Lord of the Rings - How Chord Progressions can create Emotions
It is widely regarded that Howard Shore created a Masterpiece in his scores for The Lord Of The Rings Trilogy.
The scores for all 3 films are packed full of various themes and leitmotifs, ranging from tiny intimate musical moments, up to full bombastic orchestrations.
According to Frank Lehman, author of the book 'Hollywood Harmony':
"Shore is fundamentally a chordally orientated composer, and his avoidance of counterpoint and his preference for absolute progressions result in an emphasis on pure, rich sonority throughout the series".
So today, we are going to explore some of the progressions found in the soundtrack to the iconic Trilogy, firstly looking at how simple diatonic progressions can be used for a warm & homely tone or feel, before venturing into more chromatic orientated harmony, used to conjure up danger, tension and evil in Middle Earth.
Achieving a Safe, Warm and Homely Tone with Diatonic Progressions
Let's start by firstly taking a look at how Shore uses diatonic harmony - using only chords which belong in the home scale or key, without any chromatic alterations, to create a feeling of safety, or homeliness.
There's arguably no better example for this than the Shire Theme. Representing the safe way of Hobbit life and the warm feeling of homeliness, the theme relies mostly on the fundamental chords of I, IV and V. Here in the key of D major, thats the chords of
D major, G major and A major:
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You can hear the theme here, from the beginning, up until 24 seconds:
Portraying death with a (very familiar) Diatonic Progression
Another example of Shore using a Diatonic Chord progression is in the piece 'Khazad-dûm', from 'The Fellowship Of The Ring'. The music is accompanying the scene where the wizard Gandalf falls into the abyss, while battling the Balrog on the Bridge of Khazad-dûm. Shore uses the progression of:
F minor - D♭ major - A♭ major - E♭ major or
i - VI - III - VII
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You can hear the progression start at around 5:48 in the cue I've linked to above.
This progression has been used extensively in pop music, as well as cinematic styles.
The instrumentation of Strings and a heavenly Choir of course help in portraying death, but I find it interesting to see that even in a great Tolkien Fantasy Trilogy, a 'standard' diatonic progression is still a powerful musical device for a pivotal moment in the film.
Portraying Uncertainty and Danger with Chromatic Harmony
Howard Shore will often use the technique of Chromatic Mediants to create tones or emotions that can't be easily achieved with purely diatonic chords.
Although we explored these a couple of newsletters ago, for any new subscribers, Chromatic Mediants are the relationship between two chords, where the root notes are related by the interval of a 3rd, and only sharing one note in common. The chords also don't belong to the same diatonic scale or key, helping to create extra musical tension.
Chromatic Mediants can be used for creating a feeling of uncertainty or danger. During the cue 'Three is Company', as Frodo and Sam depart on their quest from the Shire, a series of minor chords, with root notes related by 3rds, are heard:
F# minor - D minor - Bb minor - D minor
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The progression is heard from 0:51 - 01:02 in the clip below:
Chromatic Mediants can also be repeated, such as in the piece 'Long Ways To Go Yet', from the end of 'The Two Towers'. Shore uses minor chromatic mediants to evoke the fractured, unstable personality of Gollum.
From around 0:38, the chord of G minor is heard, before then moving the root up a major 3rd, to B minor. Shore then repeats the two chord progression, giving:
G minor - B minor - G minor - B minor
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Using Minor and Diminished Chords to portray Evil
Finally, lets take a look at changing a minor chord to a diminished chord, which can help to portray an Evil tone.
Right at the beginning of the 'The Two Towers,' we are taken back into Moria, offering a flashback to Gandalf's battle with the Balrog (a scene which I've visited above from 'The Fellowship Of The Ring).
Played by the Brass Section, Shore starts with a brash chord of E minor, before then moving to an E half diminished chord (containing the notes of E, G, Bb, and D), before then returning to E minor and then finally to Am (over E in the bass).
E minor - E Half Diminished - E minor - A minor (in 2nd inversion)
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Diminished chords are fantastic at building tension, due to their instability and dissonance (partly achieved due to the interval of a Tritone used within the Triad - in this case E to Bb).
You can hear the progression, from 1:43 - 1:58 in the piece 'Glamdring' below:
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