Getting the Score Pacing in American Beauty | Ryan Leach

2/15/16, 12:04 AM

GETTING THE SCORE PACING IN

AMERICAN BEAUTY
POSTED BY: RYAN ON: MAY 14, 2015

FILM SCORING (HTTP://RYANLEACH.COM/CATEGORY/FILMSCORING/)

Master composer and teacher Alain Mayrand has written a great post (http://gettingthescore.com/?
p=47838) about his study of Thomas Newmans score to American Beauty. He gains insights on pacing,
timing, music vs. silence, and length of cues. The whole article is worth a read, and after reading I had a
few additional thoughts of my own.
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Studying scores with a specific purpose in mind is the best way to do it. If you just think to yourself
Im going to check out the score to American Beauty you will probably lose focus and get caught
up in the film, and try to absorb so many aspects of the music at once that youll miss important
insights.
Better instead to choose a single purpose of study, in this case the amount of music vs. space and
MENU

K (https://soundcloud.com/
RYAN LEACH
QN

orchestration etc. All valuable

things to study, but if you can get yourself to focus on a single point
Morning Calm ((
CALM
you will end up gaining farMORNING
more value.
(http://ryanleach.com)
(http://ryanleach.com/release/featuredVery short cues,
as short as 23 seconds, are fine and feel complete natural as long as they
music/)
follow the narrative.

Release

PLAY

&

COVER

the length of cues. This study was more about time and pacing than about themes, harmony,

Track Title

I used
to think that very shortTRACK
cuesAUTHORS
were to be avoided at all costs, because you ran the PAGE
risk of
LABEL

BUY

making the score sound less like a film and more like a TV show. I can even remember telling this
Featured Music

Interns of F.I.E.LD. Main Theme

to UNDEFINED
directors on some of the first
features I scored. But now looking back, I think I was just
INTERNS OF F.I.E.L.D.

DELETE

(HTTP://RYANLEACH.COM/RELEASE/FEATUREDparroting something I had heard in school or from another composer. If it makes sense
for the
MUSIC/)

&

story, then it doesnt really matter how long or short the cue is.
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Brilliant Mistakes

There
is a certain risk in comparing what works for one score with what will work for another. Its
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(HTTP://RYANLEACH.COM/RELEASE/FEATURED-

kind of like counting the bars in one specific movement of one specific symphony. WellMUSIC/)
if the

&

second movement of Beethovens 3rd has 185 measures, then my piece needs to be 185
Featured Music

measures!
UNDEFINED

Family Gathering

The best remedy is to study a wide range of scores in a variety of genres. Then you will(HTTP://RYANLEACH.COM/RELEASE/FEATUREDbegin to
MUSIC/)
gain a sense for universal approaches and dont run the risk of focusing too much on what could
Featured Music

Class Act

http://ryanleach.com/2015/05/14/getting-the-score-pacing-in-american-beauty/

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 Getting the Score Pacing in American Beauty | Ryan Leach

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CLASS ACT

2/15/16, 12:04 AM

turn out to be an outlier. Castaway famously has no score for the first 30 minutes of the film, but
it doesnt mean that always works![/list]

Be sureFeatured
to read Alains
(http://gettingthescore.com/?p=47838)
and check out the other
Music original post
Fire
City
articles UNDEFINED
on his great site!

FIRE CITY: END OF DAYS

(HTTP://RYANLEACH.COM/RELEASE/FEATUREDMUSIC/)

(HTTP://RYANLEACH.COM/RELEASE/FEATUREDMUSIC/)

&

Featured Music

LEAVE UNDEFINED
A REPLY

Morning Calm
MORNING CALM

(HTTP://RYANLEACH.COM/RELEASE/FEATUREDMUSIC/)

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