To host any successful Halloween event, you need the right background music. Halloween is more than just costumes, candy, and goofy-looking pumpkins; it’s legends, feelings, and atmosphere. Traditional parties aside, to traverse the spooky road less traveled, consider background music for those with a trick-or-treating mindset.
It’s tough to transform your front yard, porch, or other entryway into an area that is both eerie, yet still inviting. With a few exceptions, most of us want visitors to enjoy the scary aspect of the holiday and have fun, not for their kids to be traumatized and go screaming into the night.
To play successfully creepy, yet innocuous background music, you should use a variety of sources, from movie themes to more serious orchestral works. In that vein, here are some suggestions for setting the mood.
Orchestral Music
Toccata and Fugue in D Minor (Johann Sebastian Bach, approx. 1705): This is the quintessential “scary” pipe organ piece that you’ll probably recognize, even if you don’t know the title. The beginning notes have been used in numerous commercials and other media when referring to Halloween, so it should have a place in your “haunted” music collection. Depending on the performer, the duration can be anywhere from seven to 10 minutes, so if that’s too much organ music for you, consider using either the Toccata or the Fugue (pronounced “Fyoog”).
In the Hall of the Mountain King (Edvard Grieg, 1876): This piece starts gently and quietly, gradually becoming louder, faster, and more intense as it repeats the same theme with more instruments each time. Simple in construction, it is quite the powerhouse near the end.
“Venus,” “Saturn,” or “Neptune” from The Planets (Gustav Holst, 1916): These three movements are the most benign of the collection (seven total). They don’t scare as much as they provide a mystical or introspective atmosphere.
Theme from Phantom of the Opera (Andrew Lloyd Weber, 1986): Another pipe organ piece, this Broadway musical theme is more “in-your-face,” with a rock beat behind it. Yet, it still provides a sinister atmosphere. Crank up the volume if you dare.
Movie Music
Grand Canyon (James Newton Howard, 1991): This movie is not at all scary in the classic Halloween sense. Moreover, there are a few tracks on the CD that you may want to use for a smoother, more tranquil sound.
Jumanji (James Horner, 1995): This film adaptation of a children’s book boasts a theme that features low drums and a haunting, tortured voice, yearning for freedom. Imagine this emanating from your house as you answer the doorbell.
Music for a Darkened Porch
Composer (and former Oingo Boingo lead singer) Danny Elfman has created original scores for a wide variety of creepy, but charming movies and television. He makes use of every instrument section in an orchestra, plus extras like voices, unusual percussion, and sound effects. His surreal, slightly odd style is best heard in darker films such as Beetlejuice (1988), Scrooged (1988), Batman (1989), Darkman (1990), Edward Scissorhands (1990), Nightbreed (1990), The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993), The Frighteners (1996), Sleepy Hollow (1999), and The Corpse Bride (2005). Many of these are on his anthology CDs, Music for a Darkened Theater Volumes I and II.
You might want to do more than merely assemble the music, but create your own personalized Halloween CD or digital playlist. For instance, if you want something spooky, but relatively calm for your potential Halloween night visitors, you should be ready to “cut-and-paste.” Most pieces will have some loud sections, and you probably don’t want trick-or-treaters thinking a bombastic 100-piece orchestra will come thundering out your front door at any moment. If you keep the volume under control and vary the musical styles, you should be fine.
Have you done this before? What tunes worked for you?
Did you use music, sound effects, or both?
What kind of reactions did you get?
What would you like to try in the future?
Happy haunting!