15th April 2018
I love the music of movie scores. I am not a classical music fan per se, but there is something about a piece of music written for a film that really piques my interest. Last night I was privileged to attend a concert by the Halle Orchestra, called “Classic Movie Thrillers” where they played several film scores from classic movies such as “Jaws”, “Psycho”, “Jurassic Park” and “On Her Majesty’s Secret Service” to name but a few. I had seen the Hallé perform a movie film concert before so I knew that the night was going to be enjoyable.
As an Autistic I love many forms of music from rock to hip hop to traditional blues, but I think collecting both film scores and TV theme scores is something of a small intense interest of mine. I have hundreds of these categorised and piles of movie soundtracks from a range of films. Therefore, despite the social anxiety of attending any event, last night’s show was a real treat for me. Film score music may sound amazing blasting out of my car stereo, an MP3 music player, computer or stereo but nothing beats hearing a large orchestra playing it.
Whilst watching the concert I had many thoughts going through my head. First of all, why do I love film scores so much? One thing that occurred to me is that there are no lyrics in film scores. I can concentrate better on the actual music itself, picking out the beautiful sounds of various instruments, melodies, rhythms and beats without the distraction of words.
If was listening to a song, for arguments sake “Let’s Dance” by the late great David Bowie, I think the words sung would stand out to me more strongly than the music. I think this is because my Autistic brain analyses the words first. Although the music goes in, the words just seem louder and they make me think about what they mean.
When there are no words, this thinking just doesn’t happen, and I am not distracted from analysing the music. So why do I not listen to more classical music then, instead of film scores? This question immediately popped into my head after answering the previous one.
I think because film scores also offer a nostalgic aspect. When I listen to a piece of music from a film that I have seen, the visual imagery of that film is very strong in my mind. There is a strong memory recall that I both enjoy and strangely find quite calming. When listening to say a classical piece by Mozart, there are no mental pictures of great stories and scenes playing (unless that piece is used in a movie of course). With pop songs the same thing occurs, but not with all songs due to the fact they may have a music video that I have seen. This would provide the imagery my mind seems to want with some forms of music.
Secondly, film scores are a crucial aspect of creating feeling, tension and mood. The classic example here is John Williams musical score to the film “Jaws” which provides the shark that Steven Spielberg did not have. I cannot explain how it works but the music IS the shark. The whole piece makes me feel like I somehow know what the shark is feeling which is very weird.
When you stop and think about how this is achieved, the clever talent of the composer cannot be ignored. Another great score by Williams is the theme to Richard Donner’s “Superman”. There are no words sung in that music but when it is playing you can hear “Superman!” being shouted in your head. To me this is just genius. It is quite difficult to describe in words how this works but go and watch the movie and you will see what I mean.
Another great example of this is in Alfred Hitchcock’s “Psycho” during the infamous shower scene murder. The composer Bernard Herrmann uses pulsing strings, dragged across instruments repetitively to create a sound that is quite uncomfortable to hear. But that is exactly it, you are watching a murder – you are meant to feel horrified and disturbed. The music here just adds to that feeling.
I have already spoken several times about feeling emotion in music, which is the third and final point that drifted into my head last night during the concert. Autistic people often find it difficult to process thoughts, emotions and feelings. I am one of them. Somehow movie scores make me feel something inside and allow me to process an emotion.
This is true of all types of music and songs, but we are talking about film scores today. A slow sad score such as “Schindler’s List” by Williams or Wojciech Kilar’s love theme to Francis Ford Coppola’s “Bram Stoker’s Dracula” can move me to tears at times when I am already feeling low.
Epic scores from my favourite composer Michael Giacchino such as his work on “Star Trek Into Darkness” or “Dr Strange” can cheer me up and make me feel ready to take on the world, when I need a positive emotional boost. I could write longer list here. Other scores and pieces kind of fall between the two ends of the emotional range I guess. So I began to think last night – could music be used as a form of therapy for Autistic people to help them regulate what they are feeling?
I don’t know to be honest. It works for me and I have spoken to people about this in the past, and it also seems to work with Neurotypicals too. It is just the power that music has on the human essence which is why it is such a crucial element for establishing feeling within a movie. It is used to help tell the story just as much as any of the visuals.
I will continue to collect and enjoy movie music. Personally I will also use it to help me as a way to process my feelings when I need help. And I just love a great movie tune – no shame in that. If you get chance to listen to film score played by a live orchestra such as the excellent Hallé, I would highly recommend it too. It is a great experience.