Musical analysis for multimedia: A perspective from music theory

Abstract

Abstract This chapter examines the contribution that traditional music theory and analysis can make to empirical psychological studies of multimedia. Two pieces are examined in detail: Samuel Barber’s Adagio for Strings, which appears numerous times throughout Oliver Stone’s film Platoon, and the Allegretto from Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony, which accompanies the climactic scene of Tom Hooper’s film The King’s Speech. The dramatic role played by each of these pieces is highly complex, this chapter argues, and thus not entirely captured by the sorts of descriptors commonly employed in empirical studies, such as ‘sadness’ and ‘positive mood.’ Fully understanding a musical excerpt’s dramatic role in a multimedia context—including interactions with spoken text and camerawork—in many cases requires detailed analysis of musical structure. This chapter aims to inform readers of the value of musical analysis for the study of multimedia and to illustrate instances in which musico-structural analysis clearly contributes to dramatic interpretation.

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