Movie Music Part 1 - Understanding how music is used in film

Film music brings to film the basic principles of music: melody, harmony, rhythm, meter, volume, tempo, form, tone colour, and instrumentation. Students will learn through these fun lessons, that music in film gets its power from its ability to tap into our expectations that music follow these principles. Conventions, shared between composers and audiences, means that we gain meaning through the power of association; through repetition, conventions such as brass and horns indicate hero or military scenes and these become ingrained in a culture as a kind of collective musical experience. Film music defines emotion in a film and often it generates it. Does film music always have a function? Students find what works in movie music! This pptx. gives recent examples, text slides for students to take brief notes and excellent, short film clips that illustrate powerful effects.
Movie Music Part 1 (of two pptx presentations) gives opportunities for students to understand and explain the mix of two art forms: film and music. Movie Music Part 2 gives projects for students to use what they have learned!