Music Theory Through the Lens of Film

8182019 Music Theory Through the Lens of Film

httpslidepdfcomreaderfullmusic-theory-through-the-lens-of-film 120

Journal of Film Music 51-2 (2012) 179-198 ISSN (print) 1087-7142doi101558jfmv5i1-2179 ISSN (online) 1758-860X

copy Copyright the International Film Music Society published by Equinox Publishing Ltd 2013 Unit S3 Kelham House 3 Lancaster Street Sheffield S3 8AF

It is perhaps unsurprising that music theory has madeonly tentative and halting contributions to the youngfield of f ilm musicology Despite the existence of anumber of promising exceptions the disciplinarylandscape of Anglo-American music theory has beenlargely unmarked by sustained or rigorous workon this repertoire1 This is reflected in a paucity of

I would like to thank William Rosar for spearheading this publicationand the symposium at which it first appeared and for supplying helpfulfeedback at various stages of its genesis Some material in this article isbased on research done in my dissertation ldquoReading Tonality through Film

Transformational Hermeneutics and the Music of Hollywoodrdquo (Harvard2012)

Music Theory through the Lens of Film

FRANK LEHMAN Tufts Universityfmlehmangmailcom

Abstract The encounter of a musical repertoire with a theoretical system benefits the latter even as it serves the

former A robustly applied theoretic apparatus hones our appreciation of a given corpus especially one such as filmmusic for which comparatively little analytical attention has been devoted Just as true if less frequently offered as amotivator for analysis is the way in which the chosen music theoretical system stands to see its underlying assumptionsclarified and its practical resources enhanced by such contact The innate programmaticism and aesthetic immediacyof film music makes it especially suited to enrich a number of theoretical practices A habit particularly ripe for thisexposure is tonal hermeneutics the process of interpreting music through its harmonic relationships Interpretingcinema through harmony not only sharpens our understanding of various film music idioms but considerably refinesthe critical machinery behind its analysis The theoretical approach focused on here is transformation theory a systemdevised for analysis of art music (particularly from the nineteenth century) but nevertheless eminently suited for filmmusic By attending to the perceptually salient changes rather than static objects of musical discourse transformationtheory avoids some of the bugbears of conventional tonal hermeneutics for film (such as the tyranny of the ldquo15 secondrulerdquo) while remaining exceptionally well calibrated towards musical structure and detail By examining a handful of

passages from films with chromatically convoluted scoresmdash Raiders of the Lost Ark King Kong and A Beautiful MindmdashIreveal some of the conceptual assumptions of transformational theory while simultaneously interpreting the scenesand films that these cues occupy Ultimately it is the notion of ldquotransformationrdquo itselfmdashas a theoretical keystone ananalytical stance and an immanent quality of musicmdashthat is most elucidated through this approach

Keywords chromaticism transformation theory music theory John Williams James Horner James NewtonHoward neo-Riemannian

ARTICLE

1 The vitality of ldquofilm music theoryrdquo can be assessed by noting the number

of scholars with academic positions as music theorists who have publishedor presented on film musical topics Within the disciplinary boundaries ofmusic theory thus defined film music theory is practiced by only a handfulof theorists The most significant contributions to this nascent sub-disciplinecome from David Neumeyer (particularly 1998 and 2001) and RonaldRodman (1998 2000 2010) Important contributions have also been madeby Alfred Cochran (1986 1990) Charles Leinberger (2002) Scott Murphy(2006) and Rebecca Eaton (2008) This number does not include theconsiderably larger cast of scholars who do not have explicit music theoreticalprofessional affiliation but have nevertheless contributed to the field throughwork of a broadly theoretical orientation (such as through motivic formaland stylistic analysis) It also leaves out those who hail from institutionsoutside the English-speaking core from which for better or worse I judgethe overall vigor of Anglo-American f ilm music theory This disciplinarylacuna on the English-speaking side is thankfully quickly being filled in



180 THE JOURNAL OF FILM MUSIC

copy The International Film Music Society 2013

film music offerings in the conventional venues ofthe English-speaking theory world theory journalsconferences dissertations and monographs Even asmusic theory makes inroads in traditionally shunnedstyles like jazz and pop film music in several crucialways presents a uniquely confounding corpus It is

defiantly ldquonon-absoluterdquo music composed as but onepart of a superordinate text It hails from a repertoirewith a shaky relationship with more accepted canonsfor analysis It appears to eschew or (worse) tobe constitutionally incapable of many of the pet-preoccupations of modern theorists particularly withregard to the ur-theoretical category of long-rangetonal structure And so on2

In this article I propose a means of redressingthis neglect from within the field of music theory The chances of success for such a project areimproved if we reverse the traditionally dependentrelationship between repertoire and analysis Thatis we should not attempt ldquosellingrdquo film musicto theorists by stating that the repertoire is indesperate need of theory in order for its styles to beunderstood and its structures to be parsed Whiletheoretical rigor can only benefit f ilm musicologythe impressive analytic work of many non-theoristsshows that the f ield is doing well without musictheorists hollering ldquoyoursquore doing it wrongrdquo Let usinstead consider the more productive position thatmusic theory stands to see itself enriched expandedand clarified by contact with this fresh repertoireWithout exposure to new corpuses music theory has

a problematic (if too easily ridiculed) tendency to gethung-up on picayune distinctions relevant only tosmall amounts of music and even smaller groups ofscholars By exploring analytically ripe film scoreswith the latest models of musical structure andmeaning music theory will find itself standing onfirmer more relevant ground

One topic of special importance to contemporarymusic theory that serves an effective bridge betweenmethodology and repertoire is transformation In thepast two decades a large if somewhat loosely unitedgroup of analytic and conceptual tools has coalesced

Indeed several offerings in the present issue of this Journal (Tobias Plebuchand Thomas Schneller) are theoretical in the most meaningful sense of thetermmdashrigorous concerned with both musical structure and meaning andmindful of the preexisting literature from other theorists2 Some of these challenges echo issues raised in the annals of operainterpretation as articulated by Carolyn Abbate and Roger Parker in theirintroduction to Analyzing Op era (1989 1-24) The parallels between filmmusic and opera go deeper than their shared analytical stumbling blocksof course and need not be belabored here But it is worth noting that animportant difference with ramifications for analysis is that unlike operafilm decouples dialogue (explicit meaning) and music (implicit or non-denotative meaning) This places film much closer to melodrama in itsmusico-dramatic practice as is demonstrated by several other articles in thepresent journal

into one of the disciplinersquos newest theoretical systemstransformation theory I will explain the conceptualunderpinnings of the systemmdashand its amenabilityto film musicmdashshortly but first it will serve toconsider ldquotransformationrdquo more generally Filmmusicology is already deeply invested in notions of

change and adaptation as this issue attests trackinghistorico-stylistic transformations is a vibrantly activeundertaking The film musicologist traces the waysin which musico-dramatic practices evolve throughthe history of cinema But transformation is hardlylimited to relevance in this diachronic dimension John Williams in an interview in which he defendsthe composition of original underscore (as opposedto Kubrickian use of preexisting pieces) makes aclaim that rings true to anyone who has analyzed orcomposed for screen

[A film composer can] take themes and reshape themand put them in a major key minor key fast slow up

down inverted attenuated and crushed and all the

permutations that you can put a scene and a musical

conception through that you wouldnrsquot be able to

tastefully do if you had taken a Beethoven symphony

and scoredhellipwith that3

By invoking notions of variation permutation andtaste Williams alludes to deep principles of filmscoring Where bending musical material at the whimof cinematic need would be tasteless according to

misplaced Beethovenian expectations it is an assetto the composer for celluloid Film music obeysits own rules as it were and is not subject to thesame principles that constrain absolute music4 Thisspecial logic can be vividly felt in the domain ofpitch-relationsmdashharmony and tonalitymdashwhich inthe absence of a priori formal motivation becomeexpressive resources vessels for meaning-ladentransformations5 Williamsrsquos own scores attest to theessential practical value of musical ldquopermutationrdquo for

3 Quoted from Thomas ldquoA Conversation with John Williamsrdquo (1991)

4 These rules are not dissimilar to those at play in one of the clear stylisticprecedents for the symphonic theme-reliant underscore employed byWilliams and others Wagnerian music drama Williamsrsquos sentiment echoesuncannily Wagnerrsquos defense in Uumlber die Anwendung der Musik auf das Drama of his own ldquoaudaciousrdquo ldquofar-fetchedrdquo and symphonically ldquoinconceivablerdquomusical transformationsmdashthematic manipulations he argues are totallycogent within the dramatic context of the Ring cycle It is no coincidence thatthose passages Wagner singles out in his own musical prose (specifical lypermutations of the Valhalla Rheingold and Tarnhelm leitmotifs) areamong the materials most discussed by todayrsquos transformation theorists (asin Lewin 1992 Hunt 2007)5 David Neumeyerrsquos (1998) critique of film tonal structure remains anindispensible contemplation of style of analysis of questionable suitabilityto motion picture music and of the interaction of traditional theoreticalcategories with the unique poietic and esthesic qualities of cinema



181MUSIC THEORY THROUGH THE LENS OF FILM


generating spans of film musical time and infusingthose spans with appropriate semantic content Iwill shortly demonstrate this sort of tonalthematicmanipulation in his Raiders of the Lost Ark score Inprogrammatic repertoires generally change is amore basic compositional parameter (and analytical

focal point) than predefined structure (like theSchenkerian Ursatz) and autonomously motivatedmusical discourse Thus if film musical change is apractical imperative then transformation ought to bea principal interpretive category

Transformation ThematicExpressive Algebraic

Theorists use ldquotransformationrdquo as a blanket termfor a variety of different concepts sometimes

without clearly distinguishing which is meant atthe time or why It will serve us here to delineatethe three most important senses of the wordthematic expressive and algebraic The thematicconnotation is most familiar and is most widelydiscussed by f ilm musicologists (and composersmdash John Williams appears to have this sense in mind inhis discussion of musical permutation) The art ofthematic transformation is the practice of modifyingdiscrete units of musical discourse like motifs andmelodies as well as more abstract structures likeharmonic progressions or rhythmic patterns overthe course of a piece6 This may occur incrementallywith gradual changes constructing apparently newthemes piece-by-piece out of old ones But it may just as easily take place in summary fashion withan accustomed theme miraculously transmuted intoa fresh variant when dramatic context insists onswift metamorphosis Thematic transformation ischief among the procedures by which a signifyingdevice like leitmotif is able to contribute to filmsomething more consequential than mere ldquocalling-cardrdquo-style announcement The prevalence andoccasional subtlety of the technique in film forcesus to address some important theoretical questions

First under what circumstances should we relatemusical materials with clear harmonic affinity butwithout melodic or motivic similarity Thematictransformation is easy to reconstruct and interpret

6 Thematic transformation-as-formal strategy is strongly associated withFranz Liszt and many of the prototypical devices for dramatic thememanipulation found in film music can be traced to his programmaticsymphonic works Wagnerrsquos ldquotransformationrdquo of the technique ofreminiscence motif of Grand Opera to the leitmotif of his own maturedramasmdashand thence to Strauss Huppertz Korngold Steiner WilliamsNewton Howard and so onmdashowes much to the powerful inf luence of Liszt

when the rhythmicintervallic structure of a themeis retained and harmony or orchestration shifts Butwhat of the reverse when an underlying harmonicparadigm is retained but melodic information isheavily disguised or discarded wholesalemdashshould thiseven count as transformation Furthermore in what

way might such harmonic-thematic transformationcorrelate with shifted semantic content This amountsto asking how musical hermeneutics ought to respondto harmonic transformation An analysis of a cue from James Newton Howardrsquos score to King Kong (2005)will address these questions directly

The second theoretical sense of transformationis of musicrsquos ability to project change as such as itsdominant organizational and expressive impulseWhere some pieces may put forth as their primarycoherence-granting structure a single musical object(such as a prolonged tonic a retained rhythmic

pattern etc) works that rely heavily on constant buttraceable change can be said to be transformationallymotivated Many soundtrack cues possess thisdynamic processual character together formingan example of what Robert Hatten has termed anldquoexpressive genrerdquo The concept of expressive genrerefers to any consistently signifying collection ofrelated musical topics (association-laden units ofmusical discourse) that are combined together tosuggest ldquobroad expressive statesrdquo independently ofa specific type of formal design7 Familiar Classicalexpressive genres include ldquothe Pastoralrdquo and ldquoSturmund Drangrdquo8 These signifying categories are just asprevalent in film music For example the expressivegenre ldquohurryrdquo depends on the accumulation ofenergy through consistent motion without a sense ofarrival Conceived in this abstractly expressive waythe musical topics of activity and urgent impatiencealmost suggest themselvesmdashthe minor scalar runsand chugging accompaniments at fast tempi virtuallyde rigueur for hurry-type cues Indispensible clustersof film music topoi like this and many others are asmuch in play in J S Zamecnikrsquos prototypes in silent-film music anthologies from 1913 as they are in theaction thrillers of present day9

7 See Hatten 2004 678 The notion of expressive genre as it pertains to f ilm musical genres andstyle topoi is taken up by Ronald Rodman in Tuning In (2010)9 This is not to say that the precise sound of 1913 and 2013 hurries soundsimilar Expressive genres are subject to stylistic evolution like anything elseBecause they are generated from clusters of topics rather than hard-and-fastinstructions of ldquoinclude this gesture exclude that onerdquo their developmentacross decades of film history can actually be quite variedmdashso long asthe broadest elements of musical meaning are included In the case of thehurry genre contemporary scoring is likely to involve topical additions likeelectronic percussion loops and subtractions such as decreased emphasis onfunctional harmony





In the case of the transformational expressivegenre in f ilm music the constitutive associative-ladentopics include

1 Fast but steady harmonic rhythm often withsequential or oscillating progressions

2 Ample chromaticism without retention of asingle tonic

3 Motor rhythms and ostinato accompanimentfigures to suggest an ongoing process

4 Pliable melody and instrumentation to fit (orimply) quickly changing dramatic situations

Again the delineation of a model for transformationinvites several opportunities to clarify deepertheoretical issues Even when the elements of thegeneric list are realized can music embody thisdynamic aesthetic when its components are blendedwith those of a more static character For example

what do we make of f ilm music written in the staticstyle of the American minimalists that neverthelessseems to pulsate with harmonic change

Establishing the dramatic ends served by thistransformational aesthetic helps to address suchissues While I do not plan on laying out thefull gamut of cinematic needs a change-as-suchexpressive genre can fill two types of scenes jumpout as potential beneficiaries sequences of creativethought and time-lapse montages In the formerthis element could be likened to an ldquoideardquo within thefilm characterrsquos own mental state music can depictintellection while other cinematographic techniquesrisk crudely literalizing the unknowable workingsof the mind In the latter metamorphic music is ofgeneral editorial utility injecting a form of sustainedeventfulnessmdashcontinuity through transformationmdashtocounter the dispersive effects of rapid cuts and shiftsin temporal point of view A second short case-studyof James Hornerrsquos music for A Beautiful Mind (2002)will demonstrate how this expressive genre can vividlyand decisively benefit both montage and thought-process narratival purposes

There is a third definition of transformationthat has been of interest to a certain stripe

of mathematically oriented music theoriststransformation as well-defined actions within anabstract algebraic setting This article has neitherthe scope nor the need for any extended exegesis ofthe mathematical conception of ldquotransformationrdquobut a limited introduction can clarify some aspectsof the thematic and expressive varieties discussedabove10 The methodology that underlies applications

10 Those who wish for more explanation can turn to Steven Rings (2011)

of abstract algebra to music analysis (appropriatelydubbed ldquotransformation theoryrdquo) is of tremendousutility to film music scholarship Though it has notyet penetrated the broader musicological sphere in thesame fashion that Schenkerian or set-analysis havetransformation theory is close to becoming enshrined

as the dominant North American theoretical approachfor analyzing chromaticism The theory is thebrainchild of theorist David Lewin whose influentialwritings in the 1980s and 1990s strove to usher in aparadigm shift in how we hear and think about musicLewin urged moving away from treating of musicalphenomena as though they were reified events andobjects and instead suggested conceptualizing themas dynamic processes and gestures To paraphraseLewin in the foundational text Generalized Musical Intervals and Transformations we should ask ldquoif I amat musical event s and wish to get to t what sort of

musical change [a transformation] should I enact inorder to get thererdquo11 The system Lewin arrayed toanswer that self-posed question recruits the tools ofabstract algebra and graph theory to convey aspects ofmusical perception both sophisticated and intuitive12 The transformational ethos consists of a devotedand rigorous interest in characterizing the stuff ofchange13 This applies not only to single events but tointeractions of large networks of musical relationshipsWhen its sights are trained onto pitch relationstransformation theory grants us a means of reading harmony Importantly it enables this reading withoutnecessarily referring to a fixed key This agnosticattitude towards tonic-assignment is liberating ina repertoire like film music where maintenanceof pitch-centers is often deemphasized in favor ofcontinuous expressive modulation

The formal machinery of transformation theoryinvolves the distillation of characteristic changes suchas harmonic motions into algebraic transformations

who provides a user-friendly introduction to transformation in this sense(and transformation theory at large) accessible for those with littlebackground in abstract algebra11 Lewin 1987 The much quoted passage paraphrased above comes from pp158-59

12 When the Lewinian approach restricts its purv iew to music based aroundthe consonant triad it is customary to refer it to neo-Riemannian theory This designation points to conceptual basis in theories of nineteenth-centuryGerman theorists like Hugo Riemann for whom issues of musical spacechromatic function and enharmonic identity were persistent subjects oftheorization The reader curious in the intellectual background of neo-Riemannian theory can consult Cohn 1998 and Goll in and Rehding 201113 Rings gives this account of the transformational ethos ldquoTransformationtheory is a branch of systematic music theory that seeks to model relationaland dynamic aspects of musical experience The theory explores the manifoldways in which we as musical actantsmdashlisteners performers composersinterpretersmdashcan experience and construe relationships among a wide rangeof musical entities (not only pitches) The formal apparatus of the theoryallows the analyst to develop pursue and extend diverse relational hearingsof musical phenomenardquo (Rings 2011 10)





It can encode chromatic progressions in a variety ofways The simplest method is to make note of theinterval spanned between two sonorities The notation T

n indicates transposition pitch by n semitones (with

octave equivalence) This sort of description suitspassages related by incremental transposition as

well as harmonic motions constructed from clearparallel voice-leading (sometimes called ldquoplaningrdquo)However transposition fails to account for changesin triadic mode and neglects another component oftriadic chromaticism pertinent to film common-tonerelatedness Chromaticism enables the connectionof harmonic progressions very distant by diatonicmetrics through measuring the presence of sharedtriadic tones This principle of ldquotriadic parsimonyrdquo candescribe complex chromatic progressions in terms ofsmall (and again incremental) displacements of singletones with a triad For example the characteristically

filmic third progression C majoreth

E major would betreated as a simple T4 progression by transposition

but this fails to account for the importance of theshared E of both chords A preferable analysisdescribes it through two common-tone retainingtransformations First the pitch C in C major isdisplaced to B forming an E minor triad Second thepitch G is shifted to G producing the E major triadas a result In the algebraic notation of transformationtheory this would be described as an LP progressionL indicates the ldquoLeittonwechselrdquo operation (whichshifts the single member of a triad that does not makeup its minor third by one semitone) P indicates theldquoparallelrdquo operation which reverses the triadrsquos mode

A small inventory of these transformationaloperations can fully describe any conceivabletriadic relation it is up to the analyst to pick whichcombination of transposition common-tone andfunctional operations best capture the uniquequality of any given progression Example 1 listsfive transformations to be used in this article withsimple definitions of what changes they effect on a

triad Transformational analysis typically involves thechaining of numerous such operations together toform compound transformations (such as LP) Thesemultiple transformations are then typically interpretedas visual networks to highlight salient relationshipsand assemble metaphorically suggestive spaces

The advantages of applying transformationaltechniques to the film musical corpus are numerousBy attending to the perceptually salient changesrather than static objects of musical discourse thetheory avoids some of the bugbears of conventionaltonal hermeneutics for film These stumbling blocksinclude the restrictions of the ldquo15 second rulerdquoand the sometimes wrongheaded impulse to readtonality over whole movies At the same time it isexceptionally well calibrated towards musical detailand the listenerrsquos dynamic apprehension thereof Infilm music where the spectatorrsquos attention tends

to be limited to fairly local harmonic phenomena atheoretical apparatus that targets expressive changeis a decidedly more appropriate tool than one thatseeks out long-range coherence The aptness ofmethodology is complemented by an aptness of targetrepertoire Transformation theory though it grew outof analysis of atonal music (and persists investigatingit in some circles) has seen most of its growth inresearch on Romantic-era chromaticism In thetonal practice of Liszt Wagner and other Romanticcomposers traditional coherence-based models havehistorically falteredmdashif not outright failedmdashin musicanalyses Because this chromatically oriented tonalidiom has enjoyed a continually revitalized presencein Hollywood the Lewinian methodology devisedexpressly to handle such non-normative musical syntaxis irresistibly appropriate

Romantic-era chromaticism comes in severaldialects but the variety that transformation theoryis particularly concerned with is triadic chromaticism Idefine this as the use of consonant sonorities (namelythe everyday [037] triad) in progressions that are not

Example 1 Transformation Inventory

Symbol Transformation Example

Tn

Transpose by n semitones T2 (C maj) = D maj

DOM(inant) Become dominant of T5

DOM(C maj) = G maj

P(arallel) Invert about fth displace non-ic5 pitch P(C maj) = C min

L(eittonwechsel) Invert about fth displace non-ic3 pitch L(C maj) = E min

R (elative) Invert about fth displace non-ic4 pitch R (C maj) = A min

S(lide) Invert fth about third displace non-ic5 pitch S(C maj) = C min





directed by diatonic intervals or functional routines Triadic chromaticism in film tends to correspond withfour closely related aesthetic needs that are essentiallyholdovers from nineteenth-century musico-dramaticrhetoric The first of these is intensification in whichchromatic motions suggest a ramping up of energy

beyond the confines provided by diatonic spaceincremental transposition of passages by semi- orwholetone is a well-exploited version of this broaderharmonic strategy14 The second affective use of triadicchromaticism involves aspects of magic and theoccult Music in this vein plays upon the still-potentstrangeness of many chromatic progressions insofar asthey are set against normative diatonic progressions15 Such capacity to signify uncanniness and alterityalso associates the idiom with unusual psychologyparticularly of madness and dream-like states evokedthrough traditionally disorienting sonorities like thewhole-tone collection and the diminished seventhchord Finally the category of the sublimemdashthecommingling of awe and fearmdashis easily evoked bytriadic chromaticism particularly when realizedthrough the association of chromatic motions andlarge tonal distances16 All four chromatic aestheticsinvolve heightened states relative to everyday realitywhether perceptual or metaphysical Because filmand Hollywood genre film in particular is investedin conveying a sense of heightened reality the well-mined progressions of triadic chromaticism as a classare themselves associated with ldquothe moviesrdquo Theremark that something ldquosounds like f ilm musicrdquo is

often attributable to the presence of these harmonictransformations irrespective of any actual cinematicprovenance of the music they are heard in

Williams Raiders of the Lost Ark

To see this methodology at work let us examinea passage from a score by John Williams theiconic ldquoMap Room Dawnrdquo scene from Steven

14 The use of stepwise modulation to communicate musical intensificationwas coined ldquoexpressive tonalityrdquo by Robert Bailey (1977) in his foundational

study of Wagnerrsquos mature tonal designs While numerous scholars havepicked up the phrase after Bailey it is a somewhat inapt label as tonalexpressivity is hardly limited to motions by mM2 The artificial intervalliclimitations of Baileyrsquos terminology are lifted in a few recent cases such asChristopher Dollrsquos (2011) treatment of meaningful modulations in pop songs15 The association of chromaticism and the otherworldly particularly innineteenth-century music is well established in musicology Taruskin 1985on octatonicism Cohn 2004 on hexatonic poles and Bribitzer-Stull 2012on Tarnhelm progressions are examples of genealogical studies of certainprogression-classes tied to Romantic era harmonic weirdness While theseharmonic effects occur with associations firmly intact in film music onlyBribitzer-Stull traces development to contemporary scoring pract ice16 See for example Edmund Burkersquos (1757) Enquiry into the Origin s of our Ideas of the Sublim e and Beaut iful and Immanuel Kantrsquos (1790) Third Critique forcanonical treatments of this aesthetic state

Spielbergrsquos Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) In thissequence the protagonist Indiana Jones consults amysterious chamber that with the right artifactsand at the correct time of day reveals the locationof the filmrsquos MacGuffin the Ark of the CovenantWilliamsrsquos cue for this scene is structured around

several progressively more urgent statement of theldquoArk Themerdquo shown in Example 2 in a reducedtranscription by the author (as will be all musicalexamples in this article) The theme that providesthe basis for ldquoMap Roomrdquo is highly chromaticconstructed almost entirely from non-diatonictransformations acting on purely minor triadsParticularly salient is the themersquos leitharmonie atritonal oscillation between tonic and the triad T

6

away The theme thus draws on centuriesrsquo worthof associations with dark magic and implies to theaudience that this is a dangerous MacGuffin best

left untouched by humanityrsquos grasping hands17

Themenace of the coacuteg f oscillation stems from boththe malevolent associations of T

6and the bumpiness

of the underlying transformation as reckonedfrom a common-tone preserving perspective Noparsimonious path exists to get from c to g f (the most plausible path involves the quaternarytransformation RPRP) Example 3a demonstrates thetortuous route to accomplish the diabolic oscillationthrough incremental pitch displacements This roughquality contrasts interestingly with the considerablysmoother second phrase analyzed in Example 3b That portion follows a stepwise descending patternthat methodically ushers C5 back down to thethemersquos starting melodic tone G4 Williams actuallyartif icially ldquoroughensrdquo the passagersquos voice-leading toinsure motivic continuity with the opening phrasebut this partial masking of ideal smoothness doesnot diminish the progressionrsquos coiled dangerouslyfascinating character18

Example 4 produces an analyzed transcriptionof the climactic passage from the ldquoMap Roomrdquosequence Here the Ark Themersquos tonally centrifugaltendencies finally spring it free of the imposedconfines of C minor In an elegant symmetry the

17 The associative pregnancy of T6 is well-exploited by film composers

and well-observed by commentators Janet Halfyard (2010) notes its use insupernatural horror comedies William Rosar (2006) in the music of LeithStevens and Scott Murphy (2006) from a transformational perspective inscience fiction cinema18 Murphy (forthcoming) observes a parallelism in this phrase of the Arktheme in which an initial downwards major third progression (LP) iscounterbalanced by an upwards M3 progression (PL) one chord-pair laterBased on his research he finds that downwards minor LPs generally tend toventure away from tonics while the converse is true for upwards PLs Thusthe move from E to G minor offsets the tonal digression initiated by C to

A and begins the homeward-bound m3 sequence that closes in on the tonic(or rather its T

11 related substitute D minor)





same straining minor-third progressions that arriveat the themersquos C-minor apotheosis (mm 1-6) arerecruited to dismantle that keyrsquos primacy after m19 What follows is a passage of consummate triadicchromaticism hinting at but never f irmly establishingthe keys of E F B and G minor Smooth voice-leading arises at many instances impelled by a

semitonally craning melody Functionally ambiguousoscillations are rife as are multiply embeddedminor- and major-third progressions The latter isinstanced by an incipient major third (LP) cycle atmm 19 23 and 26 indicated by dotted arrows19 The exaggeratedly definitive ldquofunctionalrdquo cadence toC minor that finishes the section (and establishesthe concluding tonic of the cue) stands out amidstthis chromaticism The cadence which begins atm 27 is itself a reinterpretation of the cadence ofthe more neutral version of the theme presented inExample 1 The thunderous underlining of G2ethC3

and E5eth

D5eth

C is so rhetorically overstated that onesuspects Williams is intentionally overcompensatingfor the radical underdetermination of tonal trajectoryduring the passagersquos bulk Indeed the whole end ofthe cue settles in C rather than C$ minor a slippery T

1 transformation of the whole tonal edifice of the

19 Another incipient third cycle emerges from the 2-bar units in C minorE minor and F minor across mm 17 19 and 21 The pattern stops shortof circling the ful l m3 division of the octave however arriving at B minor atm 23 instead of A minor

theme and a dramatic repudiation of the power ofprolongational syntax in this tonal idiom

Three out of four of the chromatic expressive aes-thetics are captured by Williamsrsquos ldquoArk Themerdquo andthe ldquoMap Roomrdquo cue that showcases it Tonal inten-sification telegraphs the approaching revelation ofthe Arkrsquos location and is conveyed in two ways (1)

intrinsically in the theme through the progressiveexpansion of register and harmonic distance from thetonic and (2) extrinsically in the cuersquos gradual cre-scendo and increasingly disruptive modulatory forays The occult is wedded into the harmonic and thematicassociations already erected around the theme as itattaches to an ancient and mysteriously powerful arti-fact And finally a healthy dose of sublimity by virtueof the sheer audacity of Williamsrsquos chromaticism istransferred from soundtrack to the screen We see thefeeling of fascination coupled with terror communicat-ed by score expressed on Indyrsquos face If successful the

aforementioned musical forces will provoke a similarresponse in the filmgoer as the protagonist

Newton Howard King Kong

Two case studies will serve to further address thetheoretical questions raised earlier about thematic andexpressive transformation These short analyses comefrom movies both falling in a roughly contemporary

Example 2 Williams Raiders of the Lost Ark Ark Theme

Example 3 Ark Theme Linear Analyses





scoring practice and thus represent ways to apply thismethodology to an idiom very much alive for todayrsquoslisteners I f irst inspect an action sequence from Peter Jacksonrsquos King Kong with the intent of showing howthe transformational apparatus can reveal subtle butimportant thematic details that bear on the overallinterpretation of a film I then turn to a cue from A Beautiful Mind that demonstrates how attention totransformational dynamics can reveal things like

symmetry and teleology only rarely incorporated intofilm music analyses

James Newton Howardrsquos score to King Kong (2005directed by Peter Jackson) is effective largely by virtueof its tight thematic integration and a well-measuredserving of musical development to help the extremelylong film (187 minutes) retain a sense of momentumtowards its tragic conclusion20 One instance of

20 In a lamentable but familiar occurrence in Hollywood composer Howard

Example 4 ldquoMap Room Dawnrdquo Climax





thematic transformation is in service of a largernarrative shift that Jacksonrsquos film makes in relation toits 1933 predecessor In the original Kong the titularbeast despite the attribution of many human-likequalitiesmdashmost crucially a fascination and desire topossess Fay Rayersquos wilting heroine Anne Darrowmdashnever quite transcends the category of ldquomonsterrdquo Inthe remake the filmmakers take care to turn Konginto a relatable protagonist and his relation to Darrow

(Naomi Watts) is more poignant for being treated asloving and mutually consensualNewton Howardrsquos score is critical in rendering

Kong sympathetic and in reflecting the humancharactersrsquo own evolving perception of the beastNewton Howard sets up a leitmotif for Kongimmediately with the opening credits A growlingfour-sonority-long trombone theme (reproducedand analyzed in Example 5) sounds as soon as themoviersquos title appears on screen its intended referentunmistakable The motifrsquos open fifths are shornof modal information but its aggressive guise andplacement within an overall G-minor cue lend it thenegative valence of the minor mode without its literalcomponents (Indeed the combination of dyads E-Band E-B contain whiffs of both modes) Withoutexplicit mode I treat it as a ldquoprimitiverdquo succession

Shorersquos score to Jacksonrsquos remake of King Kong was rejected after Shorehad composed its bulk James Newton Howard was brought on to craft areplacement score and given a mere five weeks to complete the task for afilm that ca lled for a huge amount of prominent and thickly orchestratedmusic Despite these pressures Newton Howardrsquos score was cr iticallyacclaimed sufficient to garner an Oscar nomination at the sventy-eighth

Academy Awards

of direct transpositions T9 T

11 T

9 that pits two m3-

related dyads against each other by a downward majorthird ( T

8) Harkening back to Steinerrsquos original motif

this is a musical representation of Kong as a monstera primitive and mysterious threat born of Westerncivilizationrsquos deepest fears Because it accompanies histerrifying first screen appearance and other momentsof atavistic terror I call it his ldquoThreatrdquo motif

Kongrsquos motif undergoes two significant

transformations in the cue ldquoTooth and Clawrdquo Thismusic accompanies an action set piece in which Kongdoes death-defying battle against three carnivorousdinosaurs At the same time as he resists their attackshe attempts to protect Darrow who inadvertentlywalks into the dinosaursrsquo clutches Kongrsquosarrival is heralded by the first of these thematictransformations a fleshing out of his ldquoThreat motifrdquowith an ascending melody as well as long-awaitedmodal information and explicit chromatic mediantrelations (Example 6) This time the chords 1+2and 3+4 pivot around a third-sharing semitonal axis(S) located about the submediant while leading to aretrospective plagal ldquocadencerdquo for C minor This yieldsa triadic transformational trajectory of the fleshed-outtheme PRSRPLRP We can now more fully assertan underlying roman numeral progression in C minorof iethviethVIethIV21

21 Even though mode is not provided for the first two sonorities and thesecond contains a ldquodissonancerdquo of D$ the exterior C minor context and thefunctional progression is strong enough to guarantee the previous chordswill be heard as minor Stufe in that key

Example 5 James Newton Howard King Kong Threat Motif and Analysis





The last two measures of the theme in Example6 display the beginnings of an ostensibly newmotif which comes to be associated with Kongrsquosferocious but sad and unvoiced dignity ldquoTooth andClawrdquo culminates in a definitive pronouncementof this theme The ldquoDignityrdquo motif accompaniesKongrsquos gruesome defeat of the last of the carnivoreswitnessed by Darrow with a combination of awefear and gratitude Kong beats his chest to the

sounds of his revived ldquoThreatrdquo motif which isfollowed by gentler and considerably softer musicin E minor Example 7 reproduces the majority ofthis climactic passage along with screen actions andleitmotifs indicated between staves A diachronictransformation network is provided below to track itstransformational trajectory

Following a vault from F to D minor theldquoDignityrdquo melody crystallizes at mm 11-15 It is

Example 6 Kong Threat Motif Heroic Appearance in ldquoTooth and Clawrdquo and Analysis





Example 7a ldquoTooth and Clawrdquo Climax

Example 7b Dignity Theme Analysis





a true example of triadic chromaticism subject tocontinuous and rapid chromatic modulations within its phrasal boundaries These convolutions effectivelydiscourage tonic-assignment except for the assertedbut prolongationally unearned reference points ofD minor (m11) and a brief A major (m 17) The

emblematic transformation here is again S which atonce prepares the theme (mm 9-10 from E minto an inverted D major) steers its first phrase (mm11-13 from D minor to D major) and guides chord-to-chord motion in its second phrase (mm 15-17 Gminor to G major and B minor to A major) Eachtransformation lends a distinctive affective quality tothe overall theme The overall preponderance of third-sharing semitone progressions constantly readjustingthe stable ground against which the arpeggiation-based theme struggles to remain balanced on mimicsKongrsquos violent attempt to grapple with his thrashing

final adversary The Ls applied to D and D tap thatprogressionrsquos association with sentiment as well asldquothe epicrdquo lending a pathos-laden quality to the scenethat contrasts with its general ferocity22 The like-modespanning third progressions appear to serve morerelaxationalintensificatory purposes The RP thatdraws the music to B major suggests heroism and adefinitive turning of the tide for Kong Meanwhile thesame transformation applied to G minor reverts to therole it played in m 8 ramping up tension in this casebefore the ultimate S discharges Brsquos pent-up negativeenergy onto a ldquotriumphalrdquo A minor

Whence does this ldquoDignityrdquo motif derive Thefearsome final statement of his ldquoThreatrdquo motif at m20 (once again shorn of thirds) draws our attentionto latent similarities with the broad theme thatimmediately precedes it Example 8 demonstratesthe connection via transformational analyses of boththemes A single atemporal prototype composed offour triads and six transformations is the sharedsource of both their harmonic materials in Lewinianparlance this amounts to the much sought-afterproperty of network isography In essence each themerelies on the pairing of minor-third-related triads (PR RP) These in turn are linked together via specific f ifth

(LRP) and semitone (S) relations The major-thirdrelation (L) that is enabled by this coupling is explicit

22 Murphy (2011) has noted an association of mode-switching major thirdprogressions (eg C majoroacuteE minor) with sentimentality and bereavementin modern cinema and has labeled it the ldquoLoss Gesturerdquo accordinglyMurphyrsquos designation of this progression depends on tonal context suchassociations are most clearly at play when a Ioacuteiii functional paradigm isat play However in a case such as ldquoTooth and Clawrdquo where tonal center isambiguous the ldquoLoss Gesturerdquo connotations can combine with connotationsfrom the inverse VIoacuteI progression (which has an epic portentous quality)In this affective ca lculus loss + portent = pathos

in the ldquoDignityrdquo motif (as befits its more pathetictenor) while only implicit in the ldquothreatrdquo In ldquoThreatrdquothese progressions are anchored to specific diatonicfunctions while in ldquoDignityrdquo they are essentiallyloosed from any tonal mooring and only occurbetween strictly non-adjacent chords Nevertheless the

underlying prototype that produces these chords whilenot determining their chronological order or functionalimplications fully models their interrelationships

The thematic work done in ldquoTooth and Clawrdquoshows that thematic transformation can occur solelyacross the harmonic domain (without motivicrhythmic or even functional outlines retained)23 Subsequent iterations of the ldquoDignityrdquo theme heard inscenes where Kong is cruelly attacked (and eventuallykilled) bear an affective profile of grandeur andremorse Casting the ldquoDignityrdquo theme as a moremature transformational sibling of ldquoThreatrdquo fits with a

broader reading of the score in which James NewtonHoward helps construct a sympathetic portrayal ofKing Kong By gradually metamorphosing Kongrsquos shortand rudimentary ldquoThreatrdquo motif into a more dignifiedand pathos-capable melody the composer subvertsexpectations he himself sets up about Kongrsquos nature asa pure monster The ldquoThreatrdquo motif transforms alongwith the audiencersquos relation to Kong from viewing himunfairly as an antagonist to seeing him as a potentialprotagonist and eventually the most sympatheticcharacter on screen

Horner A Beautiful Mind

Unlike written media (like the novel) film does notnaturally have the ability to directly convey the innerthoughts of its characters When exposure of a mentalprocess is desirable filmmakers may avail themselvesof a handful of indirect methods of indicating suchcontent like voice-over staged fantasies or dreamsand importantly music As discussed earlier thetransformational expressive genre in film scoring isapt for scenes of creative and intense intellectionIt is this capacity for music to represent the

unrepresentable (and for theory to represent that inturn) that leads me to turn to Ron Howardrsquos 2001biopic A Beautiful Mind24

23 Drawing these subtle connections is justifiable when there is a c leardramatic-formal rationale for such transformation otherwise the analyst iscaught searching for harmonic resemblances where none pertinent to filmcould exist This is thankfully not the case in King Kong but the issue oftransformation theoryrsquos problematic capacity to draw too many connectionsremains a site for critique for some theorists See for example Buchlerrsquos(2007) discussion of relational ldquopromiscuityrdquo24 Portions of this section are adapted from the authorrsquos articleldquoTransformational Analysis and the Representation of Genius in Film





The Nobel laureate economist John Forbes Nashone of the fathers of game theory is the subjectof A Beautiful Mindrsquos loosely accurate biographicalnarrative Played by Russell Crowe the filmrsquos Nashis a mathematical genius afflicted by hallucinatoryschizophrenia and much of the film revolves aroundhis pathological need to locate patterns everywhere

real or imagined The score hails from Howardrsquosfrequent collaborator James Horner Hornerrsquos musicalcontribution is tasked with among other thingsexternalizing the unfilmable workings of the filmrsquostitular mind in scenes of both invigorating intellectualdiscovery and deepening madness In scoring Nashrsquos

Musicrdquo in Music Theory Spectr um (Spring 2013) That piece offers morecontextualization and analysis of A Beautif ul Mind as well as furtherexplanation of the underlying mechanisms of neo-Riemannian theory

unstable genius Horner claimed to have receivedinspiration from the metaphorical image of thekaleidoscope

I had this vision of how numbers work and to methat was always something I wanted to bring acrossmusicallyhellip [Director Ron Howard and I] had this

running abstract idea [that] music and the whole artof mathematics when you get above a certain stage isnot literally just numbers and solutions itrsquos more likelooking through a kaleidoscopehellipyou have one thingand you slowly change it25

The influence of this refractive conceit is readilyapparent in Hornerrsquos main title for the film (fittinglynamed ldquoKaleidoscope of Mathematicsrdquo) but is at work

25 Horner (2002) speaking on A Beautifu l Mind DVD supplemental materials

Example 8 Threat and Dignity Thematic Transformational Analysis





across the score particularly in music drawn from the

harmonic and motivic wellspring of that cue Horneremploys a triadically chromatic idiom for scenesdepicting Nashrsquos mathematical genius26 The ten cuesthat fall into this category abound with chromatictransformations and remarkable permutations of theformal materials of the main title Yet though theexpressive genre is clearly transformational Hornerclothes his colorfully roving chord progressionsin the stylistic garb of American minimalism27 Far from being at odds with the change-as-suchaesthetic these minimalist accents enhance the musicrsquostransformational verve With a musical surface that

26 The origins of Hornerrsquos genius music in Beautif ul Mind are an interestingldquotransformationalrdquo matter in their own right Clear precedents can be tracedfrom his own scores to Bicentenni al Man (1999) Searching for Bobby Fisher(1993) and Sneakers (1992) These and other connections are exploredin Lehman 2013 It should be noted that however conspicuous Hornerrsquosderivative tendencies generally do not diminish the effectiveness of his musicin context27 The textures recall in particular the coruscating arpeggios of PhillipGlass and densely layered orchestration of Steve Reich Rebecca Eatonrsquos(2008) dissertation ldquoUnheard Minimalisms The Functions of theMinimalist Technique in Film Scoresrdquo deals more devotedly with the stylisticimplications of Hornerrsquos score as well as a handful of other soundtracks thathew to the transformational expressive genre

is consistently triadic and texturally uniform Horner

focuses the listenerrsquos interest not on the participatingtriads themselves but on their dynamic interactionsStasis in one musical domain (texture) heightens theimpression of change in another (harmony)

The most sustained development of HornerrsquosKaleidoscopic music occurs in the cue ldquoCracking theRussian Codesrdquo (DVD time 2345) The sequenceis A Beautiful Mindrsquos most impressive set piece fordemonstrating Nashrsquos intellect He is brought to amilitary intelligence base to discern patterns within amassive set of panels spattered with numbers Amida dazzling show of numerical special effects Nash

puts his pattern-spotting powers to use eventually hesolves the cryptogrammdasha set of integers that unlocksthe underlying pattern A reduced transcription isgiven in Example 10 for the bulk of this cue upthrough its conclusion Example 11 reproduces theportion of Akiva Goldsmanrsquos screenplay that this busymusic occupies

One detail is notably omitted in the actual filmedversion of this scene Nashrsquos announcement ldquoThererdquoWith that one piece of dialogue cut the scene goes

Figure 1 Russell Crowe as John Forbes Nash in A Beautiful Mind





Example 10 James Horner A Beautiful Mind ldquoCracking the Russian Codesrdquo Transcription





from having an explicit ldquoahardquo moment to requiringother non-literalizing techniques to underline theinstant of Nashrsquos discovery While there are some cuesthat Nash has solved the problem through visual-and sound-effects the moment of revelation is stillsomewhat underdetermined until the score driveshome the discovery

Horner leaves this musical mark on the narrativethrough a cue with considerable transformationalelegance The musical backdrop for this pattern-hunt

follows a problem-to-work-to-epiphany narrativeFirst Horner provides a buildup of minimalistchurning of intense focus on D minor This is followedby a harmonically elaborate and timbrally dense legfor Nashrsquos almost mystical communion with the rawchaotic data of the number panels Finally Hornerconveys a clear breakthrough in his score and followsit up with music of invigorated triumph that endsabruptly as Nash claims ldquoI need a maprdquo Supportinga rapid succession of triads is a sturdy structure built

out of a single transformational cell This unit shownin Example 12 comprises an ordered succession ofsemitonal (S) fifth (RL) and major third (L) motionsWhile heard elsewhere in the score only here isthis four-chord cell developed to the point where itscyclical potential is realized

Example 12 Transformational Cell fromldquoCracking the Russian Codesrdquo

The starfish-like cycle that results from multipleiterations of the cell is rendered in Example 13 alongwith indicators of what stage in the problem-solving

Example 11 Screenplay for Codes Sequence





process Nash finds himself at given areas withinthe harmonic structure The law-like and orderlyconfiguration of cycle enables Horner to project aharmonic telos once it gets underway the completetraversal of the symmetrical sequence from origin (Aminor) to chromatic aggregate-completing F major That triad represents a completion of an emergentpattern and concurrently a successful visit to each ofthe twelve major triads exactly once The structureof the cycle only becomes apparent gradually andat several points is veiled by traversal of novel (butequivalent) routes through this pitch space such as abrief circuit around F minor at m 26 But the momentthat the consummating triad of F arrives (along withan orchestral tutti) synchronizes precisely with thequick zoom to a numerical pattern that Nash uses tounlock the entire crypto-panel28 Where the screenplay

28 Note that F majorrsquos capture is not mechanically equivalent to a successful

leaves this mental event undetermined the score picksup the reins in signaling the very instant of Nashrsquosepiphany

Hornerrsquos music for this cue is based on atransformational processmdashan unfurling epiphanythrough which we as listeners actively intuitassemble and have blazingly confirmed a dynamicchromatically constructed tonal space What thecomposer invites us to hear in ldquoCracking the RussianCodesrdquo is not a succession of autonomous chordalobjects static and weighted in a predetermined pitchspace Instead we follow a single sonorous hostas it is sent through a kaleidoscopic succession oforderly chromatic transformations To treat the cuersquosstructure as a function of transformational rather than

cadence though the expressive rhetoric is similar F major is not heard as thetonic (indeed it is quickly treated as a dominant of B minor) its status asharmonic epiphany is vouched by the quintessentially non-functional non-tonal logic of cycle completion

Example 13 Analysis of ldquoCracking the Russian Codesrdquo





monotonal thinking is not simply a way to dodge therequirements of diatonic syntax These strictures asI have suggested throughout this article are demotedin importance in much film music and where theyare recruited it is for expressive ends InterpretingldquoRussian Codesrdquo as directed flux rather than a

series of ldquoCartesianrdquo objects (to use a comparisonfavored by Lewin) best captures Hornerrsquos strategy ofmusically representing the creative thought process29 Transformational analysis encourages us to hear thetriad as an idea in all its propulsive mutability In the triadic chromaticism of Hornerrsquos ldquoRussian Codesrdquo thecuersquos roving triad is first presented as an obsessed-over but inchoate harmonic notion The path it takesmirrors Nashrsquos own arc in the f ilm blending schizoidunpredictability and deep rationality This triad-as-idea seeks out a specific tonal goal post thus adheringto its scenersquos need for a code-cracking telos

29 Henry Klumpenhouwerrsquos (2006) reconstruction of Lewinrsquos anti-Car tesianphilosophical ideology provides necessary intellectual contextualization forthe ldquochange-over-objectsrdquo ethos at the heart of transformation theory

But it also relishes pure harmonic experimentationand surprise and thereby fulfills the scenersquos need tocommunicatemdashand hopefully reproducemdashsome ofNashrsquos intellectual thrill in his mathematical prowess

Transformation theory is a powerful and versatiletool uniquely suited to the practical needs and tonal

resources of film music It capably handles variedhermeneutic tasks such as quantifying the elementsof harmonic signification (as in Raiders) tracking thevagaries of thematic development (as in King Kong)and giving shape to abstract tonal processes insofaras they power dramatic trajectories (as in A Beautiful Mind) Film music in turn carries the prospect ofbreathing vitality and conceptual clarity into thisstill-young analytic implement Experiencing the bestfilms can leave the cinemagoer dazzled enriched andtransformed I hope to have shown that what is truefor the filmgoer might also be true for music theory





References

Abbate Carolyn and Roger Parker eds 1989 Analyzing opera Verdi and Wagner Berkeley and Los AngelesUniversity of California Press

Bailey Robert 1977 The structure of the Ring and its evolution Nineteenth Century Music 1 no 1 48-61

Bribitzer-Stull Matthew 2012 From Nibelheim to Hollywood The Associativity of Harmonic ProgressionIn The legacy of Richard Wagner 157-84 ed Luca Sala Turnhout Brepols

Buchler Michael 2007 Reconsidering Klumpenhouwer networks Music Theory Online 13 no 2

Burke Edmund 1757 1998 A philosophical enquiry into the origin of our ideas of the sublime and beautiful ed Adam Phillips Oxford Oxford University Press

Cochran Alfred 1986 Style structure and tonal organization in the early film scores of Aaron Copland PhD dissCatholic University of America

mdashmdashmdash1990 The Spear of Cephalus observations on film music analysis Indiana Theory Review 11 65-80

Cohn Richard 1998 An introduction to neo-Riemannian theory a survey and historical perspective Journal of Music Theory 42 no 2 167-80 httpdxdoiorg102307843871

mdashmdashmdash2004 Uncanny resemblances tonal signification in the Freudian age Journal of the American Musicological Society 57 no 2 285-324 httpdxdoiorg101525jams2004572285

Doll Christopher 2011 Rockinrsquo out expressive modulation in verse-chorus form Music Theory Online 173

Eaton Rebecca 2008 Unheard minimalisms the functions of the minimalist technique in film scores PhD dissUniversity of Texas Austin

Gollin Edward and Alexander Rehding eds 2011 The Oxford handbook to neo-Riemannian music theoriesOxford Oxford University Press httpdxdoiorg101093oxfordhb97801953213330010001

Goldsman Akiva 2002 A Beautiful Mind the shooting script New York Newmarket Press

Halfyard Janet K 2010 Music afoot supernatural horror-comedies and the diabolus in musica In Music inthe horror film listening to fear ed Neil Lerner 206-23 Abingdon Routledge

Hatten Robert 2004 Musical meaning in Beethoven markedness correlation and interpretation BloomingtonIndiana University Press

Horner James 2002 Interview A Beautiful Mind Produced and directed by Ron Howard 135 minUniversal Studios DVD

Hunt Graham 2007 David Lewin and Valhalla revisited new approaches to motivic corruption inWagnerrsquos Ring cycle Music Theory Spectrum 29 no 2 177-96 httpdxdoiorg101525 mts2007292177

Kant Immanuel 1790 1987 Critique of judgment Trans Werner S Pluhar Indianapolis Hackett PublishingCompany

Klumpenhouwer Henry 2006 In order to stay asleep as observers the nature and origins of anti-Cartesianism in Lewinrsquos ldquoGeneralized musical intervals and transformationsrdquo Music Theory Spectrum 28 no 2 277-89 httpdxdoiorg101525mts2006282277

Lehman Frank 2013 Transformational analysis and the representation of genius in film music MusicTheory Spectrum 35 no 1 (Spring) 1-22 httpdxdoiorg101525mts20133511




Leinberger Charles 2002 Thematic variation and key relationships Charlottersquos theme in Max Steinerrsquosscore for Now Voyager Journal of Film Music Studies 1 63-77

Lewin David 1987 Generalized musical intervals and transformations New Haven Yale University Press

mdashmdashmdash1992 Some notes on analyzing Wagner The Ring and Parsifal 19th-Century Music 16 no 1 49-58

Murphy Scott 2006 The major tritone progression in recent Hollywood science fiction films Music TheoryOnline 12 no 2

mdashmdashmdash2011 Scoring loss in recent popular film and television music Paper presented at the SixthInternational Conference on the Arts in Society Berlin

mdashmdashmdashForthcoming Transformational theory and the analysis of film music In The Oxford Handbook of Music in Film and Visual Media ed David Neumeyer Oxford Oxford University Press

Neumeyer David 1998 Tonal design and narrative in film music Bernard Herrmannrsquos The Trouble with Harry and Portrait of Hitch Indiana Theory Review 19 nos 1-2 87-123

Neumeyer David and James Buhler 2001 Analytical and interpretive approaches to film music (I)

analysing the music In Film Music Critical Approaches ed K J Donnelly 16-38 New YorkContinuum International Publishing Group

Rings Steven 2011 Tonality and transformation New York Oxford University Press httpdxdoiorg101093acprofoso97801953842770010001

Rodman Ronald 1998 Tonal closure and design in the Wizard of Oz Indiana Theory Review 19 126-43

mdashmdashmdash 2000 Tonal design and the aesthetic of pastiche in Herbert Stothartrsquos Maytime In Music and Cinemaed James Buhler Caryl Flinn and David Neumeyer 187-206 Hanover and London WesleyanUniversity Press

mdashmdashmdash 2010 Tuning in American narrative television music Oxford Oxford University Press

Rosar William 2006 Music for Martians Schillingerrsquos two tonics and harmony of fourths in Leith Stevenrsquosscore for War of the Worlds Journal of Film Music 1 no 4 395-438

Taruskin Richard 1985 Chernomor to Kashchei harmonic sorcery or Stravinskyrsquos ldquoAnglerdquo Journal of the American Musicological Society 38 72-142 httpdxdoiorg102307831550

Thomas Tony 1991 A conversation with John Williams Cue Sheet The Journal of the Society for the Preservation of Film Music 8 no 1 12

Wagner Richard 1879 1994 On the application of music to the drama In Religion and Art trans William Ashton Ellis 175-91 Lincoln University of Nebraska Press





film music offerings in the conventional venues ofthe English-speaking theory world theory journalsconferences dissertations and monographs Even asmusic theory makes inroads in traditionally shunnedstyles like jazz and pop film music in several crucialways presents a uniquely confounding corpus It is

defiantly ldquonon-absoluterdquo music composed as but onepart of a superordinate text It hails from a repertoirewith a shaky relationship with more accepted canonsfor analysis It appears to eschew or (worse) tobe constitutionally incapable of many of the pet-preoccupations of modern theorists particularly withregard to the ur-theoretical category of long-rangetonal structure And so on2

In this article I propose a means of redressingthis neglect from within the field of music theory The chances of success for such a project areimproved if we reverse the traditionally dependentrelationship between repertoire and analysis Thatis we should not attempt ldquosellingrdquo film musicto theorists by stating that the repertoire is indesperate need of theory in order for its styles to beunderstood and its structures to be parsed Whiletheoretical rigor can only benefit f ilm musicologythe impressive analytic work of many non-theoristsshows that the f ield is doing well without musictheorists hollering ldquoyoursquore doing it wrongrdquo Let usinstead consider the more productive position thatmusic theory stands to see itself enriched expandedand clarified by contact with this fresh repertoireWithout exposure to new corpuses music theory has

a problematic (if too easily ridiculed) tendency to gethung-up on picayune distinctions relevant only tosmall amounts of music and even smaller groups ofscholars By exploring analytically ripe film scoreswith the latest models of musical structure andmeaning music theory will find itself standing onfirmer more relevant ground

One topic of special importance to contemporarymusic theory that serves an effective bridge betweenmethodology and repertoire is transformation In thepast two decades a large if somewhat loosely unitedgroup of analytic and conceptual tools has coalesced

Indeed several offerings in the present issue of this Journal (Tobias Plebuchand Thomas Schneller) are theoretical in the most meaningful sense of thetermmdashrigorous concerned with both musical structure and meaning andmindful of the preexisting literature from other theorists2 Some of these challenges echo issues raised in the annals of operainterpretation as articulated by Carolyn Abbate and Roger Parker in theirintroduction to Analyzing Op era (1989 1-24) The parallels between filmmusic and opera go deeper than their shared analytical stumbling blocksof course and need not be belabored here But it is worth noting that animportant difference with ramifications for analysis is that unlike operafilm decouples dialogue (explicit meaning) and music (implicit or non-denotative meaning) This places film much closer to melodrama in itsmusico-dramatic practice as is demonstrated by several other articles in thepresent journal

into one of the disciplinersquos newest theoretical systemstransformation theory I will explain the conceptualunderpinnings of the systemmdashand its amenabilityto film musicmdashshortly but first it will serve toconsider ldquotransformationrdquo more generally Filmmusicology is already deeply invested in notions of

change and adaptation as this issue attests trackinghistorico-stylistic transformations is a vibrantly activeundertaking The film musicologist traces the waysin which musico-dramatic practices evolve throughthe history of cinema But transformation is hardlylimited to relevance in this diachronic dimension John Williams in an interview in which he defendsthe composition of original underscore (as opposedto Kubrickian use of preexisting pieces) makes aclaim that rings true to anyone who has analyzed orcomposed for screen

[A film composer can] take themes and reshape themand put them in a major key minor key fast slow up

down inverted attenuated and crushed and all the

permutations that you can put a scene and a musical

conception through that you wouldnrsquot be able to

tastefully do if you had taken a Beethoven symphony

and scoredhellipwith that3

By invoking notions of variation permutation andtaste Williams alludes to deep principles of filmscoring Where bending musical material at the whimof cinematic need would be tasteless according to

misplaced Beethovenian expectations it is an assetto the composer for celluloid Film music obeysits own rules as it were and is not subject to thesame principles that constrain absolute music4 Thisspecial logic can be vividly felt in the domain ofpitch-relationsmdashharmony and tonalitymdashwhich inthe absence of a priori formal motivation becomeexpressive resources vessels for meaning-ladentransformations5 Williamsrsquos own scores attest to theessential practical value of musical ldquopermutationrdquo for

3 Quoted from Thomas ldquoA Conversation with John Williamsrdquo (1991)

4 These rules are not dissimilar to those at play in one of the clear stylisticprecedents for the symphonic theme-reliant underscore employed byWilliams and others Wagnerian music drama Williamsrsquos sentiment echoesuncannily Wagnerrsquos defense in Uumlber die Anwendung der Musik auf das Drama of his own ldquoaudaciousrdquo ldquofar-fetchedrdquo and symphonically ldquoinconceivablerdquomusical transformationsmdashthematic manipulations he argues are totallycogent within the dramatic context of the Ring cycle It is no coincidence thatthose passages Wagner singles out in his own musical prose (specifical lypermutations of the Valhalla Rheingold and Tarnhelm leitmotifs) areamong the materials most discussed by todayrsquos transformation theorists (asin Lewin 1992 Hunt 2007)5 David Neumeyerrsquos (1998) critique of film tonal structure remains anindispensible contemplation of style of analysis of questionable suitabilityto motion picture music and of the interaction of traditional theoreticalcategories with the unique poietic and esthesic qualities of cinema
























































Tn



DOM(C maj) = G maj


















6




6and the bumpiness













and E5eth

D5eth





























Academy Awards


11 T

9 that pits two m3-










































































































References
































































































Tn



DOM(C maj) = G maj


















6




6and the bumpiness













and E5eth

D5eth





























Academy Awards


11 T

9 that pits two m3-










































































































References






















































6




6and the bumpiness













and E5eth

D5eth





























Academy Awards


11 T

9 that pits two m3-










































































































References















































and E5eth

D5eth





























Academy Awards


11 T

9 that pits two m3-










































































































References


























































Academy Awards


11 T

9 that pits two m3-










































































































References











































































































































References









































Music Theory Through the Lens of Film

Documents

Transcript of Music Theory Through the Lens of Film