Jilal

The orchestration is actually pretty straightforward here, you can find more of the same style in the more recent Tintin, for example. The whole string section is mainly playing rythmic eighth notes in the first part of the track (sort of a scherzo in 9/8, with a really cool rhythm here which I didn't really "get" until I had a look at the manuscript score). The low strings often double big low brass chords, the high strings double some of the high trumpet lines, there's a bit of high strings and woods playing the dazzling, whirling figures Williams likes to embellish action cues with, most of the strings double the aggressive low brass stabs later in the cue, etc. You might not realize this at first, but the whole thing would sound very empty if you'd take away the strings! They add a lot of color and substance to the whole ensemble.

❤️ I'm afraid I'm having exams at the moment (in fact I should be practicing some contour integration), and I'm pretty busy studying physics most of the time anyway. I find it to be very challenging and rewarding. I do really wish I had more time to spend studying music theory and composing. Later in life, perhaps.

I'd like a hint

Is that the cue underscoring the Anakin & Obi-Wan vs. Dooku duel?

Nope. TPM: mostly 8.4.4.1, 6.4.4.1 AOTC: 6.4.4.1 ROTS: 8.4.4.2 at most SW: 6.4.3.2 ESB: 6.4.4.2 ROTJ: 6.4.4.2

Not quite I believe. The OST versions are always recorded with the usual 6.4.4.1 brass instead of the reduced 4.3.3.1 section in the Hal Leonard scores, for instance. Also, as a little side note, I think JW shouldn't have included the marimba part in the Hal Leonard version (or, at least, marking it as p)- it tends to be far too apparent in live performances (lending the piece an almost childish character), while it just adds a little bit of extra color and pulse in Shawn Murphy's recording. It's these little things that classical music afficionados/elitists look down on JW for.

Damn, I keep mislabeling TLJ stuff with TFA.

How can this not be on the OST album?

Golly gee willikers!

The dictionary could be wrong ...

Would you judge a conductor by his movements?!

I'm definitely hooked (more or less ), it's just that I see a lot of other students struggling to comprehend the basic concepts. The teachers aren't very helpful in this regard, so if you really want to get a good grip on the material, you need to read supplemental material, watch lectures on YouTube, etc. I spent the entire day revisiting some of the early material through Axler's Linear Algebra Done Right and a course on YouTube which is incidentally clearly based on the book.

It takes a lot of courage and good self-esteem to do well in math and any other exact science, really. Our math classes aren't exactly of the high school kind where problem-solving is the main ingredient, however. They're very theoretical, mainly focusing on understanding structural mathematical reasoning ("why", "how", etc.) rather than learning methods and calculations ("how to"). For example, our linear algebra class is actually a pure math class, so it focusses on abstract algebraic structures: vector spaces, subspaces, span, linear (in-)dependence, dimension, linear combinations, sums and direct sums, linear maps, morphisms, inner product spaces, linear operators, eigenvalues and eigenvectors and finally a chapter on actual geometry in R^n. (Don't worry if this seems a little unlike any math you've ever seen - it is quite an abstract class even for the math students.) @Glóin the Dark Did you get pure math classes in your first (incomplete?) year of physics?

I ended up picking Physics, and I'm pretty happy with my choice.