What soundtrack would your life have?
A few nights ago we watched Stargate Continuum and the night after we watched all the special features and then the movie with the commentary. I get a lot out of listening to the commentary by the director and whoever else they have. But they commented on the music and how important it was to have the right musical cues in the film. They also mentioned recutting one scene to remove the dialogue because the music was more important, at that point, than the dialogue.
Tonight we had Finding Nemo on as sort of background noise, but you know how that goes; something catches your eye and then you’re watching it. Paying more attention to the musical cues, I just loved the Psycho theme whenever the name Darla came up — it sets you up to know Darla is not going to be good for Nemo.
I’ve noticed that often in movies certain characters will have a theme song. In Pride & Prejudice, the A&E version, each of the major characters has a musical cue that lets you know that the character is now appearing. Lady Catherine de Bourge has her own theme that lets you know by the heaviness of the notes that she’s not a woman you want to cross.
In most movies, you don’t even notice the music, it just is there in the background and it plays with your emotions and your response to what you are seeing. Now that I listen for it I can tell that I’m being emotionally played with by the music in the movies. Most of us just watch the film and never really key into how the music adds to the reactions we have to the characters, the scene, or the overall story.
That got me to thinking about what soundtrack would my life have if it had a sound track. I’ve been kicking the idea around for a while and don’t really know what would fit. Sometimes I think blues or jazz would fit me as an enduring theme but then there are the times that Ode to Joy or just the sound of spoons falling down a stone well would work depending on whether I feel broken or really just overflowing with joy and happiness. Most of the time I think the sounds of nature fit me best — wind in leaves, birds chirping, waves washing up on a shore, gentle rain, thunderstorms, or hard rain — depending on my moods.
I haven’t decided on my soundtrack. Do you have a soundtrack you think would be the distillation of your life?