Teaching Sequence

Work through this resource material in the following sequence:

20 minutes

Part A: Film Scoring Basics

30 minutes

Part B: Notating A Theme

20 minutes

Part C: Layering Loops And Samples

20 minutes

Part D: Recording And Editing A Theme

10 minutes

Reflection

Learning intentions and success criteria

Students understand...

how to combine musical elements to create mood
how to apply different composition techniques in film scores
the benefit of using melodic themes in film scores
how musical loops work

Students can...

research and select pre-existing instrumental material to create appropriate mood in a film score
notate melodic themes
use digital equipment to record and edit music

Lesson preparation:

For Part C, you might like to provide students with a collection of royalty-free samples and loops, that they can import into their editing tool/s.

Step 1

Download tracks from a royalty-free website, such as:

Looperman (free)
DL Sounds (monthly fee)
Loopmasters (free introductory offer with newsletter sign-up)
Free SFX (free)

Step 2

Make sure that the loops you select are recorded in the same tempo, time signature and key incase students want to layer them. You might like to collect two or three sets of loops with different tempos and keys to help students create pieces with different moods (e.g. 60bpm in F minor, 110 bpm in A minor). Keep in mind that students will most likely choose to work in a minor key to match the mood of the film.

Step 3

Save all files to a folder on the Cloud (e.g. Google Drive, Dropbox) and ensure all students can access them.

Part A: Film scoring basics

Step 1

Explain to students that in this lesson they will be experimenting with film-scoring. They will begin by exploring and using basic film-scoring techniques.

These techniques include:

Using pre-existing material (instrumental works only for this specific lesson)
Writing a ‘theme’ for the main character - using notation
Using loops and samples to build texture and intensity.

Step 2

Play this clip from The Final Quarter (note that it has had the music track removed):

Stan Grantminus music trk (https://vimeo.com/389158906/d2c5167359)

Invite students to share their thoughts on what kind of mood this clip is trying to portray. Note these on a list on the board, and work with students to sort them into categories.

For example, students might suggest sad, depressed, angry, and intense. Sad and depressed would fit into the same category, while angry and intense would have their own different categories.

Step 3

Encourage students to describe how you could use the elements of music to create those moods.

For example, a sad mood would be created by using a minor key with long, mellow notes and falling melodies, while an angry mood might also use a minor key but would require the use of sharper, harsher notes and erratic melodies.

Step 4

Invite students to use the internet to find a piece of existing instrumental music that they could use as the soundtrack for this clip. Students may like to include timestamps to explain the section of the song they want to select.

You may need to play the clip on repeat or let them watch it on their own devices.

Make sure you give students a strict time limit! Five to ten minutes should be more than enough for this task.

Step 5

Break the class into groups of three to four students and allow them time to share and discuss their selections. If time permits, you might like each group to vote for their favourite and present this to the rest of the class, explaining why they chose this music.

Step 6

Explain to students that this technique is commonly used by film-makers to give a composer an idea of the kind of mood they want in their film. It is called a 'guide-track'. The guide-track provides a guide only. The end result may be significantly different musically, but the guide-track is an important part of the process.

In the following clip, Ian Darling and Sally Fryer talk about the guide-track they used to help their composer, Paul Charlier, develop the soundtrack for The Final Quarter. Play the video:

TFQ - The Final Quarter Sound Track (https://vimeo.com/390664765/ed23701322)

Step 7

Play a short excerpt of the Phillip Glass soundtrack so that students can hear the mood and style of this music:

Complete Philip Glass Day 20 : The Fog of War (Horvath's home concert) (https://youtu.be/T6YoSURueDw)

Part B: Notating a theme

Step 1

Provide students with music staff paper or plain paper and allow them access to a keyboard, familiar instrument or equivalent digital application to help them hear their composition.

Step 2

Play students this clip from The Final Quarter (note it has had the music track removed):

Sam Newman non-verbal languageminus music trk (https://vimeo.com/389158857/819bb00522)

Step 3

Explain to students that this time they will be composing a melodic theme (or motif) that will be used in the score each time a particular character or topic arises in the film. This is a common film score technique, used by famous film composers like John Williams. Explain that the musical themes he wrote for the Star Wars films are obvious examples of this - Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia and Darth Vader all have their own musical theme that is woven into the film score whenever they appear on screen. You might like to provide advanced students with this further information: https://www.filmmusicnotes.com/john-williams-themes-part-3-of-6-the-imperial-march-darth-vaders-theme/

Step 4

Tell students that they will be composing a four-bar musical theme (usually a simple melody) for one of the characters in the shown clip (either Sam Newman or Adam Goodes). They need to consider the following:

The theme should create a mood around the character that is appropriate to their personality and role in the film.
Students should consider the key they want to write their theme in (e.g. major or minor) to create their chosen mood.
Students should notate their melody using traditional notation (where possible).

Ensure students are able to watch the clip as many times as they need to get a feel for the character and test out their melody against the clip.

Differentiation tips: You can differentiate this task in the following ways:

Advanced students could write more than one theme (one for Sam Newman and one for Adam Goodes), or more than one variation on their theme (two variations on the Sam Newman theme).
Advanced students could focus their composition primarily on Sam Newman, adding in Adam Goodes elements when he is shown on screen.
Advanced students could harmonise or fully score their theme.
Some students may prefer to record themselves playing or singing their theme rather than writing it down. This should be avoided where possible to provide opportunity for students to get used to working with notation. Let these students know that they will have the opportunity to record their theme/composition in the next task, if they wish to.
If you have students in your class who cannot read and write traditional Western music notation, you might like to allow them to use informal or graphic notation methods. There are many different forms of graphic notation that exist and here is a selection you could show them for inspiration: https://www.theguardian.com/music/gallery/2013/oct/04/graphic-music-scores-in-pictures

Step 5

Allow students up to 20 minutes to write their musical theme.

Part C: Layering loops and samples

Step 1

Play students this clip from The Final Quarter (note it has had the music track removed):

Opening Sequenceminus music trk (https://vimeo.com/389159216/cb11b8031e)

Step 2

Explain to students that they will now be using loops and samples to compose a film score for the above clip. If students have not used loops before, explain to them that these are short, repeating musical recordings that can be layered on top of each other to create the basis of a composition. Many composers will use loops for backing, adding their own melodies or samples over the top.

If your students are using GarageBand Live Loops for the first time, you might like to show students some of this video:

GarageBand beginner’s guide to Live Loops (20 tips) (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QJnfGjVEspU)

Here is another video tutorial for using pre-existing loops on a different software platform:

Making music with loops (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n5QLYgzdKFw)

Note: This video uses some technical language, which may overwhelm some students, but could also be great for engaging and challenging advanced students. It also demonstrates the use of professional editing software - Logic - which should look similar to many other editing programs.

Step 3

Allow students access to a device with sound recording and editing capacity. It is best if they have one each, but they could also work in pairs and share a device. There are a variety of applications and software that you could use, but GarageBand (https://www.apple.com/mac/garageband/) is very simple to use and Audacity (https://www.audacityteam.org/) is free, cross-platform and very popular.

Note: The benefit of using GarageBand on iPads is that it has in-built loops and smart instruments (that allow inexperienced students to play instruments using chords and consistent keys). Also, on a Mac, video material can be imported for easy timing and playback (see: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2k-hzRmMmtI). If using an alternative software, such as Audacity, students will need to download or create their own loops for this activity. Alternatively, you could provide them with a selection of royalty-free loop files for use in this task (see the instructions at the start of the lesson under ‘lesson preparation’).

Make sure that students are using loops and samples that are in the same tempo, time signature and key, otherwise this could make for some very messy compositions.

Step 4

Allow at least 15 minutes for students to experiment with and select loops that create an appropriate mood for the selected clip. Remind students that not all music composed using loops needs to sound like a rock or dance track.

Extension opportunity: Encourage advanced students to record their own loops.

Part D: Recording and editing a theme

Step 1

Explain to students that they will now have time to produce a sample of their film score using any or all of the techniques they have learned today.

Step 2

Allow students plenty of time to record and edit their film scores to match one of the previously provided clips from The Final Quarter.

You can help students use a MIDI device (such as a keyboard) to record directly into a Mac or PC, or you can provide a recording microphone for students to record live sound and import to their devices. The best kind of microphone for recording live sound in a noisy environment is a uni-directional Cardioid. Alternatively, GarageBand provides a range of virtual instruments that students can use to play and record and there are many other virtual instrument applications/packages that allow you to connect to recording applications (like GarageBand or Logic) or export recordings that can then be imported into any editing application.

Here are some examples for iPad:
- https://midnightmusic.com.au/2013/05/14-free-musical-instrument-apps/
and here are some for Android:
- https://www.androidauthority.com/best-audio-recording-apps-for-android-876472/

Step 3

If time permits, you may like to allow students to present their scores to the class alongside the film clip. If appropriate (some scores will be of different standards than others), discuss how the scores create mood in the clip.

Reflection

Step 1

Invite students to work independently to record their responses to the following questions (also available on the Student Worksheet):

What was your preferred composition method for film scores, and why?
What do you think is the best composition method for film scores, and why?
What do you think are the main challenges involved when composing for film?
How do you think you could combine any or all of the methods into planning and composing a film score? Why might you want to do this?

Note: Some composers and directors use pre-existing music for rough cuts of the film, to provide an indication of the style, mood and melody structure they want to use for the final film.

Step 2

Allow students to view the original clip from The Final Quarter that they wrote their score for:

Stan Grant (https://vimeo.com/348313899/f8794360b9)

Sam Newman non-verbal language (https://vimeo.com/378672634/130a0e8718)

Opening Sequence (https://vimeo.com/378672556/87ffc9857b)

What was different between your score and the original score, composed by Paul Charlier?
What was similar?
Which do you prefer, and why?

Differentiated Learning

Extension

In Part B, you can differentiate in the following ways:
- Advanced students could write more than one theme, or more than one variation on their theme.
- Advanced students could harmonise or fully score their theme.
In Part C, students could record their own loops and samples.

Provisions for Learning Support

In Part B, you can differentiate in the following ways:
- Some students may prefer to record themselves playing or singing their theme rather than writing it down. This should be avoided where possible to provide opportunity for students to get used to working with notation. Let these students know that they will have the opportunity to record their theme/composition in the next task.
- If you have students in your class who cannot read and write traditional Western music notation, you might like to allow them to use informal or graphic notation methods. There are many different forms of graphic notation that exist and here is a selection you could show them for inspiration: https://www.theguardian.com/music/gallery/2013/oct/04/graphic-music-scores-in-pictures
You may prefer to deliver this content over several sessions to allow students additional time for experimentation and refinement.

Teacher Reflection

Take this opportunity to reflect on your own teaching:

What did you learn about your teaching today?
What worked well?
What didn't work so well?
What would you share?
Where to next?
How are you going to get there?

The Final Quarter - Composing A Film Score

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