rsp3studio

Hello again! I'm pleased to announce that the concert went well, and you can find a few highlights from the performance here (the video is 11:30 total, including the encore). Thank you all for your support!

Hello friends - I very much regret that due to technical issues which can not be remedied in time, we will not be able to stream the performance live after all. It is repeatedly cutting off the broadcast, and I don't want to take the chance it will do it in the middle of the concert and not come back. HOWEVER, we will definitely have an audio recording (which will be better quality anyway), and if all goes well, video too, which means you'll be able to see the projected images up front which otherwise wouldn't have been possible through streaming. After the event, I will post links so you all can check it out. Thanks for the support - it means a lot. We'll be doing some work on the technical side this coming year so we can be sure to stream next time without problems.

Due to popular demand - here is a brief preview of the concert (streaming quality - it will be a bit better that night). There will be projected images up front, but they're not showing up online so you guys will just have to watch the console during the performance - hope you enjoy!

@thx99 - You're lucky to have tuned into the channel while that video was still up. It wasn't actually a sample, just a test which we didn't move to 'private' right away. Glad you enjoyed it though! Maybe I'll post a sampling after all to try and draw more people in...

I'm pleased to announce that the Organ Tribute to John Williams will be streamed live from Boston on June 30 starting at 6:45 PM EST. Here is the link: http://www.ustream.tv/channel/jw-organ-tribute. We'd love to hear who will be watching live, so we can greet you and announce to the audience how many US states and countries around the world are represented. This will be the first time we have done anything like this, so we're hoping to amass a good following that will lead to other performances in the future. Thanks so much!

We may be able to stream live for those not local - I'll let you know if that works out. @MSM - The letters stand for Master of Sacred Music and Service Playing Certification, my current highest qualifications in organ performance. And we are running this as an education program, and I'm not using any published material (almost all learned by ear), so no fee - not to mention I'm not making any money off of it Hope to generate some more interest with the locals around Boston, but if not, please chime in everyone and let me know if you'd be interested in a live stream. If there's enough interest, I'll make that a priority as it draws closer. Thanks!

I'd like to announce a concert I will be presenting outside of Boston, Massachusetts, An Organ Tribute to John WIlliams, on Saturday, June 30 at 7:00 PM. In celebration of the maestro's 80th birthday, I have assembled a program of works spanning his career arranged for/improvised at the organ, in this case the mighty Louise S. Janesco Memorial Organ, a digital instrument of 58 stops equipped with six complete organ suites and MIDI. The program will include extended medleys from the Star Wars, Harry Potter, and Indiana Jones franchises, as well as a special tribute to American heroes accompanied by "Hymn to the Fallen". If there is sufficient interest, we may stream the event for those who can't be present physically that evening, or explore the possibility of repeating the program in other venues in New England and beyond. The concert will be held at St. Luke's Evangelical Lutheran Church, 950 East Street in Dedham, Massachusetts. The venue is easily accessible by I-95 off the Mass Thruway or from Boston by the Franklin Line MBTA. This event is FREE and open to all - any freewill offerings received will benefit St. Luke's Music Ministry. Hope to see you there! _ _ Robert S. Potterton, III MSM/SPC Director of Worship Arts St. Luke's Lutheran Church Dedham, MA

I would definitely suggest the Thornton School of Music in California- it is really the only school in the country that effectively combines serious academic study with top-quality instruction and opportunities in film scoring. One of my fields of study is also musicology, but I am not focusing on film music-so I'm going to end up at Harvard or Boston University in 2008 for my next degree. Good luck! Robert Summers Potterton III S.P.C. www.rsp3.com

I agree whole-heartedly, that one can not compare the works of composers in a different historic and stylistic context. Being one myself, I can vouch for the fact that it has become much more a matter of what has been written before, and what is required of us now. Just because "Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun" and Mahler's "Symphony No. 3" are hailed as incredible achievements in music composition and have indeed had a great effect on music since then, those works have already been written and contemporary music can not be judged according to the standards of the past. I'm currently working on a text on this subject, so it is very interesting to see people's views on this debate. Robert Summers Potterton III S.P.C. Staff Composer-Blackcoffee Films & Media, Singapore www.rsp3.com

Most impressive! Great job synching the music to the lights. I'm glad to see all this effort going towards a good cause...

I won't even bother to reply to that comment.

I would love to record this with live orchestra- if I can get the rights to it. Maybe I'll do a suite of it next year with the local orchestra and my guitarist friend. A great score, even with the synthesizer....

There is a clip of John Williams playing some music at the piano for Steven Spielberg on the Bonus Disc of the Special Edition of E.T. It's nice to hear him play something he wrote while he's still working on it, and see Spielberg reacting to it.

I really enjoy his score to "Free Willy", which is followed closely by "Quigley Down Under". More obscure scores perhaps, but the melodies and orchestration are absolutely breathtaking. And I have performed the themes from "Free Willy" several times in concert-very effective outside of the film.

As much as it seems like people here hate remixes of classical themes, I have done quite a bit of this, with a jazz version of the E.T. Flying Theme and an electronica version of Harry Potter. If you would like to commission a remix of the Jaws theme, I'd be happy to do it... let me know if you're interested.

I pick Star Wars. I certainly love both equally, and the Superman theme does contain more motives, but compositionally I believe that the Star Wars theme is more advanced rhythmically and varied in orchestration.

While I think that Doyle is more in tune with the classical sound and certainly knows how to write it well, Ottman's score to "Superman Returns" may have been superior, or atleast worked better, than "Goblet of Fire". If it comes down to the composers though, I have to say Doyle.

I always do it by composer, although I do have some Goldsmith listed under Williams to distinguish the recordings of the same pieces.

I'm working on that one... I'll be teaching music at a high school part-time this year as well, and will definitely include quite a bit of Williams in the coursework, especially if we do a film music-oriented lecture at some point.

1. How many instruments do you play? 7: Piano, Organ, Electronic Keyboard, Harpsichord, Recorder, Didgeridoo, Drums 2. Can you read standard music notation? Yes 3. Can you write music using standard music notation?Yes 4. Have you studied music theory? Yes 5. Do you understand the concepts of consonance, dissonance, and harmony ? Yes 6. Can you comprehend alto clef? Yes 7. Can you comprehend treble clef? Yes 8. Can you comprehend bass clef? Yes 9. Can you comprehend tenor clef? Yes 10. Can you sing? Yes 11. Do your ears have training/recognition ability? Yes 12. Have you ever composed/created a musical piece lasting a minute or more? Yes 13. Have you ever done professional musical work? Yes 14. Do you understand the concept of ryhthm? Yes 15. Do you understand the concept of pitch? Yes 16. Do you understand the concept of melody? Yes 17. Do you know the difference between monophony and homophony? Yes 18. How many instruments can you identify by their sound? All orchestral instruments, a good deal of ethnic as well. 19. How musically inclined do you consider yourself? Pretty well inclined 20. Ever performed in an education/school related band or orchestra? Yes

I have noticed the lack of key signatures as well, and always wondered if it did have something to do with his jazz background. I also usually leave them off with orchestral works or atonal chamber/solo music that changes keys rapidly, or has no tonal center.

This is a promising thread- a minor thing that I have noticed is his use of I to some inversion of V/V, then to the V chord, used most notably in the Flying Theme from E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial and 'The Mission' for NBC News. I sometimes refer to this as the "lift" or "flight" motive. I believe it is also used in Hook.

According to IMDB, the film came out in 1989, when Cliff was 25 years old. And I too would love to see him do more diverse projects.

E.T. The Extra Terrestrial-definitely. One of my favorite scores, and certainly one of the most complex. It's a tough decision though, I think I would try to convince John to let me stay for the rest of his scoring sessions for the next twenty years...

I'd say go for the full-season sets. The extras are good, and it's nice to have all those episodes together in a compact container. We've had them for a while, to replace the VHS set (I was just amazed by this yesterday, the fact that it took two shelves to hold the VHS collection, and now we have all three seasons that can fit in your pocket.