# Superhero music! "We're not so different, you and I..."



## NoamL (Jul 3, 2016)

_Note: these transcriptions, and therefore any errors, are my own._

Superhero music is like sports rock, you sort of know it when you see it or a parody of it. I wanted to write a superhero style track, so I started by transcribing a bunch of my favorite themes.

The themes & composers are below, followed by my thoughts on the Musical DNA they have in common:





































Some commonalities:

*1) Power chord on the tonic*

Even when the melody contains ♭3, the harmonization of tonic in superhero music is very often a power chord (open fifth). The power and rootedness of the tonic is emphasized.

*2) Megamajor mode *

"Megamajor" is a *multi-mode mixture* whose defining feature is that all chord qualities are major. You can build the megamajor mode by 'borrowing' *I* and *IV *and *V *from major, *♭III *and *♭VI* and *♭VII* from minor, (less common) *II* from Lydian and *♭II* from Phrygian, and (very rarely used) *♮VI *and *♯IV* from octatonic/halfdim.

There is no scale associated with megamajor because it is a harmonic, not scalar, concept. Therefore, notes are whatever pitch they need to be to make the chord qualities major. So a melody in C megamajor can contain A♭, A*♮*, B♭, and B*♮* as needed to work with *♭*VI, IV, *♭*III and V respectively.

A chart of the harmonic resources used by all seven themes reveals that nearly all of them are drawn from megamajor:






*3) ♭VI and the Mario Cadence
*
The most important harmonic resource is *♭VI*, used by _every single theme_. The second most important resource is *♭VII* used by 5 out of the 7 themes.

*♭VI - ♭VII - I * is a cadence sometimes known as the "Mario Cadence" because of its use in video game music. This cadence is used in the majority of the themes (Overwatch, Avengers, First Class, Pacific Rim) and is basically the entirety of the theme in G.I. Joe.

*♭VI* can sometimes appear by itself (it has other uses such as going to *IV* or even *♭III*) but in all seven themes *♭VII *was only associated with the "Mario Cadence."

*4) Simple triadic harmonies
*
The harmonic interest in superhero music comes from the colorful mode-mixture, not chromaticism or sophisticated applied dominants. Beyond simple major triads, the variations include add9 chords (which always sound very "sunny" and golden, as the chords are always major) and sus chords (including suspended 4-3, and the sus42 chord).

*5) Orchestration: brass, strings, drums
*
Woodwinds don't really feature in these themes. It's all about the power & majesty of the French horns, often accompanied by a catchy string ostinato.

*6) Melodies initially rise by leaps, then fall by steps
*
Not really a surprise since this is a feature of many melodies in Western music, but most of the melodies involve large harmonic leaps (4ths and 5ths) followed by stepwise descent. The initial big leaps are idiomatic for brass.


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## Rodney Money (Jul 4, 2016)

Love this stuff, speaking my native language. So with the exception of Big Hero 6, keep it in minor to make it sound "serious" but leave out the third in tonic so it doesn't sound sad; but then keep the other chords major to make the theme appear strong, powerful, and full of hope. Thank you for your hard work and passion.


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## NoamL (Jul 4, 2016)

Rodney Money said:


> keep it in minor to make it sound "serious" but leave out the third in tonic so it doesn't sound sad; but then keep the other chords major to make the theme appear strong, powerful, and full of hope.



Haha excellent summary! 

I'm going to add Age Of Ultron, Spiderman (both Elfman and Zimmer), and Man Of Steel and some other themes to this analysis eventually... let me know if there's any others y'all would like to see.


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## patrick76 (Jul 4, 2016)

NoamL said:


> I'm going to add Age Of Ultron, Spiderman (both Elfman and Zimmer), and Man Of Steel and some other themes to this analysis eventually... let me know if there's any others y'all would like to see.


Nice work, thanks for sharing. Since you are taking requests, I've always liked Elfman's theme for Batman... so, one vote for that


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