TFF: The Violin Screech

     The Feeling Fragment: Music is the "fragment" of a story that connects us to characters and allows us to empathize with them. In this                series, we explore the role music plays in story. Music, in my opinion is what gives the story it's humanity, and adds more "feeling".

"Words have no power to impress the mind without 

the exquisite horror of their reality." -Edgar Allan Poe

"

Let's be frank. I hate scary movies - and I do not toss around the word hate. I assure you though, that I feel secure in the height of my statement. The reasoning isn't important really, but while your here I might as well back up my reasoning, right?

My disdain for scary movies is rooted in the same disdain I feel toward roller-coasters. Why on earth would a person like feeling like they are edging a cliff? Why do people like adrenaline swallowing their psyche and crippling them physically? What is fun or enjoyable about feeling like you may pee or scream or disintegrate from the earth? I've asked these questions and received valid answers. 

My conclusion is this. Scary movies and roller-coasters make people feel a burst of emotion. I dislike that because I feel a burst of emotion every five seconds. 

You're rolling your eyes and wondering why you're reading this.

Let me get to the point.

Scary movies contain one of the most dynamic feeling fragments. 

Next time you watch a suspenseful movie - turn the sound off. You'll discover something pretty cool - the movie won't grip you the same way.

You probably won't feel that mounting doom.

Horror films play on the negative outburst of human emotion. 

They make my eyes water, your mom scream and your significant other squeeze your hand. They are unsettling and they push our minds into an uncomfortable place. Sometimes this is done artfully, sometimes of pure evil, and other times to embellish actual stories. One thing is certain, they contain a feeling fragment: the violin screech.

You know something terrible is about to happen to the character when you hear that climatic stack of screeches. It's like nails on a chalk board and without it the story would fall flat. It preps the viewer to prepare for terror. Often times it occurs when the events themselves aren't context for horror. Maybe a girl is skipping in the rain but a scary scene is about to happen - the viewers may not sense it other than the ominous auditory warning. Even still the sound only scrambles the mind and leaves the viewer in a heightened state of awareness. Only when the music falls silent or reaches a scream does the viewer learn the value of the warning.

It's really something. And for hating scary movies, I have to say it's quite the unique tool for telling a story well. It's popular to use music to tell a story. Musicals, soundtracks you name it. They all give us joy or pain. Yet, horror films strike a different cord - literally. 

There has to be something scientific to it - the chaos you feel when your met with the cacophony of sounds found in a horror film. It makes sense that we can use words to display emotion, but that all it takes to emit fear is a sound - that is interesting. It's interesting that such a heavy feeling would be so easy to empathize with and express. Perhaps, we truly are most alike in our short comings and in what we fear. From there maybe we can learn the most about how to triumph.

Or maybe we just need to embrace and fight through the white-knuckle moments of life.

Check out some scary movie sounds!