Welcome, Sithoid. Excuse this very lengthy response but first a couple of points…
Regarding what is ”legal” in classical music, this simply means musical styles are derived from adhering to time honored convention. Think of it as rules of grammar. Just as grammar has rules, these rules evolved over time so if we applied the rules of Shakespeare’s time to modern writing, it would seem extremely dated. If we want to write a story that takes place in Shakespeare’s time, loosely following the rules of that era would help immerse modern audiences but following old English rules too strictly and it might not sound right since that would ignore the conventions we have become used to. So this is in a broad definition what is meant by the rules of music. It is a set of conventions that were adhered to during specific times (and places) but have evolved and developed with the ingenuity, creativity, and rebelliousness of successive waves of composers. Rules are ultimately subjective but when learning them, teachers might insist on adhering to the rule to gain a mastery of the material and the expectation is the student will just add it to their comprehension of the material rather than follow it ad nauseam. In my experience, teachers did not mind if I broke a rule if it was done intentionally rather than out of ignorance to the rule. Rules are also genre specific and many times modern composers borrow from different styles or regional rules as well. For example, the 20th century composer Stravinsky also wrote neo-classical music referring to music of the classical era though usually would insert his style.
The tritone (augmented 4th) was a forbidden interval through the Middle Ages because it was considered unstable and difficult to sing (the devil in music) but in Baroque and classical eras, is common as tension and release became an important part of the developing musical vocabulary. In jazz or contemporary music it is very common.
Also an important distinction needs to be made regarding historical (western classical) music and film music. Generally speaking, in classical era, musical movements tend to end with a cadence or some clarity to their ending. In film, you might not want clarity since the musical drama should support the theatrical drama. For example, in “The Force Awakens” OST track called “The Abduction”, it ends with a suspension (sus-4) which wants to resolve to the 3rd of the chord. It feels incomplete as it is. This makes total sense dramatically because the heroine, Rey, was just kidnapped so to add to the helplessness of the situation, JW ends the cue on the sus-4 with a yearning quality.
Raising the 7th (the sharp 7th) is very common since that is the leading tone. There is nothing unusual about that and is frequent in music. It also helps establish key changes since the 7th can act as a leading tone to the new tonic it will help reinforce harmonic changes.
The way I would see the intro of this cue (using the OST as reference) is the key starts in A minor then descends a perfect fourth to E minor then descends a 4th to B minor which has an F# as leading tone to G minor which is where the theme begins at bar 14 of your sketch (or at 0:15 seconds on the OST track). The first three chords are a fifth apart (down a perfect forth) so when starting in A minor (A-C-E), the fifth is E and the inverse of the fifth is down a fourth so from A minor go down a perfect fourth to E minor (E-G-B). The B is the fifth of E so down a perfect fourth (the inverse) to get to B and now you have a leading tone of F# to the tonic of the music, G minor. Why does JW do that? Why not just start at G minor?
First, the first phrase of the resistance theme ends on the fifth which is a strong interval (Star Wars first two notes for example and about a gazillion other examples), so JW is setting up a sequence where each time we land on the important fifth, we've shifted to that new dominant key and restate the phrase now in the new key. This is a romantic era convention of emphasizing the tonic by dancing around to heighten the impact when we ultimately land on it resulting in an increasing level of climactic build up.
Quick music lesson follows…Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 is in D minor but begins with A (without the third). More instruments are added as the A and E are sustained with arpeggios coming all around. The listener is not sure if the opening is minor or major leading to a prolonged tonal ambiguity as the build continues with great power as we arrive at the tonic of D minor well into the movement. This makes the opening feel like A minor since it acts as the dominant key to the tonic. So this reinforces and sets up the tonic when it finally arrives. This demonstrates Beethoven's dramatical skills...he doesn't just give you the main character, he first sets up the troubled environment where the main character exists. So if we used Beethoven as the model for “March of the Resistance” we would start the opening on the dominant of D minor. JW is doing the equivalent of this here but adding more repeats of the sequence.
The augmented 4th may have been disallowed in early vocal music fof voice leading purposes, but those rules hardly apply anymore.
even Bach back in the 1700s redefined and twisted the rules in such incredible and progressive ways, you'd see tritones and wicked modulations that others would not dare. With the tritone, he's kind of implying an F7 leading us to B flat, a harmonic pattern that is entirely traditional within g minor, although he may not actually complete the chords in the orchestra. The melody ending on the leading tone is part of the cadential figure. On those two eighth notes we get a iv-V (c minor-D major), and the bass instruments use their little run to give V-i, a very standard cadence. The harmonies are surprisingly traditional throughout this piece, and stylistically it stands out from the rest of the soundtrack. I am reminded of romantic composers writing a fugato in the development section of a symphony movement, and in that sense i agree with 19th century influences. Because this is a concert version and not just a movie cue, it means the form and structure are self-contained, not interwoven with on screen action. I'm trying to continue the transcription... got most of the way into the fugato
Hi everyone! I'm new here, but I'm a lifelong Star Wars fan who loves to research behind-the-scenes stuff
The more I listen to the TFA soundrack, the more it seems different from the previous Star Wars pieces. It sounds fresh, but also closer to the "real" classical music than to the film scores. I feel like there's more to this score than Holst or Stravinsky or Newman influences; 'The Resistance March' sounds like it's from the XIX century, not XX, but I can't quite tell why. Sadly, I lack conservatory education to analyse classical composers' orchestration and harmony. Maybe you can give me some tips where to look for the possible sources of inspiration?
To have something to start with, I tried to write the March down, basing off your photo, and found some curiosities - like an augmented 4th (I actually had no idea it was legal in classical music), phrases ending with sharp 7th, LOTS of key changes and that pseudo-Phrygian motion in bars 20-21. I only did the beginning before starting to lose rhythm, but I hope this will be helpful - or maybe some of you will have some ideas which composers to research. I tried to google the use of augmented 4th, but it seems like it's a part of some larger harmonic patterns, and that's an area where I'd appreciate some tips... Thanks in advance!
Resistance_March.mscz
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