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Background Music

 Background Music
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FeatureClass
 Background Music
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Background Music
 Background Music
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BackgroundMusic
 Background Music
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You may have noticed that in every audiovisual work, characters seem to have music playing in their heads at all times. It's not music playing on a radio in their car and they aren't at a concert. It's not songs they've heard. Not even classical tunes they’ve listened to. These are tunes that seem to just come out of nowhere, off the top of the character's head.
This technique is used because it makes you sympathize with a character's emotions. Without this music, you might not be able to connect with characters and feel their emotions quite as easily.
When music is used in movies and TV shows, there's two types: in-universe music the characters hear and music that the in-universe characters don't hear, because it's for the audience only. The first type is Source Music, aka "diegetic music", which is music you hear that comes from an in-universe source, such as the character's car radio as they're driving, a band at a bar, a street musician outside, or an instrument the character is playing.
If music is shown in one character's perspective, but then the perspective switches to another character who can't hear the music, that's Sudden Soundtrack Stop.
The pieces that are most closely tied to characters or events are Leitmotifs. If music is meant to make us think of a certain character's name, that's Fanfare.
Specific instruments and Standard Snippets are used to create a Mood Motif.
Usage of background music dates back to pre-antique times. For an example, classic Greek plays had usually music in the background.
Background music is a staple trope in some media such as films and video games. The usage of background music in these types of media is so omnipresent that its absence is often more notable than its presence.
For further exploration of this topic, listen to Anna Russell's "The Ring of the Nibelungs (An Analysis)".
This trope lists lampshades of the phenomenon, such as when characters hear the background music, often Played for Laughs; straight examples are too many to count. For subversions, see Left the Background Music On. For aversions, see Reality Has No Soundtrack.
Compare Mickey Mousing, for when music that is meant to set the mood is actually being played by a character in-universe.
See also Background Music Override, Variable Mix, Diegetic Switch, Theme Tune, and Image Song.
 Background Music
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2023-11-06T17:01:42Z
 Background Music
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2023-11-06T17:01:42Z
 Background Music
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DBTropes
 Background Music / int_4734e55e
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Background Music
 Background Music / int_4734e55e
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The Far Side has several gags where characters can hear the background music:
One featured a shot of Tonto knocking on an outhouse door, whispering, "Kemosabe, hurry up, the music's starting!"
A group of cowboys at camp looking around: "There it goes again — whenever we settle in for the night, that harmonica starts up!"
A gal standing in the aftermath of a huge bar brawl recounts it to the police: "So this little sailor dude whips out a can of spinach, this crazy music starts playin', and... well, just look at the place!"
 Background Music / int_4734e55e
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1.0
 Background Music / int_4734e55e
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1.0
 The Far Side (Comic Strip)
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Background Music / int_4734e55e
 Background Music / int_50a9ace1
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Background Music
 Background Music / int_50a9ace1
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A gal standing in the aftermath of a huge bar brawl recounts it to the police: "So this little sailor dude whips out a can of spinach, this crazy music starts playin', and... well, just look at the place!"
 Background Music / int_50a9ace1
featureApplicability
1.0
 Background Music / int_50a9ace1
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1.0
 Popeye (Comic Strip)
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Background Music / int_50a9ace1
 Background Music / int_e4ed33fb
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Background Music
 Background Music / int_e4ed33fb
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One featured a shot of Tonto knocking on an outhouse door, whispering, "Kemosabe, hurry up, the music's starting!"
 Background Music / int_e4ed33fb
featureApplicability
1.0
 Background Music / int_e4ed33fb
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Lone Ranger (Radio)
hasFeature
Background Music / int_e4ed33fb

The following is a list of statements referring to the current page from other pages.

 Background Music
processingCategory2
Music Tropes
 Background Music
processingCategory2
Older Than Dirt
 Background Music
processingCategory2
Omnipresent Tropes
 Background Music
processingCategory2
Score and Music Tropes
 Doki Doki! PreCure / int_513f3d12
type
Background Music
 The Boysof 85 / Fan Fic / int_513f3d12
type
Background Music
 Belladonna Lilies (Fanfic) / int_513f3d12
type
Background Music
 Light and Dark DEUX: The New Adventures of Dark Soichiro (Fanfic) / int_513f3d12
type
Background Music
 Ripples in the Pond (Fanfic) / int_513f3d12
type
Background Music
 Sleeping with the Girls (Fanfic) / int_513f3d12
type
Background Music
 Will-Powered (Fanfic) / int_513f3d12
type
Background Music
 Deadpool (2016) / int_513f3d12
type
Background Music
 Spider-Man 3 / int_513f3d12
type
Background Music
 Stranger by the Lake / int_513f3d12
type
Background Music
 The Miracle Of Our Lady Of Fatima / int_513f3d12
type
Background Music
 Other People's Heroes / int_513f3d12
type
Background Music
 The Night Mayor / int_513f3d12
type
Background Music
 Game Players Magazine (Magazine) / int_513f3d12
type
Background Music
 GoldenAgeOfHollywood
seeAlso
Background Music
 SixtyMinutes
seeAlso
Background Music
 Ghosts I-IV (Music) / int_513f3d12
type
Background Music
 The Lion King (1994) (Music) / int_513f3d12
type
Background Music
 Watering a Flower (Music) / int_513f3d12
type
Background Music
 Nitro Game Injection (Podcast) / int_513f3d12
type
Background Music
 Random Assault (Podcast) / int_513f3d12
type
Background Music
 Hikonin Sentai Akibaranger / int_513f3d12
type
Background Music
 The Shield / int_513f3d12
type
Background Music
 Shirley Valentine (Theatre) / int_513f3d12
type
Background Music
 Urinetown (Theatre) / int_513f3d12
type
Background Music
 Banjo-Tooie (Video Game) / int_513f3d12
type
Background Music
 Chrono Trigger (Video Game) / int_513f3d12
type
Background Music
 Lemmings (Video Game) / int_513f3d12
type
Background Music
 Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon (Video Game) / int_513f3d12
type
Background Music
 Mario Kart 8 (Video Game) / int_513f3d12
type
Background Music
 Pokémon Black and White (Video Game) / int_513f3d12
type
Background Music
 Dark Tales / Videogame / int_513f3d12
type
Background Music
 Doki Doki Literature Club! (Visual Novel) / int_513f3d12
type
Background Music
 Otomania (Visual Novel) / int_513f3d12
type
Background Music
 Plumbers Don't Wear Ties (Visual Novel) / int_513f3d12
type
Background Music
 Double Rainboom (Web Animation) / int_513f3d12
type
Background Music
 Mystery Skulls Animated (Web Animation) / int_513f3d12
type
Background Music
 Danger Mouse / int_513f3d12
type
Background Music
 Phineas and Ferb: Star Wars / int_513f3d12
type
Background Music
 The Backyardigans / int_513f3d12
type
Background Music