Diegetic Music - Game Sound Technology and Player Interaction: Concepts and Developments - page 63

ONstAGE PErFOrMED MUsIc Conversely, it can also be that dramatic events

happen, maybe the protagonist is attacked, but
the musical background does not react. Instead,
it may continue playing jaunty melodies. Such
an indifferent relation between foreground and
background evokes some kind of incongruence.
This emphasizes the dramaturgical meaning of the
event or action. Moreover, it is sometimes under-
stood as a philosophical statement indicating an
indifferent attitude of the environment. Whatever
happens there, it means nothing to the rest of the
world: “life goes on” (Lissa, 1965, p.166).
Even though the source of diegetic music is
part of the scene it does not have to be visible.
The sound of a gramophone suffices to indicate
its presence. In this way diegetic music, just like
diegetic sound effects, gathers in non-visible ele-
ments of the scene and blurs the picture frame,
which is particularly interesting for fixed-camera
shots. It associates a world outside the window
and beyond that door which never opens. Its role
as a carrier of such associations takes shape the
more music comes to the fore because the linkage
to its visual or narrative correlative is very direct
and conspicuous (The guy who always hums that
melody!).
Furthermore, when diegetic music is per-
formed by actors, and thereby linked to them,
it can become a means of emotional expression
revealing their innermost condition. The actor can
whistle a bright melody, hum it absentmindedly
while doing something else, or articulate it with
sighing inflection. Trained musicians can even
change the mode (major, minor), vary the melody,
or improvize on it.
The more diegetic music becomes a central
element of the plot the more its staging gains in
importance. Did the singer act well to the music?
Does the fingering of the piano player align with
the music? It can become a regulator for motion
and acting. The most obvious example is probably
a dancing couple. Very prominent is also the final
assassination scene in Alfred Hitchcock's (1956)
The Man Who Knew Too Much . During a concert

The primal manifestation of diegetic music is
music that is performed within the scene, either
as a foreground or background artifact. As such,
it usually appears in its autonomous form as a
self-contained and very often a pre-existent piece.
The most distinctive difference between diegetic
music and its non-diegetic counterpart is that the
latter cannot be considered apart from its visual
and narrative context.
Likewise, the perceptual attitude differs sub-
stantially. Foreground diegetic music is perceived
very consciously, comparable to listening to a piece
of music on the radio or a concert performance.
Even background diegetic music that serves a
similar purpose as non-diegetic mood music is
comprehended differently. While mood music
describes an inner condition (What does a location
feel like?) background diegetic music contributes
to the external description (What does the location
sound like?) and can be mood-influential only on
a general informal level (They are playing sad
music here!).

Functions

Therefore, the role of background diegetic music
is often regarded as less intrinsic. It is just a prop,
an element of the soundscape, which gives more
authenticity to the scenario on stage. As such it
serves well to stage discos, bars, cafés, street
settings with musicians, casinos (see Collins,
Tessler, Harrigan, Dixon, & Fugelsang, 2011) for
an extensive description of sound and music in
gambling environments) and so forth. However,
it does not have to remain neutral, even as a
background element. It represents the state of the
environment. Imagine a situation where the street
musicians suddenly stop playing. This is more than
an abrupt change of the background atmosphere,
it is a signal indicating that something happened
that stopped them playing, that something has
fundamentally changed.