Year 10 - Music
Using harmonic devices in film music
Film music: developing ideas and understanding
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Unit Summary
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Lesson Summary
You will learn to develop a film theme using pedals and dissonance.
Key Notes
- Harmonic devices, such as pedals and dissonance are very useful tools for film composers.
- Pedals (usually on the tonic note) create tension by creating clashes between the bass notes and chords.
- Dissonant chords, which often feature adjacent notes or chromatic notes, also create tension and excitement.
- We can reharmonise a consonant melody with dissonant harmony to develop it and add tension.
Vocabulary To Learn
- pedal: a bass note that stays the same while the chords change above it
- tonic: the 'home' note of a key, which a key is named after (e.g. the note C in C major)
- dissonance: when notes clash with each other
- consonance: when notes create pleasant harmony with each other
Common Mistakes To Avoid
- Black notes are the same thing as chromatic notes.
3 Quick Questions (With Answers)
1. Explain the lesson in two key points.
Harmonic devices, such as pedals and dissonance are very useful tools for film composers. Pedals (usually on the tonic note) create tension by creating clashes between the bass notes and chords.
2. What does this key word mean in this lesson? 'pedal'
a bass note that stays the same while the chords change above it.
3. Correct this common mistake.
Mistake: Black notes are the same thing as chromatic notes. Correction: This is not always true. Chromatic notes are any notes that are from outside of the key. If you are in C major, which only uses white notes, the black notes will be chromatic. However, in other keys the black notes might not be chromatic.
More Lessons In This Unit
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