Evocative Music

Last night we watched two episodes of Star Gate. (Two episodes because this is Romania and the TV stations sometimes stack shows that would normally be spread throughout the week.) This show, in tone, is a lot like the old Star Trek series. Serious about a very futuristic, fantastical world, yet filled with fascinating characters and lighthearted moments. As I watched, I tried to analyze what moved the story from serious, frightening, funny, back to serious, back to funny. The answer in part: the music.

Music in TV and movies is like subliminal messaging. It tells us how to feel, how to respond, what we should feel at certain points in the story.

For example, in one of the Star Gate episodes, a plant from another planet was brought back and was slowly but irrevocably taking over the whole Star Gate complex. The Scientist in charge of the plant, and responsible for the problem, seemed unable to control the mess and also was allergic to the plant. While this was actually extremely serious, we smiled and even laughed during these parts of the show.

Why? Because the music indicated that while serious, this little story was meant to be fun. How did the music "tell" us, the viewers, how to feel? How did it evoke that lightheartedness?

Consider the old classical music favorite "Peter and the Wolf". You probably can even hum the tune of some of the characters, like Grandpa (slow, ponderous bassoons), the wolf (intense, urgent French horns), and Peter (chipper, bouncy violins). The composer used the sound, and nuances of different orchestra instruments to evoke the characters of the story.

In the same way, last night's episode of Star Gate used music. The story about the plant was accompanied by a chipper, bouncy tune played on just a few higher pitched instruments. It reminded me of that lighthearted theme on the old classic Star Trek episode, "The Trouble with Tribbles." However, the parts of the episode that were meant to be serious, or even suspenseful, were played on lower instruments, in lower registers, in minor keys, with a slower yet urgent pace.

I think we all know that music adds to the storytelling experience of tv and movies. Music enriches the tale, gets it closer to the pleasure points in our brains so that we are more deeply entertained. In the same way, of course, fiction writing can entertain.

This is my quest, to find combinations of words, sentences, character, dialogue, plot, paragraphs, grammar and punctuation that evoke feelings in the reader. I'm really hoping to get to pleasure points in people's brains. (Nyah, ah, ah!)

What does music evoke for you? Any music you "feel" more attracted to?