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MORE THAN YOU EVER WANTED TO KNOW ABOUT MUSIC SCORINGBy Steve Shapirohttp://www.stevemusic.com"I'll know it when I hear it." I have been hearing that phrase fromclients for the 30 years that I have been scoring music. It is verydifficult to articulate in words the right music for a project. You maynot know how to speak about these things. Ask yourself, "What areyou trying to do? How do you want the listener to feel? What mood doyou want to create?" You don't have to be musically literate to engagein this conversation. You want the music to help communicate on avery intangible and emotional level that is compelling and satisfyingand causes people to respond in a really direct way. Remember thescene in The Godfather where Michael murders Sollozzo andMcCluskey in the middle of the restaurant, sacrificing his owninnocence for his father's safety? It's difficult to think of a morepowerfully emotional moment in film. The use of music in this sceneholds the key to powerful communication in a cynical, post-babyboomer age. Walter Murch, (the sound editor for The Godfather) hassaid, "In the hands of another filmmaker there would be tension musicpercolating under the surface. But Francis wanted to save everythingfor those big chords after Michael dropped the gun. So Michael shootsthem and then there's this moment of silence and then he drops thegun. The gun hits the ground, and then the music finally comes in. It'sa classic example of the correct use of music, which is as a collectorand channeler of previously created emotion, rather than the devicethat creates the emotion. I think in the long run this approachgenerates emotions that are truer because they come out of your

direct contact with the scene itself, and your own feelings about thescene - not feelings dictated by a certain kind of music." In this case,the music was best used after the scene to channel and amplify apreviously generated emotion - not to force or create emotion.Sometimes, the lack of music makes more impact. Silence can trulybe golden. Where the music goes can be as relevant as what kind of music. Good background music can contribute to the effectiveness of an advertisement merely by making it more attractive. Music servesto engage the listeners' attention and render the advertisement lessof an unwanted intrusion. Music can tie together a sequence of visualimages or a series of dramatic episodes and narrative voice-overs tocreate a sense of continuity and smooth out sequences of discontinuous scene changes or edits. Musical styles have long beenidentified with various social and demographic groups. Therefore,musical style will assist in targeting a specific market. The style mayfunction as a socioeconomic identifier, a device for addressing aspecific audience. The objective is to portray a particular style orimage which elicits strong consumer allegiance, but which is alsobroadly based. It is comparatively easy to create a minority product,but this results in a small market. We may want a hip hop "feel", butnot "real" hip hop, because that would limit the broad appeal. A hiphop feel that has no edges, even no vocals, will have a wider appeal.Music is arguably the greatest tool advertisers have for portraying anddistinguishing various styles. Advertising music is perhaps the mostmeticulously crafted and most fretted-about music in history.Nationally produced television advertisements in particular may beconsidered among the most highly polished cultural artifacts evercreated. Music is very subjective. Sometimes, music works well as acounter to the film style. A film scene may be fast paced, but the

music may work better being slow. It is amazing what music will makeyou feel in the context of a visual medium.MORE THAN YOU EVER WANTED TO KNOW ABOUT MUSIC SCORING,PART 2In bad television and B-movies, music is used in a very simple mindedway. Happy scenes have happy music, action scenes have freneticand fast music and love scenes have very romantic music. This doesnot leave much to our imagination. A creative approach to musicscoring allows for an additional emotional element that is not on thescreen. For example, a love scene may have music with tension andanticipation which adds uncertainty and complexity. Music that playsagainst what is on the screen can be very effective. Romantic musicused in a non-romantic scene can impart a lyricism that might not beobvious visually. This art of juxtaposing music and visuals can give anauthentic and emotional truth; things are rarely black and white.Sometimes you go contrary to what's on the screen, and sometimesyou go with what's on the screen. If music is be used under narration,it must acknowledge that narrative. That may make the music seemrather simplistic, unsophisticated and minimal when heard without thenarration and yet in context it works great. The narrative actuallybecomes a musical element in the composition - a rather prominentlead instrument. The music is then serving the scene. This is true inboth dramatic films and informational films. It is exactly for thisreason that a lot of production music is now offered with "lighter"alternate mixes. The editor can then use the minimal version undernarration and the fuller version during B roll footage without narration.Spotting music refers to the placement of the music - where it goes. You could have fabulous themes, great orchestrations and great