You have to love a movie that pulls you in for three or more hours not with cheap thrills and glitzy special effects, but rather with excellent acting, a great storyline and an all around beautiful production. This is the Hollywood epic. They are bigger than the sum of their parts and are remembered for decades after their release. I am by no means a movie connoisseur (although I would like to think I’m working on it) but I do love big Hollywood productions, and I loved the October 8th concert by the Baltimore Symphony at the Strathmore because it featured the music from so many of these great movies. (I was disappointed to have missed last week’s season opening concert, but seeing this concert made up for it) I think that in order for a movie to truly achieve top status in the annals of Hollywood history, all the components have to work together like clockwork. I don’t want to lessen any of these facets by attempting to rank their significance, but I think we can all agree that the music to these wonderful Hollywood movies is pretty significant, and when we hear it, we love it.
I personally found movie music to be a gateway drug into music appreciation. When I was much younger, my father would listen to what is now a rather outdated Best of John Williams CD on these massive speakers we had in our living room. The house would be filled with The Imperial March or Close Encounters of the Third Kind Theme. As I got older, I appreciated the music even more. While in band in middle and high school I became even more interested in movie music (which makes you so popular at that age…) and started developing ears for classical music as well. I was soon hooked and credit the music of the movies for getting me started on classical music.
I know that some musical purists write off movie music. I understand why this might happen. A movie score is written to supplement another medium, where as most traditional music was composed to make a statement on its own. Movie music is also written for a much wider audience than who would normally enjoy traditional classical, and any time you try to broaden the appeal of an art form, you are going to risk alienating the group to whom it was originally targeted. However, I am always happy to see those defending the quality of some (not all) of the music we hear in the movies. Although they are usually treated in a pops format, you won’t find too many orchestras that don’t occasionally throw in some movie tunes, and many music appreciation and history curriculums now include the genre.
And I think that most of us have a special place in our heart for movie music – especially the music of the epics. I think this is because we hear the music and we associate it, naturally, with the movie. However, we then associate that movie with the time in our lives when it was produced, or even an entire era. Every time I hear the music to Titanic, which was performed at last week’s concert, I will remember those awkward middle school days when that movie was
king (of the world!). When The Lord of the Rings came up, I drifted back to my high school days. Although, I was not alive when many of the movies featured at the concert were popular, I know that many in the audience could probably remember being amazed at How the West was Won, or who they were dating when Ben Hur’s chariot raced by and Lawrence of Arabia rode through the sand. These movies and the amazing music associated with them bring us back to different times in our lives. I would like to think that as humans, we try to remember the good more than the bad, so it’s easy to see why we love these movie tunes that bring us back to such good times.
I personally found movie music to be a gateway drug into music appreciation. When I was much younger, my father would listen to what is now a rather outdated Best of John Williams CD on these massive speakers we had in our living room. The house would be filled with The Imperial March or Close Encounters of the Third Kind Theme. As I got older, I appreciated the music even more. While in band in middle and high school I became even more interested in movie music (which makes you so popular at that age…) and started developing ears for classical music as well. I was soon hooked and credit the music of the movies for getting me started on classical music.
I know that some musical purists write off movie music. I understand why this might happen. A movie score is written to supplement another medium, where as most traditional music was composed to make a statement on its own. Movie music is also written for a much wider audience than who would normally enjoy traditional classical, and any time you try to broaden the appeal of an art form, you are going to risk alienating the group to whom it was originally targeted. However, I am always happy to see those defending the quality of some (not all) of the music we hear in the movies. Although they are usually treated in a pops format, you won’t find too many orchestras that don’t occasionally throw in some movie tunes, and many music appreciation and history curriculums now include the genre.
And I think that most of us have a special place in our heart for movie music – especially the music of the epics. I think this is because we hear the music and we associate it, naturally, with the movie. However, we then associate that movie with the time in our lives when it was produced, or even an entire era. Every time I hear the music to Titanic, which was performed at last week’s concert, I will remember those awkward middle school days when that movie was
king (of the world!). When The Lord of the Rings came up, I drifted back to my high school days. Although, I was not alive when many of the movies featured at the concert were popular, I know that many in the audience could probably remember being amazed at How the West was Won, or who they were dating when Ben Hur’s chariot raced by and Lawrence of Arabia rode through the sand. These movies and the amazing music associated with them bring us back to different times in our lives. I would like to think that as humans, we try to remember the good more than the bad, so it’s easy to see why we love these movie tunes that bring us back to such good times.
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