For my blog post for this assignment, I was pretty excited to talk about this song. As a long time lover of the Lost series, but only the first couple of seasons, I really wanted to talk about the songs. Decided which one was almost impossible as there are so many good ones that really show the feelings and emotions of the movie series. Life & Death theme was definitely one of my first options but then I settled with Exploring and Traveling.
https://youtu.be/JiQX2JwYliI
This song, and all the others in the television series, was composed, orchestrated, and produced by Michael Giacchino. Giacchino was born October 10, 1967 and is quite a famous musician and composer in other movies, series, and even video games. "Giacchino's film scores include several films from the Mission: Impossible, Jurassic Park, Marvel Cinematic Universe, and Star Trek reboot series; seven Pixar Animation Studios films, including The Incredibles, Ratatouille, and Up; also other movies including Super 8, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, Zootopia, and Rogue One: A Star Wars Story; and the upcoming films Spider-Man: No Way Home, The Batman, and Jurassic World: Dominion" (Wikipedia). Giacchino even took up a bit of acting but I won't really go into that right now.
The Exploring and Traveling theme has always been one of my favorite's out of the whole score. I think it really expresses what the show is about and how the characters feel. While this song that I used above is more of a compilation of different exploring and traveling themes used, overall it shows emotion and talent. Not only of the actors and actresses that come to mind when we hear a particular note, but also the composer who put so much time and effort to make those emotions come to life. We hear this song a lot whenever the characters have to travel somewhere or when there is a far-out of the entire island, or even when there is an important/dire moment. The instruments play a key role in these songs. "The instrumentation consists primarily of a string section, four trombones, piano, harp, and assorted percussion instruments. Occasionally additional instruments are employed such as synthesizer, guitar, and ukulele" (Lostpedia). Giacchino was careful to makes sure that the music didn't fall into the popular cliché of "island" music like woodwinds or flutes.
"Often, the instruments in the ensemble are played in uncharacteristic ways, and they are utilized for their particular acoustic qualities. This approach generally has the effect of establishing mood and atmosphere. Some well-known examples of these recurring sonic textures include: The familiar trombone "fall-offs" that often occur right before commercial break. Themes played as very slow, quiet passages on piano. Frantic action music, typically relying on exotic percussion and repeating figures in the strings and brass. String instruments played near the bridge of the instrument (known as "sul ponticello"), producing a tensem eerie, or otherworldly sound. Slowly repeating harp notes, particularly in the low register, often for quiet suspence. The use of unconventional percussion instruments as sound effects: A metallic Angklung, which gives a high pitched, "jangly" sound, is used for moments of uneasiness and fear. A Flapamba (a marimba-like instrument) is often used, usually in a rapid sequence of low, muffled notes. A superball dragged across a gong to produce an eerie howling sound. The insides of a piano were taken out, and used to strike the strings in various uncustomary ways. Scraps of metal from the crashed airplane were shipped back to Los Angeles so that they could be used as percussion instruments. This is an example of "found percussion". The occasional use of waterphone. In quieter, emotional scenes, a certain chord is often used. It consists of the tonic, the note a half-step below that, and the note a major third below that" (Lostpedia).
Giacchino decided not to read the script ahead of time. Instead, he watched the episode and made the music from there. The musicians were not given time to practice beforehand and had to sight read their parts and most likely hope for the better. I think that is what makes these songs so special and interesting. It definitely gives the overall tone of the series and I cannot imagine what Lost would be without Michael Giacchino.
Resources Used:
Cox, Samuel D.J. "Exploring & Travelling Theme." YouTube. Sep. 19, 2009. https://youtu.be/JiQX2JwYliI . Accessed on Nov. 10, 2021.
WOW! I love the music from Jurassic Park, Marvel, and Star Trek but I never realized some of the music was composed by the same person. That's so incredibly cool! After listening to the video you posted, I can see why you like this theme so much. It's very mysteriously slow and deliberate, but then speeds up and starts to feel like a real theme song. It utilizes a lot of different musical instruments, and the fact that it is heavily influenced by string instruments makes me love this piece even more! I enjoy the fact that the time signature changes throughout this piece to possibly showcase action happening within the show. It's interesting that I can feel tension and suspension from a tv show by just listening to the soundtrack and not watching the actual show. I think that's pretty neat.
This post was amazing! I listened to the song in the background as I read your piece and could feel what you were saying (writing). You were so descriptive. I also didn't know what a water phone was so I went and looked it up. I learned about a new instrument! Michael Giacchino has quite a long list of movies that he's written music for, and they are all suspenseful, action packed ones at that.
I didn't ever watch LOST, and whenever I heard about it, no one ever remembered specific details on the show. The song definitely gives off that exploration vibe while listening to it. Sounds like the kind of music that plays when people are chopping their way through the Congo jungle, or maybe it was playing on the bush plane that was going down while Jeremy Wade was in it(No one was seriously injured, but they were scared when wadding through waist high jungle water). Also interesting that Giacchino wrote music after only watching an episode, that takes serious skill!
Introduction For this blog, I decided to go with the hurdy-gurdy instrument. This interesting instrument can be traced as back as the 9th century. Many believe that it originated from the fiddle but there is little to no evidence for this claim. But what exactly is a hurdy-gurdy? Good question. Unfortunately, the answer isn't quite simple. Wikipedia puts it like this: "... a mechanical string instrument that produces sound by a hand-crank-turned, rosined wheel rubbing against the strings. The wheel functions much like a violin bow, and single notes played on the instrument sound similar to those of a violin. Melodies are played on a keyboard that presses tangents —small wedges, typically made of wood—against one or more of the strings to change their pitch. Like m
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WOW! I love the music from Jurassic Park, Marvel, and Star Trek but I never realized some of the music was composed by the same person. That's so incredibly cool! After listening to the video you posted, I can see why you like this theme so much. It's very mysteriously slow and deliberate, but then speeds up and starts to feel like a real theme song. It utilizes a lot of different musical instruments, and the fact that it is heavily influenced by string instruments makes me love this piece even more! I enjoy the fact that the time signature changes throughout this piece to possibly showcase action happening within the show. It's interesting that I can feel tension and suspension from a tv show by just listening to the soundtrack and not watching the actual show. I think that's pretty neat.
ReplyDeleteThis post was amazing! I listened to the song in the background as I read your piece and could feel what you were saying (writing). You were so descriptive. I also didn't know what a water phone was so I went and looked it up. I learned about a new instrument! Michael Giacchino has quite a long list of movies that he's written music for, and they are all suspenseful, action packed ones at that.
ReplyDeleteI didn't ever watch LOST, and whenever I heard about it, no one ever remembered specific details on the show. The song definitely gives off that exploration vibe while listening to it. Sounds like the kind of music that plays when people are chopping their way through the Congo jungle, or maybe it was playing on the bush plane that was going down while Jeremy Wade was in it(No one was seriously injured, but they were scared when wadding through waist high jungle water). Also interesting that Giacchino wrote music after only watching an episode, that takes serious skill!
ReplyDelete