From: tiverson@lynx.dac.northeastern.edu (Thor Iverson)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.startrek.current
Subject: Re: DEEP SPACE NINE MUSIC.
Keywords: music
Date: 28 Jan 93 01:14:52 GMT
Distribution: usa
Organization: Northeastern University, Boston, MA. 02115, USA

In article <1k79in$fuv@agate.berkeley.edu> felix@ocf.berkeley.edu (Felix Ling) writes:

>I think you're confusing nondescript with not-very-loud.

The music is totally devoid of any emotional content.  Nondescript is a good
term.

>People are finding the music unlikable *not* because it doesn't stand out, but
>because it doesn't sound like other music they like.

What people?  I for one have always claimed that I don't like it in this
context and this context only.  Whether or not I listen to Musak outside
the context of DS9 has nothing to do with my dislike of the DS9 theme.
But Musak it is, and Musak it remains.  Cookie-cutter soundtrack work.

>Everyone compares it to the _Next Gen_ theme, and asks why can't it be more
>like it.

Again, who is this "everyone"?  Most of the comments I've seen relating the
music to TNG or TOS have merely commented that it subtly refers to the
themes of those shows.  Certainly _comparisons_ to the music in TNG are
warranted, especially if one feels that the TNG music is appropriate and
the DS9 music isn't.  I have yet to see anyone ask why the DS9 theme isn't
more like the TNG theme.  Stop generalizing.

>Or they compare it to music from _Star Wars_ or other space shows, and
>ask why couldn't the DS9 music be more like that.

I was one of the people who first made the Williams connection.  I _don't_
think the DS9 theme should be Williams-esque, but see below.

>I, for one have never been that impressed with Williams' music.  His
>work on _Star Wars_, _Indiana Jones_, _Superman_, etc., could all really
>almost be interchangeable if you think about it.  Recognizable?  Of
>course, but mostly because he writes (or even borrows, sometimes) this
>catchy theme which he'll repeat over and over again throughout the
>course of the movie.

I think _you're_ confusing "catchy" and "memorable".  I'm no fan of Williams'
lack of originality, whether he's stealing from his own works or Holst's,
but he does create moods and memorable associative music well.  Think of the
Imperial March from _The Empire Strikes Back_, for instance.  Or the theme
Williams uses during the Luke/Palpatine and Luke/Vader scenes in _Return Of
the Jedi_.  These all have dramatic emotional content and serve the thematic
needs of the visuals well.  Not so with the DS9 theme.

As I've said before, the DS9 theme (along with the title visuals) just sit
there.  The minimalist approach of the visuals would be fine if accompanied
by music that created some sort of dynamic tension, but this is not achieved.
I would like to hear something brooding and dangerous, something occasionally
dissonant and unresolved; something that complements what we have been led
to believe the spirit of the show is, especially in contrast to TNG.

>DS9, however, actually starts at a very low, quiet level, and slowly
>builds intensity througout, much like Ravel's Bolero (which, I guess,
>you'd find to be boring).

Can't speak for the original poster, but I find "Bolero" fascinating.
But "intensity" is certainly the wrong word.  It does indeed get a bit
louder, but intensity is not merely achieved with dynamics.  Some suspensions
are usually required; some unresolved chordal structures that (subliminally
if done very well) make the listener anticipate resolution.  The DS9 theme
rarely changes its "pedal" note, and when it does the progression is so
banal and commonplace that no tension is created.  The long, drawn-out,
unresolved chord is a great musical device, but as used in the DS9 theme
it becomes merely an excuse to play "happy notes" that are well within
a most simplistic reading of the relevant scales.

>It starts out with this yearning, yet almost lonely-sounding solo horn
>line.  Then a second horn joins it and they go through a variation of
>the first line, slightly building in volume.  Then, as they reach a
>small peak, capped with a cymbal roll, a solo trumpet comes in with
>the main theme, which contains several motives from the lines introduced
>by the horns.	    	    	    	^^^^^^^

"Motifs," by the way.  ;-)

The "theme" of which you speak is the prime culprit here--the (too short)
note progression not only sounds like somethin Copland rejected during
an early stage of the composition of "Fanfare For The Common Man," but
it is totally devoid of any coherent direction.  It just gets played, then
repeated, without any idea as to how this progression relates to the overall
structure of the song.  Indeed, when the underlying chords finally do
change, the motif has to be tossed because it doesn't fit within the new
chord structure.  Poor theme writing.

>Anyway, the music then builds a little more as it moves into this
>rather majestic sounding section in the horns, where they play a rhythm
>similar to that in the main theme.  The strings play a rather simple
>accompaniment, which I think could have been expanded.  Again, the
>section ends much like the main theme did, and it sounds somewhat
>unsatisfactory.

Unsatisfactory indeed.  Majestic--hardly.  The horns and strings merely
flesh out the already obvious chords, and don't add anything to the
piece but volume.

>But now, the music has built up even more, and the main theme comes
>in much more forcefully.  This time, however (and I love this), when
>the fanfare line repeats the third time, the chord in the accompaninment
>changes so that the line doesn't sound as stable as it was, and it isn't
>resolved until the tag.

It isn't resolved because they chuck the theme as untranslatable within
the new chord.  And it doesn't sound stable becuase the composer apparently
doesn't have any idea where to take the motif, so he just kinda dribbles
off into some too-nice chordal harmonies.

>Unfortunately, the tag is basically *unchanged*
>from before, and thus, after steadily building throughout the whole song,
>it seems to end rather abruptly.

Part and parcel of my problem with the entire theme--it doesn't start anywhere,
doesn't go anywhere, and doesn't end anywhere.  I could deal with the tension
inherent in something that doesn't really ever resolve, but not with this 
bland collection of safe notes that say nothing.

Thor Iverson