Jerry Goldsmith's Alien (1979 (Nothing to Say)

[Arpy 4,145]

Hey all,

I'm doing an assignment for my uni course and thought the knowledgeable members of JWFan could help with this particular detail. I'm analyzing a sequence from the film, the Chest-burster scene and the funeral of John Hurt's character, Kane. The funeral scene is underscored with one of my all-time favourite cues: 'Nothing to Say'. Anyhow, the assignment requires that I analyse the use of music for the scene and this is where I became stuck, particularly because of my terrible apprehension of the difference between instruments.

Does anyone here know of the instrumentation and orchestration of this cue and in particular the statement of the main theme?

[Jilal 569]

Does the assignment really require you to include such details as instrumentation in your analysis?

[Arpy 4,145]

It doesn't state so, but I would like to at least say which instruments are being used instead of just the generalization of 'brass' or 'woodwinds', If you know what I mean?

[Jilal 569]

I suppose it would make for a nice bonus, but keep in mind that going into such detail when not required could cost you marks .

Could you give us some timestamps for specific parts of the cue you want to know the instrumentation of? Scans of the orchestrated score have long been in circulation, so I'm sure I'm not the only one that can help you.

[Arpy 4,145]

I suppose it would make for a nice bonus, but keep in mind that going into such detail when not required could cost you marks .

Could you give us some timestamps for specific parts of the cue you want to know the instrumentation of? Scans of the orchestrated score have long been in circulation, so I'm sure I'm not the only one that can help you.

Yes, I shall heed your advice on not over-elaborating things!

0:35 - 1:51 of Nothing to Say is the timestamp, at least on my copy of the track.

Any help would be much appreciated and even for generally understanding the cue on a technical level would be interesting.

[Jilal 569]

I'll try to keep it as straightforward as possible .

[Arpy 4,145]

Thanks for your help, Alexander!

[Jilal 569]

Here we go. At least some knowledge of harmony is required to understand the analysis, but the terms I use shouldn't be too difficult to understand. I did my best to avoid any complicated harmonic analysis. Forgive me if this didn't turn out the way you would have liked! Links to Wikipedia articles are embedded in the text.

I'm sure 99% of this post is unnecessary for your analysis, so distill what you need.

00:35 - 01:22 (Bars 12-24 of cue R7P1 'Nothing to Say' (Revised))

Orchestrator: Arthur Morton

We're in 3/4 meter. Over a nauseous sustained minor seventh orchestrated for the violas, cellos and basses with the accompaniment of a string ensemble synth pad (phase shifted, to give it a slightly wavering effect) and a mixed choir instructed to sing with their hands in the form of a cup in front of their mouth, 3 French horns in F play a quarter note (B-flat, the upper note of the minor seventh) drone pattern.

3 oboes (in unison) sound an ominous call whilst the violin section plays a very soft sustained trill (sul ponticello, meaning on the bridge of their instrument, giving the tone a glassy quality). The oboes repeat the call whilst the bass note (played by the cellos and basses) shifts from C to the even lower G-flat, two tones a tritone apart, another ominous, nauseous interval. As a response to the ominous oboe call, the violins and violas play a variation on it, reach a chord, play a similar pattern and finally reach the last chord, whilst the horns both shift their drone from B-flat to A and are joined by three more horns sounding a supportive stopped A as the flutes, clarinets and bassoons join the orchestra to give harmonic support. Accompanying the final chord, swipes on both a Javanese gong and tam-tam, a spin of the wind machine and glissandos for the choir, piano, cellos and basses are heard, effectively contributing to its unsettling atmosphere.

01:22 - end (Cue R7P1A)

Orchestrator: Arthur Morton

3 flutes doubled by the marimba play two different minor chords in a succesive pattern over one of those minor chords sustained by the string section (con sordini, producing a soft, muted tone), accompanied by a low quarter note drone on the lowest note of that chord orchestrated for 2 tubas, the timpani and an Arp 2600 synthesizer, as well the other minor chord, orchestrated for 3 trumpets muted with harmon mutes, doubled by the vibraphone. A similar concept, with a different set of chords, is then heard, although this time, the second chord is not a minor chord but a different, more dissonant one.

[Arpy 4,145]

This is amazing, Alexander!

Thanks a bunch! It's interesting to read the orchestration whilst listening to the track, everything works perfectly!

I had always, as an aside, wondered what exactly that noise was (a wind machine) that's unusual.

[Sharkissimo 1,973]

Wonderful cue. Probably my favourite from Alien. That opening Gb7/C polychord with the lower C filled in with a white note (C-G) cluster is fucking bone chilling.

I'd say the key feature of 00:35 - 01:22 is the use of multiple pedal points at different registers. You've got the Bb in the muted horns coloured by the Arp Solina, violas and mixed voices (exchanged between tenors and altos every two bars) - that's one pedal. Then enters a lower pedal, C, a minor 7th below. Furthermore, with the oboe's statement of the Nostromo Theme (3 oboes in unison), 1st violins come in with a measured tremolo between E and F#. So what was previously interpreted by our ears as a double pedal point, now sounds like a C7b5.

[Jilal 569]

This is amazing, Alexander!

Thanks a bunch! It's interesting to read the orchestration whilst listening to the track, everything works perfectly!

I had always, as an aside, wondered what exactly that noise was (a wind machine) that's unusual.

You're welcome . The orchestration is fairly unusual, indeed. It's really cool to have such avant-garde stuff in a film score.

[Jilal 569]

(...) multiple pedal points at different registers (...)

That's an interesting way to think of it.

[Sharkissimo 1,973]

And just continuing from where I left off, with the second phrase of the theme (mm. 18-19 / 0:54-1:00) the bass pedal changes to Gb, and with the prolonged Bb pedal and the violins' E-F# tremolo, we have a Gb7. Now we can hear the dissonant sonority (Gb7/C - two major triads positioned a tritone apart) that opens that cue as a "compression" of the harmonic material that later unfolds. That sonority's low white note cluster also has a counterpart in the pandiatonic passage from mm. 21-22 (1:04-10) which itself is a variation on the Time Motif (the hypnotic flute motif heard at 01:21-47). At 1:04, the inner Bb pedal descends to A, and after a rest the bass pedal returns on D. As you can see, this is smooth voiceleading (as is the major third progression - C#m to Am - LP in neo-Riemannian theory*).

Bb----

A--------

D-------

C-----

This harmonic basis of these bars is the two minor triads fifth apart sounding back and forth (in the violins and violas) - Am above and Dm below. At first the Dm portion is only articulated in the double pedal of D (bassoons, cellos and basses) and A (Arp Solina, tenors + altos, and three stopped + three muted horns). As the strings start the oscillating pattern between E-B-C-E (Amadd2 with the missing A provided by the pedal - this kind of secundal dissonance is common in white note/pandiatonic harmony) and Dm - the clarinets sustain Dm and the B-C-E is held by flutes an octave above.

Once again, stepwise voiceleading moves the Amadd2 to F#m in first inversion (the D pedal drops a fourth to A - a quasi-dominant gesture). The B-C expands to A-C# and E leads up to F#. Over this, a lone major sixth (B-G#) ascends. cadencing on a uniquely voiced Cmaj7 (F# and G# resolve to G, F# to E, A to G and B). The voicing is as follows.

B5

E5

B4

G4

E4

B3

C2

C1

The C octave bass (C1 and C2) in cello and basses is only heard for a quarter note, until it glissandos up to B2/B3. This is part of a larger textural effect involving the choir glissing (while singing between their teeth) from their highest note down to their lowest, the piano strings being strummed with a guitar pick from lowest to highest, the harp performing its own ascending gliss, combined with the percussion (as mentioned by Alex - Javanese gong swiped with a triangle beater and a wind machine).

The Em harmony is sustained like a held breath as the R7P1 is overlapped with R7P1A. With quiet menace the Time Motif (3 flutes and marimba) on Ebm enters the picture and we're now back to the same oscillating minor triads as per 1:04-10. This time round it's a minor second higher - Ebm to Bbm. The Eb pedal remains as the second phrase of the motif shifts between F#m and Eb7 (without the fifth - Bb). As in 1:04-10, contrasting orchestral groups hold the two triads - so violins, violas coloured by harp sustain Ebm for two measures, and an 8th rest later doubling the flutes and marimba, Harmon muted trumpets and vibraphone ring out Bbm for an 8th note tied to a dotted half note, tied to another dotted half note in the next bar.

*The leittonwechsel (L or leading tone) operation shifts the single member of a triad that doesn't make up its minor third interval. So an L operation on a C major triad would shift the C down a half step to B - giving us C major's L relation - E minor. The leading tone of C major or minor is B, explaining the name. Likewise, on an A minor triad, the E would be raised to F, so the A minor's L relation is F major. In traditional theory these relations would be called a mediant (iii) or submediant (VI) or simple major third progressions, in NRT - the triad is seen as a basic unit on which these voice leading operations can be applied. This analytic approach works great for triadic yet atonal music like much of Alfred Schnittke's oeuvre or James Horner's Kaleidoscope of Mathematics (and similar cues) from A Beautiful Mind.

The P means parallel, as in the parallel major or minor. This simply raises or lowers a triad's third, so C major becomes C minor and vice versa.

In the case of the LP in this cue - L raises the fifth of C#m (G#) to A. We now have A major. With the P all we have left to do is to drop A major's third from C# to C

The remaining operations are R (relative - switches to relative major or minor e.g. C to Am or G to E) and S (slide - this is a bit more tricky - it involves moving the root and fifth of a triad up or down a half-step while the third stays fixed, e.g. C#m becomes C or E -> Fm) and the rarer H (Hexatonic - for a major triad, it's a minor triad a major third below, e.g. C to Abm - the notes of these two triads combined make up a hexatonic/augmented scale. Abm is called C's hexatonic pole and vice versa) . These are the key operations of NRT - any others are not as widely used or accepted.

Edit: Fixed a few typos/omissions.

[Arpy 4,145]

Found this interesting reworking of the cue for the game 'Alien Isolation'.

[BloodBoal 7,538]

So much to say about Nothing To Say...

[Incanus 5,713]

So much to say about Nothing To Say...

Much Ado About Nothing To Say.

Except I should listen to this score again. It has been too long since I did so.

[Arpy 4,145]

Coincidentally, the video above has this to say:

[BloodBoal 7,538]

So Youtubers have nothing to say about Nothing To Say? That's sad.

[Sharkissimo 1,973]

Found this interesting reworking of the cue for the game 'Alien Isolation'.

Everything up to 0:50 is just the original transposed up a semitone, and slightly re-arranged. Shame. Could have been much more interesting.

[Uni 306]

Wonderful cue. Probably my favourite from Alien.

Absolutely. One of my favorites as well. I've always found it a slightly unsettling moment cinematically anyway, the thought of having your body wrapped like that and then ejected into the eternal cosmos. Jerry's creativity takes it to an entirely new level, though, with his use of the gong swipe and the wind machine. Somehow he combines bitter sadness with a deeply chilling effect to create a moment that lingers with you (as much as any of the patently scary scenes do).

It's a brilliant film, but I don't think there's any denying it wouldn't be nearly what it is without Jerry's genius providing the atmosphere—even in spite of the egregious meddling from Ridley and Rawlings.

[Bespin 8,475]

(text [text]) That's the correct way to imbricate parentheses.

Sorry, professional deformation when I worked as a layout editor in a translation company a loooong time ago!!!

[Uni 306]

I'm doing an assignment for my uni course. . . .

This should be a required class for all members here.

[A24 4,326]

Wonderful cue. Probably my favourite from Alien.

Absolutely. One of my favorites as well. I've always found it a slightly unsettling moment cinematically anyway, the thought of having your body wrapped like that and then ejected into the eternal cosmos. Jerry's creativity takes it to an entirely new level, though, with his use of the gong swipe and the wind machine. Somehow he combines bitter sadness with a deeply chilling effect to create a moment that lingers with you (as much as any of the patently scary scenes do).

It's a brilliant film, but I don't think there's any denying it wouldn't be nearly what it is without Jerry's genius providing the atmosphere—even in spite of the egregious meddling from Ridley and Rawlings.

Believe it or not, but the music is not the thing that sticks out to me, but maybe that's a good thing. To me it's pretty obvious that the design is what makes the movie Alien.

[Sharkissimo 1,973]

To me it's pretty obvious that the design is what makes the movie Alien.

Of course, along with Vanlint's cinematography and Rawlings's editing. But I doubt it'd be anywhere as near affecting without the sensual yet disturbing score.

[Jay 37,281]

I barely notice the score when I watch the film. But its fucking fantastic on CD, I love it.

[Wojo 2,453]

I notice it in places, like when landing on the planet, but not in others. The strobe lights at the end are often the strongest lasting memory.

[A24 4,326]

To me it's pretty obvious that the design is what makes the movie Alien.

Of course, along with Vanlint's cinematography ...

Maybe you don't know, but it was actually Ridley Scott behind the camera.

[Bespin 8,475]

There is music in Alien?

[Jay 37,281]

Yes.

[Sharkissimo 1,973]

To me it's pretty obvious that the design is what makes the movie Alien.

Of course, along with Vanlint's cinematography ...

Maybe you don't know, but it was actually Ridley Scott behind the camera.

I know, and Peter Andrews is Steven Soderbergh etc.

[Uni 306]

To me it's pretty obvious that the design is what makes the movie Alien.

Of course, along with Vanlint's cinematography and Rawlings's editing. But I doubt it'd be anywhere as near affecting without the sensual yet disturbing score.

Agreed on both points. Alien is one of the finest visual masterpieces in cinematic history, no question. But a standard horror-genre score would've stood out in the worst way, even detracting from the visuals to some degree. Goldsmith's music becomes a seamless element in what you're seeing, so that the soundscape matches the landscape in ways that are just so eerily effective. Think of the sequence aboard the alien ship, from beginning to end. Try to imagine it with normal, "emotive" music, compared to the unsettling, minimalist approach Goldsmith takes. The results just wouldn't be the same.

There is music in Alien?

Oh, good Lord. . . .

[Bespin 8,475]

There is music in Alien?

Oh, good Lord. . . .

Mercy, I just start to understand that we don't get to 85 000 posts by always saying relevant things!

[Mr. Breathmask 555]

Who needs relevance when you can up your post count?

[Arpy 4,145]

The aforementioned cue appears twice in the film, once as written for the Funeral Scene and second tracked in to when Dallas (Tom Skerritt) is trying to access 'Mother'.

[Uni 306]

Correct. Another example of Rawlings using Jerry's music as a general "pool" to draw from. (Note how the effect at the end of the cue that worked so brilliantly in the scene it was written for—the bit with the gong swipe and wind machine as Kane's body spins into space—falls flat in this secondary usage. It doesn't make any sense at the end of the exchange between Dallas and Mother. It's a good example of how and why music written for a specific moment won't work as effectively when used elsewhere.)

[Sharkissimo 1,973]

I actually think it works brilliantly in both scenes. The passage with the pulsing muted horns and the reedy Nostromo theme gels so well with that sterile, amber chamber and those clusters of flashing buttons, The increasing sense of despair in the cue also matches the replies from Mother.

[Arpy 4,145]

Sorry to drag up this thread, but does anyone know exactly how to reference the score in an essay? i.e publisher etc.

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

To me it's pretty obvious that the design is what makes the movie Alien.

Of course, along with Vanlint's cinematography ...

Maybe you don't know, but it was actually Ridley Scott behind the camera.

Did he have absolute control over the choice of focal length, lighting conditions, ISO film stock, composition of shots?

I know he likes operating the camera himself, but there comes a point where the director has to know his boundaries and just direct and let the DP do what he was hired to do.

[A24 4,326]

Ridley Scott (who shot 2000 commercials before he went movies) has no technical boundaries, Drax.