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A-level Music Edexcel > Herrmann: Psycho > Flashcards

Herrmann: Psycho Flashcards

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1
Q

When was Herrmann alive?

A

1911-75
20-21st century

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2
Q

How was Herrmann’s music often characterised?

A

Colouristic affects
Ostinato patterns
Unstable chords
Very short musical gestures (to evoke a situation or psychological state)

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3
Q

As psycho was low budget and black and white, what did he do?

A

Wrote a ‘black and white score’ for strings only

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4
Q

What sort of effects and techniques did Herrmann use for the strings?

A

Pizzicato
Glissandi
Mostly muted (con sordini)

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5
Q

Wha this the overall sound of psycho?

A

Dark
Intense
Suspenseful
Terrifying atmosphere

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6
Q

What is used throughout psycho?

A

Motifs

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7
Q

Why are the motives manipulated?

A

To match action and mood of a scene

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8
Q

How are the motives manipulated?

A

Changing rhythm
Pitch
Instrumentation
Accompaniment

Adding new material
Developing fragments of the idea

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9
Q

How are ‘Murder’ and ‘Prelude’ scored?

A

For full score
Each instrument has own stave
Highest to lowest

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10
Q

How are all other cues scored?

A

In short score
Often more than one instrument on each stave

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11
Q

When is the Prelude first heard?

A

When it accompanied the title sequence

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12
Q

During the title sequence, what does Prelude do?

A

Introduces several ideas and motifs heard throughout the film

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13
Q

Describe the harmony of Prelude

A

Chromatic
Ava odia a tonal centre

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14
Q

How does the music of Prelude open?

A

Ambiguous minor-major chord
Becomes important feature of subsequent music

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15
Q

What are the opening chords of Prelude followed by?

A

Series of rising semitone figures
Become significant in later transformations

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16
Q

How are the stabbing rhythms played in Prelude and throughout?
Why are the stabbing rhythms used?

A

Lower strings
Forbidding, add tension

17
Q

When does ‘The Psycho Theme’ enter in Prelude?
Describe the theme

A

Bar 37
Ghostly 12-bar theme

18
Q

How does the psycho theme appear throughout the film?

A

In a variety of transformations

19
Q

When is ‘The City’ introduced?
What is the first scene?

A

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

20
Q

What is the mood of The City?
How is the mood of The City created?

A

Lazy, sultry afternoon

Slow tempo
Harmonic rhythm

21
Q

Wha this the music for Marion based on?

A

A descending sequential three-note pattern
Notice the descending semitone figure in the lower strings

22
Q

What happens in The Murder?
What was originally planned for the music in this scene?

A

Famous shower scene where Marion is stabbed to death
For no music to be included

23
Q

What do different about The Murder compared to the other pieces of music?

A

Marked molto forzando e feroce
=> only cue where strings don’t play with mutes

24
Q

How sir he stabbing rhythm characterised in The Murder?

A

Shrieking high strings
Augmented octaves
Harsh down bows

25
Q

The second section of The Murder is a repeat of the first.
How if it different?

A

Added glissandi
Followed by a dark coda where Marion falls dead

26
Q

What does the coda in The Murder make use of?

A

The tritone; dissonant interval

27
Q

Why is The Toys called that?

A

Marion’s sister, Lila finds ‘The Toys’ in Norman Bates’ room

28
Q

How is part of the ‘The Psycho Theme’ played in The Toys?

A

Upper strings
Augmented version

29
Q

As Lila rushed to ‘The Cellar’, what is she musically accompanied by

A

Tremolo muted strings
(Notice use of rising semitone motive)

30
Q

In Discovery, as the skeleton turns around what si it musically depicted by?
When?

A

Descending chromatic scales
Bars 25-35

31
Q

How are the descending chromatic scales in Discovery related to The Psycho Theme?

A

Highest note of each scale outlines first 5 notes (transposed) of Psycho theme

32
Q

What two rhythmic devices are included in Discovery?
When?

A

Polyrhythm (bars 19-24)
Metric modulation (bar 26)

33
Q

What happens in the Finale?

A

Norman Bates seen sitting calmly in a white cell
Camera close-up of his face
Momentary superimposition of mothers face on his

34
Q

How does the score end in Finale?

A

Low, dissonant chord, unresolved

A-level Music Edexcel (13 decks)

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