Response to Abby Lindamood

Abby Lindamood asked "Is it preferable to have music or no music during a crucial scene in a film?"

I like this subject a lot. When I was in high school, I used to collect songs that I thought would be good candidates for movie scores. I read that two of my favorite directors at the time said they shape their movies around music because it was so important. One of the best examples of effective use of music is in Steven Spielberg's movie Empire of the Sun. The choir song “Suo Gan” serves as a powerful motif as well as an emotional protagonist.

If I were the filmmaker, I would determine what type of feeling should accompany the scene. There are a lot of variables that would influence the effects of having music or silence. If there is a lot of background sounds in the scene, music may not add much. Otherwise, music will usually influence the emotive response to the scene by making it something different or by making it artificially more intense. I would choose whether or not it is appropriate to alter the mood or make it artificially more intense.

Sometimes, the absence of music can be extremely intense. Especially after a period of commotion, silence can make a viewer focus on the immediate events. Silence can add a dreadfully serious and realistic mood to the scene. Sometimes, too much silence in a movie can make it boring. I would certainly not want to have a crucial scene be boring.

On a slightly sillier note, I have occasionally thought how it would be to have a soundtrack to life. I have heard multiple people say "I wish wherever I went, Lord of the Rings music would play. My life would be so epic." Since music does alter a person's emotional perception of events, there is some truth to this idea. Doing laundry or making dinner would feel a lot more epic along with epic music.

What is the role of music in daily life? Do you need to listen to music to accomplish certain tasks?