Tom Attah - Lydia

In today's session we had a talk from Tom Attah, the Popular Music course leader where we learned about how music can be used to create meaning. In our current project it is vital that we get the music right, so as to change the meaning of the footage we find. Tom taught us about Anaphones (definition: a particular sign as represented in music; a sound or melody that represents something, such as motion or romance) and how to spot them within music, such as the telephone signs in Lady Gaga's 'Telephone'. He also showed us how Mars by Holst and Chopin's Funeral March were used as inspiration for composer John Williams' Imperial March for Star Wars. He showed us that Mars uses sounds, instruments, textures, dynamics and rhythm to portray war, battle and loss. The piece is highly dramatic, and uses a full orchestra to create a highly textured song that sounds very intense. Whereas Chopin's Funeral March is set in a minor key and is slow in tempo, with solemn and long piano notes to create the kinetic anaphone of walking (hence march). By morphing elements from the two songs together, the Imperial March became a piece that portrays the loss and mourning of Darth Vader whilst also focusing on the battle and war that comes whenever the character is around. This is a great example of how we can find music to compliment our imagery, to create a perfect balance. Furthermore, if we wanted to create an imbalance, we could use music or sound effects that contrast the imagery as a stylistic choice to make the advert more complex. I found Tom's lesson really interesting, especially as I took Music at GCSE so knew a small part of the theory and terminology already. I'm now really looking forward to finding the right music for our adverts.