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Star Wars Phantom Menace OST Pitch Issue


fawkes

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Hi all,

I'm new to this forum, so forgive me if this isn't worth a thread of its own. I was just curious about something I heard in "Passage Through the Planet Core" from the Star Wars Episode I OST. Around 4:00, there is a piccolo solo, and it goes up to some incredibly high note that sounds like a D to me. I was confused because - as far as I knew - the piccolo's range caps out at a high C.

Does anyone happen to have the orchestral score and know if this is actually notated as a D? Or was the pitch bumped up on the recording? Thanks!

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A genuine D8?! I've never seen anything above a C8 ever written, even by Shostakovich, who LOVED to test the upper limits of the piccolo range. That said, it still could be possible to play a D8. Are you a piccolo player?

EDIT: Scarpia, you're right - it could be a C#. I have some form of perfect pitch, but it gets really hard to tell when we get up into the stratosphere, frequency-wise. Either way, I'm just blown away, because even if C#8 and D8 are possible, I've never heard of them actually being asked for. If that's the case, John Williams = total badass.

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Are you a piccolo player?

I am, but my top note was normally the second A above the staff because of something wrong with the instrument that has not been fixable, nor have I felt like upgrading. It's hard to justify when you're an amateur not playing for money, with a "real job" during the week. I played a loaner horn and was able to comfortably produce Bb for Stars and Stripes in college, but it took me 12 years to learn the alternate fingering for Chimes of Liberty -- which is better than dropping it an octave or overblowing high A and hoping nobody notices. High C, though, that's something I've never seen in my music nor dreamed about. High D?? Unfathomable.

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