Lesson video

Hello everyone, I'm Ms. Friar and welcome to your music lesson today.

This is lesson five of the unit, All Around Film Music.

Today, we're going to be focusing on how specific instruments and the way they play can really create and change the mood of a film.

Okay, let's get started.

Let's make sure you have everything you need for today's lesson.

Make sure you have a piece of paper, lined or plain, or maybe you're working from an exercise book, so you can make notes and answer questions.

You're going to need a pencil and then a different coloured pen for writing, marking, and annotating your work.

And then for music making today, you're going to need either an instrument of your choice, perhaps something like a keyboard app on an electronic device or you might want to use a piece of music software.

So after I've explained the composition task later in the lesson, you decide which one of those you'd like to use.

If you don't have any of those items right now, please pause the video, go and get them, come back and we'll carry on.

So your first task today is to have a look at how music can completely change the mood of the scene in a video.

After going through the instructions, you're going to go and watch a video that is on slide two of the worksheet for this lesson.

You do that by clicking next activity to access the worksheet.

Then you're going to watch the film clip and you'll see that the music changes four times.

So what I want you to write down on your piece of paper is how does the mood change as the music changes? Pause the video now and go and have a look at the video on slide two.

Welcome back.

Grab your marking pen, your pen of a different colour and let's see if you've got the same changes of mood and music as I did.

So these are how the music changes.

So you've probably noticed it's the same scene of a brother and sister leaving home together to either walk to school or they're just going for a walk.

But by completely changing the music underneath the same scene, it almost changes the genre and the mood completely.

So the first time we saw the clip, the music was very happy and there was an upbeat piano.

The second time we saw the clip, the music had very intense mood, and there were loads of low pitch, really minor, mysterious sounding string instruments.

The third time we saw the clip, it had a really playful mood.

There was a high melody that you could hear going throughout.

And then a complete change of mood on the fourth time, it had a much scarier mood, and you could hear that.

There was a drone sitting underneath and this repeated piano ostinato, which is a repeating pattern, gave it that really eerie feel.

Well done if you recognised those changes of mood as the music changed.

If you didn't get those, don't worry, write them down on your piece of paper so you've got notes for next time.

Okay, let's look at the key items that we're going to cover in today's lesson.

To understand exactly the instruments that are used in film music, were going to spend a bit of time recapping the orchestra.

It's really important we know what that was on list and how it is used.

We're then going to look at how certain instruments from the orchestra played and the effect that has.

Then we're going to look at how certain instrumental techniques can create different moods or settings.

And then you're going to put all that knowledge together and create a piece of music today.

Okay, another listening and watching task now.

The question is, why do you think the orchestra is so often used to write music for film? You're going to go to the worksheet again.

That's in the next activity from this video and this time have a look at the clip on slide three, brilliant orchestra playing a rendition of some of the music from the film, musical film, "La La Land." And then just have a think about that question.

Why do you think the orchestra is so often used to write music for films? Pause the video now and off you go to the worksheet to complete the task.

Right, welcome back.

First of all, let's really quickly recap what an orchestra is.

It is a large instrumental ensemble, which is typically heard in classical music and music for stage and screen.

And the image, the diagram you can see there shows how the shape of an orchestra will be laid out with the conductor in the centre front, strings, woodwind, brass, lower woodwind, percussion, higher pitched instruments, and then things like organs and harps and pianos.

So that's often how orchestras are laid out and all of the instruments that you tend to find in a typical orchestral ensemble.

So the question was, why do you think the orchestra is so often used to write music for film? And here's my answer.

An orchestra ensemble is so varied and versatile for the composer.

There are many instruments and sonorities for them to choose from.

So because the orchestra is such a large ensemble, there's such variety of instruments and sounds, and all those instruments play in lots of different ways and sonorities.

So one ensemble can play, you know, any number of different moods and styles and melodies and harmonies to create exactly what the composer wants for a film.

So the choice is just endless with something like the orchestra.

I'm sure you also came up with some good ideas if you didn't get that one.

But please write that one down into your notes.

An orchestra ensemble is varied and versatile because there are so many instruments and sonorities to choose from.

If you need to pause the video to write that, please do so.

But if you're ready, let's carry on.

Okay, let's see if you remember certain instruments and the families that they belonged to.

Quickfire round, be ready just to really quickly write your options onto your piece a paper.

Which instrument from the images below belong to the woodwind? Is it instrument option one, option two, option three, or option four.

Write in your answer please, in five, four, three, two, one, finish.

It is option two.

The diagram shows a flute and a flute belongs to the woodwind family.

Well done if you got that.

Let's try another one.

Which of these instruments belongs to the brass family, option one, two, three, or four? Writing your answer in, five, four, three, two, one.

The answer we're looking for is option four.

Well done, if you've got that.

That is a picture of a trombone from the brass family.

Now for percussion.

Which of these instruments belongs to the percussion family, option one, two, three, or four.

Writing your answer please in.

It is of course option one.

That is an image of timpani kettle drums and they are in the percussion family.

And last but not least, which of those, and hopefully you know this by now belongs to the strings family.

Options one, two, three, or four.

Writing down in three, two, one.

It is option three.

That is an image of a violin and that belongs to the string family.

Well done, if you've got all four of those or most of those right.

It's really important when we're looking at the orchestra that we know which families these instruments belong to.

Okay, now we've recapped the orchestra as an ensemble and how to think about why it's so often used in film music.

Let's have a look at how those instruments can be used for film music.

Okay on this screen in a moment, I'm going to play you three sound clips.

On your piece a paper, I'd like you to name the instruments of the clips below.

So what instrument can you hear? I want you to describe their sonority, which is something we've spoken about in previous lessons.

It is how the instrument is making it sound.

What type of sound it is making? How would you describe it? And then how to think about what genre of film you think you would hear these musical ideas.

So three things to write for each sound clip, the instrument, the way it's being played, its sonority, and then how to think of a genre of film you think you would hear these instruments and these musical ideas.

Here's the first clip.

Here's the clip for the second time.

Remember, we're looking for the instrument describing the way it's played and what genre film you'd hear this musical idea.

Sound clip number one.

And here's clip number two.

Here's sound clip number two for the second time.

Make sure you're writing your answers down.

And here's sound clip number three.

And here's sound clip number three for the third time, making sure you've got all your answers written down.

Let's go through the answers to these now.

Get your different colour pen for marking.

Here was sound clip number one.

The instrument for that one is a trumpet.

The sonority was a bright, vibrant, loud, and proud sound.

And the genre you would likely to hear that musical idea would be a war or maybe an action film.

Well done if you got those answers.

Here was sound clip number two.

So the instrument in that sound clip was the violin.

The sonority and genre are the , so it was emotional, it was long, it was quite serious sounding.

So the genre of film you would hear that kind of music could be a drama or a thriller.

Tick if you got those right.

Writing the notes down if you didn't.

And the third and final clip was this.

And the instrument playing that musical idea was the flute.

The sonority is very lyrical, which means it kind of sounded like singing.

It was quite mysterious and the sound was very smooth.

So the kind of genre we would hear that musical idea would be maybe a fantasy or a romantic film.

Again ticking if you've got any of those right.

Well done.

Or putting them into your notes so you've got them for future learning and lessons.

So you're going to watch three individual clips of how a certain instrument can be played in a specific way.

It has a special technique to that instrument.

And again, you're going to have a think about how that could be played to create a certain genre for a film.

Pause the video now and go to slide four to complete the task in the worksheet.

Off you go.

Okay, well done.

So the three video clips that you would have just gone through are these three instruments, like the ones we heard from the sound clips, but they're doing a specific extended instrumental technique, which can really change the mood of the music.

So you listened to a trumpet player who was using the technique of muting.

That's putting something inside the trumpet that changes the quality of the sound.

Then there was a video clip of violin, or string players playing pizzicato, which is where they pick the strings rather than bowing them, which can completely change the mood of the music.

And then you watched a flute player use this technique called flutter tonguing, and again, that completely changes the sound and then changes the mood.

So here were the ideas that we could have taken, the moods that were created.

I could imagine a trumpet with this muting effect being used in like a war or maybe an old detective or crime film.

It's got that kind of like very vintage older feel with the sound that that muting makes.

For the pizzicato, it's quite fun and it's quite playful, that sounds, so I can see, and I can imagine that being used as a technique to create the mood for a comedy or maybe animation film.

And then the flutter tonguing on the flute, that technique almost created a whole other sound, almost like a sound effect, almost like a train.

So I can see that in an action film, or it could be used as a more comical sound for like a comedy film.

Well done if you got those ideas or similar ideas for how these extended instrumental techniques could be used to create a mood for a certain genre.

If you've got different genres, that's fine as long as you've explained why you picked the genres that you did.

So now we're going to take those instrumental techniques, we're going to think about everything that we've learned so far, and then you're going to see if you can apply some of those to create some of your own moods or settings for certain genres.

Now, the first thing we need to do is we need to pick the kind of film or genre that you want to create, because then it will decide the instruments and the way that they play.

So you're going to choose from either a horror a rom com, a romantic comedy, or a scifi a science fiction film.

Once you've picked your genre, then you can work out the instruments and the sounds that you're going to include.

Now, we've got the genre that you want to compose for.

Now, we have to think about what musical ideas could be used in your composition to match the instruments that you're going to choose.

So here are some definitions of specific musical ideas.

Let's see if you know what the key word is for these definitions.

So a low pitch held continuously throughout a piece.

Writing your answer please, what is the name of that? What key word means a low pitch held continuously throughout a piece? The answer we're looking for is a drone.

Well done if you got that, if you remembered it from before.

If you don't know any of these, don't worry, just make sure you write the keywords and the definition down on your sheet.

Next one.

A repeated musical pattern in film music.

What is the key word for that definition? The answer we're looking for is an ostinato.

That is the key word for a repeated musical pattern, heard in a film music.

Well done if you've got that.

The next definition, a group of notes played together, which creates a clashing sound.

Writing your answer down.

And the key word for this one is note clusters.

So a group of notes came together, very closely together, and they create a clashing sound.

Writing that down if you didn't get it.

Big tick, if you did.

And the last one, a stronger attack or louder dynamics on certain notes.

What is the key word for that sentence? Okay and the answer for that one is accent.

You accent certain notes by making them feel louder or stronger.

Well done if you got that.

So you should now have your genre that you've picked to compose for: sci-fi, romantic comedy, or horror.

You should be starting to think about which instruments from the orchestra or what kind of sounds or sonorities you want to use in your composition.

And then you're going to use these musical ideas to come up with what you're going to compose underneath, to create the mood for that genre.

I'm going to show you a demonstration of how to create an underscore.

Remember that's the music underneath the action to create a certain mood.

Just take 20 seconds to read those three bullet points before my demonstration.

Okay, let's put all of this task together then.

You are going to compose the music for a short film idea, so it doesn't have to be a very long piece of music.

But a film director has asked you to create the opening music for a new film, okay, so just to set the scene or perhaps the trailer.

You're going to use at least two of the musical techniques.

You should have an idea of the instruments and the sonorities.

And you need to think about what kind of instrument, perhaps keyboard, piano app, or audio mixing software to create it.

Here's my demonstration.

So the genre I decided to go for, for my composition is a romantic comedy and I decided that I was going to create a piece of music and the opening was going to be a very romantic style.

So first of all, I thought about the instruments I wanted to use.

I knew I've decided to do it, on.

So first of all, I picked my genre, which is over a romantic comedy and I've decided that my music for the opening scene is going to have a very, very romantic, but modern feel.

Using music software means that I can do some really good work still using loops.

Remember, it's completely up to you how you would like to record this.

So I went to my loops and the first thing I thought of is okay, I need to think about what instruments are going to work really well, and then the kind of musical ideas and techniques to match the mood, match a romantic comedy.

So I know I wanted to go for a nice baseline underneath and I'm going to have it repeating as a musical pattern, so I've got an ostinato baseline.

And then the ostinato repeats.

And the great thing about using music software is you've got the tools to just copy things and copy things as many times as you like using this loop tool.

So there's my base ostinato.

Now I want to solo some chords for you.

So now I've picked chords in an electronic piano sound.

And these are actually note clusters.

So they are a group of notes that are not clashing in maybe a horror or thriller kind of way, but they are notes that are very close together in a cluster.

More of a jazzy feel which you hear quite a lot for romantic music.

So there's my note clusters.

Then I found this really nice piano, which again is used often in romantic comedies sound loop like this.

And then it repeats.

And then the final thing I added here is just a quite gentle drumbeat to come in, still in, within the style I think of a romantic music, but I would, I've decided I want my romantic film or romantic comedy to be quite a modern one.

So often you would get drum beats or drum machine patterns in more modern romantic music.

And here's how that loops sounds.

So now if I don't solo any of the parts, you can hear it put altogether.

Here is my 30 seconds of music for the opening scene of a romantic comedy.

I've used specific musical ideas and techniques, ostinato, note clusters and I've thought about the instruments that I want to include.

Let's listen to it all together.

And obviously that would continue, or I would add some of the parts.

Maybe I would have a vocalist or a melody line on a violin, because violins are often used for romantic music as well.

But that's the starting point, just the opening scene.

Great, so there's my demonstration.

You now need to go and compose your own music for the opening scene of your chosen genre, thinking about the instruments in which music technology, or instrument you're going to use to compose that.

Don't forget to take a record of what you've played.

Please share your wonderful work with friends, family or your teachers and have fun with this task.

Enjoy being film composers today.

Well done today everyone.

I hope you enjoyed today's lesson.

I really enjoyed creating my own short clip for music, for my chosen genre, romantic comedy.

And I really enjoyed sharing that with you.

I'm sad that I can't hear all of yours.

I'm sure they sound brilliant.

Make sure you do go and share your wonderful work.

Go now and take the quiz to show me everything that you've learned in today's lesson.

And I look forward to seeing you for lesson six of film music.

Take care, bye.