The sound of music

Most of us hadn´t heard about James Horner until yesterday , however, all of us are familiar with Titanic, Star Trek, Avatar, A Beautiful Mind, Braveheart, Willow or Cocoon  regardless of whether we are cinemagoers or not. In some cases, our knowledge of these films can be summed up in a few images or even in just one but this image is so powerful that it has become iconic of the whole story. If we stop to consider the relevance of that image, we can discover that its power results not only from the cast of actors or the importance of that scene in the plot but also from the music which accompanies the scene itself. In other words, when we think of Titanic, we are bound to think of Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio standing at the prow of the ship but probably in our mind, that scene is accompanied by the music of its soundtrack. The sound of music, the power of music is so magical that it permeates our memories whenever a memorable scene from a well-known film comes to mind. Words, images and music are part of the cinematic language and it is rather difficult to think about films without considering them. Of course, all of us are aware of the importance of the first two elements because without them it is impossible to understand films as we know them today but how do we react to the role played by music? Up to what point do we value and appreciate it? The work of composers is done “behind the scenes” but that doesn´t mean that it should be invisible: the power of music is as meaningful as the power of words but why do we learn the name of a wonderful musician when he dies? Shouldn´t we be familiar with it in the same way as we are familiar with the names of actors and film-makers?