The Power of Music

There’s a reason why “Music Composers” is a category that get thoroughly study-session by those who compete in the Movie Trivia Schmoedown. Primarily because in any visual medium no matter how good your storytelling is everything just clicks when the right music is played in the proper manner to elicit a greater response from the viewing public.

Often times this can be accused of being a crutch or a manipulation in order to bolster a tale that isn’t quite connecting. And to that I say “So fucking what?” If the goal at the end of any project is to make an emotional connection between your story and your audience you would be an idiot to not collaborate with as many other artists as possible in order to best achieve the desired result.

In fact the biggest challenge I have as a novelist is trying to find the right mood to better enhance the scene I am creating with my characters. Nothing would make me happier than to be able to underlay a soundtrack on all my eBooks or have a note in all the margins suggesting the songs I had on in the background while I crafted this chapter.

One of the most creative releases I have outside of writing and wrestling is video editing, and cutting images to music is one of the most enjoyable practices I engage in and certainly the one I would love to spend more of my time doing. Maybe that’ll be my Xmas present to myself, an updated desktop solely for videos. Hmmm…

Regardless; this topics comes to mind for two recent reasons.

The first came as a question from one of the wrestlers who for some Godforsaken reason has chosen me to mentor him. Among one of the many questions I get fielded on a semi-regular basis came the all important “What do you think of such and such song for my walk out music?” And boy, after 25 years of independent wrestling and seeing all kinds of bonkers trends, musical tastes and more I have witnessed some disastrous examples of dumb-fuckery for those making a key first impression upon their audience.

The first thing to remember in this case, is that the music should reflect not only who you are trying to portray, but who you actually ARE. I mean, I really like listening to the Beastie Boys, but under no circumstances should I have ever walked out to “No Sleep til Brooklyn.” And yet, that mistake I did make. Several times.

Nothing turns an audience off more than someone whose walk out music just doesn’t fit what they end up seeing. Perception truly is everything. So no matter how deeply you might like the hardest of hardcore death metal, if you walk through that curtain and don’t look like a bad ass shit-kicking machine the climb to having your audience respect the match you’re going to provide for them just got a lot steeper.

This isn’t to say “Pick something generic or bland.” Just pick something that suits you. Something that genuinely works with your presentation and mood. Being a “Try Hard” is fine, but people see right through that shit. So don’t get discouraged, play around with a few things until the right one sticks. You’ll know it when it happens.

The second reason I wanted to talk about this came as I was watching Episode 15 of “The Bad Batch” on the Disney-Plus.  This might be slightly spoilery but by this point you’re either in on the show or you’re judging me for watching a Star Wars cartoon on a Friday night. Either way, too bad.

In the penultimate episode of this season we have the pseudo reunion of the team with their estranged member Crosshair who has been ostensibly hunting them down since the pilot episode. After having the kind of dialogue and emotional discussion not normally found in most “cartoons for kids” we find the main characters suddenly surrounded by battle droids, espounding upon the original reason for which the Clones were all created. As the fight begins and things look lost we are treated to not only Crosshair joining in the fight and once again making the Bad Batch whole, we have the swelling of the shows main theme. But this time, composer Kevin Kiner changes the tone perfectly, making it less of an action march and into something triumphant and exultant. An audible cue that finally the team is back together and that all is as it should be. Even if only for a moment.

That moment brought literal chills to me. True story, I ain’t afraid of my emotions. That was a powerful moment in the show and the music helped the audience understand that it was important for us too.

Storytelling is rarely ever one thing. And while some people get bogged down in plot and minutae, I think it’s important to remember the things that make us feel. And so long as you’re feeling things, the story is working.

 

AK

Check out the consequences my main character Joe goes through in my Urban Fantasy OVERDRIVE Series at the following retailers. Availble in eBook, Paperback and Harcover.

AMAZON  KOBO  B&N  SMASHWORDS  SCRIBD  APPLE

Also, please consider supporting your favourite Wrestler today by visiting Pro Wrestling Tees and browse to your hearts content. Just, while you’re there, consider looking at my site first willya?