Three weeks ago I stated that the first person to recognize every element I intentionally included in my spy music re-mix would receive a free download of the Return of The Daughters Original Soundtrack. After a lot of astute observation and deduction in the comment section, every melody and theme in the mix was properly guessed …save for one. It only comes in for a moment, but I intentionally left the orchestration pretty bare so that the “secret” melody, played by flute at 0.59, would be more exposed and therefore easier to hear.

Hint: Chances of your recognizing it without having grown up in 1970s Soviet Russia are slim. I never would have heard this music if it hadn’t been passed to my brother by a Soviet Navy shipbuilder from Vladivostok. It’s from Semnadtsat Mgnovenij Vesny, or in English, The 17 Moments of Spring, a 1973 Russian miniseries about a Soviet spy operating in Nazi Germany under a false identity. The melody I “pulled” from it can be heard in this clip.

Knowing it was a little unfair to require listener familiarity with a melody this obscure, (hey, spying is about keeping secrets, right?) I decided to award the first person to correctly identify the four other melodies (Mission Impossible, James Bond, The Incredibles and Secret Agent Man) intentionally placed in the mix. His name is Warren. Jeremiah Warren.

“I believe in God, Mozart and Beethoven, and likewise their disciples and apostles; I believe in the Holy Spirit and the truth of the one, indivisible Art; I believe that this Art proceeds from God, and lives within the hearts of all illumined men; I believe that he who once has bathed in the sublime delights of this high Art, is consecrate to Her for ever, and never can deny Her; I believe that through Art all men are saved.” - Richard Wagner

“I despise a world which does not feel that music is a higher revelation than all wisdom and philosophy.” – Ludwig Van Beethoven

Music does not possess the power to save because music is not our Savior.

Though created by God with specific designs and intentions (a topic for another day), music was not created to be the savior of men or the savior of culture—that claim belongs to Christ. Furthermore, nowhere does scripture indicate that music is the agent God uses to open the eyes of the spiritually blind or to spiritually awaken those who are dead in their sins, but throughout it clearly outlines what is: the grace of God through faith by the hearing of the Word.

But surely, if we could just show an unbeliever the evidence of Creation—perhaps through a really beautiful and emotional piece of music—and tell him how reasonable it is to believe in God… that would be enough to convince him of his error and prick his heart unto repentance, right? No, because human unbelief is not due to a lack of earthly evidence, but a complete inability to properly understand the created things of God because we are spiritually dead and blind in our natural state. Fallen man requires Christ as his savior because he is in desperate need of the eye-opening saving grace that no amount of evidence, emotional stimulation, or even music (however beautiful), can provide. Scripture portrays a crystal-clear dichotomy between the spiritually dead and the spiritually alive in Christ. The notion that the dead can make himself live is ridiculous, and the suggestion that the blind can see for himself the way of light is utterly absurd… So why do we even pretend to believe that a spiritually blind, dead man can discern the salvation of Christ through the hearing of music when we are clearly told that Christ saves through the hearing of His Word?

Most theological blunders are birthed when we conform the Word of God to our individual lifestyles and not our lifestyles to the Word. If saving faith was triggered merely by an emotional jolt souls could be saved by the music we write and play, seemingly eliminating the need to stand up in times of intense persecution to proclaim, preach, teach and uphold the Word of God or evangelize to the lost (Mat 28:18-20, Col 1:28, Rom 10:14). God forbid that we ever replace His mandates and commissions with ones of our own construction.

I praise God that He has opened my eyes to behold a revelation higher even than music, and that I can stand in confident opposition to the teachings of Wagner and proclaim with joy that the salvation of mankind lies not in art or music but in Christ, the only true Savior.

Have you ever noticed how all spy/secret agent music sounds kinda similar? If you didn’t before, you definitely will after hearing this little orchestration and arrangement exercise I put together recently. Obviously, most of the musical material was pulled from a selection of works that I felt characterized the “spy music” genre well. As it turns out, most of this “spy music” is so similar in form and style that many of the melodies, harmonies and rhythms are compatible and interchangeable with those of other spy films… giving me the opportunity to mash together a slew of musical content from a wealth of differing sources.

The first commenter on this post to correctly recognize every element I intentionally copied included in this mix will receive a free download of The Return of the Daughters Original Soundtrack.

Script is King, but music is Queen.

The duty of a queen is to actively help and support the King. Though she is in submission, both king and queen are united by a common vision and goal – to uphold the law and protect the people.

The role of music in film—to aid, match, empower, uplift and strengthen the film by representing all the story elements, vision, ideas and emotions of the film—is very much the same. Like a good queen, the right score can prove to be an incredible blessing to the King (film) and his kingdom, but inversely, a bad one can destroy it. This is because music is not neutral. If it was, we wouldn’t have to worry about conflicting interests and storylines because all meaning would be purely subjective and relative. The Film Music industry functions upon the presupposition that music possesses the inherent ability to communicate a story. (if it didn’t, then there’d be no point in writing film scores at all!) When the director presents a melancholy scene to the composer and asks for “sad music”, that’s not meant to be interpreted as a relative term, but an objective one. Steven Spielberg declared that, “If I weren`t a director, I would want to be a film composer.” because he, along with all competent directors and composers, understands that every piece of music tells a story.

In fact, music tells stories so well that when score and script present conflicting emotions, the audience will always follow the music, rendering the original intent of the script moot at best, though downright confusing is more likely.

So what does it look like when you have a good, bad or indifferent queen?

Consider this Illustration:
You have a basic, three act film with a pretty standard story curve. (For more information on the three-act structure and basic story arc, read my brother Isaac’s article on his site.)

It’s a standard drama with standard emotional fluctuation that culminates on a high note with a happy ending that prepares the audience to leave the theater with a feeling of triumph and fulfillment. For ease of illustration, let’s propose that this film could take one of three different approaches with the structure of its score:

#1: The Queen is Indifferent

What the viewer feels upon leaving the theater: Indifference and Boredom—because nothing really happened. The film seemed like a whole lot of nothing because there was no emotional growth or fluctuation. Of the three examples, this is the most common, because so many filmmakers and composers don’t stop to think about the message the music is conveying.

#2: The Queen is Independent

What the viewer feels upon leaving the theater: Irrational Depression and Conflict—because although he was sure it was supposed to be feel-good film, it felt more like a funeral procession.

#3: The King and Queen are united towards a common goal

What the viewer feels upon leaving the theater: What a powerful and coherent film! There is no emotional confusion because the storyline of the music matched that of the script.

Notice that even though you have the exact same script, directing, acting, lighting, editing and effects in all three scenarios, in each one the audience walks away from a completely different movie experience, because music colors the way the viewer interprets the film and all of its elements. The fact that music alone can completely change a film has led some filmmakers to call the score the “second script,” because it can hold just as much sway in determining whether the film is a success or a complete disaster.

When used properly and wisely in the context of your script, the musical score can actually strengthen the story, improve the acting, beautify the cinematography and enhance the direction, but it can also destroy them all if it’s left to do whatever it wants. As I explained in Part 1 of this series, the right score won’t write itself; it needs to be constructed by someone who has done the hard work and the study necessary to understand the basics of how music works and how its emotional effect can be maximized to aid film. The obvious next question is, “What sorts of materials do you study to learn how to do this?”

Find out in Part 3.

In the early days of cinema, film pioneers discovered that the potential of the moving picture to evoke emotion and feeling could be dramatically increased by the inclusion of music. But they also discovered something else:

Whenever music and images are combined to tell a story, the audience will always follow the emotional direction of the music over that of the film, because when paired, music creates an emotional grid through which the viewer interprets the events of the film. In other words, music doesn’t merely enhance the mood of the film: it determines the mood of the film.

If you understand this fact, you can use it to your advantage in strengthening the story of your film… or in persuading your audience to follow an utterly bogus storyline.