We’ve seen it, or should I say, heard it a million times. You’re watching TV and there’s a scene with a man and a woman. They stare into each other’s eyes. Suddenly, the saxophone music starts playing and off come the clothes. What is it about all these scenes that brings out the sax? Why is THAT instrument so associated with sex? For that matter, just what IS sexy music anyway?
I have to admit, this is something that has puzzled me for ages. So I did a little research (very little, trust me) and essentially what I came up with makes sense to a degree. But it doesn’t explain modern day reaction to the sound.
Back in the early days of the saxophone, the instrument was essentially created to fill a void in music. That void went on to inhabit the jazz club scene which just happen to be sleazy and unconcerned with the morals of the outside world. So in essence, the sax was indeed a dirty instrument, literally.
Okay, that’s all well and good for those of us (not me. I mean I’m old but I’m not that old) who grew up during that time period.
But what about the rest of us? I had to look this stuff up to even know it existed. Yet, when I hear that sax starting to play during the tawdry scene that’s about to take place I admit to feeling something. And I’ll leave it at that.
Is is the combined visual along with the music? Are we brainwashed from an early age (cause let’s face it, this stuff is all over the place in cinema and TV) to watch this and respond to it? Is is simply the way we’ve been wired?
We could ask the same question of any kind of emotion that music seems to evoke in us. What is sad music? What is happy music? What is exciting music? And why is it not always the same?
Let me give you an example of what I’m talking about.
Just recently I watched Les Miserables. The music in that movie was absolutely amazing. And while we often associate slow violins ans strings with sadness, the finale of that movie, which had me going through a box of tissues, was not slow violins and strings. It was a pretty grand orchestra letting it all hang out. The music in and of itself was not sad. But combine it with what was going on, on screen, and you have some pretty emotional stuff.
I personally find it fascinating the way humans react to music. There is almost no rhyme or reason for it. After all, it’s just a bunch of instruments making sound. It’s not like somebody is taking a club to our loved ones or beating us or tickling us to make us laugh. It’s just sound. And yet these sounds, made by all these different instruments, evoke such powerful emotions. It boggles my mind sometimes.
Okay, so great. We know that music can make us feel something. We don’t exactly understand why but we know it. So how can we, as composers, take advantage of this? Oh come on, admit it. That’s what we do. We prey on the weak emotions of our listeners to make them love what we do. I mean if the music doesn’t make you feel something, ANYTHING, what good is it?
And yes, all music makes us feel something. I’m not suggesting that everything we feel from a given song is good, but everything makes us feel something, even if it’s disgust. Whenever I listen to Doom Metal I feel like I’m in hell, literally. That’s some pretty scary stuff, some of it.
Oddly, not everybody feels the same thing when listening to a piece of music. While I’m crying my eyes out listening to Les Miserables, my wife is waiting for the torture to end. Go figure.
But back to the question. How can we tap into this? Well, in order to tap into our audience’s emotions, we have to study the history of emotion in music. We don’t have to necessarily understand why certain sounds make us feel a certain way, but we do have to know that it exists. Otherwise, we’re blindly groping in the dark.
And we can’t go by how music makes us feel personally because we may not be in the majority. I again point to my Les Miserables example between my wife and I. Two completely different reactions to the same score there.
You have to look at what the masses traditionally reacted to over the ages. Yes, you need to look at stereotypes much of the time. So we know that sax music is sexy. We may not like it. We may think it’s cheesy or overdone or even vulgar, but we have to recognize it. Because if a client comes to you and says that he has a video of a guy and girl getting it on and he needs some real sexy music, you’re not going to try to reinvent the wheel are you? Even if you try to go against the grain and come up with something that you “think” is suitable, will the audience feel the same way if they don’t hear that sax playing?
Sure, you can go off experimenting on your own for your own personal musical use. But when it comes to doing a job and a client wants something very specific, you better have a play book of emotional soundscapes so that you can easily come up with what that client needs. Otherwise, it’s going to be a long project.
We may never truly understand why certain sounds evoke certain emotions. I sure as heck don’t get it. I feel it. And it seems like I’ve felt it most of my life. But I can’t put my finger on why certain things get to me the way they do, why I prefer major keys over minor keys, why I prefer orchestral music over African music or why I prefer women vocals over men vocals.
I may not get it. But I sure as heck better recognize that these prejudices exist if I’m going to make it in the royalty free music business.
For The Love Of Music,
Steven “Wags” Wagenheim