The Force Awakens The Force Awakens begins recording at Sony in LA today

[thx99 1,986]

https://www.facebook.com/scoringsessions/posts/1137108402981716

[Incanus 5,858]

[Jay 42,489]

[RedBard 71]

And some time this week, they'll hopefully post pictures.

[Jay 42,489]

Screw pictures, I want video!

[karelm 3,191]

Screw pictures and video. I want audio!

[mrbellamy 7,325]

[Lewya 361]

Can't they just stream the complete sessions?

[Not Mr. Big 4,818]

New Star Wars music now officially exists!!!!

[Jay 42,489]

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,949]

New Star Wars music now officially exists!!!!

It already existed, from the moment John Williams wrote it down!

[Code 000. Destruct. 0. 4,261]

So you consider revisions/erasures to be morally reprehensible?

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,949]

Me? No. Why would you think that?

[Code 000. Destruct. 0. 4,261]

Bad attempt at humor. The language used was similar to how people talk about abortion/moment of conception stuff.

[Hlao-roo 390]

I like Erasure.

[Muad'Dib 1,946]

Conrad, we're home.

[Lady Dimitrescu 9,918]

I thought they already started.

[karelm 3,191]

Article in the latest Music Union magazine:

http://im.afm.org/doc/AFM_IM/june-2015/2015060101/#18

[Jay 42,489]

Sweet!

[King Mark 3,834]

He says he began composing early this year and "been through most of the reels"

so I guess most of the music is on paper

[karelm 3,191]

I liked this!

"Williams says he plans to continue the use of leitmotifs in the new film. 'While the majority of the music is also new, there are necessary references to early story lines, which helps create association with the previous films so the music will look back in spots to the earlier films, but there are also new themes that will be applied in a similar way."

[Ricard 2,318]

Here's the text version

http://www.afm.org/im/john-williams

[Not Mr. Big 4,818]

I liked this!

"Williams says he plans to continue the use of leitmotifs in the new film. 'While the majority of the music is also new, there are necessary references to early story lines, which helps create association with the previous films so the music will look back in spots to the earlier films, but there are also new themes that will be applied in a similar way."

Any veterans here know if he said anything similar about Indiana Jones 4?

[Lewya 361]

Now we have the names of some players:

Jon Lewis trumpet, Andrew Bain horn player, Heather Clark, a flutist, Louise Di'Tullio another flutist. Stephen Erdody cellist.

[karelm 3,191]

Nice, Andrew Bain is a great, great player and super nice guy! He's principal with LA Phil. This is the A list.

[Not Mr. Big 4,818]

Nice, Andrew Bain is a great, great player and super nice guy! He's principal with LA Phil. This is the A list.

But is he as versatile as his LSO counterpart?

[Tom 5,615]

Is the picture of Williams composing new? What a perfect image.

[Code 000. Destruct. 0. 4,261]

Cool, I didn't know that he writes 10 line sketches that are basically complete when they go to the orchestrator. I thought Pope embellished quite a bit; isn't that what orchestrators do? Anyway, great factoid. Definitely so much different from what most composers do now!

[Jay 42,489]

Him and Howard Shore are probably the only guys still doing that!

[Code 000. Destruct. 0. 4,261]

How do you think he felt about being approached to do Schindler's List? I bet the cocky son of a bitch was like, "I'm not surprised you called me Steveo! A story of this magnitude needs my greatness!"

[karelm 3,191]

Nice, Andrew Bain is a great, great player and super nice guy! He's principal with LA Phil. This is the A list.

But is he as versatile as his LSO counterpart?

Which LSO counterpart? The one from Ep 1-3 or 4-6? I am partial to 4-6 and Bain being just phenomenal. I've seen him do gymnastics on the horn and never fail. He just doesn't sweet it out under pressure and delivers beauty, tone, power, majesty, heart...

[King Mark 3,834]

Cool, I didn't know that he writes 10 line sketches that are basically complete when they go to the orchestrator. I thought Pope embellished quite a bit; isn't that what orchestrators do?

Hasn't that topic been discussed 100 times here already?

[Code 000. Destruct. 0. 4,261]

Hmm, I can't say that I've ever noticed that or heard it elsewhere before.

[Incanus 5,858]

Hmm, I can't say that I've ever noticed that or heard it elsewhere before.

It's like the Schindler's List anecdote and the fact Williams never reads scripts before he starts scoring a film.

[Code 000. Destruct. 0. 4,261]

Someone clue me in on those as well?

[Score 775]

Note that he says that the sketch goes to the music library (I guess Joann Kane) as it is and then is basically put in digital full score format directly. So, I guess there will be no orchestrators at all, except the copyists! He might have done the same with "The Book Thief": there are no credited orchestrators.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,949]

Article in the latest Music Union magazine:

http://im.afm.org/doc/AFM_IM/june-2015/2015060101/#18

The scene opens on a black screen. From the depths of inaudibility, a single eerie string chord rises to underpin the image of a windswept desert landscape.

Instantly, we know where we are: Tatooine, homeworld of Luke Skywalker.

What nonsense! It has not been confirmed at all that the desert is Tatooine!

[Hlao-roo 390]

Someone clue me in on those as well?

I think there was an interview where Williams humblebrags that he told Spielberg he needed a better composer than he to score Schindler's List (this was a 1993 Spielberg film about the Holocaust), with Spielberg agreeing but saying that any such composers were all dead. There's probably a link available somewhere on the site. As for the thing about Williams not reading scripts before scoring, that's news to me.

Cool, I didn't know that he writes 10 line sketches that are basically complete when they go to the orchestrator. I thought Pope embellished quite a bit; isn't that what orchestrators do? Anyway, great factoid. Definitely so much different from what most composers do now!

I also think it's cool to read he's old school and writes at the piano with pen and paper. But I agree with the author of the article: it's striking that a composer so readily amenable to movies with futuristic content would be so resistant to using technology in the compositional process. It's almost as though those two aspects are unrelated.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,949]

I guess John Williams has always been something of a Luddite when it comes to how he writes music. It's how he learned to do it decades ago and it's how he's still doing it. I really don't think it should be seen as suspect that he hasn't updated to the latest compositional tools that are now commonplace in film music.

He just never struck me as a very tech minded individual.

[Lewya 361]

Article in the latest Music Union magazine:

http://im.afm.org/doc/AFM_IM/june-2015/2015060101/#18

The scene opens on a black screen. From the depths of inaudibility, a single eerie string chord rises to underpin the image of a windswept desert landscape.

Instantly, we know where we are: Tatooine, homeworld of Luke Skywalker.

What nonsense! It has not been confirmed at all that the desert is Tatooine!

It has been confirmed that the planet is Jakku I think.

[BloodBoal 7,544]

[Not Mr. Big 4,818]

I wonder if we'll get any descriptions of the music from any insiders like we did for Tintin and War Horse...

http://www.jwfan.com/?p=627

On an unrelated note, it looks like the time is coming soon to open up the Star Wars subforum...

[thx99 1,986]

Is the picture of Williams composing new? What a perfect image.

It's from the recording sessions for Gloria Cheng's Montage CD...

Someone clue me in on those as well?

I think there was an interview where Williams humblebrags that he told Spielberg he needed a better composer than he to score Schindler's List (this was a 1993 Spielberg film about the Holocaust), with Spielberg agreeing but saying that any such composers were all dead. There's probably a link available somewhere on the site. As for the thing about Williams not reading scripts before scoring, that's news to me.

Both of these anecdotes have been featured in many interviews!!

Here's one example of the Schindler's List story (jump to 1:27): http://www.thv11.com/story/local/2013/02/22/1742718/

And re: "not reading scripts" (jump to 3:35): http://www.npr.org/player/v2/mediaPlayer.html?action=1&t=1&islist=false&id=164615420&m=164848555. Transcript of the story: http://www.npr.org/sections/deceptivecadence/2012/11/10/164615420/john-williams-inevitable-themes

[BloodBoal 7,544]

[Muad'Dib 1,946]

Is the picture of Williams composing new? What a perfect image.

It's from the recording sessions for Gloria Cheng's Montage CD...

Capture.PNG

Someone clue me in on those as well?

I think there was an interview where Williams humblebrags that he told Spielberg he needed a better composer than he to score Schindler's List (this was a 1993 Spielberg film about the Holocaust), with Spielberg agreeing but saying that any such composers were all dead. There's probably a link available somewhere on the site. As for the thing about Williams not reading scripts before scoring, that's news to me.

Both of these anecdotes have been featured in many interviews!!

Here's one example of the Schindler's List story (jump to 1:27): http://www.thv11.com/story/local/2013/02/22/1742718/

And re: "not reading scripts" (jump to 3:35): http://www.npr.org/player/v2/mediaPlayer.html?action=1&t=1&islist=false&id=164615420&m=164848555. Transcript of the story: http://www.npr.org/sections/deceptivecadence/2012/11/10/164615420/john-williams-inevitable-themes

[Quintus 5,721]

So, Abrams' solid but distinctly undistinguished Star Wars movie just got better by default. He'd better be grateful!

[Tom 5,615]

Compared to the previous three SW movies and, perhaps, any of Williams-scored movies, the composing schedule has been/will be insanely long. He says he began working on it at the beginning of the year and will finish recording in August or even September. It will be interesting to hear the themes and their orchestration and compare them to previous efforts. I wonder if we will find more complex orchestrations and whatnot.

[King Mark 3,834]

yes, if it's mediocre we can't blame rushing because of another movie

[nightscape94 967]

But, have you seen BB8. He's so cute!

[Not Mr. Big 4,818]

First pictures!

http://makingstarwars.net/2015/06/behind-the-scenes-pictures-from-john-williams-recent-scoring-session-for-star-wars-the-force-awakens/