36: 6 Techniques Composers Use to Create Spine-Tingling Scary Music for homeschoolers to learn

In this episode of the Music in Our Homeschool podcast, host Gena Mayo delves into the eerie world of scary classical music and the techniques composers use to evoke fear and suspense. Perfect for Halloween (or anytime!), we explore 35 spine-chilling classical pieces available on a Spotify playlist curated for homeschoolers and music enthusiasts alike.

1. Modulation and Unexpected Key Changes: Composers often shift from major to minor keys or from one key to an unrelated one to heighten contrast and build tension. This technique is evident in Modest Mussorgsky's "Night on Bald Mountain," where key changes mirror chaos and unpredictability.
2. Dissonance: This involves playing notes that clash, creating tension. When dissonance is prolonged or unresolved, it generates discomfort. Notable examples include Georgie Ligeti’s "Requiem" and Dmitri Shostakovich's Symphony No. 10.
3. Unusual Instrumentation: Using instruments in unconventional ways can create unsettling sounds. Igor Stravinsky’s "The Rite of Spring," where the bassoon plays in a high register, sets an eerie tone. Instruments like the theremin or glass harmonica add unique, spooky timbres. Furthermore, non-instruments such as chains and typewriters can be used.
4. Repetition and Ostinato: Repeating motifs can build tension or create a hypnotic, obsessive atmosphere. John Williams' theme from "Jaws" is a classic example, as is Edvard Grieg's "In the Hall of the Mountain King."
5. Silence and Sudden Dynamic Changes: Silence can heighten anticipation and make subsequent sounds more impactful. Sudden shifts in loudness vs. softness can serve as musical jump scares. Henryk Górecki’s "Symphony of Sorrowful Songs" uses pauses to create a ghostly atmosphere.
6. Unpredictable Rhythms and Time Signatures: Irregular rhythms and uncommon time signatures disrupt listener expectations. Béla Bartók’s "Music for Strings, Percussion, and Celesta" uses unusual rhythms, and Gustav Holst’s "Mars, the Bringer of War" has an uncommon 5/4 time signature.

Listen to these pieces to identify these techniques and understand how composers craft their terrifying effects. 
See all videos and the Spotify playlist here: https://musicinourhomeschool.com/35-spine-chilling-classical-music-pieces/

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Transcript

Techniques Composers Use to Create Scary Music:

[00:00:00] Welcome back to the Music in Our Homeschool podcast. My name is Gena Mayo, and I'm thrilled to have you here today. We're going to have a very fun time talking about some scary classical music and techniques that composers use to make the music sound scary. Halloween is a perfect time to dive into the spookier side of classical music. From eerie melodies to bone chilling harmonies, composers have long used music to evoke fear and suspense. So why not explore 35 of the most terrifying classical pieces that will send shivers down your spine? I will share a Spotify playlist that has all of these pieces on it so that you can listen to them on your own time. But today I want to talk about the techniques that the composers use to create that spine tingling effect. 

 The first technique that composers use to create scary sounding music is modulation and [00:01:00] unexpected key changes.

Modulation is the process of changing from one key, which is a group of pitches in a scale, to another within a piece of music. This change can occur gradually or suddenly, and it can have a profound emotional impact on the listener. Modulation is often used to create contrast. A piece might start, for example, in a major key, which tends to sound happy or bright, and then shift to a minor key, which often sounds sad, dark, or mysterious. And it creates a sense of contrast. This can make the minor key feel even more ominous or unsettling because of the stark difference from the major key. 

Modulation also helps build tension. A composer might use modulation to move the music to a key that feels less stable, or a composer might use modulation to convey a journey. It can make the listener feel like they're being taken into [00:02:00] unexpected or uncomfortable places. This is especially effective in programmatic music, where a composer is telling a story or painting a picture with sound. 

An example is in Modest Mussorgsky's Night on Bald Mountain. The music modulates several times, moving between different keys to reflect the chaotic and demonic scene being depicted. These key changes contribute to the piece's overall sense of danger and unpredictability.

An unexpected key change can also cause a listener to feel uneasy. This is when the music shifts to a new key in a way that the listener did not expect. This can be startling and make the music feel disorienting or even frightening. It surprises the listener, it breaks the pattern, and it can create ambiguity.

An example is in Franz Schubert's Der Erlkonig, the Earl King, and the music shifts [00:03:00] between different keys to represent different characters in the story. The sudden and unexpected changes in key heighten the sense of terror as the narrative unfolds, especially as the Earl King's sinister intentions become clear.

So the first technique was modulation or unexpected key changes. And the second is dissonance. What is dissonance? Well, dissonance occurs when two or more notes are played together in a way that creates a sense of tension or clash. The notes don't blend smoothly and instead produces sound that feels unresolved, harsh, or jarring.

This contrasts with consonance, where notes harmonize and create a pleasant and stable sound. Dissonance can happen naturally in music due to the mathematical relationships between certain pitches. For example, when you play a perfect fifth, like a C and the G above [00:04:00] it, the notes have a simple frequency ratio and it sounds harmonious.

But if you play a minor second, like a C, and a C sharp or a tritone like a C and an F sharp, the frequencies don't sound consonant. They feel tense and unresolved. That's dissonance. 

So how do composers use dissonance to make their music sound scary? Well, they can use it to create tension and release. Composers naturally use dissonance to build tension, but they almost always resolve it to a more consonant sound. This technique keeps the listener engaged as the dissonance creates a sense of anticipation for when the tension will be resolved.

However, in scary music, the resolution may be delayed or avoided altogether, and that leaves the listener in a state of discomfort. Dissonance can convey chaos [00:05:00] and conflict or emotional turmoil. Dissonant chords often mirror the chaotic nature of what's happening on the screen in a horror movie, for example, and it heightens the emotional impact. It obviously creates an unsettling atmosphere and can create surprise and shock with sudden unexpected bursts of dissonance that mimic the experience of a jump scare in a scary movie. 

So here are a couple of examples of pieces to listen to, to hear dissonance. Georgi Ligeti's Requiem is famous for its use of dense clusters of dissonant notes, creating an overwhelming and eerie sound. Hector Berlioz's Symphony Fantastique, the Fifth Movement, uses dissonant harmonies to depict a nightmarish vision. 

In Dmitri Shostakovich's Symphony No. 10, the Second Movement, he is actually [00:06:00] using his music to reflect the harsh realities of life of Soviet Russia. And his use of dissonance in the Second Movement of this Tenth Symphony is particularly striking. The aggressive, dissonant passages create a feeling of relentless tension, reflecting the fear and depression of that time. 

So we have modulation. And we have dissonance. Number three is unusual instrumentation. This refers to using instruments in ways that are not typical or expected. There are three different ways this can come about.

One is to use a traditional instrument in an unconventional way, such as in Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring. He has the bassoon playing in a very high register, which sets the tone for the uneasy and scary nature of the entire piece.

Composers could also select instruments that have unusual timbres or are very rare, [00:07:00] like the theremin, which is an electronic instrument that you don't even touch, or the glass harmonica. Or they could incorporate a non musical object and have it be a type of instrument, like chains or typewriters or any kind of object that you could find.

So why does unusual instrumentation feel scary? Well, it feels unpredictable and unsettling because it defies our expectations. When we hear an instrument being played in an unconventional way, or an unfamiliar sound is introduced, it disrupts our sense of what's normal in music. This unpredictability creates a sense of unease, and our brains are trying to make sense of these unexpected sounds.

The fourth way that composers use a technique to create scary music is with repetition and ostinato. [00:08:00] Repetition is the use of the same musical phrase, rhythm, or motif multiple times throughout a piece of music. This can involve repeating a melody, a chord progression, a rhythmic pattern, or even a single note.

Repetition can serve various purposes in music, but in the context of creating a scary or unsettling atmosphere, it has specific effects. It definitely builds tension. When a musical idea is repeated, it can create a sense of anticipation and tension. As the repetition continues, the listener begins to expect something to happen, either a change or a resolution. However, in the scary music, the repetition might go on longer than expected. Or it might not resolve in the way the listener anticipates, and that heightens the sense of unease. The repetition or ostinato can create a hypnotic or obsessive feeling or [00:09:00] atmosphere where the listener feels trapped and unable to escape the repeated motif. 

Or sometimes it's the motif itself that is associated with the scary thing. For example, in John Williams Jaws movie, this is a motif that is repeated over and over that creates a scary feeling in the watcher or the listener. Duh-nuh, Duh-nuh. Duh-nuh. Doesn't it sound like a shark to you? So that's an example of a motif that is repeated over and over. 

Another example is in Edvard Grieg's In the Hall of the Mountain King, he uses repetition to create tension. The main theme is repeated and gradually builds in speed and intensity, creating a sense of unstoppable momentum that becomes increasingly frantic and ominous.

A fifth technique that composers use to [00:10:00] create scary music is with silence or sudden changes in dynamics. Dynamics refers to the loudness and softness in music. Silence, of course, is the intentional absence of sound. It's often overlooked, but silence can be one of the most powerful tools a composer has, especially in creating a sense of tension or fear. It creates anticipation by creating a pause before something dramatic happens. When the music suddenly stops, it leaves the listener in suspense, wondering what will come next. 

It can enhance contrast. Silence can make the next sound or note even more impactful by providing a stark contrast. For example, a sudden loud sound after a moment of silence can be shocking and jarring. And it's often used to create those jump scares in scary movies. [00:11:00] It can elicit the fear of the unknown, because it creates a sense of emptiness and isolation. In a suspenseful or scary scene, the absence of sound can make the listener hyper aware of their surroundings, heightening the sense of vulnerability. 

And, silence can symbolize stopping time. It can create a sense of time standing still, often associated with shock, suspense, or the supernatural. And these moments, the lack of sound, can make it feel as though everything is frozen, intensifying the emotional impact of the scene. An example is in Henryk Górecki's Symphony of Sorrowful Songs, and he uses silence to create a haunting, ghostly atmosphere. The pauses between phrases give the music a sense of stillness and reflection, enhancing its emotional weight and creating a profound sense of sadness and [00:12:00] emptiness.

And the sixth way that a composer can create scary music is with unpredictable rhythms and time signatures. Rhythm refers to the pattern of sounds and silences in music, essentially how the beats are organized over time. In most music, rhythms follow a predictable pattern, which helps the listener feel grounded and allows them to anticipate what's coming next. However, when rhythms become unpredictable, the music feels jarring, unsettling and tense. So just as we mentioned with some of the other techniques, unpredictable rhythms disrupt the listener's expectation of when the next note or beat will occur. This can create a sense of instability or unease as the listener can no longer rely on the rhythm to guide them. In scary music, the lack of predictability can mirror the feeling of being off balance or in danger.

[00:13:00] Syncopation occurs when the emphasis in rhythm falls on a weak or unexpected beat. So this is often used by composers to make the listener feel off kilter or irregular. 

And then polyrhythms is another way to use unexpected rhythms. This involves the simultaneous use of two or more conflicting rhythms. It creates complexity and a disorienting effect, as a listener tries to make sense of the competing rhythmic patterns. An example is in Bela Bartok's Music for Strings, Percussion, and Celesta. There are unpredictable rhythms throughout the piece, creating tension and disorientation. 

And then somewhat related to the unpredictable rhythms is an unusual time signature. Typical time signatures are 2/4, ¾, 4/4, or 6/8 time. But, in an [00:14:00] unusual time signature, you might have 5/4, or ⅞, or 11/8, and these create uneven phrasing, and makes the music feel unbalanced and off kilter and unsettling for the listener. It creates tension and a sense of urgency or disorientation. An example is in Holst's Mars, the Bringer of War from the Planets. It's written in 5/4 time. 1 2 3, 1 2. 1 2 3, 4 5. 1 2 3, 4 5. So it goes back and forth between the three and the two, and it's relentless. It creates a sense of tension and unease and adds to the aggressive and ominous nature of the music.

So I encourage you to listen to these pieces, the scary classical music playlist and see if you can identify some of these six techniques that were just mentioned about what composers do to [00:15:00] make the music sound scary. Is there an unusual rhythm or time signature? Is there silence or sudden changes between the loudness and softness, the dynamics. Is there repetition or a motif that represents something scary? Is there unusual instrumentation or dissonance or modulation and unexpected key changes? 

I would love to hear from you. Tell me what your favorite piece was. Just leave a comment below and definitely follow the show. We'll see you next time and until then, keep the music alive.

Listen to these pieces to identify these techniques and understand how composers craft their terrifying effects. 
See all videos and the Spotify playlist here: https://musicinourhomeschool.com/35-spine-chilling-classical-music-pieces/