Film Scoring 101 - Atonality and Clusters

Film Scoring 101 - Atonality and Clusters
Atonality in its broadest sense is music that lacks a tonal center, or key. Atonality usually describes compositions written from about 1908 to the present day where a hierarchy of pitches focusing on a single, central tone is not used, and the notes of the chromatic scale function independently of one another
The first phase, known as "free atonality" or "free chromaticism", involved a conscious attempt to avoid traditional diatonic harmony. Works of this period include the opera Wozzeck (1917-1922) by Alban Berg and Pierrot Lunaire (1912) by Schoenberg.
A tone cluster is a musical chord comprising at least three adjacent tones in a scale. tone clusters are based on the chromatic scale and are separated by semitones. For instance, three adjacent piano keys (such as C, C♯, and D) struck simultaneously produce a tone cluster. Diatonic and pentatonic stacks are referred to as "tone clusters" only when they consist of four or more successive notes in the scale. In standard Western classical music practice, all tone clusters are classifiable as secundal chords-that is, they are constructed from minor seconds (intervals of one semitone), major seconds (intervals of two semitones)
An Atonal cluster is a musical chord comprising at least three adjacent tones in a scale. tone clusters are based on the chromatic scale and are separated by semitones. For instance, three adjacent piano keys (such as C, C♯, and D) struck simultaneously produce a tone cluster. I also have another category that I refer to open atonal clusters. This is where Tonal and Atonal clusters are spread into open position by combining minor and major 2nds, minor and major M7ths and minor and Major 9ths. An open tonal cluster would be a voicing like C D E where all the notes are M2 intervals separated by octaves. An atonal cluster would be a voicing like C C# B Bb.
Examples of pieces with Clusters:
Henry Cowell - The Tides of Manaunaun
1917 Premiere Opening bars of The Tides of Manuanuan, showing thirteen-note tone clusters. Massive clusters of 25 notes or more, to be played with the left forearm, occur later.
Bela Bartok - Piano Sonata 1926
Messiaen "The Transfiguration of Our Lord Jesus Christ") is a work written between 1965 and 1969 by Olivier Messiaen. It is based on the account found in the synoptic gospels of Jesus' transfiguration. The writing is on a very large scale; the work requires around 200 performers. The forces required include a mixed choir, seven instrumental soloists and a large orchestra. It is scored for a mixed choir (10 voices per part), 7 instrumental soloists and a very large orchestra.
Charles Ives - Piano Sonata No.2 also called “The Concord Sonata”
Examples of Atonality:
Béla Bartók
Three Etudes for Piano, op. 18
First Sonata for Violin and Piano (1921)
Second Sonata for Violin and Piano (1922)
Alban Berg
Lulu[
Wozzeck
Chamber Concerto
Elliot Carter
String Quartet No. 1 (1950)
Arnold Schoenberg
George Lieder [The Book of the Hanging Gardens] (1909), Op. 15/1
Erwartung (1909), Op. 17
String Quartet No. 2 (1907), Op. 10, last movement
Five Pieces for Orchestra (Fünf Orchesterstücke) (1909), Op. 16
Pierrot Lunaire (1912), Op. 21
Drei Klavierstücke (1909), Op. 11
Four Orchestral Songs (1916), Op. 22
Sechs kleine Klavierstücke (1913), op. 19
Five Pieces for Piano, op.23
Igor Stravinsky
The Rite of Spring (1913)
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[@marceloBAdARI]

Be Beat Beato Beatonal Be Atonal Ps: I think atonality deeply reverberates in my soul... These beautiful clusters you played have really inspired me. Thanks, Mr. Beato.

[@baloothedrummer]

Marcelo Badari Music Jajajaja Cool

[@lifewhyz]

@@baloothedrummer JAW-JAW-JAW

[@creedolala6918]

makes for great wedding music.

[@mattwardpictures]

If you're the Torrance Family... _Gimme the bat, Wendy..._

[@Yuliana_lisova]

😂

[@MetaphysicalMusician]

I'd heard that music at my wedding

[@fotgjengeren]

This video really encapsulates a lot of what I think about popular music. For me harmony is the biggest area that is lacking when it comes to most artists. To see a video like this is really refreshing, especially the way the dissonant harmonies end up being so pleasurable to listen to. Immediately after watching the video, I had a surge of energy and improvised with these clusters both melodically and harmonically. I will definitely keep these ideas in mind for new songs/compositions. Thanks a lot, Rick!

[@mark-ze4en]

Rick these simple ideas are opening broad avenues of thought and giving a license, so to speak, to me to examine deeper musical ideas than I had braved before. I have played piano most of my 66 years of life and explored dissonances and multi-tonality on my own but your ability to narrow ones focus on specific concepts truly is a blessing for me. The world needs more dedicated mentors and educated people like yourself to fill the void in the arts that education no longer seems to deem worthy of spending money and time on for young folk. Thanx millions Rick.

[@Cugelclever]

Hi Rick. I am a musician who has been in and out of studios since I was 14. I think I have learned more from your vids than I ever did from the engineers I worked with over the last 25 years. Thank you for all your work and for sharing it..

[@ashleyblack3941]

How important intended atonality actually is to the color of tone, the right mix of sugars and salts, brilliant video rick! Saving us all from musical diabetes!

[@Gnurklesquimp]

I absolutely love using those minor ones to build tension towards a more harmonic and consonant chorus in a dark piano piece

[@daleturner]

BAD ARSE!! I just searched Google for the "Wozzeck Chord" and this popped up! Thanks Rick!

[@TheBoxBand]

Every single topic in music I search, I end up with your channel. this is amazing! how rich your video archive is!

[@fatearrahcalloway473]

Hey Rick, this video is awesome. How do you modulate or transition from Tonality to Atonality in a piece?

[@HarrisZheng]

I've always thought composition as more voicing and interval based. Thanks for reinforcing my ideas, Rick!

[@blackfeather7686]

Excellent video Rick. Loving these classes on Film Scoring. Many thanks for putting these together.

[@seiph80]

Rick! for years I've always heard that piece of Shawshank Redemption from the scene when he's escaping and finally someone else has brought that to the forefront, and I absolutely love those chords. Thank you so much for mentioning that example.

[@RickBeato]

You are welcome

[@benthomas8497]

I've been working with atonal guitar musjc for a bit now and I've always wanted to learn how to write for strings as well. These videos have been a great help!

[@estoico629]

Thanks Mr Beato. Your channel is what I was looking for a long time. GBU

[@alexanderdelacruz9249]

Tnx Rick,you are a great musician and teacher.

[@PaulCassidyOrchestrations]

Hey Rick! Really enjoying your channel. You are a diamond for making these videos sharing your ideas with us! Many thanks buddy! :)

[@Gnurklesquimp]

Hearing those stacks of minor 2nd's on the strings in isolation often reminds me of Fable's graveyard area

[@IanDateMusic]

Love your sounds and ideas. Very inspiring. Thank you

[@nomorebs]

Every X-Files episode ever.

[@dr_b_composer]

threnody of the victims of hiroshima is literally THE most disturbing piece of music ive ever heard, and perhaps quite rightly so. thanks for introducing it to us

[@sebastianmarquez8410]

Keep on going Rick! You are the best! Thanks!

[@JoeSatrianiFan100]

Hi Rick! Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge. I've learned lots from following your YT-Channel!

[@mikechavez61]

Absolutely awesome. As always. Thumbs way up!

[@ChristianSchonbergerMusic]

Thank you for bringing method into the madness! Being a huge fan of Bernard Herrmann, I love atonal (or a combination of tonal and atonal) compositions if done right. It's easy playing/writing just random notes by trial and error, but to get those wonderful, dark, ominous movements with purpose - that's the hard part. Thanks for breaking it down for us! P.S. agreed: your strings sound wonderful. Love the soft 'breathy' bow attacks.

[@kevinbyrne4538]

I had to laugh as Rick dissected Herrmann's music. I could recognize, from Hitchcock's films, so many of the clusters that he was illustrating. Great !

[@RasiRon]

Thank you very well explained

[@zapzapfishes5878]

A lot of this is very Zelda. Koji Kondo and the composers that took up the mantle after him very often used those kind of harmonies and clusters to make the games feel as atmospheric as they do and even alien at times.

[@normanfreund]

Just imagine improvising some of these atonal clusters on the massive Andrew Pipe Organ in Chicago.

[@pjdahmen]

Very Good stuff and the Sound are Great ,well done.

[@icedancelife]

Awesome examples, thank you Rick. Don Davis in The Matrix score was using clusters to refer to humans or machine worlds.

[@jwp2460]

Fantastic video! I've been wanting to learn about this for some of my own composing projects. Thanks so much for breaking this down :-) up to this point this has been experimentation for me, without knowing what I was doing.

[@theviolinoob]

Mark Isham does it so well in Fire In The Sky - White Mountains, Arizona

[@goingfortheone1]

You neglected to mention Ligeti, who did masterful cluster textures with his micro-polyphony.

[@RickBeato]

Good point!

[@kmal16]

I agree, such a fascinating composer whose 'tone cluster' period was jaw dropping.

[@thebeatcreeper]

Check out the soundtrack to Pelham 123 by David Shire also the Dirty Harry soundtrack by Lalo Schifrin , lots of lovely clusters!

[@joelparker]

Great video!

[@doubledown9333]

Great sounds,Spectacle he he.

[@88KeysMan]

Great lesson!

[@guy_incognito]

Great essay! Penderecki's "...Hiroshima" was featured significantly in the last Twin Peaks season. Mind blowing (the music).

[@thynature]

Fantastic lesson!

[@nicolaofornengo3504]

wonderful!

[@SuperJzero]

Is it just me? More than one atonal cluster in succession makes me want to rip the ears off the side of my face! Interesting video...

[@ArturTadevosyan]

Please make more of this kind of content ❤️

[@BlindEyeJones]

What would be interesting if you could explore atonality & Chi. The two are about the flow of energy and the release of tension. There is a wealth of knowledge to be discovered but it requires an unprecedented degree subtly to plumb the depths of the anthropological/ biological/spiritual makeup of man, that no one human could acquire in his lifetime. It verges on mystical insight to travel those pathways mapping the contours and channels of flow to provide meaningful insight that we can use in everyday life. And I'm not talking about playing Mozart to plants! No, this is where we leave groovy, hippie practitioners and New Age fads to get a knowledge that would be acceptable at the university level. It would be an interdisciplinary challenge where the Music Department and Zen merge at the quantum level to witness the dance of the electrons, to witness atonal chaos theory grinding out a sonorous logic, to witness the yin yang pathway to the Stars. And the result would be a beatific vision of man's full potential, a final destination. In Western terms, it would be the Sistine Chapel ceiling on steroids.

[@JustMiluna]

very useful ,thanks a lot

[@goingtobe]

Hi Rick, Excellent tutorial. As far I recall, the film "Abyss" which composed by Alan Silvestri has many cluster and Lydian while using his signature sound with the diminished scale. Beautiful soundtrack. Composer today are not even getting close to composer from the "golden age" where all the film emotions were spilled through notes. There are some of them that are still here like John Williams but many of today composers are simply making background music for a film instead of making the music tell the story. while there is no "right or wrong", I simply prefer the "old school" style where all the composer had is a sheet of paper, pencil creativity. Today, we have technology (which is a good thing) that can give us the sounds of an orchestra, so things became more instant, therefor, music, is researched and explored differently. We are very lucky to have samples libraries and notation software that can give us a decent glimpse to how things sounds. Still, live instrument can do things that samples cannot.

[@hubertvancalenbergh9022]

That pentatonic stack sounded uncannily like a passage from Ligeti's Atmospheres. Glorious! What notes did you play?

[@TrustTheFund]

Just play the black notes on your keyboard, and you'll get the same texture.

[@hubertvancalenbergh9022]

Part of Penderecki's Threnody is used to good effect in The Shining - see the bit where Wendy discovers what Jack has been typing and the subsequent confrontation.

[@MePeterNicholls]

I’m finally starting to experiment with atonality.

[@christopherklaus5942]

Thanks for the video Rick, very interesting! Question for you: What are pentatonic stacks? Just chords made out of the major/minor pentatonic scales? The chord you played in the video is captivating and I’d like to know more about it.

[@MyUsernameIsAlsoBort]

Hey Rick! Great video analyzing this stuff. Have you ever seen Fantastic Voyage? I think it's one of the most underrated film scores of all time. It's highly atonal and is full of these clusters and it was for a big budget Hollywood movie in 1966! Pretty amazing to think, was wondering if you had any thoughts on that score.

[@JulianChrisDavid]

Hi Rick, your tone is just amazing ! It is faithful to real strings. How do you get that accurate sound?

[@magnushodne3972]

Hey Julian! I'm not sure if he's treating them in any way, but it looks like he's just using the stock strings (Factory Library) that come with Kontakt from Native Instruments.

[@RickBeato]

Julian Chris-David I actually have that and Albion II playing simultaneously.

[@Andrewtm23]

thanks for that, I was just about to ask. When I squint my eyes it kinda looks like cinematic strings..but thats just because of the colour of the interface :)

[@GiorgioRD]

Love this, also I listened casually to Penderecki's "Threnody..." just a few hours before seeing this video, coincidence? Ahah thanks.

[@burialgrid6394]

Rick - what do you think of the film work from Howard Shore? He uses lots of atonality and clusters, especially in his scores for Seven, Silence of the Lambs, and most of his work with David Cronenberg.

[@FloydAtema]

6:10 Rick Beato's Studio In The Dark

[@tymime]

Surely atonal music is used in horror movies all the time!

[@NN-rs1ny]

Hey Rick y want to thank you for your work and your videos this is really helpful especially for people that are not so much in film score music but more in Indi type ...I would try to use this technique in my next chord progressions or song but I have I request for you I notice a lot of the music I like that has a such a dark tone comes from (m6,sus2,4 & dim ) chords ,could you please make a video explaining them and ways to merge them in to chord progressions maybe! Thanks for all of this

[@intuneorange]

What a renaissance man

[@Truth-Speaker13]

Thank you Sir.

[@indiefilmandmusic]

This shit is going in my next film score.

[@d36williams]

I'm a big fan of pentatonic stacks -- never heard them called that before. I started on them because of modal jazz. e, a, d, g, b progress to d, g, c, f, a; but if you invert them all the way to the point where you can play them with your left hand you get -- d,e,g,a,b progress to c,d,f,g,a and you're playing cool jazz single handily. But now I know those are also called pentatonic stacks

[@george4mon]

I recommend requiem by Toru takemitsu if you like these sounds

[@Jzh733]

Gem!

[@Chinchu86]

Hey Rick I have two questions: 1. How would you notate a cluster? 2. Would these clusters sound as good on other groups of instruments as well as on strings? For example, I think it would sound very interesting using woodwinds but I'm not sure about it. What do you think?

[@theviolinoob]

For sure there's a lot of beautiful tone and atonal clusters possibilities in Brass and woodwinds as well

[@benthomas8497]

It's a little out side of film scores usually but clusters on guitars sound pretty interesting

[@sebastianzaczek]

Chinchu Rodríguez check out rautavaara's Piano Concerto, it's full of multiinstrumental (is that a word?) clusters

[@Cobiantti]

Hi Rick, that's amaizing. What kind of keyboard are you using to play? It sounds great. Thanks

[@MyMusic3149]

I really like the video: the string sound clusters are very evocative. BTW the Rite of Spring isn't atonal as such: it's really an example of post-romantic tonal harmony. Some parts even have a key signature... and the opening tune is a Russian folk song. And you can have non-hierarchical tonal centres but be consonant too.

[@ANTONSANMARTIN]

thinking outside. less limits. new songs come up from there. tonal X atonal... tonal + atonal

[@handicappuccino8491]

The music I am planning on writing for a country honest I don’t know if it would be a total but it would definitely have a lot of distance in it

[@user-ck1kx5ie6t]

Beato is _the_ working musician. You don't have to know music to watch his videos. You can simply enjoy the chords.

[@lonezombieheart7808]

Four Clusters in a row and my brain forms suicid plans. Thank you

[@johnfollis2357]

I have a keyboard and I am trying this stuff as I watch this video. I have a tone synth on my computer that I mess with and some projects I have dun are full of Atonality. Imagine if this stuff was heard in techno music and what not.

[@ChristianSpliess]

C - D - E? Sound close like the opening of Bergs Violinconcert. Not sure, though.

[@leonardozorzimusic]

Hi Rick. What's your audio interface?

[@JiriPrajzner]

idk if you ever mentioned it in your videos, but why don't you explain intervals and their inversions explictely and tell folks about the fact that everything has to add to 9 or be subtracted from 9? let's say we have major third interval, the inversion is major sixth (3 + 6 = 9), or what is the inversion of minor seventh? it's minor 2nd, because 9 - 7 = 2. simply some solid basics of classical music thoery. same goes for how to harmonize melodies, how voices work and what intervals can(not) be doubled etc. please do continue this great work of yours :) am really glad you did this video on atonality, it's still more progressive in some ways than what is currently perceived as progressive :)

[@JimmyLem]

Nice nice nice

[@fjestis]

Penderecki is pronounced much like Pen-de-re-tsky :-) Great video!

[@ndmath]

What would be a good resource to learn more about clusters and atonality?

[@idontgivea1769]

Your own mind.

[@ZWATER1]

👍

[@Butts666]

I love those little eyebrow raises when improvising, feels like a nonverbal "Wow, I'm actually *that* good aren't I".

[@juanfranciscotejada9460]

Are you using KONTAKT strings?

[@dulla8469]

today i learned that im not playing offkey, im just playing it atonal

[@innovativealternativeenerg9235]

Good conceptual theory but this must be for all your listeners who were born in 1990 and later I thought everyone learned music theory and chordal harmony when they were in school 4th grade, they did in the 50s and early 60's

[@aspirativemusicproduction2135]

This stuff fit some movie about deeply disturbed serial killer. I wander if I will ever find use for it.

[@daephx]

> threnody of the victims of hiroshima You didn't put it in the description boi-o

[@whiskeymike8010]

123

[@edwardgivenscomposer]

"and the notes of the chromatic scale function independently of one another". Not possible with an octave divided into 12 equal parts. In an effort to avoid a semblance of tonality the composer inevitably chooses intervals of tritone, major 2nd or 9th a whopping 55% of the time as opposed to 8% in common practice music. A different kind of hierarchy.

[@handicappuccino8491]

I thought that was hilarious but your son called that corn in spectacle

[@Yuliana_lisova]

This harmony is good only for moves. No one normal psychologically stable person would not listen to it just as it is for pleasure.

[@sebastianzaczek]

You should've said "Hey, I'm Rick Beatonal"

[@sidminor9284]

When I want to express my artistic views on something ultimately terrible, cruel, disgusting, unnatural, abnormal, degenerate, freak, perverted, deviant, bestial or just make listeners and house animals go crazy, I use atonality in music. I think it's a "mistake" to like or find atonality beautiful or wonderful itself. It is only a tool to express things when it's needed.

[@landrypierce9942]

Even going back to tonal harmony, a diminished chord isn’t really “beautiful,” on its own, but contributes something to the whole. I prefer atonality when used as a contrast to tonality.