Lucas Duncan
Expository Writing and Reading
Research Paper Rough Draft
11 April 2012
The Glory of Music and the Music of Glory
From a pianist playing along to a silent picture in a crowded nickel theater, to a professionally composed musical score, music has been complimenting films of all types for over a century. Just as visual stimuli have been shown to induce physiological changes, research suggests that listening to music also can impact physiology (Ellis and Simons 17). In this day where motion pictures play an important role in our culture, film scores are instantly recognized icons. There are so many great, symbolic pieces as well as famous composers. The scores of Casablanca, Cool Hand Luke, Jaws, James Bond, Patton, The Great Escape, Jurassic Park, Star Wars, Superman, and Indiana Jones are some the most celebrated and recognizable pieces in media history.
One of my all time favorite pictures as well as all time favorite soundtracks is, however, Glory. Simply put, the musical score of this film becomes as significant as the very cinematography of the production. This soundtrack is so unique and musters a slew of emotions throughout its duration. Glory won several Academy Awards for best sound and was nominated for a Golden Globe for best original score. It lost the Golden Globe, surprisingly, to Field of Dreams. James Horner composed the scores of both films.
I highly recommend this film to anyone. Though I consider it underrated, it is one of the most highly regarded war films to date. Morgan Freeman, Mathew Broderick, and Denzel Washington star in this saga set at the height of the American Civil War. With the Union Army in need of more forces, the first all colored regiments are created. Among these units is the Massachusetts 54th Volunteer Infantry Regiment or the 54th Massachusetts. The picture walks us through the training of a diverse group of African Americans under the command of white officers. The commanding officer, played by Mathew Broderick, is Colonel Robert Gould Shaw, a young and frazzled college graduate. The audience sympathizes for the recruits as they are seen undergoing the harshness of military training. They equally sympathize for Col. Shaw who leads with loyalty and no prejudices. The regiment steadily becomes an efficient operating force. The men become rightfully confident and eager to prove themselves on the battlefield. However, because they are of African descent, they are given laborious duties, denied needed supplies, and given less pay. Although still enduring racism, the 54th becomes a tight-knit family when their first taste of combat is a success. With various other tensions that the military life and tribulations of war present, the movie plateaus on the verge of a major assault on the confederate held Fort Wagner. Brave Colonel Shaw volunteers the 54th to lead the attack. The audience is at the edge of their seats as they watch every second of the intense combat sequence. At the climax of the film, the men and officers of the 54th Massachusetts fight and die like true heroes. When watching this film for the first time, it is likely that one will become teary-eyed.
Throughout this motion picture, scenes are marbled with a truly moving soundtrack. James Horner's music is coupled with Edward Zwick's imagery and action to give the perfect marriage. It is not difficult to see how Horner tailored his pieces to fit impeccably with Glory.
Early in the movie, Robert Shaw (then a captain) finds himself in the heat of battle during the infamous Battle of Antietam. As the Union troops advance on the defending Confederates, a snare drum beats and rolls. This adds authenticity to the score, as drums were used most commonly during the Civil War. The snare drum is used quite often throughout Glorygiving the sensation of regimental movement. It brings to mind the strong sense of duty that Robert Shaw practices and the men under his command steadily advancing to prove themselves. The snare drum is an excellent example of source music. This means that the soundtrack uses instruments featured in the action of the film. The drums act as both ambient sound and part of the musical score. It is a most innovative technique. This technique creates a unique bridge between the two stimuli: imagery and auditory. Ellis and Simons reported that presenting a film with its associated soundtrack (versus with the volume muted) impacted both subjective and physiological indices of valence and arousal (19).
The soft swelling theme of the entire piece is also presented early after the battle of Antietam. The camera pans across the field of dead and wounded soldiers as gravediggers rummage through the aftermath. Horner effectively uses the Boys Choir of Harlem to provoke a state of contemplation after the horrors of the previous scenes. This motif will reoccur throughout the film. There is no ambient noise at first, accenting the calm after a storm. As the voices fly slowly in the high registers, a distant horn creates dissonance, reflecting the chaos of war. This occasional dissonance, a tension or clash resulting from the combination of two disharmonious or unsuitable elements (Harvard Dictionary of Music 512), reminds the audience of the terrible fray of the battle. The theme sung by the Boys Choir of Harlem appears many times in the form of strings or woodwinds. One might liken the theme to a fugue. The Harvard Dictionary of Music defines a fugue as "a contrapuntal composition in which a short melody or phrase is introduced by one part and successively taken up by others."
Horner also effectively uses his arsenal of instruments to draw the emotion of the audience. For example, just before the 54th gallantly assaults Fort Wagner in their finest our, Colonel Shaw sits on his horse on a beach, looking out at the sea. He is lost in thoughts. I tend to think he is remember fond times of his visits to the beach at home. During this sequence, the string section resonates. One can see by Robert's countenance that he is wishing he were home and that he knows he will never return. The strings play the theme in a minor chord, creating a tragic, sad mood until a resolve. The string section is stereotyped as having sensitive emotion (David Williams 41).
The woodwinds pipe in and assume the melody softer, letting the audience know that Shaw has accepted his fate. The woodwind section is stereotyped as having intelligent or meditative emotions (David Williams 41).
In other instances, a solitary horn is heard carrying the theme perhaps coupled with drums. The horn sounds ceremonial and dutiful yet distant. This can be recognized as the 54th's distant fate that they march to at the beat of the drum.
Of course another tool used to provoke emotion is the tempo and even style change. Although James Horner welds it together seamlessly, there is a clear and dramatic change toward the end of the film. Our gallant soldiers advance on Fort Wagner across shoulder to shoulder. The mood is shifted suddenly when the theme melody jumps to a fast tempo section aptly titled "Charging Fort Wagner." This includes fast rolling timpani, chimes, and sharp Latin vocals. The stress on percussion adds an extroverted passage to the score (Williams 41). The rolling timpani emphasize the urgency. The chimes are especially chilling as they sound like a tolling bell signaling imminent death. The vocal section is no longer the soft airy Boys Choir, but rather adults giving an air of special significance. The battle rages on while the score only intensifies. As lead roles are killed the audience's hearts pound, not knowing where the film will take them, led by the music. The score builds to a climax and ends in a fortissimo major chord as the remaining lead roles are killed.
Some might question ending such an epic sequence with a major chord as the men 54th are annihilated. Using a major chord makes the end of the battle sequence that much more moving. Throughout the entire sequence, the score builds in intensity. The chimes tolling and the judicial voices praying portray the regiment rising quickly to their fate. This is their finest hour. They have risen against all odds to prove themselves as worthy as any heroes. As it climaxes to the final chord, the audience knows in that moment that the 54th has climbed to glory. So rather than feeling defeat, Horner gives the audience peace in knowing that the soldiers achieved ultimate honor.
That moment of crowded glory fades away as the scene fades in a cloud of gunpowder. As the smoke and haze of battle begins to clear, we see the familiar calm after the storm. The camera pans across the beach, strewn with the dead while we hear the docile breaking of small waves. Then the even more familiar Boys Choir floats over the disparity with the contemplative motif. The voices are marvelously pure. They deliver a contrast that takes the audience off guard. It is at this part, when Colonel Robert Shaw's body is dropped into a mass grave with his brave soldiers, that the music draws tears. The scene fades and before the credits, there is a gripping reprise of "A Call to Arms" where the Boys Choir of Harlem concludes the motion picture. Then, as an encore, the ending credits are accompanied by deep male voices with a pedal tone. Soon the low string section joins with the resounding chimes. The snare drum beats and rolls, driving the whole orchestra forward as the 54th regiment drove forward to immortality, never to be forgotten. As the credits come to an end, the Boys Choir fades away with "A Call to Arms," now only accompanied by the snare. Yet the snare continues with at least a bar of rest between each regimental call. It too eventually fades, mirroring the memory and honor of those men, which march on across distant fields.
James Horner's soundtrack of Glory is an iconic piece of music and media history that has been referenced several times after its release in 1989. There is no doubting its importance to the picture. The musical score's aptness and sheer genius is an exceptional masterpiece. It conveys how these neglected soldiers moved as one towards merit, towards their destiny, towards glory.
Cohen, Annabel J. "Music as a Source of Emotion in Film." Music and Emotion. By Patrik N. Juslin and John A. Sloboda. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2010. 879-908.
Nathan, Daniel A. "The Massachusetts 54th on Film: Teaching Glory." OAH Magazine of History 16 (2002): 38-42.
Ellis, Robert J., and Robert F. Simons. "The Impact of Music on Subjective and Psychological Indices of Emotion While Viewing Films." Psychomusicology. 1st ed. Vol. 19. 2005. 15-40.
Thayer, Julian F., and Robert W. Levenson. "Effects of Music Psychophysiological Responses to a Stressful Film." Psychomusicology. Ed. David B. Williams. 1st ed. Vol. 3. Nacogdoches: Stephen F. Austin State University, 1983. 46-52.
Cohen, Annabel J. "Understanding Musical Soundtracks." Empirical Studies of the Arts. 2nd ed. Vol. 8. Halifax: Baywood Company, Inc., 1990. 111-24.
