The some history of horror music research

 The history of horror music :

Although the silent era bought us terrifying films the films Nosferatu and cabinet of Dr Caligari both of these films have been rescored several times because of the original music did not survive in the case of Nosferatu and in the case of cabinet of Dr Caligari repurposed music being used originally .

How composers makes music sound scary ?

In the silent film era most would have no music or they would be accompanied by live musicians who would play popular or classical tunes. Only a few silent film were accompanied by original scores.

The first time a thematic musical score was written for a feature length American talkie was for the 1933 movie king Kong and was written by composer Max Steiner this score utilized techniques that would go on to be used in horror movies for decades like mikes mousing in which music matches the characters actions and used short and recurring musical ideas that would typically signify presence of a monster or villain . Its a technique that John Williams would later use in the film jaw this two note score is only a simplicity but has functionality the quicker it gets the closer we know as the audience members that the shark is getting closer.

During Hollywood golden age horror films and scores written for them often lacked subtlety the music would usually tell the audience what to fear .The 50s were big on giant ants and aliens from outer space where as the 60s psycho killed it off  it was personal. The psycho  shower scene is one of the earliest of jump scares and it is famous example of a stinger chord a common horror technique where the musicians would sharply attack  the chord to reinforce  the moment of surprise .The scene was originally going to be silent but composer Bernard Hermann decided to write a piece featuring violins playing shrieking upward glissando which produced when a violinist glides their finger up or down the stings as they play. The stinger chord effectively heightens terror in horror because it manipulates the deep rooted fear centres of our brains.

What makes something scary ?

Work experimentally shown is that screams that are fear based they are known to have a particular kind of acoustic singature which is called roughness and give it that kind of scraggly ,fluttery vibe either if they are vocalized or alarm sounds or other sounds its one that increased roughness features and that's what as a listener we interpret  as fearful. It could be a guitar string or a piano sound .

The exorcist William Friedkinns 1973 classic was terrifying that it caused audiences members to faint ,vomit and protest its release . Some people though the film felt possessed that's partly because of the soundtrack which includes experimental compositions  that went to shape the way horror scores and soundtracks till this day. To get a haunting sound like Penderecki did he used tools like sound masses and tone clusters to do this . To create a tone cluster you take a number of pitches that are a semi-tone apart away from each other . To create sound masses the focus is more on the effect as a whole where we have clumps of or pitches where the note and rhythm matters less than the texture as a whole .

By using these composition tools defy the classical form and help take the film exorcist to a demonic dimension . He didn't write for the screen even though it feels like a horror film music of his experimental work  was inspired by real life terrors of world war 2.

As a witness to a boy in Poland he witnessed violence of Nazis of his hometown of Debica. His music was also used in another landmark horror film Stanley Kubrick The shining . 

Dissonance is a common aspect of horror music and one of the most effective ways for it to be utilized is through the tri-tone musical interval composed of three adjacent whole tones a major 3rd or perfect 5th these are consonant intervals where they sit quite comfortably in the ears. In comparison to the tri-tone there is tension and it has earned the name in music the devils interval you can hear it in many movies like during the canoe scene in Friday the 13th composer Harry Manfredi repeats two trin-tones a half step apart .Another common technique used is to put non threatening or familiar music into creepy contexts often its is little kids singing children's songs also quoting religious music can help set the stage for films and demonic .Wendy Carlos and Rachel Elkind used this technique in the opening  of the film shining  with a recomposition of dies Irae a 13th century Gregorian chant .

Playing instruments in specific or extreme ways is another powerful tool in horror films music and often hear violins play Sul ponticello which means close to the bridge combined with tremolo to produce eerie sounds. Sometimes simple techniques can be just as effective at heighten dread in horror movies such using a bassline to mimic a heartbeat which John Carpenter did in the thing the steady heartbeat gives the clue that something is constantly lurking nearby and its coming for the characters . With strings sustaining a high note it just builds tension the more you do it and also really low things with clusters can too.

Silent films themselves are silent because of the lack of technology at the time buts its known that music was often played live in the theatre when silent films were shown but we don't have any record of what music scores were playing at the time but you can get some ideas from the films of the 1930 and 40s early sound inclusive horror films utilized classic pieces that already existed . The phantom of the opera period in 1925 as a silent film and it was re-released in 1930 with sound and did have an original score composed by Joseph Carl Brill .  Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde from 1941 included Johann Sabastian  box used d minor in the opening credits . The romantic was highly influential on modern film scores in general and is know for its supernatural and imaginative themes emotional pieces and nonconvention instrumentation within this period the conscious choice to make music that is intended to feel frightening or unsettling .

Hector Berlioz was a French composer whose reputation was controversial some people thought he was a genius whilst others looked down upon him for his lack of form and conventionality . His wife inspired one of his well known piece of music which was written when he was only 27 years old .The main character in his story is a man who is poisoned himself with opium to escape the depths of despair after being rejected by his one true love which leads to a series of hallucinations .His piece of demonstrates the forward thinking ways of him while reinvents the way the instruments are played to create sound effects to help his audience imagine the frightening scenario cackling and dancing witches, howling winds ,funeral bells ,rattling bones and familiar high pitched dissonant string sounds that make our hairs stand on end.

The 20th century and 21st century compositions were inspired by the bone chilling effects used in dream of the witches sabbath. Modest Mazorgsky was the more daring of his contemporaries he refused an education from a conservatory and only learned his skills from his highly educated friends namely Tchaikovsky Rimsky Korsakov .Masorki was religious but also troubled he delt with alcoholism and died at 42 years of age at which point most of his work were unfinished or unpublished . One of them written when he was in his 20s was called knight on bald mountain completed in 1876 after his death Rimsky Korsakov took his piece and revised and published it the original version apparently was more demonic and dissonant which was toned down in the revision this piece is most famous for its appearance in the Disney film Fantasia from 1940 knight on bald mountain also known knight on bear mountain in energetic ,dark brooding and in a time where religion is extremely important its written as a symphonic poem or a tone poem which intends for the music to paint a visual image or story .Its packed with booming percussions and dissonant horns and descending lines that leave a lasting spine chilling impression.

Dance macabre which is a French term which translates to dance of death it comes from European tradition of the middle ages dance macabre refers to the personification of death and was intended a reminder of the fragility of life many created visual art depicting the dance macabre including the Disney cartoon from 1929 one composer decided to create his own image of the dance macabre but using music to do it . French composer and organist camellia saint Saens was a child prodigy who made his debut at the age of 10  he would come to be known international amongst his contemporaries Franz Liszt Robert and Clara Schumann and Richard Wanger and one of his famous piece was dance macabre this is written as a tone poem and essentially painted a chilling image through composition and instrumentation. This was not well received critically upon release and given time period caused a lot of unrest for audience members as the French superstition came to life .The piece begins with a harp ringing 12 times represent the stroke of midnight then immediately death enters demonstrated by the diminished string sounds. Dance macabre is very much a waltz swaying back and forth even with the contrast of the dark harmonic structures this piece is only seven minutes and 9seconds long but you can feel the emotional push and pull and the feeling of safe and the unsafe and then safe again .

The violin sits as the protagonist in the story whilst the back ground characters are played by the xylophone horns and woodwinds. It has mysterious and distant pizzicato cords pizzicato is a playing technique that involves the strings of a string instrument and it varies depending on what type of instrument on bowed string instrument it is a method of playing with the fingers rather then using a bow like you normally would. The reception was negative after Franz Liszt piano arrangement and a few decades of growing on people the dance macabre became beloved classic still used in modern media today. The score from psycho from 1960 Alfred Hitchcock film the theme composed by Bernard Hermann you could say feels similar to dance macabre in the way that it pushes and pulls emotionally with the violins playing the legato motif every now and then to make those stabbing chords really pop. After 2 minutes a lighter section is introduced and return to the idea of feeling unsafe and then safe and it goes om for about a minute when it starts to feel  okay and then it goes back to the tension. The theme from Stanley Kubrick's the shining is composed by Berlioz for dream of a witches sabbath the rest of the score also features some of the characteristics that i have just talked about.

The theme from the 1976 film the omen composed by Jerry Goldsmith falls into the category with its romantic composition full of strings and timpani what makes this one impactful is the baroque style coral piece places on top .The theme from jaws composed by John Williams you could say feels similar to knight on bald mountain with its roaring timpani crashing symbols horn sounds and swirling violence again this has those stabbing string sounds. You can also hear it in the original Friday the 13th score by Harry Minfadini . The silence of the lambs theme composed by Howard Shore also has some of the classic strings but placed strategically as it came out in 1991 . The ring from 2002 had a soundtrack composed by Hans Zimmer that involves lot of these same techniques and effects some of the more modern scores that pull from the romantic ideas include the theme from insidious composed by Joseph Bashara which is heavily reminiscent of these pieces .Us by Michael Ables and mid summer composed by the oxen cloak .

Halloween was written in 5/4 which makes the piece unstable . Rosemary baby creepy lullaby paired clashing slightly pitched strings .The thing which creatively plays on the sound of a heartbeat with bass paired with baroque style organ .Candyman which is very baroque style arrangement composed by Phillip Glass. According to the scientist at usc humans enjoy the sensation of fear within safe environments the experience of reacting to a jump scare and to realise moments of people and in music.

Each genre of film has specific techniques when it comes to scoring .Comedy films are usually accompanied by upbeat music .Action or adventure movies use dramatic effects or loud powerful scoring to keep viewers engaged .whilst dramas play on our emotions with scores and harmonies that make people feel uplifted .But when it comes to horror films its different horror films present us with not so pleasant images or situations and has tension, fear ,suspense ,,anxiety and terror . What composer composes could make or break the movie for people.

During the 1970s and 1980s film directors and composers ones that were especially those new to these and often had very limited budgets .There were no 46 piece orchestra to record movie scores with so they had to improvise and find other ways to do it to get the desired reactions they wanted from their audience .By having these limited resources forced composers to experiment and the result of that created another golden era horror movies it focused on synthesisers and electronic music. The 1970s and 1980s were basically an experiment in fear with composers constantly trying out new takes on traditional horror films scores. By having electronic music and synthesisers allowed composers to play with sound design and come up with innovative scores that pushed the horror genre into new territories.

Lets talk more about the modern era horror came along way from the days of  Dracula and frank stein plots and scores have taken a darker turn and innovations in technology and cinematography have pushed the fear and tension to new highs . Movies that people would consider horror classics such as get out ,insidious ,hereditary and a quite place these movies tackled complex ,unusual and often disturbing matters and their soundtracks match the level of complexity . Film composers are no longer limited by resources when it particularly to technologies they use. Horrors no longer had to rely on dynamic orchestration and symphonic themes composer still go back to the old days by mixing classic and modern techniques together . One of the earliest examples of this is mixing and matching different composition styles was videorome .Back in 1983 Howard Shore starts off with a classical orchestral music and then gradually incorporates electronic music and synthesisers as the main characters starts to lose track what's real and isn't the two are tracks are mixed together and played in attempt to convey the characters confusion

Composers and directors now tend to focus more on sound design and sound effects to create the right  atmosphere .And its not all about jump scares anymore the found footage style The Blair Witch project or Paranormal  activity don't even have proper soundtracks as they focus more on the reality horror too put fear and tension into its viewers .Other movies use low frequency effects to create unsettling atmosphere and prolong the suspense.

How do they do that?

Dissonance which refers to two or more notes that do not agree with each other or notes that clash the reason for this is that their frequency wavelengths are incompatible this is with notes that are more close together like a minor or major second the other reason is that the ear is looking for a note to resolve it and doesn't resolve it  an example of this is a root note played with a minor or major seventh interval to human ears in western culture these combinations feel tense and make us feel uncomfortable .

Much of modern music sits around the octaves where the humans speaking voices typically sit another huge scare factor within music is the strategic placement of silence or  in music terms a contrast in dynamics when music is played and then stops we feel a moment of uncertainty or relief but when those pitched high pitched frequencies come in suddenly it causes stress ,shock and sometimes this can go by the name called non-linear music films like insidious use music that is intentionally very scarce and some time quiet and that leaves you feeling on edge waiting for the jump scare to happen that may or may nor come .

 The majority of Western pop music is you could say predictable in its construction usually using 4/4 time singature and tracks built around 16 to 32 bars building blocks of intro ,verse and chorus and familiar musical intervals and phrasing .Horror scores are unusual ,unpredictable executions and ideas. You will find uncomfortably sustained chords holding on and on . We know when there is going to be a switch up in music and we are comfortable with having that knowledge .Sustained notes and chords that could seem like they could end in an hour or in two seconds builds up the tension . So we know that's somethings coming but we don't know exactly when .Composers often will use specifically chords that want to resolve to the root note like the 7th note of their scale but they avoiding doing so by avoiding doing this makes it unpredictable and builds the tension which makes us the viewer more and more uncomfortable .The sustained chords are played in tremolo effect which is trembling effect or in a pulsating rhythm which remind us of heartbeat or a ticking clock and maybe life or death which builds the drama and tension even further .

Sound design and soundtracks often use sounds with weapons ,blades , blood and gore . Reverbs gives a sense of space ,loneliness . Fear based human scream were let out when genuine feeling of fear which can describe is having a rough quality too them . Horror instrumentation often features and mimics the quality to conjure up similar emotions.

Horror folk music 

What is it?

Horror folk music is a sub genre of music that emerged in the late 1900s and early 2000s and is characterized with acoustic instruments and sometimes its use of electronic as well as its dark and horrific lyrics .

This type of music can be also referred to death folk or dark folk and is associated with artists such as current 93,dead can dance and can be described as across between Nick Cave and Neil Young .

This sub-genre deals with dark subjects like death,voilence ,murder , suicide etc.

The history of horror folk music :

It developed in the 20th century and was influenced by the horror films of its time as well as traditional folk tales and folklore .The genre features dark lyrics and instrumentation this is made to create a feeling of unease and fear.

Songs in this genre are about normally death ,loss and despair and many songs were written within this themes in great depression and reflect on the dark mood of this time period .This subgenre reached its popularity at in the 1940s and 1950s when horror films were popular but after that horor folk music fell put of popularity by then . Todays horror folk music is enjoyed by both folk music fans and fans of horror films .

The influence of  horror folk music :

Folk music has been around for centuries and its influence can be still felt in modern day genres One genre in particularly by folk music was horror music .This type of music incorporates elements of horror, suspense and darkness into its sounds. Artist that creates this type of folk music use traditional instrumentation such as acoustic guitars and banjos to create that spooky atmosphere .The lyrics in these types of folks songs are based on ghost stories and other eerie tales. Since the 2000s this genre of music has gained in popularity many people enjoy listening to these type of music because it help sets the mood for a scary movie or gives them a feeling of being in a haunted house. Some songs in this genre deal with real life events some people that this type of music is just created to scary people and some other people believe that it is used as simple form of an expression for the artist.