OCR GCSE Music
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AQA GCSE MUSIC – S T R A N D 2 – POPULAR MUSIC OF THE 20TH A N D 2 1 ST CENTURIES REVISION GUIDE SUB - S T R A N D 7 – F I L M M U S I C HORROR WESTERNS HISTORY OF FILM ORCHESTRATION/INSTRUMENTATION – heavy use of Brass and MUSIC HARMONY – consonance vs. dissonance = good vs. evil. Chords often AMBIGUOUS – minor/major or CHROMATIC CHORDS (opening chords Percussion instruments – trumpet fanfares and drums with military “Silent” cinema – never ‘silent’ since music was of “Psycho”). Dissonant harmony often used using notes that are a connection. “Traditional” North American instruments – Jew’s Harp, often used to cover noisy projection machinery. Acoustic/Spanish Guitar, Harmonica, Banjo, Tin Whistle, Indian Drum, MUSICAL DIRECTORS used pre-existing music semitone apart (E flat and E natural in “slasher music” from “Psycho”) Trumpet, Fiddle MELODY – often uses the CHROMATIC SCALE moving in SEMITONES from other composers e.g. music-dramas of RHYTHM – often use SYNCOPATION in melody and accompaniment WAGNER (e.g. The Ghoul). to create “creepy” atmospheres and effects. “Sigh motif” often used – rise creating CROSS-RHYTHMS. Frequent use of repeated OSTINATO MUSIC SPOTTING – identifying opportunities and fall of a melody. RHYTHM – uses OSTINATOS for tension and suspense of off-beat patterns (horses?) often on Indian Drums. within a film when both SOUND EFFECTS and/or DURATION – contrasts of short notes against long, held notes (to show MUSIC would enhance the action or be irregular rhythms to create unease (opening chords of “Psycho”) ORCHESTRATION/INSTRUENTATION – traditional orchestral vast open North American plains) appropriate. From this process, a CUE SHEET is instruments often used but played in extreme ways to create terrifying MELODY – often features a “big theme” (played on (high pitch) strings often produced giving exact and precise timings TIMBRES (“slasher music” from “Psycho” where violin bow is “torn” accompanied by brass and woodwind) with a “folk/traditional” feel or a for the composer to work from. dance-like melody (American Square Dance) Film scores can be MONOTHEMATIC (entire across the string producing a “slashing effect”) THEMES & MOTIFS often used to represent characters or situations but TEXTURE – thick, dense orchestral sound contrasted with more score based upon a single melody e.g. David often FRAGMENTED and DISTORTED as the film progresses matching HOMOPHONIC melody and accompaniment sections Raskin’s score to “Laura”)) where music acts as the deteriorating state of the hero/heroine. HARMONY – mainly MAJOR with minor used for effect (villains), frequent an aid to the narrative. Example & Composer – Soundtrack to “Psycho” – Bernard Hermann use of SEVENTH CHORDS to create harmonic richness Later, composers experimented with the use of Often uses Q&A phrases to represent Good vs. Evil; Cowboys vs. Indians ELECTRONIC RESOURCES, often combined (a device used by association in Westerns. with traditional ORCHESTRAL RESOURCES, to THE LEITMOTIF Examples & Composers – Theme from “The Good, The Bad & The create even more dramatic effects. The LEITMOTIF is a short melodic or harmonic idea which is associated Ugly” – Ennio Morricone; Theme from “The Magnificent Seven” – Elmer NATIONALISTIC IDIOMS were achieved by using with characters, events, concepts, objects or situations (e.g. ‘Jaws’ and Bernstein; Theme from “The Big Country” – Jerome Moross instruments associated with a particular country, ‘James Bond’). These ideas can undergo considerable thematic and helping “place” the film’s location or context (e.g. harmonic transformation such as SEQUENCING – where a melodic idea Sitar = India, Balalaika = Russia) is repeated growing louder and louder and consistently rising either a tone or semitone higher during each repetition. SCI-FI/FANTASY/MAGICAL The interval of a FIFTH has often been used by film music composers of THRILLER/SPY this genre, since its “bare, open” and “sparse” sound quality creates the Thriller/Spy films often feature serious and tense atmospheres, lots of “action sequences”, FILM government and conspiracies, shadowy figures and mysterious people and underground atmosphere of the openness of “Space”. organisations. Film composers have responses to these features by using musical devices such INSTRUMENTATION – heavy use of brass (trumpet fanfares), strings as: and percussion are often used or instruments with specific TIMBRES MUSIC MINOR, DISSONANT CHORDS to create an uneasy (e.g. the CELESTA in the ‘Harry Potter’ them) associated with Sci- atmosphere and CHROMATIC MELODIES which often have Fi/Magic and Fantasy. DISJUNCT movement (e.g. Mission Impossible Theme) to Composers often combine TRADITIONAL and ELECTRONIC create tension or CONJUNCT movement (e.g. Pink Panther instruments or sounds and use SOUND EFFECTS for additional effect. Theme) to create a creepy, mysterious atmosphere. DYNAMICS often feature CRESCENDOS (e.g. Theme from “2001: A LOW PITCHES to sound “dark” and LONGER LOW NOTES to Space Odyssey” – ‘Also Sprach Zarathustra’) and DIMINUENDOS to build tension with DYNAMICS SUCH AS CRESCENDOS to increase or decrease tension and SFORZANDOS are often used for heighten the atmosphere. added effect. REPEATED MOTIFS (leitmotifs e.g. James Bond & Jaws) HARMONIES often change suddenly from MAJOR to MINOR (or in the CARTOONS which are often “layered on top of each other” to create tension reverse) to create unexpected moods and increase the tension. Animated Cartoons require more music than other (e.g. “Capsule in Space” from ‘You Only live Twice’ by John Sometimes the harmony is ATONAL or BITONAL (Planet of the Apes) film genres. CLICK TRACKS (an electronic Barry) or ascend chromatically (sequencing) Examples & Composers – Theme from “2001: A Space Odyssey” (‘Also metronome) were often used for accurate Examples & Composerss– Soundtracks to many of the James Bond Sprach Zarathustra’ – Richard Strauss; “Hedwig’s Theme” from the synchronisation of music to events. Cartoons films – John Barry; Soundtrack to “Jaws” – John Williams; The Pink ‘Harry Potter’ films – John Williams (who has also written may more film developed a range of associated MUSICAL Panther Theme – Henry Mancini; Mission Impossible Theme – Lalo soundtracks and themes for this genre!) CLICHÉS – pedal notes, the “walking” motif, the Schifrin adapted by Danny Elfman “calamity” motif, cluster chords and ascending chromatic runs. STUDENT NAME: WWW.MUSICALCONTEXTS. CO.UK AQA GCSE MUSIC – S T R A N D 2 – POPULAR MUSIC OF THE 20TH A N D 2 1 ST CENTURIES REVISION GUIDE SUB - S T R A N D 7 – F I L M M U S I C HORROR WESTERNS HISTORY OF FILM Make some notes about how film music is used in horror films – chromatic and ambiguous chords and their effect; creating “creepy” atmospheres; the “sigh motif”; offbeat and irregular rhythms; Make some notes about how film music is used in Westerns – instruments and orchestration; instruments and orchestration; themes and motifs and how these can be altered and changed. syncopation, cross rhythms and ostinato; creating the effect of the “vast open North American MUSIC plains”; “big themes”; harmony and the contrast against good vs. evil and cowboys vs. Indians. Make some notes on the History of Film Music – “Silent” Cinema, the role of Musical Director, Music Spotting, Cue Sheets, Monothematic Film Scores, Electronic and Orchestral Resources and Nationalistic Idioms. Example & Composer – Examples & Composers – THE LEITMOTIF What is a Leitmotif? Give some famous examples What is Sequencing? SCI-FI/FANTASY/MAGICAL Make some notes about how film music is used in Sci-Fi, Fantasy and Magical films – the interval THRILLER/SPY of a fifth; instrumentation and timbres; sound effects; dynamics and harmony. Make some notes about how film music is used in Thriller/Spy films – chords; melodic movement; FILM pitch; dynamics; repeated motifs. MUSIC CARTOONS What is a click track? How does this assist film composers of animated cartoons? Examples & Composers – How do cartoons use Musical Clichés? Examples & Composers – STUDENT NAME: WWW.MUSICALCONTEXTS. CO.UK AQA GCSE MUSIC – S T R A N D 2 – POPULAR MUSIC OF THE 20TH A N D 2 1 ST CENTURIES REVISION GUIDE SUB - S T R A N D 7 – F I L M M U S I C Keyword Meaning Understood Signatures (tick) (staff, student, parent) Banjo Call and Response Chromatic(ism) Chromatically Altered Chords Click Track Conjunct Consonance Crescendo Cross Rhythm Cue Sheet Diminuendo Disjunct Dissonance Duration Dynamics STUDENT NAME: WWW.MUSICALCONTEXTS. CO.UK AQA GCSE MUSIC – S T R A N D 2 – POPULAR MUSIC OF THE 20TH A N D 2 1 ST CENTURIES REVISION GUIDE SUB - S T R A N D 7 – F I L M M U S I C Keyword Meaning Understood Signatures (tick) (staff, student, parent) Electronic (sounds) Fiddle Fifth Harmonica Harmony Indian Drum Instrumentation Irregular/offbeat rhythms Jew’s Harp Layering Leitmotif Melodic Movement Minor- major/ambiguous chords Monothematic Motif STUDENT NAME: WWW.MUSICALCONTEXTS. CO.UK AQA GCSE MUSIC – S T R A N D 2 – POPULAR MUSIC OF THE 20TH A N D 2 1 ST CENTURIES REVISION GUIDE SUB - S T R A N D 7 – F I L M M U S I C Keyword Meaning Understood Signatures (tick) (staff, student, parent) Musical Cliché Music-Spotting Nationalistic Idiom Off-beat Rhythms Ostinato Phrase Pitch Pitch Range Q&A Repetition Semitone Sequencing Seventh Chord Sforzando Sound Effect STUDENT NAME: WWW.MUSICALCONTEXTS. CO.UK AQA GCSE MUSIC – S T R A N D 2 – POPULAR MUSIC OF THE 20TH A N D 2 1 ST CENTURIES REVISION GUIDE SUB - S T R A N D 7 – F I L M M U S I C Keyword Meaning Understood Signatures (tick)