“One ring to rule them all”, a melody that sounds every time “the ring of power” becomes the focus in the scenes of the movie The Lord of the Rings (as in The Hobbit), composed by Howard Shore, we proposes a work that produces an impact of mystery, dark magic and tension on the listener, what does this composition have that achieves that goal?
The melody is accompanied by a sequence of chords of the same quality (all minor) and they are placed in such a way that within the known keys we do not find any relationship. This is known as “Constant Structure”
Fm | % | Em | % | x2
Abm | % | Gm | % | x2
As these types of progressions do not certify a key, they give us the feeling of expectation, however, if we follow this sequence of chords without closing a circle, this expectation tends to become tension (The complete work continues to use constant structure).
Now let’s add the melody on a smaller scale that in itself comes with its melancholic, depressive, tenuous, etc. which is designed to give a speech on the first chord and rest on the second chord, this melodic form is key since it gives us the feeling that the first chord announces the arrival of the second chord (as if it were a cadence).
More as I said before, that harmonic relationship does not exist in terms of tonality, since its roots are separated by a minor 2, one could think of the chromatic approximation, or a pseudo Phrygian cadence. In any case, take note of this. You see a chord like Abm that announces the arrival of a Gm rest chord that is completely unexpected, and its appearance shocks you. Worse still, Em is being prepared by an Fm (F - Ab - C) which in turn tries to accompany a melody that is in the E minor scale (E - F # - G - A - B - C - D - E ), this last technique is called “Superposition” and when a musician enters this field the sound possibilities become, so to speak, “infinite”. It really is a masterpiece Howard Shore Composer is a genius!
Well there are several cases of constant structure, we will talk more about it, I hope he helps you enjoy this beautiful soundtrack more or helps you as a compositional tip.
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Social Media Author: Pablo Bobadilla Rider
