B. Building The Music
Part I: The Intolerance Project
Contents
1. Introduction
The preliminary compositional research gave birth to several ideas as described and analysed in the previous chapter. There were a number of useful observations in view of scoring physiognomies that feed the practical work which will be presented further on in this chapter. These aspects include the use of Eastern-flavour scales and modes, instrumentation, and the overall practice of both in corresponding film segments.
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Additionally, this effort will combine the previously discussed composers’ aesthetic choices and implementation methods that will be taken into consideration in order to create a dissimilar, more Eastern-authentic, picture of the music according to its scenic location.
2. Procedural design
This chapter’s construction can be divided into three interconnected parts. The first part will begin with introductory compositions by using selected video sections of the film Intolerance. These works will attempt to establish an initial exploration of the Western symphonic orchestra in conjunction with influences deriving from Eastern music traditions in view of the instrumentation and harmonic development. The scoring methodology will attempt to gradually increase the exotic aesthetic by introducing a number of Middle Eastern implementations including scales and modes that have direct influences with related music traditions reflecting the Eastern-performed music of the present time.
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The second part will test the hypothesis of changing roles between Eastern and Western instruments. It will realise the experiment of swapping instruments’ roles and evaluate their musical behaviour in the wider context of audiovisual relationship. Gradually, there will be an effort to increase the Eastern essence by composing and evaluating scores with increased Middle Eastern instrumentation and harmonic content.
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The third and final part will present the outcomes deriving from the previous chapters and try to form a new angle in scoring a segment with the exclusive use of Middle Eastern instruments. The use of scales and modes will also be of similar flavour as well as the extra attention given to specific instruments’ performance in terms of Eastern authenticity.
3. Scoring for the classical orchestra
The initial approach was to compose a score fundamentally relying in the symphonic orchestra. With all the covered information gathered from other people's work together with the Intolerance score version of Carl Davis, I began exploring the possibilities of composing for the classic orchestra with the difference that I felt the need to produce a score that would have a distinctive Middle Eastern ethnic flavour.
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As a result, a first attempt was made and is demonstrated in the Intolerance clip 2 below:
Intolerance Clip 2 - First Scoring Attempt (E.Chouvardas)
Intolerance Clip 2 (Carl Davis)
In this initial attempt, my basic aim was to experiment with ethnic instruments and scale modes that in conjunction with symphonic instruments would present a short scoring segment practically experiencing and further investigating the relationship between Western and Eastern orchestration. All the instruments’ performances have been also composed following an Eastern stylistic perspective, meaning that symphonic instruments such as the violins and flutes have the unambiguous potential of performing in Eastern-ethnic style modes, even in a practical example where they are part of a Western music constructive system e.g. in a complete Western symphonic ensemble.
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During the first seconds of the scene (approximately "00:00"-"00:11") the ethnic percussive rhythmic structure makes a strong statement in view of Eastern music orientation. The instruments building this foundation for the harmony to develop are the bendir, frame drum, darbuka and def. Their performance relies on the ‘Misket’ traditional Middle Eastern rhythmic mode. The extracted percussion score followed by the accompanied audio clip are demonstrated below:
Audio Clip
The main theme starts developing at approximately 00:11" where the main role has been appointed to the violins performing in an A major Hijaz mode (Phrygian dominant). The background A major chord formation comes from the violas and cellos while the bass strings’ pizzicato contributes to enhancing the tempo structure performing in low dominant and fifth intervals. Flutes together with the santur support the score by building the in-between bridge of the main theme’s repetition. Below is the extracted score and audio example demonstrating the performing character of the santur, followed by the harp and the introductory kemence:
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Audio Clip
The santur has an imperative role implementing performance variations of the Hijaz mode, eventually contributing to the increment of Eastern music essence. These variations in Hijaz mode are well regarded in the Eastern traditional music and can be additionally identified in today’s folk music in Eastern locations such as North Africa, Turkey, Iran et.al. In view of the harmonic progression, these varieties occur mainly between the sixth and seventh interval and usually when an instrument is ascending the scale. The santur's motif in the selected Intolerance scene is an example of this amalgamation as well.
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Below are the relevant scores, followed by a santur improvisation clip, presenting these Hijaz mode variations:
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Audio Clip (Santur Improvisation)
Also, what is worth mentioning is the trumpets' contribution to the main theme’s repetition in an attempt to implement the brass element of classic ‘Hollywood’ instrumentation adding to the gloriousness of the palace’s festive scene. It is worth noting that this is a scoring feature that has been previously identified as a frequently used immersion tool in the earlier preliminary Hollywood films’ discussion.
At this stage it is important to make a small parenthesis and mention that the santur will be an imperative part of this study’s instrumentation palette due to its unique sounding character but more importantly due to its ancient Middle Eastern roots and its long history and reputation that still has in ethnic music worldwide. It is therefore considered as a significantly valid carrier of Eastern music tradition through time. As Reusch states:
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'‘Originating in Assyria or Chaldea as early as sixth century BC, the santur is a parent of both the hammer dulcimer family and the piano’' (2008, p.48).
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The santur is also widely known, among others, as santoor, sandouri, cymbalom, zither or hammered dulcimer. Below is a useful link containing brief historical information and instrument’s description:
There were certain questions and problems that rose through this first scoring attempt. Except for the ethnic stylistic approach and the view of successfulness in terms of immersion and music appropriateness considering the scene, which is mainly a subjective issue, what was first noted as being problematic was the tempo pace according to the visual. There was much experimentation after this specific observation and it was thought better suited if the tempo was decreased in speed. What was also found to be rather hasty was the violins’ main theme which was personally thought of being overly busy by performing too many continuous notes in a restricted amount of time. It resembled more of a song structure rather than a cinematic scoring experience.
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Additionally, the percussion section was considered to be fairly fast in tempo as well as not entirely successful in building a visual expectation following the scene’s grandeur scope. One could argue that this might not be necessarily erroneous, especially if observing it from a composition coherence point of view, but was certainly missing a climax crescendo which could add to the overall immersion.
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A different challenge was concerning certain decisions that had to be made both in terms of music and picture synchronization. There is a rather problematic jumpy cut occurring at 00:16"-00:17", which was dealt with by scoring the triple note motif for the santur and flutes. After reviewing the scene multiple times, I thought that it would be best if it was handled with more intimacy and perhaps a shorter and more dynamic sound, e.g. cymbals, bass dumbek or other low pitch percussion, etc. Looking back at Carl Davis’ approach to this issue I noticed that a similar technique had been used; the scene’s edited cut has been dealt with tempo synchronization and also accented with cymbals.
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As a result, a different version of clip 2 was composed, putting the previous findings into practice and developing the entire clip’s score accordingly:
Intolerance Clip 2 - Second Version (E.Chouvardas)
In the first part of this clip (00:00"-01:14"), the structure has now changed, especially during the introductory titles (00:00"-00:29") where there is an effort to build up the expectation for the ceremonial palace scene. Percussion instruments have been removed, leaving space for other instruments to slowly build the expectation of the rhythmic structure presented afterwards. It is a similar technique used in the specific scene by Carl Davis as well. In view of the non-percussive elements the core difference is the Eastern musical flavour carried out by the santur tremolo and the violins’ motif written in E major Hijaz mode.
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Below is the introduction’s extracted score and audio clip:
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Audio Clip
Moving further on (00:30"-1:14") we have the main theme’s introduction comparable with the one found in the first composition, with a slightly slower tempo speed and with a more straightforward motif performed by the violins. The key has changed from the introductory E major to B major and the violins’ motif beginning in Hijaz mode evolves and concludes into a Hijaskar mode with the addition of an Ab note before the end. The harp comes in to compliment the santur which continues its role in adding an extra layer of Eastern colour.
Audio Clip
Percussive instrumentation and rhythmic structure, performed in a slow 4/4 Misket mode, play a significant role in the overall aesthetic as it provides the foundation for the main melody to evolve as well as contributing once more in the score’s Middle Eastern character. In addition, it was found to be appropriate, through trial and error, for the percussive section to sync the tempo with the jumpy film’s cut at 00:36" rather than trying masking it or ignoring it.
Audio Clip
The soldier/white pigeon scene following next (1:41"-1:50") is using a similar approach found in films like ‘Jesus of Nazareth’ and the poetic scene of ‘Spartacus’. Woodwinds, especially flutes, have been used here performing in a D major Mixolydian mode indicating the sense of peacefulness.
Audio Clip
Mixolydian
During the final part ("1:51"- end) the rhythmic-percussive section returns and the santur introduces the end motif which then reaches the harp finale. Carl Davis’ score at this point returns to the main theme introduced in the opening of this scene. In comparison, it was thought more appropriate to introduce an alternative theme by the santur, sharing similarities with the one found in the opening scene, but also with the addition of blending in modes such as Lydian, Mixolydian, Dorian, and Phrygian dominant (Hijaz).
Starting with the percussion section, the bendir, darbuka, hollow drum, riq and def continue their previous Misket mode performance:
Audio Clip
The santur’s end motif begins in a D major Mixolydian mode evolving in a Bb Locrian mode passing the melody to the harp which in turn starts in D major Mixolydian reaching for the score’s resolution in D major Hijaz mode. Below is the score and audio abstract of these two instruments:
Audio Clip
Following the santur, woodwinds as well as the violins and violas are supportively repeating the same motif, although leaving space for the santur to differentiate by not following them to the Bb Locrian mode. On the other hand things are getting more interesting as the brass instruments move between the first two chords of the D major Hijaz mode (D major and Eb major).
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It is thought that the mixture of these two instruments’ group results into a harmonically diverse, Eastern-oriented music amalgam.
Audio Clip
Intolerance Clip 3 (Carl Davis)
Intolerance Clip 3 - Classic Orchestra Score (E.Chouvardas)
The main approach to this example is similar to the previous one. Scoring for a lengthier video segment allowed experimenting more as well as expressing and developing further musical ideas and structures in view of Eastern and Western combinations. Blending the symphonic orchestra with ethnic instruments such as the santur and a variety of Eastern percussion as well as composing in Eastern-flavour scales and modes was found to be a rather interesting and stimulating experience. And there was also another step forward giving birth to additional questions and development procedures that will be presented and discussed in the next chapter (Transformation).
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In addition, although no other ethnic instrument except for the santur has been used here, for methodological research reasons, the arrangement has been produced in a way that the the symphonic orchestra plays a supporting role in the initial aim for a Middle Eastern music character.
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In this video segment there are a few things that need to be noted. Beginning with a view of the overall orchestration, the rhythmic construction entails ethnic percussion, as used in previous examples, as it felt more suitable in providing a more desirable Middle Eastern aesthetic. Therefore the main percussive foundation consists of bass and tenor darbukas, kup udu, bendir and zills performing in a slow variation of a Wahde mode.
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The considerably slow tempo enhances the score with a certain gravitas and dynamism especially in the king’s marriage market entrance scene commencing at 04:30. Mild ritenuto helps increase the dramatic effect while building the anticipation for the scene’s development.
Another point is the score’s interpretation in the childish girl’s character first appearing at 00:47”. Most times the score is written by using pizzicato violins, high woodwinds, and brass to follow the nervous characters and overall faster pace of the scenes.
Examples of this approach can be also observed at 1:31-1:36”, 3:02-3:37”, 04:16-04:30” and 06:11-06:22”. In all cases there is an effort to provide an Eastern essence by trying to maintain melodies and harmonies in Eastern-oriented scales and modes. This involves predominantly Hijaz, Hizaskar and Algerian modes among others. As an example, below is the extracted score of the last segment (06:11-06:22”):
The character is also being described in a more sympathetic but still playful mixture at 04:50-05:16”. In all cases the score is combining pizzicato strings together with a solo oboe in view of demonstrating the character’s innocence and the act of begging the king. The score here helps achieving a feeling of sympathy towards the girl’s character. In their analysis considering film music influences and movie characters Hoeckner, Wyatt, Decety, and Nusbaum (2011) point out:
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"As the feeling of sadness would increase viewers’ certainty of knowing the character’s thoughts, the impulse to feel with the character would also make her or him more likable" (p.38).
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Further on the score moves gradually from a minor to major chord where the king leaves the scene having signed the girl’s independence (approximately until 05:48”). The scene where one can observe the character’s happiness and calmness has been scored with a solo flute and harp performing in a C major Houzam mode 1. This scene’s equanimity has a lot to share with the previously discussed Spartacus poetic scene where Alex North is using similar techniques to score a romantic scene. Perhaps not so vividly imprinted, but the use of an Eastern flavour mode (Houzam) combines the previous approach with perhaps a better sense of Eastern music tradition.
What is also important to mention is the overall attempt to write thematic repetitions that would provide unity and try to follow the characters and plot but without being too emphatically synchronized in a way that could possibly be characterised as mickey-mousing. As Gorbman (as cited in Leinberger, 2002) in her interpretation of film scores’ unity states:
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“Via repetition and variation of musical material and instrumentation, music aids in the construction of formal and narrative unity” (p.63).
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One of the moments in the scene that one can observe the above is from 03:37” until 04:15”. The music here interprets different emotions and constant scene changes in four different characters’ groups (Auctioneer, bidders, girl, and man in love). It is a musical conversation between oboe and clarinet beginning with the Auctioneer’s theme moving between a D major Hijaz (Phrygian dominant) and Mixolydian mode, demonstrating the girl’s anger with a Hijaskar mode (03:57”), followed by a resolution in G minor Nigriz mode displaying the man’s frustration (03:58-4:05”). These variations can be viewed in the following score extract:
Mixolydian
As a final observation, what seemed to work in a rather different way compared to Carl Davis’ score is the two characters’ (man in love and girl from auction) meeting point (06:23-07:22”). In Carl Davis’ version one can observe an overall dramatic and simultaneously dynamic approach. The change occurring especially from 06:56” signifies the transformation in the overall atmosphere, by adding brass instruments in a newly introduced theme, based on the scene’s titles. Similar techniques have been used in my version in terms of drama and emotional characters’ state especially during the girl’s escape scene (06:50-07:00”). What differentiates the two versions is the attempt to develop the specific string’s section with the intention of being more dramatic than energetic. One could argue that this approach does not follow the exact visual development, but it was intentionally composed in this case to emphasize the opposite; the implied dramatic man’s effort to approach the girl.
As Rosar (1994) states:
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“A moment's reflection on the phenomenology of musical experience reveals that music is expressive, whether or not one responds to it emotionally. For example, although a piece of music is sad-sounds sad-the listener is not necessarily also sad” (p.154).
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In addition, music space for a more energetic arrangement could be created right after the scene’s titles, where a military snare accompanied by a darbuka has been added. Once again the overall use of Eastern related scales and modes contribute to the general aesthetic approach.
4. Transformation
‘The art of thematic transformation is the practice of modifying discrete units of musical discourse like motifs and melodies, as well as more abstract structures like harmonic progressions or rhythmic patterns, over the course of a piece. This may occur incrementally, with gradual changes constructing apparently new themes piece-by-piece out of old ones’ (Lehman, 2012).
The research so far in combination with the previous experimentations of scoring for the classical orchestra has formed a tree of questions and exploring possibilities. Below you can see a diagram pointing out the main thoughts and issues:
Consequently, according to the above plan, the next step was to examine the previously scored scene (clip 3) and try re-recording and replacing several instruments that could be substituted with ethnic ones. Additionally this attempt was followed by the completion of the entire scene’s score. The end result is presented in the video clip below:
Intolerance Clip 3 - Ethnic Implementation (E.Chouvardas)
The list of instruments that have been replaced can be found in the following chart:
Other than just replacing the above instruments there were also supplementary scoring parts written for some of those in several parts of the clip. In more detail, a new phrase was written for the Middle Eastern clarinet at 00:56"-1:02" contributing to the overall feel of Eastern exoticism. At 05:55"-06:11" shehnai flute was used in order to support the specific motif performed by the ciaramella. Finally, at 07:32"-07:53" a ceylon snake charmer flute has been added to contribute an Middle Eastern character to the specific moment. A general observation at that point of the film was that the overall aesthetic of exoticism was missing since it was a part written only for the harp enhancing the dreamy atmosphere of the visual.
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The addition of these ethnic instruments together with the replacement of several others previously scored gave a new flow to the entire instrumentation. One can argue that the overall music aesthetic, and even the structure at certain points, is beginning to displace itself from the previous scoring attempts and likewise when comparing with Carl Davis’ original score. This blending of instruments has allowed seeing how much of an actual impact traditional instruments can make on the music rather than trying to describe it with other means. Finally, what is also worth mentioning is the significant role of inspiration generated that revealed the next steps in researching and composing music.
Concerning the above, the last part of the particular clip which was not scored before (07:53"-end of the clip) had been reviewed from a different point of view. Although the compositional approach was deeply influenced by the previous points stated above, there was a risk taken into serious consideration as to how the music was going to develop smoothly and blend in with the previous score. Although the appetite was changed, consistency should have been carefully approached and presented.
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Therefore, at the beginning of the last clip’s segments ("07:53"), there was intentionally some room left for ethnic instruments to be involved. In this way there would be a direct connection with the previous arrangement, keeping consistency but at the same time introducing new and more Eastern-related instrumentation in relation to the visual. As the scene refers to the virgins inside the palace, titled ‘Love temple’, the score’s intention here is to be more chromatic, dreamier and aphaeretic.
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As Lehman (2012) indicates:
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“A creature of many faces, chromaticism can certainly be instantly perceived as exotic or ‘other’ when presented in some guises (…) But other forms of chromaticism—and, it should be admitted, modality, free atonality, jazz harmony, and other alternatives to common-practice pitch resources—no less extreme against a backdrop of diatony, are recruited with just as much frequency to deliver vastly less obvious effects” (p.34).
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Since the overall scene’s atmosphere describes relaxation and naivety hence the ethnic woodwinds, shehnai flute and ciaramella, are performing long notes as the santur and percussion imply the scenes’ character movement/dancing. Furthermore, violins and violas have been used for playing the scene’s main motif and serving as a thematic bridge between the previous scenes and the ones to follow. The last statement becomes apparent at 09:02" where the scene changes and the king approaches his princess. Here the strings have been composed in order to reinstate gravity by describing the king’s emblematic position in the palace.
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In comparison Carl Davis is using, as one could argue, a rather typical grand ‘Hollywood’ instrumentation to describe these semiotic processes. A tonal score with intensive vibrato violins, in combination with the harp, moving between major chords and scales together with high woodwind phrases present a tone of classic romanticism found in several other Hollywood films.
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The next attempt was made by revisiting the first clip of Intolerance (clip 1). It began with writing a score that would include all the previous deductions made so far and explore new stylistic methodologies in terms of originality and Eastern exoticism. The intention was to blend even more ethnic instruments together with the classical orchestra, not only in terms of soloing performance but as a combined mixture of instrumentation composed this time according to each instrument’s sonic characteristics. The end result is presented in the clip below:
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Starting with the instrumentation there were a number of new instruments implemented, both from sampled libraries as well as actual performance recordings. In more detail, all the ethnic instruments used can be reviewed from the following list:
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Duduk
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Eastern clarinet
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Shehnai flute
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Ney flute
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Didgeridoo
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Santur
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Two Egyptian fiddles
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Six ouds
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Three tambouras
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Three tzouras (serving as a different type of tambouras)
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Ethnic percussion ensemble (Bendir, Timbal, Darbukas,Bass Tumbek, Riq, Zills)
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The piece has a strong overall Middle Eastern music character that can be seen especially between 00:22"-"00:44” and 01:10" till the end of the clip. The three trumpets at 00:22-00:44" performing in triplets have been used to blend a characteristic ‘Hollywood’ approach, observed in several cases before such as The Ten Commandments, Star Wars et al. At 00:45"-01:10", there was an attempt to recreate the scene’s dramatic atmosphere in a more minimalistic method. Like in Jesus from Nazareth, characters’ emotional state has been described with the use of violins and violas moving in minor diminished chords which is reinforced by the clarinet. The difference here is the addition of a duduk which contributes a distinctive Eastern charisma to the score.
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Intolerance Clip 1 (E.Chouvardas)
Intolerance Clip 1 (Carl Davis)
Having a closer look and starting from the score’s introduction, instrumentation consists of the pizzicato strings, duduk and santur. The duduk begins with a seven note motif written in C major Nigriz mode while at the same time the pizzicato strings performance adds pace and anticipation with its background rhythmic character. Contributing to the overall Eastern aesthetic, the santur performs in a C major Hijaskar mode. Below is the score extract accompanied by an audio clip of the specific section:
Audio Clip
Moving to the next part the protagonistic elements here are the ouds, santur and ney flute. All of them are moving around the Nigriz mode with small alterations, such as the implementation of trumpets’ triplet staccatos underlining, as mentioned before, the musical mixture and relationship between Eastern and Western harmonic structures. Additionally, the pizzicato orchestral strings, reinforced by a low octave didgeridoo, continue to keep a harmonically uncomplicated but essential foundation in view of the rhythmic structure.
Audio Clip
Audio Clip
Moving next, the dominant role passes to the violins and violas, with some decorations coming from the duduk and harp, remaining in the F minor Nigriz mode and chromatically falling into the final scene’s outcome in C major Hijaskar mode. The visuals here present the princess’s sorrow and life and death commitment to the king hence the use of long legato strings raise the drama but without being overly sentimental. This works both ways as the strings act also as a bridge for passing to the scene’s dramatic end.
Below is the extracted score and audio clip of this specific part:
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Audio Clip
As mentioned before, the score results in a rich orchestrated C major Hijaskar mode. Background orchestral brass and strings, together with the ouds and tambouras’ tremolos, build the foundation for the santur and clarinet to lead into the cues’ finale.
Audio Clip
Audio Clip
Audio Clip
As an epilogue to this attempt, one could argue that the use of Eastern scales and modes, the transformation of classic orchestra instruments, and the exploration and implementation of new ethnic instruments contributed to the creation of new paths for music composition and arrangement. As the project was evolving the overall aesthetic was moving further away from Carl Davis’ score for Intolerance as well as to other motion pictures’ scores that have been viewed in the previous investigation.
5. Pure exoticism
The final part of writing the music for Intolerance had to do with the idea of creating and presenting an even more unique, or even eccentric as one could argue, approach to film scoring. All the previous research and practical experimentations gave birth to the final idea of producing a composition that would consist only of ethnic instruments. In this way there could be a new scoring presentation which attempts to rely more in Eastern traditional music aspects, which in turn creates an arguably diverse, if not stronger, connection with the visuals.
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As a result, a new clip from the Intolerance film has been edited and composed with the following score:
Intolerance Clip 4 - Pure Exoticism (E.Chouvardas)
Intolerance Clip 4 (Carl Davis)
The score in general is moving between several Eastern-colour scales with certain moments of vivid harmonic contradiction usually in order to emphasize the visual changes occurring at the corresponding points. At 00:29"-00:33" one can observe a first example of the above statement as the Egyptian fiddles play the central role in changing between the two scenes.
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The main theme and its development is performed by the duduk and dilruba. It is written in a C major Mixolydian mode which progresses into a Houzam Mode I returning back to Mixolydian for repetition. Below is the score extract and audio clip of this first part:
Audio Clip
The rhythm construction is quite basic and unsophisticated in terms of scoring complexity, as in this way it imparts a certain character of ‘old’, ‘ancient’, ‘unprocessed’ sound. Performance structure has been built upon a reasonably slow Misket mode which can be demonstrated in the following example, together with the introductory percussions’ score and audio clip:
Audio Clip
As the scene changes the protagonistic role passes to duduk, pivana flute and santur. This musical conversation starts with the duduk and its dominant character performing a motif written in G minor Niavent mode, widely known in the Western harmony as Aeolian mode.
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On the other hand the santur’s first answer to the duduk comes with a C minor Dorian mode cue which in turn changes onto a G minor Qurdi/Ousak mode (Phrygian mode) completing the duduk’s previous phrase and preparing for the C major Hijaskar which opens up the film’s next scene.
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Reasoning behind the selection of these instruments and modes, especially duduk and pivana flute, is to create a dramatic atmosphere accompanying the mountain girl’s facial expression of despair.
Audio Clip
The next scene, ‘the Priest of Bel-Marduk’, is considered to be one of the most interesting and distinctive scenes in terms of scoring approach. In this case violins have the undoubtedly key role, doubled by the santur, but what makes this part unique is the slurred legato technique used. This enriches the Eastern music character to a greater extent which in turn reinforces the audiovisual connection.
The strings perform in a Hijaz mode, starting in C major moving into an F major, as one can observe in the following extracted score and audio clip:
Audio Clip
Additionally, ethnic percussion instruments and the Whade rhythmic mode play an essential role in supporting the rest of the instruments’ harmonic development:
Audio Clip
The next scene describes the rhapsody warrior singer-poet's love confession towards the mountain girl. The score here is less busy with the main instrument being a solo ney flute in F# minor Nigriz mode. The ney’s breathy musical character as well as the choice of a Nigriz mode represents, and somewhat inspired from, the actual poem text as well as the imaginary poet’s voice.
Audio Clip
Moving next, the visuals suggest a complete change of mood since there is significant movement of the two characters as well as a quite strong temper shown by the mountain girl. As a reflection to this, the score changes from the previous mellower flow, created mainly by the ney flute, and becomes more energetic in harmony, pace and colour. The word colour here reflects the intentional choice of the shehnai flute and its intriguing frequency response which creates a certain aggression which in turn suits the girl’s forceful character. Below is the specific score part together with its accompanied audio clip:
Audio Clip
The previous part also acts as a bridge for the next scene’s grandeur presentation of ‘Prince Belshazzar’.
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Following next, the score’s rhythmic structure is coming back strongly describing the festive, energetic atmosphere evolving around a basic 4/4 Halay mode.
Audio Clip
The non-percussion instruments also form a strongly dynamic character, vividly Eastern in flavour, starting in a D minor Qurdi-Ousak (Frygian) mode developing further harmonic variations between the latter and a D major Hijaz mode in which this part reaches its climax.
Audio Clip
Finally, the end scene is entirely relying on the violins that have been composed in accordance to the camera focus on ‘the priest of Bel’ following his jealously facial expressions. Since the camera emphasizes on a single character so does the score concentrate on building the character’s motif with a homogenous sound created only from the violins. A noted addition is the use of santur at 04:47” adding a sense of mystery and excitement corresponding with the priest’s malice expression.
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As a final point, it is of utter importance to mention that in this case the microtonal differences in the slurred legato strings’ Qurdi-Ousak performance play a substantial role in the Eastern sound’s signature.
Audio Clip
Besides their contribution in terms of Eastern exoticism, these rhythmic structures have been used in conjunction with the visual in order to accompany and describe the characters’ and overall scenes’ movement. This is mainly the reason why different configurations with changed tempo speed have been used. As a result, the opening scene (00:00"-00:51”), the scene beginning with the jealous ‘priest of Bel-Marduk’ (1:42"-2:19"), and the scene of ‘King Belshazzar’ on ‘the great wall’ (3:17"-04:31") have been described with different tempo speeds as well as rhythmic variations.
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Another aspect that needs to be noted is the attempt to produce a score with thematic fluidity in view of the scenes’ changes. As a first example at 02:09", there is an intentional continuation of the previous orchestration, with the introduction of a supplementary violin theme, as the scene changes from the ‘priest of Bel-Marduk’ to the people dancing outside the palace. Further on, at 2:16", the thematic unity reaches its end but not immediately synchronized with the scene’s changing. In all of the above examples one could argue that the overall flow of music is preserved without interfering with the viewer’s overall perception of film montage.
In addition, instant scenes’ cuts have been dealt with carefulness and under the same prism of musical fluidity. Examples can be viewed at1:54", 2:05", and 2:17".
Another important aspect is the use of ethnic instruments compared to the previous scoring experimentations. In this case, the ouds and tambouras have been scored for enhancing the rhythmic structure as well as the thematic variations and motifs. This is especially noted in 3:08"-4:30" where the tamboura has the opening role of the rhythmic structure which acts as a bridge between the two scenes, together with the later on contribution of the ouds reinforcing it with a variety of synchronized tempo motifs. This has a direct connection with preliminary research findings and video examples in previous chapters of this project.
Finally, and as a subsection to the above statement of ethnic instruments’ use, there was a new introduction of a technique that was used only, or primarily, in the early days of the silent film era. Improvisation has been utilized in several parts of this clip by making a connection, as well as experimenting, with an art that is somehow left behind in the evolution of Hollywood film music. Since the introduction of synchronized scores, there was little or no evidence found in the particular area. Therefore, I felt the need to re-explore improvisation and embed it, under certain circumstances, in this final scoring attempt.
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From "00:58" till "1:40", the above stylistic approach becomes apparent; duduk has the main role performing in a basis of G natural minor scale (Aeolian mode) followed by a shehnai flute, and a didgeridoo holding a steady G note. The scene also consists of supplementary santur phrases at 1:13"-1:18" and 1:27"-1:40"; the final one resolves into the next thematic section by performing in a Phrygian dominant scale.
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The next example can be found at 02:20"-"02:53 where the shehnai flute has the main role performing in a Ukrainian Dorian scale. In this case, the santur has been used again, together with the addition of a lyre harp, accompanying the shehnai flute with long sustained chords.
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6. Summary
The Intolerance chapter executed a number of music experiments transferring and presenting influences from the previous preliminary research. By also drawing direct comparisons with the original score by Carl Davis, it has gradually shaped its music form by examining and evaluating each stage of the development process.
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As a result, beginning with a less complex procedure in terms of Eastern music implementation, the scoring segments increasingly transformed into compound variations of Middle Eastern harmonic modes and progressions, which in conjunction with the percussive rhythmic structures, formed and demonstrated music scores that present a more comprehensive and sophisticated version of the film in terms of Eastern music orientation.
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Gathering information from the previous chapter on scoring approaches helped a great deal in terms of instrumentation as well. The explanation here is threefold; the first gained knowledge aspect derives directly from the composers’ interpretation of the films. The previously discussed roles of Western symphonic orchestra and scoring techniques have been inspected and applied in a number of cases in the original composed scores. This most certainly applies to all composed scores with the only exception being the final ‘pure exoticism’ section in which the overall angle differentiates and moves towards traditional Middle Eastern music paths.
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The second part follows the exact opposite, meaning the deliberate absence of Middle Eastern traditional instruments as observed in the previous discussed films’ scores. Overall, there was no obvious intent to use ethnic instruments, although there were many cases in which the visual suggested a place or time period the film is related to where ethnic instruments implementation would be agreeable. This was also found to be true considering playing techniques as almost every reviewed case showed no purpose other than using the symphonic orchestra in a westernized conventional way.
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The third and final part is related to the absence of strong Eastern flavoured harmonic content. Most of the times the score would benefit from using scales, or perhaps some variations of Eastern oriented content, but clearly without really focusing there and developing motifs, chord progressions and scales’ amalgamation that actually serve this ethnic type of music. In other words, an Eastern harmonic character has been used sparingly only serving as a garnish to the main course which is built based on Western perspectives.
Intolerance at the end justified its initial selection, as it was indeed a very strong example of putting together the preliminary research information, theoretic knowledge and practical experience into a new Middle Eastern perspective of film scoring. It is, therefore, believed that the composed music work and related discussion have contributed meaningfully in proving the argument of ethnic music absence and presenting practical scoring solutions that could put the film into an entirely different scoring perspective; a perspective which comes closer to the film’s location and Eastern music tradition.
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This scope will be further investigated in the next chapter of this research in view of the science fiction cinema.