Key learning points

1. Harmony and tonality have a significant impact on the mood of film music.
2. Composers use atonal, diatonic (major or minor) or modal tonality to create different moods.
3. The choice of chords and use of chromatic harmony are also important for creating the correct emotions for the scene.
4. Reharmonising a melody, by changing the harmony, is an effective way to develop a melodic idea in a film.

Keywords

• Tonality - the set of notes that a piece is based on (e.g. major, minor, atonal)

• Diatonic - music that uses only notes from within a key

• Chromatic - music that uses some notes from outside of the key

• Modal - music based on a mode, a type of scale different from major and minor scales

• Reharmonisation - when a composer keeps a melody the same but changes the harmony

Common misconception