The Music of "Sherlock"

[JessieBlackwood]

I am new to this site so have no idea if anyone has posted anything about this already. However, forgive me if they have but this struck me as an interesting insight into Benedict as an actor, not to mention how the music is worked on in the series. This is Eos Chater's blog concerning her work as a violinist and member of the classical music girl group Bond. She was brought in as Benedict's violin tutor and has written her musings on her time with the series. It's a very revealing article and actually makes me like Benedict all the more.

 

http://earthobservingsystem.tumblr.com/post/15188532235/sherlock-on-the-fiddle

 

She worked on set to sync her playing with his but he had to acheive the appearance of an expert player. Look her up on you tube as well. Bond is a great group to listen to.

[Banshee]

So that's why it looked like Benedict knew how to hold a violin! Love it when shows make the effort to get things like this right!

[aSnowyEvening]

Can I say how much I am envious happy for the violinist to be brought on as Benedict's violin coach? There are some moments in the article that had me swooning over the mental image I have of the man:

• Information is his quarry and it shall not escape him. No wonder he's such a good Sherlock.
• We were sitting outside in the sun when Benedict strode up, motorbike gear on, helmet in hand...
• ... I realize that violins look much more cool when worn by bikers.
• I was becoming familiar with his laser focus, and his 'locked onto target' eyes...
• One time I'm giving him a lesson on the side of a set, in the dark, dodging crew hefting lights around- with him dressed IN A BED SHEET. This is fine I tell myself. TOTALLY FINE.

Seriously. I am so jealous of this violinist it hurts She's so lucky.

 

But on an amateur musician's note: I find it really awesome that she took the known pieces for Scandal and purposely put them in a key that would be easy for Benedict to learn. I had wondered while watching if it we actually heard Benedict playing or if we were hearing an overlapped recorded track by some cold enigmatic entity while he was taught how to act like playing an instrument without actually playing, but I'm glad that it was neither. They went to such efforts to make it look realistic, and it turned out so beautifully.

 

I just... ack, words fail me.

Edited March 16, 2012 by aSnowyEvening

[aely]

Oh that's brill.

[Banshee]

One time I'm giving him a lesson on the side of a set, in the dark, dodging crew hefting lights around- with him dressed IN A BED SHEET. This is fine I tell myself. TOTALLY FINE.

 

I can't see that being particularly conducive to good focus. Not on the violin, anyway LOL

[believeinsherlock]

Yeah, watching the show has made me dust off my violin and start playing again - it makes me feel cool as hell when I play it.

[Alice Holmes]

LOL that's hilarious. Violin's what convinced me that I actually liked his character--I've played for years.

 

By the way, does anyone know The Persuaders, and think the theme is similar?

[JessieBlackwood]

I was going to say exactly the same. I loved the Pursuaders when I was a kid. I played both themes one after the other a few nights ago and they 'feel' the same, even although they're not exact. Glad someone has picked up on that.

[JessieBlackwood]

Anyone think there's also a slight quirky similarity in the Downey Jnr Sherlock film music, it dances about eccentrically and completely fits the characters?

[Our Division]

Jess, the soundtrack was one of my favorite things about the movie series, and the Sherlock music was so similar in tone, the transition was made so much easier for me.

[biscuitbear]

Just stumbled on this on tumblr, love it :

 

http://glasmond.tumblr.com/post/16022749716/a-little-something-i-improvised-on-the-piano-its

 

This girl made lots of other versions too such as salsa and ragtime.

Almost makes me want to take up piano again!

[Bakerstreet Irregular]

There are so many fan made music on Youtube. One of my favorites is of a young violinist or three playing the "Cabbie Chase". My Heart Palace is truly brilliant very nicely done.

[Carol the Dabbler]

First, I don't believe that we ever posted a link to this September 2012 Sherlockology article with Michael Price explaining the why's and wherefore's of scoring a Sherlock episode.

 

And here's a link to a recent magazine interview with Price.

 

[Alice Holmes]

That's cool! And I've seen The Empty Hearse about three times now, and every time I see the opening scene (Anderson's theory) that electronic music gets stuck in my head for the remainder of the day. I just really like it. It's actually in my head right now...

[Carol the Dabbler]

I think that music is just perfect -- all action-hero-James-Bondy -- which is our first subtle clue that what we're seeing isn't the true reveal.

 

I don't usually focus on the music -- how can I when I'm being distracted? -- but it seems to me that the Series 3 music has a whole lot more variety than we've heard before.

 

[Alice Holmes]

I was thinking the same. The electronic, action-y thing wouldn't have made an appearance in season one, I don't think. I think it required a bit of confidence to insert.

[Pawse]

I am new to this site so have no idea if anyone has posted anything about this already. However, forgive me if they have but this struck me as an interesting insight into Benedict as an actor, not to mention how the music is worked on in the series. This is Eos Chater's blog concerning her work as a violinist and member of the classical music girl group Bond. She was brought in as Benedict's violin tutor and has written her musings on her time with the series. It's a very revealing article and actually makes me like Benedict all the more.

 

http://earthobservingsystem.tumblr.com/post/15188532235/sherlock-on-the-fiddle

 

She worked on set to sync her playing with his but he had to acheive the appearance of an expert player. Look her up on you tube as well. Bond is a great group to listen to.

Wonderful!

[Alice Holmes]

I know they puts lots of effort into it, but that's the one thing that has always annoyed me about the series. He never looks like he's actually playing.

[Carol the Dabbler]

Anything in particular, or just looks a bit "off" somehow?  (I'm not any kind of musician, unless you count whistling and humming, so he looks pretty convincing to me.)

 

[Boton]

I hope I've put this thread in the right place and haven't duplicated a thread; I tried to look around first.  Please let me know if not and I'll move it.

 

I've been listening a lot to the soundtracks lately while I work (I find that, ironically, they keep my mind from trying to "pull itself apart" while I'm writing).  I have no training in music theory, but I did once read that music can affect the emotions of the listener in part by duplicating and then manipulating the listener's pulse.  For example, a bass line in a rock song that is somewhat faster than a resting heart rate will eventually excite the listener as their pulse speeds up to match the music.  With that as my working theory, I have a few new favorites from the soundtrack that I think are just brilliant:

 

"Addicted to a Certain Lifestyle:" (S3) has a bass line (carried by the tympani, I think?) that is slightly faster than my resting pulse.  That song, for various reasons including the bass line, conveys such a richness of the anxiety of the scene.

 

"The Woman:"  (S2) is very interesting if you like the pulse theory, given the conversation about pulse and pupil dilation from Sherlock and Irene.  If you listen, there is a low "heartbeat" baseline carried behind the relatively slow melody that is quite fast and "aroused," if you like.

 

Now here's the cool one, IMHO:

 

"Blood on the Pavement:" (S2) obviously is the track that plays behind Sherlock's "fall" from the rooftop of Barts.  I need to go back and listen to the track as it was overlaid with the scene, but in the track alone, there is a very clear "lub-dub" heartbeat.  The "heartbeat" plays throughout the entire song, all the way to the end.  It never stops, just like Sherlock was never dead.  

 

I don't know how much of all this was deliberate on the part of the composers, but I'm going to assume that, like most of the rest of the show, nearly everything was deliberate.  So well done -- this is probably one of my favorite movie/TV soundtracks of all time.

Edited October 22, 2014 by Carol the Dabbler
Merged from another thread

[Arcadia]

Cool. I would imagine that those who compose for TV/movies are in fact quite aware of the "psychology" of music. Sort of part of the job description, in fact!

 

I'm frankly amazed at how well-done everything in this show is. Most of the elements are flashy enough to call attention to themselves, too ... you'd think that would overwhelm the viewer, but it doesn't, it all works. Altho I have seen more than one review that claims that very thing (too flashy) but even those don't grumble too much.

 

I love the "Blood on the Pavement" theme, so many emotions contained in one piece.

[Boton]

It definitely gives us different ways to view the show while we are waiting for new episodes (sob!).  I'm thinking about a rewatch where I just listen to music and how it's used -- when it plays, when it drops out, how the music emphasizes dialogue and conveys emotion.  I might do a "costumes rewatch" as well, as I did when I was doing some academic research on Mad Men.  

 

I did the same thing with the Harry Potter books -- it was a lot of fun to reread the books looking just for Snape's story.  :-)

[Arcadia]

I just read (sorry, lost the thread already) where someone was theorizing that when Sherlock sings "when I've got you" in TRF, he's using the Bach Motif (apparently the notes spell "BACH.") I'd have to listen again, it doesn't sound quite like the same four notes to me, but ... cool, if true. Code? (That was this person's theory.) What, there's clues in the soundtrack too? Must rewatch whole series again, alas......

[Schlauer Fuchs]

I just read (sorry, lost the thread already) where someone was theorizing that when Sherlock sings "when I've got you" in TRF, he's using the Bach Motif (apparently the notes spell "BACH.") I'd have to listen again, it doesn't sound quite like the same four notes to me, but ... cool, if true. Code? (That was this person's theory.) What, there's clues in the soundtrack too? Must rewatch whole series again, alas......

 

That's really cool! I just rewatched it, and the notes could actually be B, A, C and H - but: the order in which he sings them spells A-B-C-H, so not quite Bach but an anagram. But it's a fantastic theory in every sense of the word

 

[Carol the Dabbler]

Actually, there was already a thread in this same subforum, titled "The Music."  I've merged your thread in with it, but I liked your title better, so I've edited that.

 

If you're looking for a thread on a particular subject, one method that often works for me is to use the Advanced Search (click on the little cog thingie next to the search box at the top of any forum page).  Enter the word or phrase you think is mostly likely to appear in the title of any such thread, then tell the search to look only at titles.  That's how I found this thread, since it hadn't been posted to in quite a while, so was pretty far down on the list.