Sample unit — Film Music

Music 2013 Teaching and learning resources

Sample unit — Film Music Time allocation: 41 hours (15 weeks) Overview This unit focuses on developing students’ musicianship by exploring the way music elements and concepts have been used and manipulated in film music. Students will have the opportunity to study the musical score as an integral structural element of cinema and explore the role of music in films. A variety of genres and styles could be studied, including pop, jazz, folk, music from other countries, and selected orchestral works.

Contexts, styles and genres to explore Depending on the focus or approach for the unit, repertoire could be selected from the following: World Music: Ryuichi Sakamoto et al.: The Last Emperor; Christopher Gordon: Mao’s Last Dancer; Tan Dun, Yo Yo Ma: Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon; Tan Dun: Hero; Zhao Jiping: Raise the Red Lantern; Shigeru Umebayashi: House of Flying Daggers, Curse of the Golden Flower; Naushad Ali: Baiju Bawra, Mother India; Allah-Rakha Rahman: Bombay, Slumdog Millionaire; Yann Tiersen: Amelie; Javier Navarrete: Pan’s Labyrinth Orchestral/choral music composed specifically for film: John Williams: Schindler’s List, Star Wars, Raiders of the Lost Ark, The Harry Potter movies; Harry Gregson-Williams: The Chronicles of Narnia; Howard Shore: The Lord of the Rings; Ennio Morricone: The Mission; Danny Elfman: Batman, Corpse Bride and Alice in Wonderland; James Horner: Avatar; Hans Zimmer: Gladiator, Black Hawk Down and Madagascar; William Walton: Richard III, Henry V; Erich Korngold: The Adventures of Robin Hood; Bernard Hermann: Psycho, North by Northwest, Vertigo, Citizen Kane, Cape Fear; Shostakovich: The Gadfly; Ludovic Bource: The Artist Australian film: Nigel Westlake: Babe, Antarctica, and Miss Potter; David Hirschfelder: Australia; Indigenous music used in The Sapphires; Bruce Rowland: Man from Snowy River; George Dreyfus: Rush, Dimboola; Paul Grabowsky: The Eye of the Storm; Bruce Rowland: The Man from Snowy River, Phar Lap; David Hirschfelder: Strictly Ballroom, Shine (original music) and Australia; Paul Kelly & Dan Luscombe: Jindabyne; Peter Gabriel: Rabbit Proof Fence Orchestral/choral music used in film but originally from another context: Richard Strauss, György Ligeti: 2001: A Space Odyssey; Beethoven, Brahms and Mozart: The King’s Speech; Bach, Beethoven and Mozart: Picnic at Hanging Rock

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Popular music styles and genres: Forest Gump (various); Muriel’s Wedding (various); Whip It (various); The Wedding Singer (various); Romeo & Juliet (various)

Learning experiences are developed based on the purpose and context of the unit and the repertoire selected.

Possible learning experiences

• selecting and applying music elements and concepts in the creation of film music works • demonstrating composition techniques in the creation of film music • synthesising and communicating music ideas and stylistic characteristics to create film music • compose short music works using available sound sources (vocal, instrumental, found sounds) to establish mood, underscore film excerpts, to create a time or place, and/or to create character themes (leitmotivs) • synthesising and communicating music ideas and stylistic characteristics to create music for a given section of film • composing new music to a pre-existing film scene • composing music for an assessment task for another subject area • layering sound effects over existing tracks or marking scores with hit points • experimenting with combinations of music elements to replicate a given emotion

Syllabus dimensions and objectives will be delivered through learning experiences over the unit of work, as per these examples.

• journaling experiences of the creative process • perceiving and interpreting the use of music elements and concepts in film scores • analysing and evaluating film music to determine the relationships between music elements, concepts and stylistic characteristics • synthesising findings, justifying music viewpoints and communicating music ideas about film music • viewing excerpts from films and analysing and evaluating the music to determine the use of musical elements and concepts and their effectiveness in the film sequence • perceiving and interpreting musical elements and concepts from a range of film music repertoire and sources and the manipulation of these elements and concepts to express time and place, mood, character and/or emotion • watching and analysing scenes with and without music to demonstrate the power of wellwritten film scores • analysing scenes to determine the music elements highlighted in film • analysing scenes with and without music to demonstrate the power of well-written film scores • listening to interviews with prominent film composers or reading their blogs/web posts and discussing their approaches to composition • perceiving, identifying and documenting expressive devices used to establish mood • interpreting and applying music elements and concepts in the performance of film music works • demonstrating performance skills and techniques related to contexts • synthesising and communicating music ideas and stylistic characteristics to create performances • performing extracts of a variety of works from films, both vocal and instrumental • exploring, and developing an understanding of, the musical elements and concepts, including aspects of duration, expressive devices, pitch, structure, texture and timbre within selected repertoire across the three dimensions • develop aural skills by notating film and character themes; identifying intervallic representations; notating and reproducing rhythmic patterns; perceiving, identifying and notating chord progressions within film music

Music 2013 Sample unit — Film Music

Queensland Curriculum & Assessment Authority February 2015 Page 2 of 4

Assessment tasks are designed from the purpose and context of the unit and should be aligned to the identified dimensions and objectives.

Possible assessment Assessment technique

Composition

Possible task

Compose music to match an existing or original film scene.

Dimension to be assessed

Composition The dimension Composition involves the creation of music by combining music elements and concepts in a range of contexts, styles and genres. It entails innovation through exploring and experimenting with sound to synthesise and express personal music ideas and enhance musicianship in Musicology and Performance.

Objectives

By the conclusion of the course of study, students should: • select and apply music elements and concepts in the creation of their own works • demonstrate composition techniques in the creation of their own works • synthesise and communicate music ideas and stylistic characteristics to create their own works.

Assessment conditions

Year 11: a minimum of 16 bars or approximately 30 seconds in length. Year 12: a minimum of 32 bars or approximately 1 minute in length.

Assessment technique

Musicology — extended response

Possible tasks

Analyse and evaluate at least two pieces used in films to express a music viewpoint. Identify the ways music elements and concepts have been manipulated to portray action and support the narrative. Analyse and evaluate the effectiveness of a selected work in conveying mood, emotion, time and/or place. Compare and contrast the music from two or more film scenes from different eras to identify the most appropriate music for a particular context, and justify the response.


Musicology The dimension Musicology involves the study of music in social, historical and cultural contexts. It entails researching, analysing and evaluating repertoire and other music sources, in a range of contexts, styles and genres, to synthesise and express a music viewpoint, and enhance musicianship in Composition and Performance.

Objectives

By the conclusion of the course of study, students should: • perceive and interpret music elements and concepts in repertoire and music sources • analyse and evaluate music to determine the relationships between music elements, concepts and stylistic characteristics • synthesise findings, justify music viewpoints and communicate music ideas.




Year 11: Written: 600–1000 words Spoken: 3–4 minutes Multimodal: 3–5 minutes Year 12: Written: 800–1200 words Spoken: 4–5 minutes Multimodal: 5–7 minutes

Assessment technique

Performance

Possible task

Perform music from a film score, either vocal and/or instrumental, solo or ensemble. This may be a performance of the student’s own composition.


Performance The dimension Performance involves the interpretation of music elements and concepts through playing, singing and/or conducting in context. It entails communicating music to audiences through the synthesis of music ideas, stylistic characteristics and practices, while enhancing musicianship in Composition and Musicology.

Objectives

By the conclusion of the course of study, students should: • interpret and apply music elements and concepts in performance • demonstrate performance skills and techniques related to contexts • synthesise and communicate music ideas and stylistic characteristics to create performances.


Length (Years 11 and 12): Approximately three minutes.

