The role of music in dramatic scoring is complex. Music can be a response
to, or an expression of, character psychology, action, conflict, stress,
plot or values. Music can express time and place, or suggest the timeless
and the infinite. Often, music may set up a contradictory mood or pacing,
to suggest conflict and mystery in what could be, without the music, a scene
in which only the 'surface' meaning is apparent; and thereby revealing a
deeper understanding. It is gratifying to a composer when a scene to be
scored calls forth the composer's richest and deepest sensibilities and
there is the opportunity to add his own genius to the scene. This capacity
to bring musical excellence to a given scene depends of course on the composer's
dramatic talent, and on the potential inherent in the scene itself.
The composer's life experiences and sensitivity play a key role in how
a given scene will be scored. I wonder if the more well-read a composer
is, the broader and deeper his education, and the more conscious his life
experiences are, the more able he is to create an effective film score.
I cannot answer this question because there are too many complexities and
contradictions in human nature to link creative talent with such conscious
processes or events. Besides, it is usually in the most unselfconscious
moments that our best ideas are born. Love is a far greater motivation than
ambition, at least when it comes to artistic creation. But one thing is
true: If the director is confident in his vision of the film, and understands
what music can and cannot do, he won't ask the composer to compensate for
other elements of the film that are not working well, but rather to let
music do what it does best - enhance drama, evoke meaning and heighten audience
involvement with all the elements of the film. The relationship between
the director and composer must be one of two equal visions if the music
is going to really make any kind of impact on the film. |
Film is a complex art, and there are countless ways to explore the relationship
between music and images. For the most part, composing music to picture
is a craft rather than an art. A craft requires talent, skill, and experience,
while art requires all of these and a profound personal commitment to see
an idea through to its ultimate conclusion; a work of art is an affirmation
of what the artist believes to be the truth of his own nature. If an idea
originates in one creative mind, craft is elevated to art when creative
minds working together can transcend socially approved hierarchies and concepts
of success, results and goals, and find a way to give expression to a common
and sincere vision. When this happens, an authentic collaboration exists,
when it does not, we have the commonplace commercial music score we hear
so often.
The difficulties of creating art in a society in which money is overvalued
and people are temporally impoverished are fierce, but not insurmountable.
As civilization becomes more complex, the need to realize values becomes
increasingly important to the individual and to society. There are many
inner obstacles to overcome, traditions to question, trends and misguided
fads to ignore, attitudes to change, and symbols to forsake. It is my sincere
hope that composers - for that matter artists of all mediums - take the
psychological risks that are necessary to create art that feeds the spirit
and not just the stomach and the bank account. Our culture needs this kind
of art far more than it realizes, we need it for ourselves, and for those
who come after us and inherit what we've left behind.
There is a Russian saying, 'It is nice to sing songs once you have eaten.'
I believe this simple common sense to be true, but I am concerned because
in late 20th century American culture, many people are eating well but few
are singing their own song. |
