Where’s the Background Music to My Life?!
If you know me, you know that I hate silence. There always needs to be noise in the background, whether it’s the TV turned on, some music playing, or white noise at night while I fall asleep. I am a product of my generation in this way, but I embrace it. It’s allowed me to dive deeply and widely into music, especially within the past six or so years of my life.
I absolutely and utterly love film scores. You know, the music that plays in the background of a movie while enemies are in a swordfight or lovers are in a passionate embrace. Music has a way of heightening a scene, making the stakes seem higher or a moment more tender. I love the emotion it can convey. I think that’s the best part about music: it can make you feel something.
While thinking of this blog post, I realized that there are two different kinds of film scores. The first kind fits perfectly within the film. The music hits all the scene beats and emotionally carries the movie watcher throughout the entire film. As one who notices and pays attention to the music playing in the background, I think that most film scores achieve this; albeit, some do it better than others. But it’s been rare where it seems that the music is out of place within the film.
The second kind of film score is nestled within the first. This type of film score does their job so well, that I can listen to them outside of the context of the movie. For me, these film scores include that of Star Wars and Pirates of the Caribbean. I swear, I’ve probably listened to the film score of Pirates of the Caribbean: The Black Pearl at least thirty-some times. Klaus Badelt doesn’t miss a beat, nor does John Williams for Star Wars. These kinds of scores are so iconic and distinct, that you can practically watch the movie in your mind while the music plays.
I love film scores because I can listen to them while I study and work. This past November and December, when I was studying for my finals, I started listening to the film scores of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Currently, there’s 23 film score albums—and the number is only going to keep growing. Though I can proudly say that at the time of writing this, I’ve listened to all the film scores by Marvel. I don’t know how many hours that is, but I know it’s more than a day of music. While they’re great for studying, the music doesn’t necessarily stick out to me, and I don’t think I would listen to a lot of them again. However, Avengers: Age of Ultron is an exception; there’s so much emotion behind it, and I absolutely love it. A few other songs from the franchise stick out, such as “The Avengers” theme and “Portals” from Avengers: Endgame.
As for film scores I haven't listened to yet, I know that I will be in love with all the Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings film scores, and while the Twilight films weren’t top tier, I think the music was amazing. I actually haven’t listened to all of the film scores from the Star Wars franchise yet, so that’s next on my list. I also keep a running list of albums I should listen to. If you have any recommendations, let me know!
Next time you watch a movie, take notice of the music playing in the background.
If you would like to hear a few of my favorite film score songs, click here for the Spotify playlist and click here for the YouTube playlist. Enjoy!