# Musings of the day



## Kopachris (May 31, 2010)

Does anyone have some sort of reference guide for typical musical themes that are evocative of some sort of particular emotion? I'm talking about music that describes things. Holst's _The Planets_ is a great example, with each planet (or their corresponding Greek/Roman god) being described very accurately in the music. For instance, in _Saturn_, the animato starting on measure 77 is clearly evocative of "time ticking away," very descriptive of Saturn, the Bringer of Old Age. Stuff like that. Some evocative themes, such as this one, can easily be derived (mostly the bells with their off-beat pattern of crochets up and down a tone and again, accompanied by the strings), and the reason why is simple: the tubular bells are reminiscent of church bells, and other bells meant to mark time, and the slightly dissonant strings increase the tension. But what about others? Why is the second movement of Tchaikovsky's 4th symphony so evocative of a cold Siberian winter? Why does _Mercury_ sound like "strands of gossamer sound," clearly descriptive of the quick-footed messenger of the gods? Why does the theme that plays on Endor in Star Wars VI describe the cute little Ewoks so well?

You know what? Scratch that. All of it. It seems that while writing this post, I may have answered my own question. Each thing that must be described is broken down into emotion. Once you know the emotion to describe, you can easily compose the theme to describe it, adding cleverly reminiscent instrumentation where possible to enhance the image you're trying to form. So that brings up a clearer question: _How do you know what notes, what intervals, what rhythms to use in these situations?_ I understand that it's built around harmony, but why does _Saturn's_ "time ticking away" theme go up and down only by a tone, while _Uranus_ wildly varies movements of semitones and tones with great leaps? Or can descriptive music be described in a similar manner to what the music is trying to describe? Have I just answered my own question again?

It seems that as far as orchestration goes in cases like these, it's all about what the listener expects from the environment that's being described. For an Arabian desert, you'd expect a sitar, some slow strings, a flute or two, and a mess of strong drums. For an old-timey fishing village, perhaps an English horn, an accordion or bandoneón, a guitar, and a touch of piccolo. For rustic-ness, stick with instruments that mimic the human voice well and/or have been around for a long time: violin, horns, and flute. Then there's the whole issue of color and texture and whatnot. You should probably go consult Master Rimsky-Korsakov about those matters.

It's a battle of unity (what the audience expects) and novelty (irony, or what the audience doesn't expect). Very few can get it just right.

And then for those who _don't_ have perfect pitch (like me), each note affects how the next one sounds. For instance, rarely will I "hear" two notes on the same pitch, especially if they have different lengths. One almost always seems higher or lower than the other. Or is that just me? (By the way, I can still hum (or "doo do do dooo") the tune right, though I still don't notice when two notes are on the same pitch unless I really think about it.)


----------



## Earthling (May 21, 2010)

Check this out: *Bernstein (Unanswered Question lecture excerpt)*

I just ordered the book the other day (a transcript of these lectures). Somewhere on YouTube the other day I found the first lecture in its entirety and it was fascinating. In this series of lectures he draws analogies from Chomsky, seeking a sort of underlying "musical syntax" in western music.


----------



## Earthling (May 21, 2010)

I found it-- the entire first lecture is *HERE*. (in ten parts)


----------



## Petwhac (Jun 9, 2010)

You might want to check this out.
Don't know why it's so expensive though.

http://www.amazon.com/Language-Music-Clarendon-Paperbacks/dp/0198161808


----------



## Kopachris (May 31, 2010)

Earthling said:


> I found it-- the entire first lecture is *HERE*. (in ten parts)





Petwhac said:


> You might want to check this out.
> Don't know why it's so expensive though.
> 
> http://www.amazon.com/Language-Music-Clarendon-Paperbacks/dp/0198161808


Huh. I'll have to look into those, thanks!


----------

