Resource list: suggested listening

The suggested listening list for each area of study is a guide. It is not prescriptive.

Area of study 2: Pop music

Stevie Wonder

• For Once in my Life, from For Once in my Life (1968)
• Signed, Sealed, Delivered, from Signed, Sealed, Delivered (1970)
• Superstition, from Talking Book (1972)
• You Are the Sunshine of My Life, from Talking Book (1972)
• Sir Duke, from Songs in the Key of Life

Joni Mitchell

• Big Yellow Taxi, from Ladies of the Canyon (1970)
• River, from Blue (1971)
• Carey, from Blue (1971)
• A Case of You, from Blue (1971)
• Help Me, from Court and Spark (1974)

Muse

• Stockholm Syndrome from Absolution (2003)
• Supermassive Black Hole, from Black Holes and Revelations (2006)
• Uprising, from The Resistance (2009)
• Supremacy, from The 2nd Law (2012)

Beyoncé

• Crazy in Love, from Dangerously in Love (2003)
• Listen, from B'day (2006)
• Singles Ladies, from I Am…Sasha Fierce (2008)
• Best Thing I Never Had, from 4 (2011)

Daft Punk

• Around the World, from Homework (1997)
• One More Time, from Discovery (2001)
• Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger, from Discovery (2001)
• Get Lucky, from Random Access Memories (2013)

Labrinth

• Earthquake, from Electronic Earth (2012)
• Express Yourself, from Electronic Earth (2012)
• Beneath Your Beautiful, from Electronic Earth (2012)
• Let It Be, from Take Me To The Truth (2015)
• Jealousy, from Take Me To The Truth (2015)

Area of study 3: Music for media

Bernard Herrmann

• Citizen Kane (1941)
• Vertigo (1958)
• North by Northwest (1959)
• Psycho (1960)
• Taxi Driver (1975)

There are various significant cue possibilities here. The opening titles for all but Citizen Kane are all stand-alone pieces that have important thematic cells for the whole score. Citizen Kane is unusual in that regard: opening music leads straight into “Rosebud” scene.

Taxi Driver is an interesting and unusual Herrmann score. Just a warning that some of the content may be inappropriate for showing to a class – it’s a very gritty film.

Hans Zimmer

(summed up: electronic sounds with traditional orchestral arrangements)

Good Youtube interview with Zimmer about The Pirates of the Caribbean music and the making of the soundtrack.

Pirates of the Caribbean – not the first ‘The Curse of the black pearl’ (2003) as only the title music was composed by Zimmer.

Pirates of the Caribbean ‘Dead Man’s Chest’ (2006)

Music from the soundtrack (should be easy to locate in the film):

• Jack Sparrow 6’
• The Kraken 6’50
• A Family Affair 3’34

Inception (2010)

Again, taken from the soundtrack:

Dream is collapsing 2’24 Time 4’34

Gladiator (2000)

Good Youtube video on the making of the soundtrack. Again, taken from the soundtrack:

Now we are free 4’14

The battle 10’02 (includes the main theme)

12 Years a Slave (2013)

Very similar in sound to Inception.

Solomon 3’30

The Dark Knight Rises (2012)

The Dark Knight Rises (2012) is credited as Zimmer alone, though some of the original themes are recycled from The Dark Knight (2008).

Good Youtube video on creating the Joker’s sound. Also, from soundtrack:

• Main theme 7’42
• Agent of chaos 6’50
• Why so serious? 9’

Rain Man (1988)

(Synthesisers and 1st big film) Rain man theme 3’22

The Lion King (1994)

Call of Duty or Medal of Honor (Gaming)

Lost (TV)

Youtube videos of live orchestral rehearsals. Spare pieces of plane fuselage used as percussion plus orchestral strings and piano.

Up

Fantastic opening sequence which is entirely scored without dialogue. Also a good Youtube video on why this is so effective.

The Incredibles

Video on youtube – making of the soundtrack.

Jazz style, funky riffs – 60s spy. Recorded on analogue tape. Suggestions on scenes/cues from the film:

• Main theme - 3' opening sequence up to train stopping
• Newspaper sequence
• Secret device triggered and memories
• Fighting robot
• "Invite him to dinner...." And home sequence after (big band jazz score - prominent)
• Flying and into volcano music
• "I am your biggest fan"
• Breaking in at night
• "You are Elastigirl!" Into rescue sequence
• "I expect you to trust me." And following journey to land.
• Villain surveying spaceship and into rescue sequence
• Preparing launch of rocket into morning discovery of children. Dash escaping.
• Villain exits
• The Incredibles make their entrance to help (main theme music)
• Main theme music at end

Disc 2 DVD behind the scenes. Making of the music – Michael Giacchino (also on YouTube).

Mission impossible III

Star Trek into Darkness (Epic scoring)

Full soundtrack on Youtube.

Main theme and treatment of throughout film is interesting. Also get the sheet music for this on Sheet music plus.

Timings from the film which would be good to focus on:

• Beginnning
• 6’41
• 7’30
• 19’30
• 28’50
• 36’
• 39’30
• 42’15

Thomas Newman

• American Beauty
• Skyfall
• Spectre
• Saving Mr. Banks
• The Shawshank Redemption
• Finding Nemo

Nobuo Uematsu (Gaming)

Final Fantasy (specific game no. in brackets)

• Aerith’s Theme (VII)
• One-winged angel (VII)
• Opening medley (I)
• Terra’s theme (VI)
• Vamo alla flamenco (IX)
• Rebel Army (II)
• At Zanarkand (X)
• Ronufaure (XI)

Fragments of memories (VIII)

• Opening medley
• Rebel Army (II)
• Terra's Theme (VI)
• Aerith's Theme (VII)
• One-winged Angel
• Fragments of Memories (VIII)
• Vamo alla Flamenco (IX)
• At Zanarkand (X)
• Ronufaure (XI)

Lost Odyssey

• Light of Blessing/A Letter

Blue Dragon

• Cave

Suggested reading

Roy Prendergast, Film Music: A Neglected Art (Norton 1977, 2nd edition 1992)

This classic text is largely outdated, but is good on film music process and the early repertoire up to the mid-1970s. It has some excellent stuff on Herrmann.

Steven C. Smith, A Heart at Fire’s Centre: The Life and Music of Bernard Herrmann (California, 1991, rev. 2002)

More on Herrmann’s life than the music, but some useful discussions of many classic scores

Fred Karlin and Raymond Wright, On the Track: A Guide to Contemporary Film Scoring (Routledge, 1990, rev. 2004)

A solid handbook on the craft of film and television scoring, with good analyses and interviews

Royal S. Brown, Overtones and Undertones: Reading Film Music (California, 1994)

There are several other books which cover more up-to-date film music theory and criticism, but these have very few articles that are really useful with these composers. Brown’s book summarises a lot of where theory had started with Claudia Gorbman et al, and is a comprehensive starter for the analytical theory. Also a good chapter on Herrmann.

Donnelly, Gibbons and Lerner (eds.), Music in Video Games (Routledge, 2014)

Some useful articles that help develop a critical theory for the music in video games, though sadly some flatter to deceive (convoluted language and inaccurate music examples, for example). There is an article on Uematsu’s music for Final Fantasy IX, it focuses on one cue that is not listed above but can certainly be studied as an alternative.

Area of study 4: Music for theatre

Kurt Weill

• Alabama Song, from Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny
• Havana Song, from Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny
• Ballad of Mack the Knife, from The Threepenny Opera
• Jealousy Duet, from The Threepenny Opera
• Pirate Jenny, from The Threepenny Opera

Richard Rodgers

• Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin', from Oklahoma!
• Lonely Room, from Oklahoma!
• Oklahoma!, from Oklahoma!
• Louise's Ballet: Pas de deux, from Carousel
• What's The Use of Wond'rin?, from Carousel

Stephen Sondheim

• Prelude, from Sweeney Todd
• Green Finch and Linnet Bird, from Sweeney Todd
• A Little Priest, from Sweeney Todd
• My Friends, from Sweeney Todd
• On The Steps of the Palace, from Into The Woods
• Agony, from Into The Woods
• Giants in the Sky, from Into The Woods
• Last Midnight, from Into The Woods

Claude-Michel Schönberg

• I'd Give my Life for You, from Miss Saigon
• Bui Doi, from Miss Saigon
• I Still Believe, from Miss Saigon
• One Day More from Les Miserables
• Bring him Home from Les Miserables

Jason Robert Brown

• Still Hurting, from The Last Five Years
• Moving Too Fast, from The Last Five Years
• This is Not Over Yet, from Parade
• All the Wasted Time, from Parade

Area of study 5: Jazz

Louis Armstrong

• St. Louis Blues (1924, Louis Armstrong and Bessie Smith)
• Muskrat Ramble (1926, Louis Armstrong and his Hot Five)
• West End Blues (1928, Louis Armstrong and his Hot Five)
• Stardust (1931, Louis Armstrong and his Orchestra)

Duke Ellington

• The Mooche (1928, Duke Ellington and his Orchestra)
• Ko-Ko (1940, Duke Ellington and his Orchestra)
• Come Sunday, from Black, Brown and Beige

Charlie Parker

• Ko-Ko (1945, Charlie Parker's Reboppers)
• A Night in Tunisia (1946, Charlie Parker Septet)
• Bird of Paradise (1947, Charlie Parker Quintet)
• Bird Gets the Worm (1947, Charlie Parker All Stars)

Miles Davis

• So What, from Kind of Blue (1959)
• Shhh, from In a Silent Way (1969)

Pat Metheny

• (Cross the) Heartland, from American Garage (1979)
• Are you Going With Me?, from Offramp (1982)

Gwilym Simcock

• Almost Moment, from Perception (2007)
• These Are the Good Days, from Good Days at Schloss Elmau (2011)

Area of study 6: Contemporary traditional music

Astor Piazzolla

• Libertango, from Libertango
• Knife Fight, from Rough Dancer and the Cyclical Night
• Milonga del Angel, from Tango: Zero Hour
• Yo soy Maria, from Maria de Buenos Aires
• Fear, no.5, from Tango Sensations (with the Kronos Quartet)

Diabate

• Bi Lamban, from New Ancient Strings
• Ali Farke Toure, from Mandé Variations
• Kala, from In the Heart of the Moon
• Jarabi from Songhai
• Africa Challenge from Boulevard de l'independence

Shankar

• Swarna Jayanti' (Golden Jubilee), from Anourag (with Ravi Shankar)
• Prayer, in Passing, from Rise
• Oceanic part 1, from Breathing Under Water
• The Sun won't Set, from Traces of You (with Norah Jones)

Mariza

• Oiça lá ó senhor vinho, from Fado em min
• Retrato, from Fado curvo
• Beijo de Saudade’, from Terra
• Loucura, Fado em min
• Mais uma lua, from Fado tradicional

Bellowhead

• Sloe Gin, from Burlesque
• The Outlandish Knight, from Burlesque
• New York Girls, from Hedonism
• Roll the Woodpile Down, from Broadside
• Roll Alabama, from Revival

Area of study 7: Art music since 1910

Shostakovich

• Symphony no. 5 in D minor, movt. 1
• Piano concerto no. 2 in F major, movt. 2
• String quartet no. 8 in C minor, movt. 1
• Jazz suite no. 2, waltz

Messiaen

• L’Ascension, part 1 – in the version for solo organ
• Quatour pour la fin du temps, movt. 2
• Turangalîla-symphonie, movt. 1
• L’alouette calandrelle, from book 5 of Catalogued’oiseaux

Reich

• Different Trains, movt. 1
• Music for 18 musicians, 1 movt. 1 Pulses
• Tehillim, movt. 2

MacMillan

• Veni, Veni, Emmanuel, movt. 3 Dance
• Momento for String Quartet
• Strathclyde Motets, no. 5 O radiant dawn
• Seraph for Trumpet and String Orchestra, movt. 1