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Dramatic Choir Number - TV Tropes

  • ️Mon Jun 12 2023

Dramatic Choir Number (trope)

Hard to get more dramatic than a Horrible History Metal concert, a religious ecstasy, and a hopeful stand with a choir.note 

Due to the physics of how waveforms work, similar sounds have a tendency to reinforce each other. Thus, having many people sing a song in unison reinforces the song and makes it more dramatic. In other words, a powerful choir can be used for the musical equivalent of Chewing the Scenery.

In works where the music is not generally choral, a sudden burst of song can add to a dramatic moment.

Super-Trope to Ethereal Choir, where the choir sings in the background to lend an ethereal air to the scene, or a Cherubic Choir, which is intended to sound lighthearted and innocent, or Gospel Choirs Are Just Better, to make the song more soulful. Often overlaps with Ominous Latin Chanting.

Compare Orchestral Bombing and Ominous Pipe Organ. Compare One-Woman Wail, when a single person sings a melancholic tune in the background, and Self-Backing Vocalist if the lead singer(s) provide their vocals as the choir.

Music examples:

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Heavy Metal 

  • Sabaton commonly uses choirs in its songs, especially for emphasis on the chorus.

Pop 

  • ABBA's "I Have a Dream" has a children's choir singing the last verse and chorus of the song. The same is done with Westlife's cover of the song.
  • Towards the end of "God is a Woman" by Ariana Grande, there is a passionate choir adding to the "goddess" theme.
  • Natasha Bedingfield: A choir begins to sing the last pre-chorus of "Unwritten" before she joins in at the chorus. A choir is also shown for the US version of the music video.
  • Céline Dion, the live version of "Let's Talk About Love" on her eponymous tour has a children's choir or a group of children from charities joining her singing the song.
  • Pat Benatar's "We Belong" has a children's choir join in on the third chorus.
  • Madonna's "Like a Prayer" has her singing alongside a gospel choir, first in "oohs" at the beginning of the singing, then invoked for the second chorus and the rest of the song.

    It's like a dream
    No end and no beginning
    You're here with me
    It's like a dream
    Let the choir sing

  • Sam Smith: "Stay With Me" has a mellow gospel choir joining the chorus about pleading for their fling to stay for the night. Smith created the choir by overdubbing themself multiple times to give the illusion of a large volume of people singing at once.

Rap 

  • Coolio: "Gangsta's Paradise" is backed by a short, looping choir riff. The song is a Villainous Lament, so the choir helps give it a mournful feel.
  • "Weird Al" Yankovic's "Amish Paradise", a parody of "Gangsta's Paradise" is also backed by a short, looping choir riff, with the choir leaving in disgust at the end.

R&B 

Rock 

  • Paramore's "Ain't It Fun" has a gospel choir the repeating bridge of the song.
  • Pink Floyd: In "Another Brick in the Wall (Part 2)", the second iteration of the verse and chorus is performed by a choir of children from Islington Green School, representing students rebelling against abusive teachers like the ones that torment Pink in the album's narrative. The choir was inserted by producer Bob Ezrin to extend what was originally an interlude into a potential single; Ezrin had them record their parts in secret to avoid drawing suspicion from their teachers.
  • The Rolling Stones: A choir sings the first two lines of "You Can't Always Get What You Want", then disappears until the very end.
  • Scorpions: "Moment of Glory" has the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra and a children's choir to complement the optimistic rock melody.
  • Tina Turner: "We Don't Need Another Hero (Thunderdome)" has a children's choir singing the last part of the song after the saxophone solo.

Other examples:

Film — Animated 

Film — Live-Action 

  • Clockwise: When things are seeming more and more hopeless for Pat and Brian, and their car is driving through a field, there is a sudden burst of choral music.
  • Deadpool 2: Parodied during the fight with Juggernaut at the climax, where the soundtrack becomes a choral number akin to a video game boss battle theme—except the lyrics are variations on "Holy shitballs!"
  • Eskimo Day: In the latter half of the film, choral music is used to reinforce some emotionally charged scenes, and is used in the ending credits.

Literature 

  • In The Ship Who... Sang, Helva discovers that another brainship, Lia, has taken control of the Cult Colony of Alioth after the cultists abduct Helva's brawn, Kira. The cultists are a Religion of Evil and Lia demands Human Sacrifice, and Kira is a Death Seeker who starts to just go along with them. Then Helva finds that the hallucinogen-addled cultists will repeat anything "Lia" says - so to reach Kira, she starts to sing a Protest Song that sarcastically longs for death. The cultists chant along dutifully, amplifying the message. Kira, who was dedicated to such songs before she became a Death Seeker, is shaken out of her trance.

Live-Action TV 

  • Doctor Who: In "The Rings of Akhaten", The Doctor discovers that young Merry Gejelh is to be offered as a sacrifice to keep the god of Akhaten from awakening. The Doctor and Clara save her from the withered mummy that they think is being worshipped, only to realize that it was merely the "alarm clock" and that the star at the heart of the system is the god, and that it has awakened. The Doctor moves Clara and Merry to relative safety, then returns to the temple to confront the god, known as "Grandfather". Merry, hoping to support the Doctor, leads the various races gathered together in a choral performance of "The Long Song" to help bolster him with the psychic resonance, as The Doctor offers up his memories to the stellar deity.
  • The series finale of Game of Thrones ends with a new version of the series' title theme, but with a full choral section added.

Video Games