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Johnny made a cameo in my dream last night. Another one of those "he just happened to be sitting near me", chatting with a few people, full of smiles and usual gentle kindness. I think Jon Burlingame was there too talking about film music and I wanted to take a picture but felt the room was too small so I'd be noticed and kicked out. So I just quietly sat next to them listening.

But 2001 did that very successfully by showing the birth of the starchild which made no sense to most people but ultimately was a brilliant ending of the same type of thing. The birth of a new entity, the next step in evolution, a being that transcends time, space, reality in its new form. I think that's what TMP was saying but poorly.

In Star Trek The Motion Picture, what happens to V'ger after it completed its mission? When Decker merges with it, they all just vanish - doesn't that mean they still exist as a new entity? Why isn't it still trying to acquire all knowledge but now with human awareness too? The film kind of just ended with a big ex-machina that luckily the invading ship just went away.

Recent interview with Goldenthal: INTERVIEWS WITH ACTORS AND FILMMAKERSINTERVIEWS WITH ACTORS AND FILMMAKERS (filmtalk.org)

Damn, only 47 minutes total music? Today it would be 99% scored throughout.

An excerpt from my latest piece, "Boundless Light", concerto for organ and orchestra. https://clyp.it/4xwoo1u0

That is awesome! Will listen to it tonight, congratulations Robin!

Didn't she pay Johnny with cookies for the arrangement? Now it is he who must bake cookies for her.

Wow, thank you good sir! I'll share it with them! I'm deeply passionate about both topics, space and music and had millions of questions. She was super generous and gave me extra time as well.

I had the opportunity to talk with astronaut, rocket scientist, spacewalker, violinist, and John Williams fan, Sarah Gillis! Our wide ranging conversation talked about her passions for music, music education, John Williams, her experience working with The Maestro and the other musicians, plus her work and voyage to space which she just returned from. The full interview is here: Violinist Sarah Gillis on Playing John Williams’ Music in Space (Exclusive Interview) – JOHN WILLIAMS Fan Network – JWFan.com

So much to learn from these. Type set them into notation software so you can pull items apart and focus on specific sections. You learn A LOT from transcribing by ear or typesetting it and breaking it down. One simple example, you can get rid of so many elements and it will still sound great and finished. Like it needs nothing else. Then you start adding elements back and see how the sparkle and nuance emerge. Also pay lots of attention to voicing. There is so much to gleam from how he deals with voicings.

...or one of those "Help, I need to complete my thesis on JW's composing style by tomorrow and haven't started yet so can one of you tell me exactly what to write?" that we get from time to time.

In case you weren't aware, we recently lost David Cripps. He was the principal French Horn player of the London Symphony Orchestra during Johnny's Golden Age in the 1970's and 80's where he played in the original Star Wars trilogy (he's the horn solo in the Princess Leia theme, Yoda Theme, Han and the Princess, etc.), Superman, Raiders of the Lost Ark, and much else. David was a legend in the horn and music world. When he was visiting LA, we went to an orchestral rehearsal of the Santa Monica Symphony and the entire horn section recognized him and muttered..."holy shit...that's David Cripps". He was then introduced by the conductor (who was a professional musician and violinist in the LA Philharmonic) who introduced him to the rest of the orchestra and handed him the baton to conduct Rachmaninoff. David had so much fun, he absolutely loved hanging out with musicians and they were giddy to meet him. He had a perfect memory of so much and even remembered performing Johnny's Symphony (remember, JW wasn't yet famous in the early 1970's so it was amazing to me he remembered playing that work as the LSO was playing new music by major and minor composers all the time). A very lovely, kind, and generous man and incredible musician. RIP. Obituary | David Cripps of Tucson, Arizona | Norvel Owens Mortuary Another very joyful memory I wish to share. I was staying with David and of course music topic came up, something he always loved talking about. We were listening to my favorite Star Wars score, Empire Strikes Back, and commenting on it throughout. In the Clash of the Lightsabers, there were all horns playing staccato (short notes) so precise, it really amazed me just the skill, precision, and talent of the entire ensemble but especially David's horn section. Completely lost in the music, I turned to him and said "Damn you guys were good". He slowly reflected and with a gentle smile replied, "Yes, we sure were...we sure were good". That memory brought a laugh to me just now because there was actually zero hint of arrogance, just a very modest man accepting a compliment from a fan with a sly smile.

That's fantastic! Glad it worked out for you and was so easy.

I thought this was worth its own thread, it's so cool! The Polaris ship is the first fully commercial space walk (meaning not by a country but a private company). Additionally, at 1,400 km (1,000 miles altitude), it's the highest any human has been since Apollo 17 (1972). Here they are pitching music education and playing Rey from Star Wars in orbit! More details: Polaris Dawn astronaut plays 'Star Wars' song in music video beamed from space (video) | Space Here was the crew with The Man himself.

John Williams was played in outer space this morning!

Yeah, I've seen bios that say two symphonies and a sinfonietta. I think what it was is more of the 1986 revised version of the symphony was different enough that he might have referenced it as a new work and others took that to imply a new symphony. Similar to how Prokofiev's Symphony No. 4 are two different works. There is Symphony No. 4, op. 47 (1930) lasting about 22 minutes and Symphony No. 4, op. 112 (1947) lasting 35 minutes. To most people these are two entirely different works though the op. 112 is technically a major revision of the op. 47. But I think with JW, the challenge is these work(s) have rarely been available so other than memories of those who performed or heard it, we don't have anything we can look at. He must not think very high of it. I remember seeing it available to rent about 10 years ago but no sign of it anymore.

Over the weekend, I finally saw The Magnificent Seven (1960). A great, great film that is a retelling of Kurosawa's Seven Samari (1954). This one stars lots of tough guys like Yul Brynner, Steve McQueen, Charles Bronson, James Coburn, and a bunch more. What I loved about this film is how much charm, wit, and depth all the characters have. They all have vulnerabilities and longings while never weighing the film down. For example, the tough guys make fun of the villagers for being so weak and unprepared to defend themselves, but they later realize how a life of peace and joy has eluded them as gunmen, making them long for the peace and simple life the villagers enjoy. Chuck Bronson laments not having a family and no one to remember him once he's gone. Even the villain, Eli Wallach, has motivation, depth, and charm. Very good movie with high stakes, charm, and fun.

Totally, they have so, so many great stories that shed a lot of light on JW, his childhood, creative process, and just who he is.

Damn, this music would be great in a godzilla movie.

American Film Institute (wordfly.com) I think it's only at the AFI festival.

It's just combined staff like two horns on a single staff where they play different parts. You should think of it as two sets of multiple players (or two stations with multiple instruments each), but each set might include multiple people if that makes sense. For example, in this excerpt, the top staff requires three players (from top to bottom cymbal, triangle, and suspended cymbal) on a single staff and the grand staff starting at bar 75 changes the suspended cymbal to the glockenspiel. Then there is separately a second part which can also have between one, two, or three players. Sometimes the players have to jump around (glock player in part 1 is also playing vibraphone in part 2 just as an example). Think of it as percussion stations. Each station has multiple instruments and multiple people but the total number of players might just be three or four. There are lots of reasons for this, first the Hal Leonard scores want to be practical translations meant for rental and performance. Having more than three percussionists usually means the orchestra has to hire another player for the entire program and rehearsals. Orchestras tend to not like to do that as they don't have a lot of extra profit to spend so trying to manage the resources to get a good performance is what you are seeing here. What usually happens is the players will take some liberties, but this is showing they are making effort to make this practical and require minimal running around and reasonable number of players to pull off in theory.

That was quite good and shows some nice technique. Does the scene not have dialog? I get you might have had to mute the existing sound with score but be cautious about overwriting and covering up dialog. You are basically scoring the action very heavily and I'd suggest also adding more emphasis on the emotions of the characters. For example, at 0:34, you are scoring the running but what does Ratatouille feel? Is he scared for his life? Desperate to escape and get whatever's in his mouth to someone else? I'd suggest you playing more to the emotion of the scene without sacrificing the action. You can certainly keep the intensity and action elements, but it isn't really helping tell the story which the music needs to do. I don't know exactly what's happening, but you score it as a chase and that's what I see but is that what's actually happening? Without capturing the story, it feels like there are some missed moments and tension risers as the chase proceeds. At around 1:07, the villain seems closest to capturing Ratatouille, shouldn't this be the moment of maximum tension in the cue? Generally, be cautious about following the action/events of the scene too closely at the cost of the story/emotion elements. I don't really get a sense of fear, relief, anger, hope, etc. Just running/chasing. With all that said, you did a very fine job, good themes, and an exciting cue.

As do most conductors. JW prefers the best musical performance which might include flubs over the one that is more correct but lacking magic.

...and that's how I met your mother.