BY STEPHANIE ESLAKE
Are you one of those classical music lovers who thinks film music isn’t “real” music? Are you too high-brow to enjoy a video game soundtrack in the concert hall? Do you secretly obsess over the score to Star Wars, but you’re embarrassed to reveal it to your musician friends?
This story is for you.
In fact, it’s for all of us who enjoy indulging in screen media, and who love the sounds that are composed to help us get stuck into a good narrative. Because, when it comes down to it, film music undoubtedly helps us to feel story. And while it might not be written with the same sensitivities as music by Bach or Beethoven, as Australian composer-conductor Joshua McNulty observes, we should still respect it as an artform worthy of the concert hall.
This is the mission of The FilmHarmonia Orchestra. Founded by Joshua himself, this new group of musicians hopes to change our perception of the media music canon.
Joshua, who studied a Bachelor of Music (Composition) at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music (with Carl Vine, Sandy Evans, and Matthew Hindson, no less), has been quick to launch his own ventures in music. In 2015, he co-founded Canaria Productions to provide original scores for film, game, and theatre. The following year, he took on the role of conductor of Macquarie University Symphony Orchestra, and this month he’s about to launch The FilmHarmonia Orchestra’s inaugural concert event Take One.
So, Joshua. The FilmHarmonia Orchestra. It’s brand new, so tell us what it’s all about.
Simply put, The FilmHarmonia’s aim is to raise the status of media music. It is often said that there are many people who are first exposed to orchestral music through the medium of film and game scores. This is a great truth, but it is often expressed in a way that suggests this music serves only as an introduction to greater artforms. Certainly, Bach can contain more nuanced detail, and Shostakovich more wit than the average film score. But is the quality of a living artist diminished simply because a Picasso hangs in the next gallery? A work must be judged on its own merits. And, among the film and game canon, there are innumerable examples of scores which exceed ‘average’ by any measure.
These are the works which we believe deserve programming in their own right and not just as part of ‘big ticket’ events.
So why is now the right time for an orchestra to promote film and game scores?
Program music – music attached to or influenced by extramusical features – has often faced the scrutiny of classical music purists in the past century-and-a-half. And yet, in its infancy in the ancient world, music was almost always played to accompany a story. Then come the operas and ballets, again a combination of music and other arts to portray a narrative.
We believe that media music is the next evolution of this union.
The telling and receiving of stories is a very natural process for most people, and we think that promoting this aspect of orchestral music is timelessly applicable to audiences.
What do you love so much about media music, anyway?
At its best, media music is an artform which can be subversive to the point of rendering its own context entirely malleable. It operates in tandem with the visuals and dialogue to create the story, and this often requires working at cross-purposes. For instance, the harmonies in [Star Wars’] The Imperial March are almost exclusively minor, but [composer John] Williams reserves a brief, shining Eb major chord for bars 13 and 56, which are the most terrifying moments in the music. Because they paint the evil empire as glorious, giving us a glimpse into how they see themselves.
Furthermore, played sensitively, good media music is written to induce emotional responses – incidentally, an aspect of modern composition I feel is often undervalued. And I believe this is of incredible value in any art.
There seems to be an increased dialogue about film and game music in the concert hall in recent years. While you’ve said music should be judged by merit, do you think the ‘high-brow’ classical music world is starting to take screen music a little more seriously?
I had a few lecturers who berated anyone for using classical music as study music because, they argued, the music is composed to take you on a journey; and appreciation of it requires attentive and informed listening.
While I have no problem with people using classical repertoire as background music, I believe some in the ‘high-brow’ classical world are coming to believe the same argument can be made for film music. Cynics may suggest that increased dialogue about film and game music is merely the elite attempting to preserve their validity in the modern world. But I like to think we are becoming more tolerant.
I’m also optimistic about tertiary music institutions beginning to offer specific courses for writing media music. It is, after all, their job to guide the creators of tomorrow’s music, not invalidate any compositional form.
How important is it for us to consider this sort of scoring as art equal to the art of classical compositions? That is, why should we embrace it in the concert hall when it’s made for screen?
Screen music in its natural state is not suited to the concert hall but, just as in the creation of a suite from a large-scale classical work, the tracks on a soundtrack CD release must be reduced to the themes (hummable or not!) that form the soul of the music. Once this suite has been created, the art of the music contained therein has every right to be considered equal to the art of classical compositions, providing enough craftsmanship has gone into it.
What makes a classical enthusiast dismissive of film music is the same as what often makes the average person dismissive of classical music – a lack of understanding. And if we do not allow for film scores to be potentially considered equal to classical compositions, then we do not allow ourselves to grow culturally.
You’re also a composer yourself. How has this informed your choice of program for Take One?
I am a big fan of melody. One of the most enjoyable things about scoring a film or show is creating a memorable theme that the audience will walk out singing. And the audience enjoys that, too!
Part of the reason works like Beethoven’s fifth or Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition are such drawcards are because of their memorable themes. In saying that, I also believe it is important for concerts to introduce audiences to works they may not have encountered before. Music from Spider-Man is an exercise in odd modulations and non-functional harmony. The theme is only four notes that are consistently reharmonised in imaginative ways, and this provides an opportunity to listen and think more texturally.
Ultimately, all the scores we are playing feature music from their respective first films, as this is our first concert!
Why should audiences rock up to your very first FilmHarmonia concert?
I think it is fascinating that music which must meet the approval of (usually) one individual – the director or developer – can speak to other people in so many different ways and on so many levels. Once you remove the screen from screen music, it is the perfect union of abstract thought and program music. Essentially, you can sit there, listen to some fabulous musicians breathe life into some of the most iconic screen music, and narrate a story of your own in your imagination. What better way to escape the world and return to it refreshed on a Saturday afternoon?
Plus, it’s just fun to watch everything the percussionists have to dance between in film music!
Any parting words before we see you there?
If you like the sound of what we do but can’t make it to the concert, throw an email our way – we’d love to hear from you. And if you are coming, come up and say ‘Hi!’ during intermission. We know we love film and game music, but we’d love to find out what makes you a fan!
See Joshua McNulty conduct The FilmHarmonia Orchestra’s debut event Take One at 3.30pm October 27 in the Harold Park Community Hall. Find out more about the orchestra right here.
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If you like, you can give thanks to Stephanie for volunteering her time for Australian arts journalism. No amount too much or little.
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