Creating music to accompany the
performing arts has always been significant – for example Ravel’s music for
ballets and Wagner’s music for operas – but lately the art has gained respect
in other mediums. Film music through the scoring of composers such as Hans
Zimmer and John Williams has become popular. At the same time video game music
has emerged: though related to film music, game music operates differently.
Game music has to create atmosphere and further the plot, to name a few
purposes, but simultaneously it impacts the player; the interactivity of video
games necessitates music skillfully drawing the listener in. At the same time
game music does still paint the scene that it covers a trait also found in film
music. The game Halo 3 ODST follows a soldier stationed in a place named New
Mombasa; he is searching for lost members of his squad.1 Martin
O’Donnell and Michael Salvatori, the longtime composers for the Halo game
series, took up the mantle of scoring Halo 3 ODST. For this game the two
composers created an orchestral score complimented with jazz, rock, and
electronic music influences.2
The
song “Deference for Darkness” is highly indicative of the soundtrack as a
whole. Video game music has a purpose of complementing the story; one should be
able to work backwards and tell what kind of scene is scored by the music. This
analysis could be performed on “Deference for Darkness” to gain insight into
the story taking place; in the meantime culture strongly influences how one might
analyze this song. For example, the instruments are well-known to a Westerner
but may be foreign to a non-Westerner. At the same time Halo 3 ODST takes place
in Africa, which occasionally calls for African folk instrumentation such as hand
drums. To analyze “Deference for Darkness” a framework must be used: the piece
uses instrumentation and elements of music to evoke a scene and in doing so
introduces Western biases into the composition.
Instrumentation
strongly impacts how a piece is interpreted for a variety of reasons including
preferences for particular timbres, and cultural associations. “Deference for
Darkness” may be generally split up into three distinct movements that vary the
instrumentation and style of the music: a jazz-inspired classical anthem, an
electronic-beat-dominated theme that makes use of primarily electronic
instruments, and an ambient composition devoid of a strongly-implicated melody.
The first movement begins with a piano played in a jazzy style and steadily
builds up; inclusion of strings ushers in a more dominant and fast-paced
melody. A saxophone punctuates the melody with slower segments but the piece
continues to build up. This movement can be best described as one strongly
indicative of the Euro-American music-culture; classical music and jazz are
seen as Western forms of music, though they have become prominent in other
cultures. Movement two features an interwoven array of electronic beats and
electronic bass, which also suggests a Western bias in instrumentation; electronic
music, through the invention of the theremin, the ondes martenot, and other
early electronic instruments, is in many ways an outgrowth from classical
music. At the same time electronic music is more generally popular and has a
greater capacity to transcend cultural lines. The third movement is a short
ambient piece that draws upon high pitch electronic instruments but at the same
time drops any sense of melody. Repetition also occurs, which is counter-intuitive
to many Western listeners but quite normal to Buddhists performing religious
chants. These electronic instruments once again invoke a Western bias in
instrumentation but the composition is less Western due to its use of
repetition. A cultural bias exists in this music due to the instrumentation and
to a degree the composition; music-cultures have distinct attitudes towards
music that influence how a composer creates music.
The
progression of music and the instruments used play a great role in determining
what atmosphere is created; this atmosphere is vital to story-telling and a
skillful composer should create a fitting mood. At the same time these elements
are subject to biases; to the person adjusted to both concert-style orchestral
music as well as electronic and ambient styles “Deference for Darkness” does
not shatter any expectations or create something novel. From a Western point of
view the music captures an atmospheric nocturnal sound; at the same time it is
intimate.
The generalized
Western bias consists mainly of a few elements: studio production is normal,
the change in melody is exciting and pulls the song forward, and
instrumentation should be layered to create a full sound. Another element is
that Westerners are used to the sounds portrayed in this composition. After
being created by Martin O’Donnell and Michael Salvatori “Deference for
Darkness” underwent production and a formal recording process that resulted in
a clean sound. People who listen to modern – Western – music expect this clean
sound that removes sonic impurities like white noise and shallow sounds.
Production techniques such as multitrack recording also assist in the creation
of this music. In addition to a clean sound the song maintains a steady buildup
that evokes an emotional response of some form in the listener. Ascending
strings drive and distinguish the melody, which fits in well with a Western
listener’s expectations: melody should be distinguishable and it should build
up into something exciting. Slow ballad pieces are generally only appreciated
when played at a very emotional scene. These listeners also expect noticeable
changes in melody; the saxophone performances signify dynamics built into the
song: the piece does not just build itself up to a climax. Movement two also
builds up through the use of electronic instrumentation and it displays similar
techniques though it evokes less of an emotional response. The ambient
composition has a clean sound but it lacks a dominant melody. Instead it
explores repetition to a degree and minimalist melody. To the Western viewer
minimalism is something both novel and weird, which explains why an ambient
album such as Music For Airports has
not become immensely popular. As previously mentioned this approach is very
familiar to people who listen to Eastern music, where repetition is a lot more
commonplace. In this regard movement three can be considered closer to Eastern
music. Each movement, regardless of its particular sound, has a layered sound
that fits in with expectations of Western listeners; they all feature a confluence
of multiple instruments and a full sound, even though the third movement is
slower and more minimalist. This particular demand is also made in African
music; many African music-cultures create music that features arrays of
percussion instruments and vocalists that vary in timbre and in tempo.
“Deference for Darkness” fits in very well with Western expectations while
still providing an interesting play on non-Western music; the piece can be
described to a degree as a fusion of expectations of multiple music-cultures.
To
a non-Westerner instrumentation and composition would be quite foreign but the
particular music-culture one belongs to impacts how one might approach the
music. Though Western instrumentation is used the sound may still seem familiar
to non-Westerners; movement three for example resembles meditative music in a
sense, as does a lot of ambient music. A firm believer in melody not mattering
would have trouble, however, enjoying this music. At the same time “Deference
for Darkness” is paired with a series of images in the game, which would
enforce the atmosphere and feel of the music. A non-Westerner could, while
playing the game, potentially get a similar feeling from the scene as a
Westerner. At the same time depending on one’s music-culture the music may not
be truly acceptable at some level.
Works Cited:
1.
“Halo 3 ODST.” Bungie, n.d. Web. 15 Jul. 2012
2.
Van Zelfden, Alex. “Behind the
Music of Halo 3: ODST.” 1UP, n.d.. Web.
15 Jul. 2012. <http://www.1up.com/do/feature?pager.offset=0&cId=3175986>
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