Considering how regularly you have to hear the theme music of your chosen news source, you want it to be good. I tend to get my news from the ABC, who, historically, have done good work in this area. The venerable old warhorse Majestic Fanfare is still used on ABC radio nearly 80 years after its composition by Charles Williams – impressive longevity indeed, and a bit of tweaking by Richard Mills hasn’t done it any harm at all. Here’s one version of it:
Here’s another ABC news theme that many will remember fondly – the Tony Ansell/Peter Wall music for the ABC’s evening news bulletin, that was used from 1985 to 2005. Here it is, sans Richard Morecroft:
Now, the above two themes use fairly traditional musical tropes, and use them well. The prominence of brass instruments – the arpeggiated, almost military theme of the Fanfare, the solo trumpet in the later piece – unmistakeably heralds the bulletin. The music gets your attention immediately with its arresting gestures: the pomp and circumstance of Fanfare‘s splendid full orchestra, Ansell/Wall’s rhythmic call-and-response, and, later on, its equally rhythmic stabbing chords. Both main melodies are eminently singable. The harmonic patterns and textural flourishes of film music abound, too, in both scores (again, manifesting themselves differently in each). Most importantly in these pieces, the composers knew how to build a sense of both dignity and anticipation, and thus succeeded in investing what followed – the news bulletin itself – with the desired level of authority.
Then, in 2005, the ABC gave us this:
But Martin Armiger’s score just can’t compete with the earlier ones in terms of musicality, panache or general effectiveness. It tries to use some of the same devices (opening trumpets and timpani, and so forth), but its rhetoric is far less potent. The problem is mostly one of empty gesture: busy strings, piano and woodwinds repeating mindless ostinati, static harmonies, a paucity of melody, and bars at a time in which nothing much happens (not all of which are in the bit designed to fit under the newsreader’s headlining of top stories). This theme music presents a grab-bag of different sounds and motives with no unifying talisman, and no musical trajectory obvious enough to hold the casual ear. And that means that it doesn’t do the job as well as the older scores.
Since 2005, some tinkering with this theme has taken place, and several further depredations wrought, so, for completeness, I offer the following links: this, from 2008:
And this, from 2010:
As the last two examples show, the persistent underlying beat in Armiger’s theme has been elevated in importance in the later incarnations. You can tell that this is so, above all, by listening to the closing instrumental flourish. In 2005, Armiger used a straight rhythm that lent a sense of finality to the last three chords. In 2010, and in the version that now opens the news, he syncopates those chords, so the beat can follow on immediately, usually fading into the background under the opening sentences of the broadcast proper. This is very voguish with news themes at the moment, and tends – on the BBC, for instance – to accompany a standing host in a trendy open-plan studio. The constant pulse musically denotes the heartbeat; the impression is thus not that the news agency is a staunch fixture, but rather an unsleeping hive of activity. Is it a response to an increasing cynicism towards public broadcasting authorities – a popular reluctance to trust, to be told what to think? Instead of claiming respect by harnessing the gravitas of the official, is there maybe now a drive to establish an alternative credibility through remorseless busyness? I’m not sure. In 2005, I found the beat in Armiger’s score a mildly irritating concession to this re-stylisation of news broadcasting, with which I’m not wholly comfortable. Now, I find it dominant and ungracious. If this is really how people want their news re-badged, count me out.
So far, I’ve only mentioned the ABC news themes themselves. But the themes to 7.30, Four Corners, et al, all of which are based on great little musical nuggets, have also undergone some subtle and not-so-subtle changes over the last ten to fifteen years. It’s important to bear in mind the difference between news and current affairs, so not all of what I’ve said would fairly translate into a discussion about those other shows. Nevertheless, I think there’s something to be learned from comparing the old with the new, so I conclude with a selection of links for further consideration.
(Final thought: I think it’s just great that both the 7.30 Report and Lateline have theme music with passages in 7/4!)
1990s theme for the 7.30 Report
2000 theme for the 7.30 Report
Update of the new theme for the 7.30 Report
1990s theme for Four Corners
Undated but longer version of the theme for Four Corners
Not a bad techno remix of the Ansell/Wall ABC news theme
Some of the information in this post is taken from a useful BBC article. Not a few of the links are thanks to robertfrankin’s YouTube channel.
