Search the Community

One that stands out in my mind and haven't seen mentioned is the build-up to the arrival of Kylo Ren. For the first time in the saga, stormtroopers are shown to be the formidable fighting force we've been always been told they are. The moment I'm talking about really starts once the wave of stormtroopers starts taking significant causalities, and Finn recoils from the horror around him. In one of the film's most memorable images, a blooded hand from a dying comrade slides down Finn's helmet, At this point the score climbs to a fever pitch as out of the blackened clouds, Kylo Ren's shuttle raises its wings to land. Williams's motif with its triplet fanfares and cyclic string runs suggesting a man-monster, cutting through the fear in his troops. While technically none of this new (stylistically you could say it points to Nixon, The Patriot and RotS), dramatically this is dead on. Beyond badass.

I read on some insiders post on Conrad Popes facebook comments that a 2CD Expanded set is confirmed and exepected in 1st qtr 2016. The source claimed as an insider news. Ofcourse, I cant confirm its authenticity, BUT Given the enourmous success of the movie and rumblings of yet another Oscar nomination, I suspect this may be true.Lets wait and see. This isnt stingy business values like Lucasfilm anymore..lol

Congratulations! Best original score The Hateful Eight - Ennio Morricone Sicario - Johann Johannsson Star Wars: The Force Awakens - John Williams Carol - Carter Burwell Bridge of Spies - Thomas Newman Full list of nominees http://oscar.go.com/nominees

http://awards.bafta.org/award/2016/film? Here's the nominees: The Hateful Eight - Ennio Morricone Bridge of Spies - Thomas Newman The Revenant - Ryuichi Sakamoto, Carsten Nicolai Star Wars: The Force Awakens - John Williams Sicario - Jóhann Jóhannsson

A while ago, when I was reading the new Nemesis news on ST.com, I read where John Logan (the writer for Nem.) was going to pen a script for Spielberg to shoot about the life of Abraham Lincoln. I haven't heard anymore developments on this, but I wondered if anyone else had heard this too?

Happy 84th Birthday to the Maestro of Maestros John Williams! You are ever an inspiration and your music a fount of joy! May you enrich our lives with wonderful music for many years to come!

I was listening to TPM a while back and I noticed something, a motif that popped up quite a bit, and I wondered what it was, then I realized its Darth Maul's Motif! [media=] at 4:30 I believe it is DM's motif, because it also appears in "The Sith Spacecraft" and other places with Maul in it.

Anyone know where I can find Force Awakens violin Sheet music? I have been looking everyone where for its, thanks!

Well, there is a thread for the March of the Resistance, so I thought it was time for one devoted to the other action concert track, the Scherzo for X-Wings. The first time I heard it, I was underwhelmed. I liked the use of Luke's fanfare but found the connective tissue uninspired. I now think it may be the best track on the album (which I think is excellent). The connecting aspects are just brilliant--they are engaging on their own but not so flashy as to take away from the variations of Luke's fanfare taking place throughout the track. In terms of SW pieces, it is not as good as the other scherzo (the peerless Tie Fighter Attack from ANH), but damn if it doesn't leave its mark.

Apparently for me it is Revenge of the Sith (not counting the amounts of time listened to the scores prior to my iPod crash and other variables) at 207 times and Ranking: ROTS: 207 times AOTC: 86 times ESB: 45 times TFA: 39 times TPM: 38 times ANH: 33 times ROTJ: 27 times

I just chanced upon this piece of news when browsing Music On Vinyl site. Memoirs of a Geisha is to be released on LP on the 21st of March 2016.

I've really been wanting to learn this on piano but it's not been officially released . . . does anyone have it?

I pre-ordered the album from Amazon and it was released tonight. I'm currently on track 17 (Snoke). For some reason, Amazon released it without track names but I've almost completed a full listen-through and it's legit. It's still not out on iTunes yet. There's a few great throwbacks so far and I'm even more anxious to see the film now that I've got some connection to the score! First new JW since 2013, so I'm beside myself!

I want to continue my search for the best John Williams tracks of each of his music types/styles (Action Music, Adventure Music, Downbeat/Sad Music, Romantic/Love Music,...). If someone would ask you for a John Williams playlist of his best Upbeat / Positive / Feel Good music, which tracks would you choose? My random order of John Williams best Upbeat / Feel Good music would be: 01) "Journey to the Island" (From Jurassic Park) 02) "Space Camp" (From Space Camp) 03) "To Charleston" (From The Patriot) 04) "Throne Room and Finale" (From Star Wars) 05) "Return to the Village / Raiders March" (From Temple of Doom) 06) "Rouge City" (From Artificial Intelligence) 07) "Jim's New Life" (From Empire of the Sun) 08) "The Flying Sequence" (From Hook) 09) "Short Round's Theme" (From Temple of Doom) 10) "Olympic Fanfare and Theme" (Comissioned for the Los Angeles ’84 Olympic Games) 11) "Follow Me" (From Always) 12) "Doctor, Lawyer, Lutheran" (From Catch Me If You Can) 13) "Main Title" (From Star Wars) 14) "Entry into the Great Hall" (From Harry Potter 1) 15) "Arrival in New York" (From Home Alone 2) 16) "The Open Sea" (From Jaws 2) 17) "Banning Back Home (Film Version)" (From Hook) 18) "Snowy's Theme" (From Tintin)

Sorry if this conversation has already been had. Now if that some time has passed and we have all taken in TFA's score, I want to discuss: which SW has the best action music? Action scenes are an essential ingredient in any SW movie and JW has always written thrilling, fun music to accompany them. I'm not sure I can do a ranking of the best action music by movie but I do think each movie has it's own flavor to it's action music. At the moment the action music in TPM score is really winning me over. I love the use of percussion, it's got some killer, big drum sections. The action music in TPM is fast, fun, and kind of light on it's feet. It's not full of bass and also not full of drama. The music seens more thrilling than dramatic. In particular I love the Escape from Naboo music, everything from the underwater stuff to fighting stupid battle droids to the Queen's starship. Then there's the final battles music. Even with all the edits, there's still a lot of great music to appreciate. I love how DOTF get's a real workout both with it's chorus version and as an instrumental motif weaved into other action music. It's just a lot of fun. Here's an example from TPM, I don't think any other prequel score has percussion as fun as this. And the force theme is integrated so well here. Even the brass has a great lightness to it. If people could give their own impressions that'd be great. I really want to dig into each film's action music.

Let's collect the public reactions in this thread. Also from movie reviews later on when they come out. We will get something pretty soon from the people who are seeing it right now I think. Maybe not that much but it might be interesting anyway...

is it just me or...

Hello folks, The roster is now official and includes a lengthy article(s) from the American Federation of Musicians (the musicians union)... http://afm47.org/overture/2016/01_Jan/aveWeb42/WebReader.html ‘STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS’ ORCHESTRA* Sony Streisand Scoring Stage, April – Nov. 2015 John Williams, composer and conductor William Ross, additional conducting Gustavo Dudamel, guest conductor CONTRACTOR Sandy DeCrescent VIOLIN I and II Roger Wilkie Julie Gigante Tamara Hatwan Roberto Cani Phillip Levy Lisa Sutton Bruce Dukov Katia Popov Eun-Mee Ahn Alyssa Park Helen Nightengale Sarah Thornblade Lisa Liu Darius Campo Shalini Vijayan Irina Voloshina Amy Hershberger Lorand Lokuszta Nina Evtuhov Maia Jasper Grace Oh Jackie Brand Serena McKinney Kevin Kumar Jessica Guideri Radu Pieptea Erik Arvinder Joel Pargman Rafael Rishik Sara Parkins Katie Sloan Natalie Leggett Kevin Connolly Carol Pool VIOLA Brian Dembow Shawn Mann Vicky Miskolczy Rob Brophy David Walther Matt Funes Alma Fernandez Andrew Duckles Thomas Diener Marlow Fisher Carolyn Riley Lauren Chipman Darrin McCann Mike Nowak Erik Rynearson Rodney Wirtz CELLO Steve Erdody Tim Landauer Armen Ksajikian Cecilia Tsan Robert De Maine Dennis Karmazyn John Walz Jacob Braun Kim Scholes Dane Little Laszlo Mezo Erika Duke Trevor Handy DOUBLE BASS Nico Abondolo Mike Valerio Drew Dembowski Steve Dress Ed Meares Chris Kollgaard Geoff Osika Oscar Hidalgo FLUTE Heather Clark Jenni Olson Geri Rotella OBOE Jessica Pearlman Fields Lara Wickes Leslie Reed Lelie Resnick CLARINET Don Foster Stuart Clark Gary Bovyer Ralph Williams BASSOON Ken Munday Rose Corrigan Damian Montano Samantha Duckworth Judy Farmer HORN Andrew Bain Dave Everson Steve Becknell Daniel Kelley Mark Adams Jenny Kim Dylan Hart Ben Jaber Teag Reeves TRUMPET Jon Lewis David Washburn Barry Perkins Daniel Rosenboom TROMBONE Bill Booth Alex Iles Phil Keen Bill Reichenbach Jim Miller Steve Holtman John Lofton TUBA Doug Tornquist Jim Self TIMPANI Don Williams PERCUSSION Alan Estes Jerry Williams Greg Goodall Peter Limonick Judy Chilnick Steve Schaeffer PIANO | KEYBOARD Randy Kerber Gloria Cheng Mike Lang Alan Steinberger Bryan Pezzone HARP JoAnn Turovsky Allison Allport

To me 'Bombing Run' sounds a lot like the ending of ANH to me, appropriate considering the circumstances but it also features a return of the Minor 'strained' scoring that gives the feeling the Resistance are the underdogs as the Rebels were. I was wondering if the more musically in tune could point out similarities between these two tracks because I'm sure there's something there that lets me say with full confidence that I wouldn't even blink if 'Bombing Run' was put into ANH. Here's the two tracks for reference: 1. Bombing Run - Force Awakens 2. Battle of Yavin - A New Hope

https://www.facebook.com/GDudamel/photos/a.10150274477143605.347258.17116083604/10153715589193605/?type=3&theater

Is TFA allowed to be nominated for Best Original Score and nab Williams his 50th Oscar nomination? Have the eligibility rules changed so that using established music no longer excludes a score from nomination?

With all the Force Awakens discussion, this one seems to have slipped under the radar... I watched CBS' broadcast of the 2015 Kennedy Center Honors on December 29 and was pleasantly surprised to hear Williams' voice in narration of the segment honoring Seiji Ozawa, a very short bit of which can be heard ~52 seconds into this preview video posted on YouTube: The entire 91-minute broadcast is featured on CBS.com: http://www.cbs.com/shows/kennedy_center_honors/video/3B46BD11-F62B-A68F-C39B-EB54202549BC/the-38th-annual-kennedy-center-honors/. The Ozawa segment begins at the 57/58 minute chapter mark (you may have to endure a series of advertisements if you advance forward into the video).

Despite over a hundred appearances across 6 films, The Force Theme remains one of the most versatile themes Williams has ever written. Yet despite so many films there surely remain renditions of the theme we all yearn to hear. Personally I'd love to hear a completely choral rendition in TFA, or even the theme on piano. What do fellow JWFaners hope the theme might transform into across the sequel trilogy?

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/arts/culture/la-et-cm-star-wars-force-awakens-music-score-john-williams-20151217-story.html What a sweet, amazing man he is.