ll briefly go a few of those in (roughly) the order that the appear before delving deeper.

The Lothlorian Theme

The very first thing we hear, even before we see anything on the screen. It can be considered Galadriel’s theme as well, and is often heard as a choir singing. It’s offsetting and foreign, much like what it represents. It’s not heard as often as many other themes, but still a big deal.

The Ring Theme

Perhaps the most unsettling leitmotif on this short list, The Ring Theme represents, of course, the one ring. It’s almost as minimalist as the famous motif from Jaws, using just a handful of different notes.

The Shire Theme

The Shire Theme is certainly a much lighter and happier piece of music, representing the Shire, Hobbits, and sometimes just the connection the the Hobbits in the Fellowship have to each other and their home.

The Fellowship Theme

This theme has the most variations and is called up very often. Shore is able to use this theme in several different situations and with many different feels and sounds, making it just a little bit different every time. It represents the Fellowship of the Ring and everything they want, need, and stand for. As we see this theme collapse, so does the Fellowship.

Even though I would kind of like to, I won’t be able to talk about every single measure of the score, but there are a moments in the music I’d like to highlight. By the way, if you’re not familiar with the movie, this next bit is going to be very confusing.

• In the first five minutes of movie, we hear four different leitmotifs: the Lothlorien Theme, the Ring theme, the Shire theme, and the Fellowship theme. Many composers (myself being one of them) wouldn’t be able to smoothly make these transitions, but Howard Shore doesn’t have three Oscars for nothing and makes the changes seem easy. This doesn’t necessarily represent anything special in the story, but I do think it’s rather impressive.

• Later on the movie, as Frodo and Sam are leaving the Shire, they stop by where they’ve never gone before, and we hear the Shire theme. Then, as they cross the threshold, the music changes to a humble variation of the Fellowship theme, signalling that the journey has officially started.
• We hear the Fellowship theme many times throughout the movie, but the last time we hear it in its entirety is as the Fellowship runs through the mines of Moria. During this portion, it’s faster, stronger, and is accompanied by percussion, creating a very clear sense of urgency. The Fellowship is being pushed one last time before it breaks, never to reform again. Shortly after we hear this quick piece of music, the ¾ time signature of the Fellowship theme is overcome by the 5/4 time signature of the orc music.
• Further on into the film, we see the Fellowship theme scramble to find it’s footing, but is never able to, appearing only in fragments or as a weak variation.

Unfortunately, this is all the time that I have in this post, despite all the other things I could talk about. Next time you watch this incredible movie, pay attention to every time you notice one of the themes.

Is Music in Games as Important and Great as in Films?

Jason Graves Conducting his Score of Until Dawn. Courtesy of Wikipedia

Video game composer tend to be put into an entirely different career type than film and TV composers. They're often paid much less, in many cases understandably, and receive very little credit for what they do. But should any of that actually happen? In my opinion, not at all. I understand that that statement might freak some people out, but I have my reasons why I would say that. These days, video games can tell a story just as well as a movie. Especially big budget games that are given hours of work that results in millions of followers tend to have really great stories, and sometimes really great music.

Difficulty of Game Scores vs Film Scores

It takes a lot of work to create any music, that's for sure. Writing it for film is definitely difficult, but can game scores be equally difficult to compose? My answer: yes and no. Often times, game composers are only writing a small amount of music that will be played for possible hours on end. It takes real skill and effort to make the loop of music flow and maintain the feel of music before it. I've seen games do this the easy way by their music fade out between tracks, but it just doesn't flow; making your music fade between tracks is a bandage, not a solution. Game composers that know what they're doing and want to take the time to do it will make their tracks flow into one another. It's difficult to explain, and even more difficult to do, but it's such a necessity. Making a game score truly flow is what makes game music as difficult as film music.

Are Games Scores Actually Important?

As usual: it depends. Mobile games that you only play for a few minutes without your sound on don't always need music. However, if a composer is good enough for you to want to wear your headphones so that you can listen to the music, that's a huge success, and the composer should keep doing things like that. On the other side of the argument, a game that you play for hours on end that actually has a story absolutely needs it's own music. I recently saw an article that talks about the important nostalgia that video game music provides us. In my opinion, that's a huge reason to have music in games. Anyone that's ever played a classic game like the Legend of Zelda or Super Mario understands just how great you can feel when you hear the game's music. In many cases, you might want to play the game again after you hear the music.

In general, video game music can and often is as important as a film score, and can be just as memorable as well. The day that composers stop writing music for video games is the day that, just like film, %50 of the story will vanish.

Why I Blog

I have, again, been tasked with writing about a certain subject. I won’t go into why I absolutely oppose the topic I will be covering in the next 472 words, but if you’re interested in a post like that, check out this post of a friend. Anywho, getting right into then…

Recently, I was tasked with writing a “reflection on this article.” The article is entitled “Why I Blog”, and I’m supposed to call this post the same thing… Ah. I said I wouldn’t delve into the rage I have for some of these assignments.

The article explains the deep history of the author’s blogging and journalism career and why he blogs (surprise right?). Now I have to write a reflection on this article… Fortunately, I don’t have to explain why I blog, I just have to reflect on the article. I find it rather interesting that the author decides to explain why he blogs, but just not on his blog. If I were trying to read the news on The Atlantic (Not that I would trust that kind of source), I would be a little shocked if the recommended article for me is called “Why I Blog”. I don’t really want to know why you blog, I’m not reading your blog am I?

Wow… about five-hundred words huh? It’s easy to rant about anything else but this is just… Okay. Only 260 words left. Back into it now.

The article is almost… poetic? I don’t know how to explain it, but the author felt that it was important to make blogging sound like a religion. I’m not saying that I hate this entire blogging thing, not at all. I’ve enjoyed expelling my thoughts onto a computer, but it’s not a life changing thing. I’m not any smarter or more successful. And I doubt that this author is as well. Afterall, if blogging was as life changing as the author made it sound, why would they be writing for The Atlantic?

I just read through a paragraph of the article, and I’m kind of shocked. I joked about the author making a blogging a religion, but this is different. The author says “To blog is therefore to let go of your writing in a way, to hold it at arm’s length, open it to scrutiny, allow it to float in the ether for a while, and to let others, as Montaigne did, pivot you toward relative truth.” The whole ‘pivot you toward relative truth’ doesn’t sound like a religion at all… more like a cult in my opinion. Relative truth? Ah. Shivers.

The author also mentions that jazz and blogging have an intimate relationship… I don’t even want to talk about that.

In conclusion, I was bored, confused and terrified all at once by this article. It’s the strangest thing I’ve read in awhile. Maybe this is just the blind rage of a high school student not wanting to engage in anything academic, like reflecting on an article. But there, it’s done, I reflected on the article. And if there’s anything I did wrong, I didn’t see the rubric attached to the assignment, so that’s my defense. And this is 532 words.

Writer's Confusion (Not to be confused with Writer's Block)

Writer's Confusion.

Yes, I just made up a term. But hey, I think it's pretty clever. This is just a quick post talking about my goal of writing a certain amount of music before June... And why it's not coming along very well.

As an self taught amateur composer, writing music takes me a long time. However, it's not because I can't think of any notes to play. No, it's quite the opposite actually. As a violinist and high school student, I listen to a lot of music. I listen to the classical pieces that I'm playing, I listen to film scores, and I listen to other music as well. Unfortunately, this creates some problems. For starters, I have dozens, hundreds even, of songs stuck in my head. Because of this, when I sit down to write, I jot down some notes and say to myself "That's really good. I like that," after that, I'll just keep expanding on those notes, and eventually have a decent portion of a song.

Then, maybe a minute later, or an hour later, a day later, or even much longer than that, I'll realise it sounds familiar. From that point forward, I'll try to convince myself it's not from anything, it's just my music. But then, out of the blue, it hits me. It's from this movie... or it's from a T.V. show... or it's from that one song I play in symphony.

One day I wrote two minutes of music in a matter of hours for a full ensemble. Later that day, I was watching a show on Netflix and... what would you know. The music that I wrote.

In a sense, this "writer's confusion" thing must happen to all composers... right? Well, like I said, I listen to a lot of music and honestly, I almost never hear the same music in two movies by the same composer. There are a couple of odd cases here and there, but there's so much music in the world it might be a coincidence. However, film scores aren't the only modern compositions I listen to. I'm subscribed to over two dozen music channels on YouTube, and several of them are composers. Of those composers, I'd say three quarters are really repetitive. Is that a bad thing? Not always. It's good to have your own style, but it's different to have several variations of the same song. In my house, I'm infamous for being able to name almost any film score that I hear. And the ones that I don't, I can't generally identify the composer. If you listen to only music by one famous composer, none of it's the same, but it all has the same style. It takes skill to master your own style, and I congratulate the people who have done it. But again, plagiarism is different than style, no matter how accidental.

Up next... Pixar's "Big Hero 6"