What Lies Beneath? Part 1 of 2

Some researchers posit two aspects of emotion (Gazzaniga, 2008, pp. 166-167).  There is the conscious aspect of emotion, the ken of why the emotion is felt, and there is an aspect of emotion, mood, which is below consciousness, formed in the shadowy, netherworld of the subcortical brain, the limbic system.  Music may, under certain, controlled conditions, spark imagination and evoke both aspects of emotion through imitation of a physical object or condition and the context of the imitation.  If the music is powerful enough, if the musical motif, the aural hook, is memorable, the imitation may become a personal or cultural symbol.

Jaws, the 1975 Steven Spielberg film from the Peter Benchley novel, provides the context for John Williams’ score, a score that conveys the behavior, movement, and menace of the perfect predator it imitates, the Great White Shark.  The imitation is so perfect, and the context is so powerful that the shark motif of the film score entered American pop culture as a symbol of underwater menace in the summer of 1975, and it later became a general symbol of imminent danger.  The score is one of the most memorable film scores of all time (AFI, 2009), and I need only hum a few notes in that “buhhhh-dup” low-pitched rhythm to see smiles of recognition on the faces of those who hear it.

Sharks remain in motion so they can extract oxygen from water running over their gills and because they have no air bladder for buoyancy.  They hunt primarily through olfaction and can smell prey a quarter mile distant (Calkins, 1991).  This movement and hunting behavior is expertly imitated in the opening stanzas of the City of Prague’s Philharmonic Orchestra’s, Jaws – Main Theme. Two elongated, slow, low-pitched notes are created by bows of double basses slowly sawing across the strings.   The notes suggest girth and power; the slow rhythm imitates the leviathan’s initial search for the scent of prey.  As the rhythm increases, the elongated, soft legato articulation yields to more intense, staccato bursts simulating the shark’s success in locating quarry. Bold, low-pitched brass notes, attacked with vigor and abruptly ended, mimic the arousal of the shark as it begins its attack run and serve notice that this beast is something to fear.  Horns sound recognizable hunt motifs and amplify the fear. Upon repetition, the forceful shark motif begins a mechanical sounding, diesel-driven, locomotive rhythm.  The implication is that this organic menace has adapted so perfectly and precisely to its niche, that it has almost become a mechanical entity, an automaton of death.