User:David Boering

Musical Background & Upbringing

Somewhat unintuitive to those who know me well, I grew up around the sounds of musical theater. Both my mother and father were performers when they were younger; I have many fond memories of listening to my parents sing around the piano (my mother plays very well). From an early age, I was exposed to the music of Stephen Sondheim, Stephen Schwartz, Alan Menken, Frank Wildhorn (Jekyll and Hyde), and many others. I grew up around music, and became exposed to the idea that music can both support a story, rather than existing as a separate entity (i.e., absolute music).

Gradually, I became aware of the music accompanying films. In many ways, underscore is similar to a song in its purpose of dramatic reinforcement; the major difference is that there are usually no words in underscore. So I learned to “deconstruct” music to a film as I watched. One important dramatic factor, aside from the music itself, is the context: where does music take place? Where does the music begin? Where does it end? Why did the composer choose to place music there? As I thought about these questions, I eventually put them into practice: throughout high school, my group of friends would make short films, and I would act in them, sometimes operate the camera, and write the music for them.

As a result of this musical upbringing, most of the music I write exists to support a story. I write to support the narrative of film, and occasionally stagework. Any other material I write that exists on its own merits are merely intellectual ventures, and are meant as a way to strengthen my technique and craft. When I work on a film, I consider myself to be a filmmaker first, and a musician second - ultimately, to be a film composer is to constantly navigate between the industries of film and music, respectively, without completely surrendering to one or the other.

My Music

My target audience is different from project to project. As a rule, my audience necessarily coincides with the film’s audience, which is always important to understand: moviegoers go to movies to experience a story, and to be entertained. They are not to be mistaken for concertgoers, and lovers of music. I must take care not to write music that demands a large portion of the audience’s attention, in a way that deters or distracts the audience from the film. In order to conceptualize music that is both clear and direct, I think in terms of a graph:

   The illustration above contains three axis, corresponding to three major aspects of music. The y axis represents pitch, which pertains to melody, and harmony. The x axis represents rhythm, or the density of notes/attacks over a period of time. Lastly, the z axis represents colour/sonic palette of the music, which may correspond to orchestration, production, and mixing (the spatiality).

Between these three interdependent variables, one has the basic traits inherent in all types of music, to a greater or lesser degree. By controlling the extent/range which each individual variable is used, one can gauge how complex a piece of music is. For example, an average 12-tone serial work by Schoenberg would score very high in the x and y axis, in addition to the orchestration, z. The dense mixture of pitch, rhythm, and orchestration would show the piece to be complex. Therefore, I would infer that music in the serial style may not be appropriate in most films, due to the amount of attention it demands.

In my school of thought, most film music should strike a clear balance between the complexity of one, or possibly two variables, and a corresponding simplicity in the other variable(s) that is inversely proportional to the other(s). For example, I may choose to have extreme rhythmic density in x, but compensate by choosing simple orchestration (z), and relatively static harmonies (y). As I begin a project, I start out by thinking how much musical complexity can coexist alongside the film, and then assign that complexity amongst the three categories in a way that will be clear and balanced.

In closing, much of what I have said in this paper can be simplified to a single, but important word: balance, as it applies to the reinforcement of narrative media. To make a film is to be a part of a team. The work that is put into a film cannot be attributed to any single person, or a single department. The underscore must be both strong, yet supportive; the composer must be attuned to the language of film and react appropriately. As a popular saying goes, “acting is reacting”. No one thing ever exists in complete solidarity, free from the oher things that influence and surround it. So it is in acting, in film, and in life.