Lesson video

Hello everyone.

How are you today? I hope you're feeling really good and I'm so pleased that you're here.

My name is Ms. Ausau and I'll be your teacher for this lesson.

I'm feeling really happy about that because we're looking at film music, which I find so interesting.

I love films and I love music, and today's lesson is all about exploring character.

Our lesson is called Representing Characters Through Music.

I hope that sounds interesting to you, and it comes from the unity of work, film-music.

So if you are ready to explore characters and a representation through music, if you have some energy, focus and enthusiasm, we'll begin our lesson now.

The outcome for today's lesson is I can explain how leitmotifs are used in film music and have created a simple leitmotif.

We have some keywords in our lesson.

Let's go through them.

Leitmotif, opera, and strong rhythms. So what do these keywords mean? Leitmotif, a musical idea that represents a specific character, place, or idea.

Opera, an important genre of theater and music through the 17th and 19th century.

Strong rhythms, rhythms which accent the strong beat, beat one in the bar, or mainly land on a beat.

They're predictable and repetitive.

So these are our keywords leitmotif, opera, and strong rhythms. Let's look out for them, let's listen out for them, they'll be coming up in our lesson today.

Our lesson is called Representing Characters Through Music, and it has two learning cycles.

First of all, what is a leitmotif, and then creating a leitmotif.

Hope that sounds interesting to you.

Let's begin by exploring what is a leitmotif.

As technology developed in the 1920s, films became able to use recorded sound.

These new films were known as "Talkies," and it quickly became normal for a film to have music composed specifically for it.

The film composers in this period were influenced by opera.

In opera, music plays continuously, like in many film scenes, and the actors on stage act and sing the story.

The music influences both the emotions of the audience and helps to tell the story.

In opera, composers use specific musical ideas to represent characters, places, or ideas.

These are called leitmotifs.

Pause here and share with someone, have you ever been to an opera or seen a recording of an opera? And if so, which one? I had a friend that worked at an opera in London, and I was lucky to get tickets through my friend to see a number of wonderful operas.

I think my favorite was by Philip Glass, and it was called "Satyagraha." "The Flying Dutchman" opera uses a lilting and relentless melody to represent the Flying Dutchman ghost ship.

This leitmotif is whenever we see the ship, or when the characters talk or think about it.

What family of instruments is playing the leitmotif here? Pause the video while you listen to this audio clip.

Thanks for listening to that, and now I'd like you to pause video while you tell somebody what family of instruments is playing the leitmotif in that clip that you just heard.

Thanks for sharing.

Here's Laura.

"It's the lower brass." I wonder if that's what you came up with.

As a story develops, the leitmotif changes to reflect changes in the plot.

If a story opens with a hero, the leitmotif should sound heroic.

Listen to this audio clip.

(inspirational horn music) If that character later becomes a villain, the leitmotif will change to sound more negative and evil.

Listen to this audio clip.

(menacing horn music) Film music composers from the 1930s onwards use leitmotifs to help the music support the action and represent a character.

In "Star Wars," many of the main characters are represented by leitmotifs, including the hero.

Pause the video and go and listen to this audio clip.

And the villain.

Pause here while you listen to this audio clip.

Have you noticed that in some films how characters are represented by leitmotifs, how we hear a certain music when that character appears or is spoken about? Leitmotifs need to suit the character or idea that they represent.

What musical features make this leitmotif suit the good and strong hero, Luke Skywalker? So pause here while you go and listen to this audio clip, and you might listen for key, instruments, dynamics, chords, and rhythm.

Thanks for listening to that audio clip, and now share with someone what were some of those musical features that make this leitmotif suit the good and strong hero, Luke Skywalker? Share with someone nearby.

Thanks for sharing.

Let's hear from Aisha.

"The loud dynamic seemed confident and strong.

The major key feels positive.

The powerful accented melody makes the character seem strong.

The use of primary chords and no chromatic notes removes any feeling of mystery or uncertainty." And perhaps you had some ideas like these.

What musical features makes this leitmotif suit the powerful, evil ruler of an empire, Darth Vader? Pause here while you listen to this audio clip.

So now you've listened to the clip.

I'd like you to share with someone nearby what musical features make this leitmotif suit the powerful, evil ruler of an empire, Darth Vader? Thanks for sharing.

Let's hear from Jacob.

"The powerful accented melody makes the character seem powerful.

The minor key feels negative.

The loud dynamics seem confident and strong.

The march-like strong rhythms and military instruments, snare drums and brass, match his links with war." I wonder if you had some responses similar to these.

Let's have a check for understanding.

Which of these could be represented by a leitmotif? So A, an idea, B, a place C, a character.

Pause here while you decide which of these could be represented by a leitmotif.

Well done if you selected all three of them.

Indeed, an idea, a place, a character, they could all be represented by a leitmotif.

And now for our next check for understanding, what type of music did leitmotif originate in? Pause here and share with someone.

What's that type of music? And the answer is opera.

Well done if this is the answer you shared.

And now it's time for your first task.

I would like you to listen to each leitmotif and identify two features of each that make them suit their character or idea.

So first of all, I would like you to listen to the leitmotif for a calm, peaceful village.

Pause the video and listen to this audio.

And now I'd like you to identify two musical features that suit this idea.

Thanks for having a go at that.

Our next leitmotif is for a mysterious, deceptive character.

Pause the video and go and listen to the audio.

Now you've heard that leitmotif, I'd like you to identify two musical features that suit this character.

Thanks for having a go at that.

And now finally, I would like you to listen to the leitmotif for a sinister, powerful, and evil wizard.

Pause the video and go and listen to this audio.

Now you've heard that audio clip, I'd like you to identify two musical features that suit this character of the wizard.

Well done for having a go at that task.

So let's find out how you got on.

Perhaps you said something like this, "Leitmotif for a calm, peaceful village." And here are some musical features that suit this idea.

Major key, simple harmony, smooth legato articulation, simple melody, calm, gentle dynamics, smooth, soft, timbre of the strings, sustained chords all create a sense of calm and peace.

Well done if you selected two musical features from that list.

Then we had the leitmotif for a mysterious deceptive character, and here are some musical features to suit this character, minor key, chromatic notes and dissonant chords, swells in dynamics, changes in tempo all create a sense of something mysterious and dark.

And finally, we had the leitmotif for a sinister, powerful, and evil wizard, and some musical features that suit this character, minor key, chromatic notes, low pitch, dissonant chords, sudden changes in dynamics all create a sense of something dark, sinister, and powerful.

Well done if you had some ideas like these.

And now we're onto our next learning cycle, creating a leitmotif.

To create a leitmotif, composers first need to think about what it is they're representing.

If it's a character, what kind of character are they? How do we want to make them seem to the audience? Considering the musical elements can help create an effective leitmotif.

Harmony and tonality are key aspects of a leitmotif.

Listen to these three different versions of the same leitmotif with only the harmony and tonality changing.

What kind of characters would these suit? Listen to these three clips.

(menacing orchestral music) (menacing orchestral music) (disturbing orchestral music) And now pause here and share with someone what kind of characters do you think these leitmotifs would suit? Thanks for sharing.

Major keys suit good characters, minor keys or dissonant harmonies suit bad or evil characters, and chromatic harmony suits mysterious characters that the audience doesn't fully understand.

Perhaps you had some ideas like these.

How do the different rhythms in these leitmotifs change our impression of the character they represent? Let's listen to these audio clips.

(gentle subdued music) (light buoyant music) (upbeat music) A few common ways of using rhythm are erratic rhythms, representing a strange, unpredictable character, fast rhythms, representing an active, energetic character, slow consistent rhythms, representing a calmer character, strong accented rhythms, representing a strong, powerful character.

What does changing the pitch of this leitmotif change about its character? Let's listen to these audio clips.

(buoyant music) (dark music) (bright music) I wonder if you notice how we can use pitch to help us create a suitable character? When using pitch, low pitch melodies can feel dark and serious.

Very high pitch melodies can feel eerie and unusual.

Melodies in a middle pitch range are more likely to feel normal and relatable.

Let's have a check for understanding.

Which of the following is more suitable for a bad character? Here's Jun, "The music is in a major key with fast rhythms and a mid to high-pitched melody." And Sam's idea, "The music is in a minor key with some dissonance.

The rhythms are strong and accented and melody is low pitched." So pause here and share with someone, what do you think? Which of these is more suitable for a bad character? Well done if you selected Sam's answer.

Indeed, music being in a minor key with some dissonance, rhythms being strong and accented, and melody being low pitched are all more suitable for a bad character.

And now we are going to create a leitmotif for one of two characters.

You could go for the hero or you could go for the evil villain.

You decide.

What kind of harmony and tonality would suit the different characters? Pause here and share with someone.

What do you think? Thanks for sharing.

Let's have a look, so for the hero, we could go for major tonality and simple harmony, and for the villain, we could go for minor tonality and possibly dissonant harmony.

What kind of pitch might suit the different characters? Pause here and share with someone.

What do you think? Thanks for sharing.

For the hero, a medium pitch because we want the hero to be relatable, and for the villain, a low pitch to create a sense of darkness, or very high pitch to create a sense of something eerie and not right.

Combining these elements with others, we can create a leitmotif for the hero.

So now watch the video.

<v Musician>I'm gonna have a go at creating a leitmotif</v> to represent the hero.

Now this is a positive character.

This character is a force for good, and so I want to create a leitmotif that represents that.

It makes them seem like something good, something positive.

I want the audience to understand that by listening to my leitmotif.

So to start with, I'm gonna be using a major scale and a major key, and that's because major scales, major keys generally create sense of something positive and good, as opposed to minor scales, which do the opposite.

So I'm gonna use my C major scale- (bright piano music) All the white notes, starting on C, and I'm going to use a medium pitch for this.

If I play it really high on my instrument, it makes it sound like something a little bit strange or unusual, and if I play it really low, it will sound like something dark and sinister.

So I want this character to be relatable, I want 'em to seem not particularly strange or sinister, so I'm gonna play somewhere in the middle of my piano.

And then the third thing I'm gonna try and make sure I'm doing here is using notes of the C major chords.

So that's C, E, and G.

(bright music) Because if I emphasize those, it really makes it feel like it's in C major.

It really gives it a strong sense of being in that major key and therefore, it makes it feel positive.

And then the final thing is for a hero, I want my hero to be strong, I want them to be powerful, and so I'm going to use strong rhythms as well that give a sense of confidence and strength.

So there's a few things there.

I'm using notes from my C major scale, I'm trying to emphasize those three notes of the C, major chord, C, E, and G, and then I'm also gonna try and use some strong rhythms to give a sense of confidence as well.

So I'm gonna experiment with a few different things and see what I can come up with.

(bright music) I'll try something different.

(bright buoyant music) You'll notice in both of those, I'm starting with C, E, and G from that C major chord.

(bright music) That really emphasized that major tonality as well.

Let's try some different ones.

(playful music) Any of those would've worked there.

I quite like this one.

(playful bright music) I think that's quite an effective one because it's got those confident rhythms. It definitely feels like it's in C major because it's starting with the notes of the C major chord.

And it's in a medium pitch as well.

It's not particularly high pitched or particularly low pitched, so it doesn't feel strange or sinister.

It feels like this could be the theme for a really positive character.

<v Ms. Ausau>Or we could create a leitmotif</v> for the villain.

Let's watch the video.

<v Musician>I'm gonna have a go at creating a leitmotif</v> that represents an evil villain.

Now when I'm doing this, I'm trying to create something that creates a sense of someone that's really evil, negative, and I want the audience to really feel from the music that that character is bad, dark, sinister, some of these things here.

To begin with, I'm gonna think carefully about my note choice.

And as we know, minor chords and minor keys are particularly effective for creating a sense of something negative.

So I'm gonna use my A minor scale, that's these notes here.

(gentle music) So all the white notes starting on A.

(gentle music) The other thing I can think about doing, though, when I'm creating an evil or a negative character, is also using some chromatic notes.

So that's notes that aren't in the scale.

In that case, that will mean using some black notes on the piano as well.

So I've got my A minor scale.

(gentle music) But I could experiment with using some black notes.

(eerie music) Chromatic notes are really effective at creating a sense of something a bit unusual, or a bit sinister, so that would be great for this character.

The other thing I'm gonna do is I'm gonna play in a low pitch.

So rather than playing in the middle of my piano, I'm gonna play right down the bottom.

(deep music) Because that again, creates a a really effective sense of something dark and sinister, which is what I'm going for.

And then when I've got those ideas in place, so I know what scale, what set of notes I'm gonna use, I know that I'm gonna experiment with some chromatic notes, and I know that I'm gonna play a low pitch, then I'm just gonna play around, experiment a bit, to see if I can come up with a short melodic idea, probably up to about four beats long that creates this mood for this character that I'm going for.

So I'm gonna experiment with a few things, and as a general rule, it's a good idea to start on the note A because that will ground it in this A minor key.

So you'll notice when I'm playing a few ideas here that all of them are gonna be starting on that low A.

So let's give it a shot and see what I can come up with.

(menacing music) I quite like that one actually.

That seems to work quite effectively.

I've got a mix of my A minor notes and some chromatic notes there.

It feels quite serious and quite powerful, that one.

(ominous music) So there's a few different ideas there.

All of them are between four and eight beats long, and it really doesn't matter at this stage exactly how long your melody is.

It's more about coming up with that mood, and later on we can shape it into something that is more of a melody.

So I've got a few ideas there.

I think the one I'd probably go for is one that I played quite early on, which is this one.

(menacing music) It's really simple and it's quite distinct, and it is really grounded in that A minor key.

But I've also got some chromatic notes that give it a little bit of a sense of sort of weirdness or something a little bit off as well, a bit sinister.

So that's my leitmotif.

(menacing music) And that represents my evil villain.

<v ->To create a leitmotif for a hero,</v> use the notes of the C major scale, use a medium pitch range on the keyboard, create a short melody, emphasizing notes from the C major chord, C, E, and G, and using strong rhythms. And for our villain, to create a leitmotif for an evil villain, use the notes of the A minor scale, use a low pitch range on the keyboard, create a short melody, perhaps using some chromatic notes, E, G, B flat, or dissonance clashes.

An important difference in the feel of the leitmotif is the key.

With these two scales, the different home, tonic note, helps to define the scale and should be used more commonly when in that key.

So we've got the C major scale that we use for the hero, and the A minor scale that we could use for the villain.

Let's have a check for understanding.

What type of tonality best suits a good character? Pause here and share with someone, what do you think? Well done if your answer was major.

Let's have another check for understanding.

Which of these would best suit a very high pitched melody, A, a scary eerie ghost.

B, A friendly robot, C, a crime boss, or D, a dinosaur? Pause here while you decide.

Well done if you selected A.

Indeed, a very high-pitched melody would suit a scary eerie ghost.

And now it's time for our task.

I'd like you to create a leitmotif for either the hero or villain character.

If choosing the hero, use the notes of the C major scale, use a medium pitch range on a keyboard, create a short melody, emphasizing notes from the C major chord, C, E, and G, and using strong rhythms. If you're choosing the villain, use the notes of the A minor scale, use a low pitch range on the keyboard, and create a short melody, perhaps using some chromatic notes, E, G, B flat, or dissonance clashes.

So pause here while you have a go at your task of creating a leitmotif for either the hero or the villain.

Enjoy your task and I'll see you when you're finished.

It's great to be back with you.

How did you get on with that task? I hope you enjoyed it and are pleased with what you've created.

And now I'd like you to reflect on this leitmotif.

How could this leitmotif be adjusted to suit an evil villain more effectively? Listen to the audio clip.

(deep music) And now that we've heard the clip, pause and turn to someone, how could this leitmotif be adjusted to suit an evil villain more effectively? Perhaps you said something like this, "Although it's low pitched, it would be more effective if it used notes from a minor scale, or some chromatic notes.

The major scale is based on sounds too positive for an evil villain." In our lesson, Representing Characters Through Music, we've covered the following.

Leitmotifs are musical ideas that represent ideas, characters, or places.

They were used in opera and became popular in films after the end of silent movies in the 1920s.

Composers capture the important features of a character in a leitmotif to support the audience's understanding of them, by choosing appropriate keys, pitch and rhythms, including the use of strong rhythms for powerful characters.

By changing a leitmotif, a composer can reflect changes in that character, or in the plot.

Well done everyone for joining in with this lesson.

It was great to explore characters, leitmotifs, and of course, to create your own.

I hope you're really pleased with what you've created, and that you had fun.

And let's listen out for leitmotifs as we watch films and come across heroes or villains in our viewing.

I look forward to seeing you at another lesson soon.

Until then, stay musical.