Herrmann: Psycho Flashcards
When was Herrmann alive?
1911-75
20-21st century
How was Herrmann’s music often characterised?
Colouristic affects
Ostinato patterns
Unstable chords
Very short musical gestures (to evoke a situation or psychological state)
As psycho was low budget and black and white, what did he do?
Wrote a ‘black and white score’ for strings only
What sort of effects and techniques did Herrmann use for the strings?
Pizzicato
Glissandi
Mostly muted (con sordini)
Wha this the overall sound of psycho?
Dark
Intense
Suspenseful
Terrifying atmosphere
What is used throughout psycho?
Motifs
Why are the motives manipulated?
To match action and mood of a scene
How are the motives manipulated?
Changing rhythm
Pitch
Instrumentation
Accompaniment
Adding new material
Developing fragments of the idea
How are ‘Murder’ and ‘Prelude’ scored?
For full score
Each instrument has own stave
Highest to lowest
How are all other cues scored?
In short score
Often more than one instrument on each stave
When is the Prelude first heard?
When it accompanied the title sequence
During the title sequence, what does Prelude do?
Introduces several ideas and motifs heard throughout the film
Describe the harmony of Prelude
Chromatic
Ava odia a tonal centre
How does the music of Prelude open?
Ambiguous minor-major chord
Becomes important feature of subsequent music
What are the opening chords of Prelude followed by?
Series of rising semitone figures
Become significant in later transformations
How are the stabbing rhythms played in Prelude and throughout?
Why are the stabbing rhythms used?
Lower strings
Forbidding, add tension
When does ‘The Psycho Theme’ enter in Prelude?
Describe the theme
Bar 37
Ghostly 12-bar theme
How does the psycho theme appear throughout the film?
In a variety of transformations
When is ‘The City’ introduced?
What is the first scene?
The first scene
Camera panning across urban skyline of Phoenix, Arizona.
Shot closes in on hotel room where lovers Marion and Sam have met in secret
What is the mood of The City?
How is the mood of The City created?
Lazy, sultry afternoon
Slow tempo
Harmonic rhythm
Wha this the music for Marion based on?
A descending sequential three-note pattern
Notice the descending semitone figure in the lower strings
What happens in The Murder?
What was originally planned for the music in this scene?
Famous shower scene where Marion is stabbed to death
For no music to be included
What do different about The Murder compared to the other pieces of music?
Marked molto forzando e feroce
=> only cue where strings don’t play with mutes
How sir he stabbing rhythm characterised in The Murder?
Shrieking high strings
Augmented octaves
Harsh down bows
The second section of The Murder is a repeat of the first.
How if it different?
Added glissandi
Followed by a dark coda where Marion falls dead
What does the coda in The Murder make use of?
The tritone; dissonant interval
Why is The Toys called that?
Marion’s sister, Lila finds ‘The Toys’ in Norman Bates’ room
How is part of the ‘The Psycho Theme’ played in The Toys?
Upper strings
Augmented version
As Lila rushed to ‘The Cellar’, what is she musically accompanied by
Tremolo muted strings
(Notice use of rising semitone motive)
In Discovery, as the skeleton turns around what si it musically depicted by?
When?
Descending chromatic scales
Bars 25-35
How are the descending chromatic scales in Discovery related to The Psycho Theme?
Highest note of each scale outlines first 5 notes (transposed) of Psycho theme
What two rhythmic devices are included in Discovery?
When?
Polyrhythm (bars 19-24)
Metric modulation (bar 26)
What happens in the Finale?
Norman Bates seen sitting calmly in a white cell
Camera close-up of his face
Momentary superimposition of mothers face on his
How does the score end in Finale?
Low, dissonant chord, unresolved
