Datameister

I've wondered about this before, myself. It'd be fun to play the celeste parts to a few Williams cues on a keyboard set to the actual patch... Naturally, there are some scores where this is relatively obvious, but I didn't realize this was so prevalent. Could you provide some examples of scores that use this?

They can be indicated on lines or spaces. Doesn't matter, although it's nice for the players if they don't have to deal with ledger lines. (It annoys me to no end when a part calls for five drums and they are notated on the spaces, with the highest one sitting above the staff...totally pointless.) On a personal note, I prefer reading percussion music on the lines. But as JackChapple said, these are only relative pitches and can therefore be placed...well, wherever you want them to be placed. As far as Sibelius itself goes, I can't help you there. I'm a Finale guy myself, although its percussion notation can be bothersome.

Meh, I found Johnny English to be merely tolerable. I found John Malkovich's character to be pretty obnoxious, and the music only was enjoyable the first time. Rowan Atkinson certainly has talent. A few parts amused me; a lot of it just felt strange.

I do. I can't wait for his next score, although it's not like I own or have listened to a sizeable percentage of his work...so you could say I've got plenty of new Williams to listen to! Yeah, I'm convinced that good old Johnny has at least one more truly brilliant sonic universe to share with us, if not many more. Only time will tell.

I've heard it said that when you're playing music, the rests are at least as important as the notes. It is true that a score is more effective if it doesn't play nonstop. The lack of music in the first T-rex attack in JP--brilliant. It would have been much less effective if there were action music playing. I have nothing whatsoever against "action music", but it's simply not always appropriate to the scene. The lack of music in the pre-Battle-of-Yavin section of ANH--not so brilliant. I don't think it detracts from the movie, but I certainly wouldn't mind a little underscoring in a few of those scenes. I like the fact that "The Elevator Scene" was mostly cut out of ROTS. I happen to find that cue fairly enjoyable, but the movie works better without it, IMO. However, I feel that the unused sections of 2M1 (the first half of "Grievous and the Droids") should've been used. The quieter music written for the conversation between Grievous and the Jedi is actually somewhat humorous, especially with the Luke's theme reference as Anakin says "you're shorter than I expected."

That made me laugh.

Yeah, but a lot of that was originally scored with "The Elevator Scene" and the cue known only as "2M1"--both of which can be heard at least partially on the OST. I don't believe anything was ever written for that huge stretch of time in ANH with no scoring whatsoever.

At first, I felt the same way you do--quite strongly, in fact. But those edits have grown on me and I enjoy the entire assemblage of cues as-is. The sudden changes work pretty well, I think, with the possible exception of one in the middle of "Boys Into Battle." Oh well. Goodmusician, I can relate to your nausea after the opening space battle. I sat in one of the first few rows--luckily, I don't get motion sickness, but it was still an overwhelming experience. I enjoyed it.

Thanks for the info, guys! Another tool to add to my toolbox...

I'd wondered about that. Anyone else care to confirm or deny this?

Hey, all. I admit I'm rather embarrassed that I, a percussionist, don't know the answer to this, but I'm hoping someone could help me out. There's a percussion instrument that makes the incisive, metallic sound that I can't identify. You can hear it around 3:48 in "Den of the Rancor" (ROTJ) and near the beginning of "Parade of the Slave Children," reinforcing the flute parts (particularly in the OST). I believe it's used in the Sky Captain score, as well. Can anyone identify this instrument? It almost makes me think of very hard spoons being struck together.

In the case of John Williams, engraving in Finale is the orchestrators' job. Some composers like to work directly in an engraving program, but the perks of working that way aren't huge--especially if you've got one or more underlings hired to engrave all your work.

I've never heard from many snaredrumaphobes, either. On a personal note, I love listening to and playing the instrument--when not overused. Much as I'd like to play throughout a given piece, no one wants to hear constant snare drum. What I have heard is protest to the incessant drum grooves in Media Ventures scores. I agree with this to some extent, but that rhythmic flavor is nice in moderation.

I was a little distracted the one time I saw that film, but I listened fairly hard to the score and only heard one recurring thematic idea...and it was the standard vi-IV-I-V chord progression you hear in everything from Media Ventures scores to popular vocal music these days. Good progression, but it's way overused. Perhaps I wasn't listening as closely to the score as I thought? I'd love to be wrong about this one...

Sequel, I suppose. It always gives me chills to hear an old favorite theme presented in a novel way, alongside brilliant new material. Although there's a lot to be said for movie scores that singlehandedly develop new sonic universes without using any old themes. (ESB did a great job with the former; ANH did a great job with the latter.) Ideally, a movie score forms its own thematic macrocosm that feels and sounds totally inevitable, yet is so original that no human in his/her right mind could possibly have come up with it. I get that with the Star Wars movies particularly--the quantity and quality of the themes are so overwhelming. I also got that feeling after seeing HP:SS for the first time, and I'm now becoming a comfortable resident of the Indiana Jones movies' sonic universe.

I'll say Star Wars simply because if I'd heard Superman as much as I've heard the SW main titles already, I'd be sick of it. Don't get me wrong--I love Williams' work on Superman as much as the next fan. But the sentimental value and sheer brilliance of the SW main title wins it out for me.

Selections from Stravinsky's "The Firebird." Particularly the last section, starting with that gorgeous horn solo. The bassoon solo a few minutes beforehand is a little more funereal and would fit in nicely, I suppose.

It's simply too hard to pick between Leia's Theme and Han and Leia's Theme. Both are great (if somewhat similar) themes. I'd have to say that I like Maestro Williams' use of the latter in ESB better than his use of the former in ANH, but the concert arrangement of the former is a beautiful piece that holds a lot of sentimental value for me. (Although the flute cadenza has always seemed a little out-of-place to me.) Luke and Leia is an interesting composition--it has a more "mature" sound to it than either of the other two. However, its chordal similarities to the other two along with Marion's Theme start to annoy me. How many love themes could Williams write in the 70s and 80s that use that I iv progression? :roll: It has a great feel, but enough is enough.

Well, those aren't exactly triads, mike, but they're based on the simplest cadence of them all--V to I. The Asteroid Chase works remarkably well. If you want to look at it literally, the tinkling xylophone and swirling upper woodwinds serve to illustrate the chaotic movement of the miscellaneous small asteroids and dust. The huge brass passages consist almost entirely of major triads, but the lack of a real tonal center makes it hard to tell where the music will go next--hence there's a feeling of...majestic confusion, I suppose. At about 1:46, all that scurrying string tremolo stuff works for relatively obvious reasons. I find it amusing that at least four lyrical Williams themes written between '77 and '82 use the whole I - iv chord progression in their beginnings--often with that subdominant being an implied minor-sixth chord. (Leia's Theme, Han and Leia's Theme, Marion's Theme, and Luke and Leia.)

Yup, those two passages are related. However, goodmusician, that interval is not a fifth but an augmented fourth. (Specifically F major to B major and back, or F# major to C major and back in the case of the ROTS end credits.)

Close, but no cigar. Those are called roto-toms. Unlike regular toms, they have no shell at all--just a drumhead mounted on a rim. Instead of tuning the drum by turning lugs with a key, you simply rotate the rim. They can produce a surprisingly wide range of pitches and have slightly more precise tone definition than regular tom-toms. If you watch the music video on the AOTC DVD, you'll briefly see these being played.

The opening measures of "Buckbeak's Flight" are certainly a startling way to begin a cue, but there's nothing incredibly brilliant about them, IMO. Not in the way that "Attack of the Sandpeople" is brilliant. I find the similar percussion in "The Whomping Willow" to be more effective. (By the way, magical_me, the drums you hear with the timpani are concert tom-toms. Smaller than both taiko drums and timpani, but they pack a sonic wallop. The timpani account for the boomier, lower sounds in that passage; the tom-toms account for the higher-pitched rhythms with more definite attacks.) Ah, how could I forget! The snare drum part to "March from 1941" has got to be one of the most enjoyable snare parts for a march. The syncopated accents give a different feel to the piece than you'd expect from a march, and there are a couple of really short-'n-sweet solos. Then there's the fortississississississississimo bass drum hit (or cannon blast) that for some reason is WAY too quiet in the Spielberg/Williams Collaboration recording...but that's a whole other story.

The Tusken Raider music from ANH. Some of the most brilliantly original percussion writing I've heard to date. Nearly impossible to transcribe, too. I, too, find the Coruscant chase music enjoyable, but the percussion parts are relatively simple and quite repetitive. I prefer the chess match cue from HP:SS. The blaring trombones and chaotic xylophone part work incredibly well. I get a kick out of hearing that track. I find "Concerto for Cello and Orchestra" to be rather dull, all in all, but the random outbursts from the concert tom-toms in the first movement are great.

Sorry, can't help you there...but you could always play it by ear! Arranging your own music can be a lot of fun.

I knew someone would bring up that point. Although, I don't know if a group of 12 of us could do any better, either. Except that the synth parts are also relatively simplistic. In many of the cues, the synths are not so much an integral part of the whole as they are a way to boost the sound of the orchestra. I'm convinced that the POTC music might gain a little bit more appreciation with this crowd if both of the following were done: 1. Get an experienced and talented composer and orchestrator to completely re-score the entire film, using themes from the original when appropriate and new material when not. 2. Get a skilled, full-sized orchestra (I'm partial to the LSO) to perform this new score, reducing the use of synths to a minimum--that is, for color at certain points in the music. But sadly, these won't be happening anytime soon, I don't think.