Have you ever witnessed a battle scene in a movie and wondered why sometimes the music is aggressive while at other times it may be lush and large? Maybe you have even seen this within the same battle scene.
This technique is called playing to the primary and secondary emotions.
If you watch the opening battle scene in the movie Gladiator you see examples of both. The battle scene starts out with the music doing what you would expect it to do: being aggressive and very much “in tune” with what you are seeing on the screen. Somewhere in the scene the music transitions into a very lush, large and noble sounding accompaniment to what you are viewing.
The first music you hear is playing to the primary emotion : that is, it enhances the battle taking place in a way that you would expect while watching people brutally trying to kill each other.
The second music you hear is playing to the secondary emotion : it is highlighting more of the passion and motive driving the Romans to fight their Germanic counterparts. The music evokes feelings of nobility and the motive of fighting for an entire culture that is worth defending to the death if need be.
When used effectively these two techniques can be very powerful tools in the hands of the composer.
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