Now you would think, as a composer, the obvious answer I would give to this question is yes. But if I’m really objective about this, I’m not so sure that’s right. I’m going to explore this a little bit in what’s to follow.
Last night I was bored so I went online to check out the latest OOTP Baseball, which happens to be version 14. Well, actually 15 just came out but I decided to go with the last known stable version before I upgraded.
I installed the game and started setting up my season, which is quite involved. You have to setup the league structure which includes the teams, number of games, etc. And then you have to go through the draft process which is incredibly time consuming.
Not really sure what time I started playing but I didn’t finish until shortly before bedtime and I didn’t even actually start playing any league games yet. Let’s just say it was a long time.
And through all that, there wasn’t a sound out of this thing. No effects, no music, nothing. And I realized that with all the mundane stuff you have to go through, and especially with how long you’d be playing this game as involved as it is, music would probably drive me crazy, especially if it was looped music. Can you imagine hearing the same thing over and over for hours?
Now I know, RPG games have music. My favorite RPG game of all time was Might And Magic VI. It had a very subtle soundtrack in the background. You could tell it was there but it wasn’t obnoxious and in your face. It was quiet and had just the right effect.
Let me put it to you this way. After years of playing that game, I couldn’t hum the tune, any tune from it. I have some vague recollection of what it sounded like but that’s about it. That was music that kept the game from being dull without getting in the way. It was masterfully done.
OOTP and Might and Magic got me to thinking about how two games, so diametrically opposed to each other, can be so effective in what they set out to do in two completely different ways sound wise. Aside from music, Might and Magic also has sound effects for everything from opening doors to firing weapons. OOTP has nothing. When I say nothing I mean nothing. Not a peep.
Imagine had you switched the soundtracks, or lack of one with each other. The RPG would have been boring as hell and the baseball game would have driven me crazy. I probably would have stopped playing both of them after an hour and never gone back.
Personally, I think the key to good music is knowing when it belongs and when it doesn’t belong.
Take a movie soundtrack. Not every second of every movie has music. A stereotypical example would be a scene where a man is running after or away from something or someone. During the “chase” there is probably chase music. Then the man stops running and the music stops or maybe turns into a single sustained note that eventually dies away. Maybe there are a few seconds of silence before it starts up again.
If you watch Apollo 13, the first minute or so before they fire up the oxygen tanks there is no music or anything. Just dialogue. Once the action starts, the music comes in but is very subtle. It doesn’t overpower the scene. They let the drama of what’s going on carry the scene.
Sure, some films have totally over the top scores. The last Superman movie was wall to wall sound. At times, in my opinion, it was as little too much. But that’s Hollywood these days, especially with superhero movies. Everything is big, bigger and biggest. Welcome to the 21st century.
And then you watch your local news program and the only time you hear any music at all is when they go to commercial break. Can you imagine them playing a soundtrack during today’s top story? I think it would drive everybody crazy.
Speaking of news, when you get a chance, watch the “I’m Mad As Hell” scene from Network. Peter Finch gave the performance of his life. It’s a crying shame he didn’t live to see his Oscar. There was no music in that scene. It was just him and an amazing script. It has been said that it was one of the most epic scenes ever. Imagine that. No CGI, no effects, no music, nothing but Peter Finch and that speech.
You’re probably thinking that this is all heresy coming from a composer. After all, don’t we want music to be in everything? Actually, no, we don’t. And here is why.
As human beings, we become numb to things after a while. So imagine you go to the movies and right from the start you hear this epic score and there’s fighting and guns and explosions and rockets and God knows what else and it continues like this every single second of the movie for 105 minutes. After a while, it would either drive you crazy or bore you to tears.
What makes movies so wonderful are the highs and lows. Without the lows there can be no highs. The trick is to find just the right balance. I mean if you have a 2 hour movie and for 1:55 of it there is nothing going on and then finally in the last five minutes is an epic battle, is that going to be enough to satisfy the patrons who went to see the film? I know I’d be pretty disappointed if that last five minutes was what they showed me in the trailer and I was lead to believe that a good part of the movie was going to be like that. To me, that’s very deceptive and false advertising.
Balance is the key. It’s knowing when to come in and when to ease your way out. It’s knowing when to club you audience over the head and when to subtly draw them in. That’s what makes a great film score.
Sometimes it’s the parts without music that makes the parts with music that much better.
For The Love Of Music,
Steven “Wags” Wagenheim