How Does Music Sound Scary?
1. The Sound of Fear
With Halloween weekend having just happened, what better time to talk about what makes music sound scary! Most people’s experiences (including my own) of scary music are usually related to film (although not exclusively). Having said that, there have also been many pieces that were originally stand alone pieces but later popularised by horror movies.
A great example of this is Bach’s Toccata and Fugue in D minor. This piece was used in the 1932 film Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde as well as the 1934 movie The Black Cat. It was originally written for the organ, and there’s not much that sounds scarier than a minor key in a church! Bach is also used in The Shining, where the Goldberg Variations are used to create a juxtaposition between how much of a psycho Hannibal Lecter actually is and his externally calm demeanour.
Using composers such as Bach creates a sense of grandeur and sinisterness because when we think of “old music”, we often associate it with upper-class society or a time when people were much more restrained. So this directly contrasts with the reality of someone particularly murderous.
There are also more contemporary pieces used in horror, such as Bartók’s music in The Shining or George Crumb’s Black Angels in The Exorcist. These modern pieces have a much more direct relationship with the mindset of someone (or something) looking to kill. They’re erratic, dissonant, and often feel unpredictable or incoherent.
2. Making “Scary”
So what is it about music that makes it feel particularly scary?
The first and most obvious feature is dissonance. Our ears like hearing notes that work well together. This is why we have standard chords and scales. The notes within these chords and scales resonate together in a pleasant way. For example, an octave; if we play an A at 440Hz along with the A an octave higher at 880Hz, the frequencies is double, meaning the notes resonate well together.
However, if you play consecutive notes, maybe an A and an A#, the frequency of an A# is 466.16Hz. This rubs against the A and creates an uncomfortable sound.
This is exactly why consecutive notes are used in scary music and it’s also why contemporary classical music often sounds more like horror music.
Scary music also uses rhythm in several interesting ways.
From the perspective of the killer, we might want the music to mirror their personality; erratic and unpredictable. This means the rhythm might not be predictable at all. An example of this is The Conjuring theme, where the sound is a persistent, swelling noise with no clear pulse to latch onto.
In contrast, from the perspective of the victim, the music might have an insistent, inevitable rhythm. This gives the music a sense of time running out or a force that can’t be stopped. An example of this is the famous string theme from Psycho, which combines harsh dissonance with that rhythmic persistence, essentially the sound of inevitable death. Another great example is the theme from Jaws (although I wouldn’t consider this to be a horror film, especially given the quality of the cardboard shark).
Then there are dynamics, or how loud the music is. Once again, there are two common approaches. One is the erratic and unpredictable method, sudden loud notes that make you jump. An example of this is the Scream theme, where sharp percussive hits feel unexpected and jarring. The other approach is the long, slow crescendo often used to make the music feel like it’s getting closer and closer to you, much like the killer in a horror movie. A great example is Ave Satani from The Omen, where the church-like choir begins softly and gradually builds until it becomes overwhelming.
3. What You Can Do
Scary music is one of the few musical styles that directly mimics the visceral emotions we feel in a scary situation. That’s why music in horror films plays such a significant role. Often, if we took the music away, a horror movie wouldn’t be scary at all, we need the music to give us the sense of chaos, fear, or inevitability to tell us what we don’t necessarily see on screen.
So if you want to try creating your own scary music, think about what you might feel in a terrifying situation. Your heart rate might increase, you might not know what’s going to happen next, and it might feel uncomfortable. These are all feelings that you can recreate musically to heighten that emotional response. The pulse of the music can speed up, it can be unpredictable and dissonant, or you can take the “calm psychopath” approach, like using Bach, to juxtapose the calm demeanour of a psychopath with the horror of a psychopath’s actions.
Matthew Cawood
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