Take her to sea, Mr Murdoch by James Horner A2 Applied Music Set Work Notes Intro Horner was born

in LA in 1953, his family moved to London and he studied at the RCM before a return to America to complete his studies. His first film score was in 1982 for Star Trek II and he has subsequently scored for such movies as Aliens (1986), Braveheart (1995) and All the Kings Men (2006). Horners compositional style is conservative and it has been criticised for a lack of originality. However, it has proved popular and the huge commercial success of Titanic (1997) has resulted in Horner becoming one of the best known film composers of his generation. Titanic is based on a true and tragic story of the great ocean liner which sank on its maiden voyage in 1912, but it is presented in Hollywood epic style and threaded through with a love story, to give a blockbuster mix of romance and drama. The film also focuses on the Irish passengers sailing to America in the hopes of starting a new life. Horner had already shown his interest in Celtic folk music in his score for Braveheart, and much of his score for Titanic is based on the styles of, and quotations from the folk music of Ireland. This excerpt accompanies a scene in which Titanic is about to sail out into the open seas (30m 30s into the film). This excerpt is from a concert version of the music. This is mostly similar to the original, although bars 43-63 do not appear in the film. Much of the excerpt is based on a folksong called The Leaving of Liverpool which has been known to date from at the late 19th century. It is not certain in the song originated in Ireland but below is the first line:

The first 29 bars of this excerpt is designed to build up excitement through the use of: Imitation of a rising figure based on the opening of the melody above, transposed into the key of Eb major (bars 1-3) A more rhythmic motif which includes semiquavers and that is repeated over a rising bass (bars 4-7) Ostinato patterns over a pedal (bars 8-20) Rising scale figures (starting from bar 21) which culminate in a climax at bar 28 A series of modulations that rise in major 3rds from the opening key of Eb through G (bar 8) to B (bar 15) movement between keys a 3rd or 6th apart is known as a tertiary shift and is a well-tried way of creating excitement. (Horner likes it so much that he uses it twice in these opening bars, and again later in the extract).

Horner closely matches his music to the visual images of the film. We hear the distant sound of a ships bell from bar 10. The, when the camera shows the vast engine room, a very low pedal on D

reverberates at the bottom of the orchestra (bars 11-14). As we see shots of the huge boilers being stoked and the propellers spinning faster, the tempo progressively increases (bars 19, 23 and 25). The sequences of ascending scales (bar 21 onwards) accompany picture of mighty pistons at work and close-ups of the pressure gauges rising as the steam power builds up. Horner settles on the tonal centre of G major for the next choral section (bars 30-36). This purely diatonic music is underpinned by a tonic pedal on G, which briefly gives way to a bass note on the dominant (D) in the second half of bar 33, both feature contributing to the strong sense of G major tonality in this passage. The change of mood at bar 30 concludes with the film moving to an exterior shot of the Titanic speeding across a calm, sunlit ocean. The heroic choral theme at this point is clearly based on The Leaving of Liverpool, although the choir vocalises rather than sings the words, and Horner restricts the melodic movement to the upper voices. He also makes various small changes to both the rhythm and pitches of the original folksong. At bar 37, Horner introduces a contrasting idea, although it is based on the melodic shape of the first complete bar of The Leaving of Liverpool. It has something of the character of a folk dance, and first appears in 5/4 time and in G major. It is harmonised mainly with simple root-position triads and there is a folk like reference to the modal flat 7th (a chord of F in the key of G) in bars 43 44. The quaver-dotted crotchet pattern (known as a Scotch snap) in bars 43 and 44 is another reference to the Celtic folk music styles. This dance idea then alternates with the folksong melody for the rest of the extract, as detailed below: Bars 1 29 30 36 37 50 51 67 68 85 86 - 110 Section Introduction Folksong Dance in 5/4 Folksong Dance in 6/4 Folksong Key Eb G B G G GD D B

The folksong returns at bar 51, first vocalised by upper voices in G major then restated by unison violins in a varied versions on D major over a tonic pedal on D (bar 57). The note values of the melody in bars 51, 57 and 86 are twice the length of those in bar 30. Technically this is an augmentation, but in reality it is a by-product of the change to double speed at bar 37. The dance section returns at bar 68, but now in D major, 6/4 time and with music more static harmonies heard initially over a tonic pedal (compare this with the frequent chord changes when this music first appeared in bar 37). In the film, this music accompanies a scene in which the hero (Jack) and his friend hang over the bow of the ship, watch the dolphins dart through the waves. The harp glissando and suspended cymbal roll in bar 79 are times to coincide precisely with a dolphin leaping above the bow wave of the ship. The folksong theme returns again in bar 86, now in B major and scored only for instruments. Notice that Horner uses the emotional lift of the tertiary shift (from D major to B major), this time to underpin Jacks exhilarating cry of Im the King of the word which occurs at bar 86 in the film. Fragments of the folksong theme persist into the final bars. Notice the syncopated countermelody for horns and violas the briefly emerges in bar 90 and the rather modal sounding harmonies of bar 94-97, where root position triads of G, A and D major impinge in the key of B major, creating a

process of a false relation between the violins G# on the last beat of bar 95 and the bass G on the very next beat. Some quiet but dissonant chords, especially in bars 99-100 eventually resolve to a tonic chord of B major that lasts throughout the last five bars of the extract. Above this, a solo horn refers back to the version of the opening of the folksong with a Lydian 4th that was heard at the start of the extract, although now in 2/2 rather than time. The horn is the echoed by a flute, doubled by clarinet and glockenspiel. In the film the music accompanies a long shot of Titanic steaming away from the camera. The extract ends on a bare 5th chord (B in the strings and F# below in the woodwind). Horner uses the traditional medium of large orchestra for his score, but the instrumentation is given a more contemporary addition of the voice synth to contrast with the vocalising of the real choir. The orchestration includes considerable doubling of parts and a wide range of [percussion instruments to help depict the passage of Titanic through the waves. The latter include the timpani, suspended cymbal, side drum, bass drum, tam-tam (gong) tubular bells, bell-tree, sleigh bells and glockenspiel.