Are violas used for "lead" in film score music?

[erica-grace]

Do violas ever take center stage in film score music, or are they only there to support the violins? I am not talking about a solo viola that may appear here or there, but the section.

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[ryans]

Sure. The Jurassic Park theme is a nice example.

 

[Justin L. Franks]

Not as often as they should IMO.

 

[dgburns]

Because I can’t resist ( and some of these are genuinely funny )

The 12 funniest viola jokes

Pity the poor viola… but we can't help but laugh at these viola jokes.

www.classicfm.com

 

[mikeh-375]

....oh so sorry op I can't resist neither, please forgive me.

How does a composer create an orchestral glissando effect? Write a 16th note run for the violas.

 

[Henu]

Because I can’t resist ( and some of these are genuinely funny )

Coming from a rock/jazz background myself, I remember hearing these alto violin jokes as a music student in the 90's and it always made me chuckle how the poor viola players are clearly the "bass players" of the classical world. :D

And of course I need to close this by posting one of my favourite bass jokes ever:

What is common between a bass solo and a hurricane?
- Both are predictable, yet impossible to prevent.

 

[Martin S]

Coming from a rock/jazz background myself, I remember hearing these alto violin jokes as a music student in the 90's and it always made me chuckle how the poor viola players are clearly the "bass players" of the classical world. :D

And of course I need to close this by posting one of my favourite bass jokes ever:

What is common between a bass solo and a hurricane?
- Both are predictable, yet impossible to prevent.

Again, sorry to OP for continuing this derail. Being an upright bass (jazz) player myself, I usually got this from my fellow string player students from the classical department in Conservatory when I was lugging my bass around:

What’s the difference between a violin/viola and a Double Bass?
- It burns for a longer time

 

[erica-grace]

Sure. The Jurassic Park theme is a nice example.

Thanks.

Ok, so there is one. And it doesn't even carry the melody for very long

Any others? Or is that the only one?

 

[Trash Panda]

Poor big-knuckled brutes always getting picked on.

 

[Soundbed]

The Midnight Sky is the last movie I saw with violas carrying a lot of the melody parts. Not all of them, of course. There was also some solo viola iirc.

 

[dgburns]

Thanks.

Ok, so there is one. And it doesn't even carry the melody for very long

Any others? Or is that the only one?

There are a ton of examples out there.

In all seriousness, the viola is awesome. It does have a couple issues for scoring work.

- It can be helpful to omit the viola, and just have violins/cello because you leave the hole for dialog.
-It sounds so great as a section, but as soon as the violins play either the same thing, or above, the ear tends to follow them instead.
-If the violas are carrying the melody, the violins have to be either playing the same thing softly, or pedaling much higher to avoid pulling the focus to them. It’s just the sound that comes from viola gets covered by the violins.

The viola can do alot of support, it can add weight to the violins, or play the support notes right under it, but above the cello, those middle notes. It can remind of an older time, like ethnic european music, or romantic era orchestration. That may be why JW is quoted as an example.

It’s not to say you could use viola in a modern score successfully, it is always there. But it’s like the baritone guitar to the lead gtr player.

I love viola, btw. But when scores have to be more minimalistic, it can be helpful to soften them, or remove entirely at times.

DaVinci Code is a good example of lovely violas.