Monstrous music


Brass instrument

Scary movies wouldn't be nearly as frightening without the soundtrack. (Try it sometime: Mute a horror film and see whether your heart rate immediately slows.)

String instruments are often the star in scary scores (think the "ee-ee-ee" of the shower scene in "Psycho"), but ASU conductors and School of Music associate professors Bradley Edwards and Deanna Swoboda argue that brass can be boo-tiful — and they're putting their theory to the test on Halloween morning with a concert at the Musical Instrument Museum in Phoenix featuring trombones, tubas and euphoniums playing such frightful favorites as "The Addams Family" theme song, the "Tales From the Crypt" introduction and the "Fantasia" classic "Night on Bald Mountain." 

Edwards and Swoboda argue that brass can make anything scary — even babies and kittens. See what you think in the video below.

Video by Deanna Dent/ASU Now

Learn more at the Musical Instrument Museum website or ASU Events.

Faculty, Music, School of Music, Arts, humanities and education, Community, Students, Arts and Entertainment, Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts

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