Author
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Topic: Do you consider film music as dance music in a sense
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cinescore1
Non-Standard Userer
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Hi there I have an interesting theory about film music as dance music in a sense For example whenever I listen to Goldsmith's Extreme Prejudice I see myself dancing along two cues that I like the most which are No Friendlies and A Deal/End Credits. By focusing on the synths and rhythm, I see it as a Latin piece due to the movie's finale set in Mexico. In conclusion, it's a tango piece of sorts. Give me your opinions about film music as dance music and what you think about it. does it feel like that to you. [Message edited by cinescore1 on 04-01-2006]
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posted 04-01-2006 10:02 PM PT (US) ip
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rkeaveney
Standard Userer
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We're not even supposed to listen to it, let alone dance to it.Ryan
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posted 04-01-2006 10:09 PM PT (US) ip
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cinescore1
Non-Standard Userer
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well it's your point of view but I take it some people can listen to it mostly when it depends on the mood he or she there are in but they don't have to dance to it. quote:
Originally posted by rkeaveney:
We're not even supposed to listen to it, let alone dance to it.Ryan
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posted 04-01-2006 10:27 PM PT (US) ip
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joan hue
Standard Userer
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"Film music as dance music." First welcome to the board. Film composers have
written dance music, intentional dance music.
Rozsa composed a famous waltz for Madame
Bovary. Moross wrote a waltz in his great score
The Big Country. Recently, Powell composed
a wonderful tango for Mr. and Mrs. Smith I also think that you can take certain themes
from movie music, change their rhythms and
create dance music. I've heard those wretched
disco CD's that have placed disco beats to
Star Wars and Superman. Ewwww. I watched
Shall We Dance last week, and Yared did a lovely
job of turning Mancini's Moon River into a waltz.
(May the Higher Powers never allow great Goldsmith,
Bernstein, Williams, Shore, etc. themes be
recorded as rap!)) NP Chronicles of Narnia
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posted 04-01-2006 10:34 PM PT (US) ip
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cinescore1
Non-Standard Userer
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Thanks for pointing that out. First off I never seen any of those films except for the waltz that talk about John Williams and Patrick Doyle's Harry Potter has some cues that be great for waltzing take "Fawkes the Phoenix" from the Chamber of Secrets for example, it has a great waltzy feel to it. It'd be great for a wedding song if the bride is an avid harry potter fan that's for sure. For disco Star Wars and Superman I care less for them. I stick to the original most of the cues can be great for driving. Anyway thanks for replying quote:
Originally posted by joan hue:
"Film music as dance music." First welcome to the board. Film composers have
written dance music, intentional dance music.
Rozsa composed a famous waltz for Madame
Bovary. Moross wrote a waltz in his great score
The Big Country. Recently, Powell composed
a wonderful tango for Mr. and Mrs. Smith I also think that you can take certain themes
from movie music, change their rhythms and
create dance music. I've heard those wretched
disco CD's that have placed disco beats to
Star Wars and Superman. Ewwww. I watched
Shall We Dance last week, and Yared did a lovely
job of turning Mancini's Moon River into a waltz.
(May the Higher Powers never allow great Goldsmith,
Bernstein, Williams, Shore, etc. themes be
recorded as rap!)) NP Chronicles of Narnia
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posted 04-01-2006 11:05 PM PT (US) ip
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Thor
Standard Userer
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If I'm going to arrange a party where dancing is involved, I will not probably pick out any soundtracks unless they're in a funky pop style or Oakenfold-type house. Or if they're pop/rock compilations, of course.
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posted 04-02-2006 06:57 AM PT (US) ip
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Kevin
Standard Userer
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Not me. There's no way I think of film scores as "dance" music.Yuck-o
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posted 04-02-2006 09:37 AM PT (US) ip
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John C Winfrey
Standard Userer
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Only when thats what its for specifically. LOL. J.Some scores do make y ou dance though. LOL
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posted 04-02-2006 11:54 AM PT (US) ip
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Kevin
Standard Userer
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quote:
Originally posted by John C Winfrey:
Only when thats what its for specifically. LOL. J.Some scores do make y ou dance though. LOL
Like Meco's Star Wars? 
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posted 04-02-2006 01:36 PM PT (US) ip
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Graham Watt
Standard Userer
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I wonder if we're maybe taking cinescore's query too literally. Film music isn't, of course, dance music (except when that's its purpose), but some scores do have a kind of inherent balletic quality. The one cinescore cites (EXTREME PREJUDICE) is an interesting example, one I hadn't thought of, but there are others. Apart from more obvious examples such as waltzes etc (THE BOYS FROM BRAZIL, Doyle's Love Theme for FRANKENSTEIN etc), there's a balletic aspect to even the most violent chase music - even Goldsmith's terrific battle music from THE BLUE MAX gets me moving. I suppose it depends on what we understand by "dance". Only a small percentage of scores get me soft-shoe-shuffling with my wife, but plenty more get me leaping around like a loony (if you can call that dancing).
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posted 04-02-2006 02:05 PM PT (US) ip
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Thor
Standard Userer
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quote:
Originally posted by Graham Watt:
Only a small percentage of scores get me soft-shoe-shuffling with my wife, but plenty more get me leaping around like a loony (if you can call that dancing).
Hardly.
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posted 04-02-2006 04:30 PM PT (US) ip
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cinescore1
Non-Standard Userer
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The type of music that you suggested would be great One initial example for would be music for the Matrix films quote:
Originally posted by Thor:
If I'm going to arrange a party where dancing is involved, I will not probably pick out any soundtracks unless they're in a funky pop style or Oakenfold-type house. Or if they're pop/rock compilations, of course.
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posted 04-02-2006 05:47 PM PT (US) ip
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Lou Goldberg
Standard Userer
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I remember explaining to someone that many Maurice Jarre scores for example usually rely on a waltz and march theme. North By Northwest is based around the fandango. The basic idea is not necessarily dance but music that suggests a physical movement in general. The score is kind of a propellent for the scene or the film as a whole. I think Graham hits on this idea when he calls some film music balletic in nature. However, it would be inaccurate to say all film music in based in dance rhythm. And just because you can find a few cues to dance to doesn't mean that an entire theory of film music can be extrapolated from that. It's simply too limiting to the entire range and scope of how film music operates. That said, it's possible in an abstract way to imagine that film music is the "dance music" of the film's edited sequence of shots, the music the shots "dance" to, but this is just a poetic way of stating something functional.
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posted 04-02-2006 08:47 PM PT (US) ip
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Swashbuckler
Standard Userer
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The basic idea is not necessarily dance but music that suggests a physical movement in general. The score is kind of a propellent for the scene or the film as a whole.That's a very good way of putting it, and I think it has a lot to do with how certain people responded to this question. Film music is designed to have an immediate effect; when I'm walking I'll walk faster during the action sequences and slower during the more pensive moments of a score. No, it's not dancing, but as Lou points out, it's about propulsion and momentum. Because of the function of film music, it makes sense that composers might turn to certain familiar time signatures that are associated movement. That is to say, not because of the meter's association with the dance itself, but because it works in a context not too dissimilar from what a film score is often doing. Nobody's going to dance to North by Northwest prelude, of course, but the latin rhythms give it a compelling and dynamic force.
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posted 04-02-2006 09:06 PM PT (US) ip
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Thor
Standard Userer
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quote:
Originally posted by cinescore1:
The type of music that you suggested would be great One initial example for would be music for the Matrix films
Yes, but not the Don Davis score. Rather the Juno Reactor stuff or the song in the Sion rave scene.
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posted 04-03-2006 02:40 AM PT (US) ip
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