Here the other day I was driving in the car with my son. Like always, I had my iPhone hooked into the radio playing some of my recent downloads. I happened to be playing Adiemus. I wasn't to far into the track when he says, "Dad, this music is really relaxing." That comment opened up a whole discussion on how music can affect us.
We talked about the types of music that can relax you, and the types of music that can get you excited. For instance, Enya, for me, is very relaxing (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LTrk4X9ACtw). On the other side of the spectrum, I pulled up the music from the rave scene in the movie BLADE (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XKzqZY24gWg). It was a great talk about how music can influence our mood. I told him music is powerful. It can lift you up, get you excited, or even depress you.
From there we moved on to discuss how music can be used in movies to elicit an emotion. I pulled up the sound track for Batman: The Dark Knight. The composer used discordant tones every time the Joker was on the screen. I showed him how this music was deliberately set to put you on edge (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1kRtLDeUKnI) when the Joker was on screen. Then we talked about how boring a movie would be without music. Most scenes that we call epic, would be nothing more than a fizzle with no music.
Here is a link that shows the difference. It's from one of the classic movies of all times, Jaws. The audio isn't the best, but I think you'll get the idea. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f2K-YedETiI
So what gets your foot tapping? Who relaxes you and who fires you up?
-Red
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Hi Jeffrey! The first time I heard Adiemus, I replayed it over and over again until it sank into the core of my soul. I enjoyed it that much because it opened my mind and imagination just spilled everywhere. I love the power of music to inspire and change or comfort my mind. I enjoy instrumental pieces the most. I really liked the soundtrack from Inception, especially the piece called "Time."
ReplyDeleteI first heard Adiemus on Pandora radio. I've since purchased several tracks by them on ITunes. I will have to check out the sound track for Inception. If you like instrumental, have you heard of Ray Lynch? I find his music to be beyond relaxing. I wore out his album Deep Breakfast. Another one you might check out is Vangelis.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the post.
-Red