Search the Community

Hey everybody, my latest episode of "The Music of" is live and on one of my favorite scores, "Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back". I'm a huge fan of Star Wars, and if you haven't seen one of my reviews before, I isolate the music within the film so you get to see how it works in the movie without the sound effects or dialogue, it's pretty cool. I don't dive super deep into them, but rather like to get all kinds of people an idea of what makes this music so special!

As expected, it will be released the same day as the movie, and will be just one disc: https://www.amazon.com/Star-Wars-Last-John-Williams/dp/B0758KSWZK/ Currently, there's a placeholder cover, although given what the cover looked like for TFA I wouldn't be surprised if they just add "Music by John Williams" and give us that.

Hi all, I've now completed a blog post analyzing the musical meaning of the themes from The Force Awakens. http://www.filmmusicnotes.com/themes-and-their-musical-meaning-in-star-wars-episode-vii-the-force-awakens/ Enjoy!

Hi I'm looking for recordings of this score for my Advanced Higher Music qualification, any help would be appreciated. LINK TO COPYRIGHTED MATERIAL REMOVED BY MODERATOR

What the title says; what if your favorite obscure motif from any of the Star Wars films. I'm referring to a re-occurring motif that either has no specific meaning or is just not noticed by most people. Mine are probably Maul's motif (yes, he has his own motif; NOT DotF) and the unknown "Sith" motif (as I call it) from ROTS.

How would you want a Star Wars complete score edited?

That's it, score's gonna be ruined, everyone despair!

So if both John Williams and Michael Giacchino were off the table for scoring ANY of the upcoming Star Wars films, who would you want to score one of the films, whether it's a spin-off or episode 9? There are no wrong answers (unless you say Hans Zimmer). Personally I might go for James Newton Howard. Not modern JNH, but late 90's/early 2000's JNH if he was able to tap into that spirit again.

What the title says; what is your favorite *performance* of both the opening and closing titles? I'm not talking about the music/suites/cues that play AFTER the titles, I'm talking about the title cues themselves. You can either choose from one of the films, or concert recordings. In my opinion, Main Title: TESB or ROTJ End Title: ROTJ

EA's SWBF2 will be coming out in a few months. Do you think it will contain any unreleased music? It seems this Saturday may or may not be the moment of truth, as they will be showcasing prequel gameplay.

Both trilogies serve as prequels to a far greater trilogy. Both have had more of a mixed reaction to their respective fanbases. And now it is up to you to decide; which trilogy is better, the Hobbit trilogy or the Star Wars prequel trilogy? Personally, my vote goes to the Hobbit trilogy. Despite the excessive CGI and visual effects, as well as the additional storylines and subplots, at least it feels as though it is from the same vein of movies as the LOTR trilogy. On the other hand, the Star Wars prequel trilogy completely sidelined the visual style and charm of the OT, resulting in a set of movies that have neither the humor, nostalgia, or feel of the original classic films. The Hobbit trilogy also has far superior acting. Ultimately, the decision is up to you. Please vote in the poll above!

Reposting this here from @mrbellamy Looks like Williams will be composing (or rather, has composed) the source music (diegetic music) for The Last Jedi! Very exciting news!

Which film and score is your favorite from the classic Star Wars original trilogy?

So yeah, this is a topic I see debated occasionally on the forums, so I thought this could be a formal place to do so and share your opinion. Feel free to share your thoughts below, and please participate in the poll above!

A question and response re: temp music in TLJ.

As we all know, the 1997 Special Edition OST 2CD set presented us with the complete recording sessions of the iconic Main Title on the last track of CD1. As we all know also, the sound quality of these separate takes is better (MUCH better, I think) than the final version presented on track 2 of the same CD1. I believe that some of you have already toyed with the idea of creating a version using the selected takes (18, 19 & 20, which the 1997 OST booklet dutifully informed us). So, to celebrate the 40th anniversary, here's my modest contribution (and the correspondent track from the 1997 OST for comparison). It was no easy task putting this together. In the end, it made me respect the work of music/sound editors, and EVEN MORE the work of music/sound editors of the analog era. Hope you like it!

Dear Sir / Madam, I have made a transcription/set of variations of The Imperial March from Star Wars. I have a student who is supposed to play it in a local music competition this coming weekend. I made this transcription without any intention of claiming that I wrote the original and I have made this clear on the score. It is edited in a way that makes it possible for small hands but in better taste than a lot of the transcriptions out there. It is a set of 3 variations with a coda at the end. There is no introductory theme (like you would find in a traditional set of variations) but only variations with a softer interlude half way through to break up the first two variations. I think that more than 40% of this piece has been edited or changed but I am not sure. It takes about 2 minutes to play. There is no intention to publish this work or claim copyright for the original. I have not sold it to the student or his parents or anyone else for that matter. I have no intention to sell it. It is only for my one student to play and develop his technique while enjoying what he is using for educational purposes. I have no intention to make money in any way through this piece or for anyone else to make money directly or indirectly from this piece. The local event has a programme but the only details which are published in the programme are the names of the competitors. There is no need for the student to announce the title and composer of the piece although if it is required then he will do so. The event organisers are not making money or advertising the event by using the title of this piece or the original composer's name. It is also a non-profit event. There will be no recording made of this piece when played. The event organisers will be making sure of this. No audio or video recordings will be made and there will be supervisors in the room making sure of this also. The student who is playing this piece along with his parents have been primed not to allow anyone to have a copy of the sheets or give them to anyone else. They are very respectful of the laws of the land and are only interested in promoting their son's musical interests and have agreed to the terms that I have laid down as well as any which we will potentially be given by anyone in authority. As soon as the student has finished playing the sheets will be taken back and destroyed. Is there anyway for us to get permission for him and only him to play this piece during this coming weekend? If anyone can help I would really appreciate it as hours of reading up on copyright law has not brought me close to finding out what is permissible and what isn't as far as movie Music is concerned. I have even asked Radnich and Belousova how they got permission to transcribe, record, sell and show for free on YouTube their transcriptions and paraphrases of Star Wars but they have not replied and we are running out of time. My student has worked for just over a whole year (now 8 years old) to be able to play this piece. It would be a crying shame if it was not possible. How can we get official permission for him to play it just in case a representative of the PRS turns up to this event? Do we need official permission? PLEASE HELP! Mish

There it is. The Original Trilogy plus The Force Awakens, live to projection! http://nyphil.org/concerts-tickets/explore/1718/star-wars

This is a question that I keep coming back to with the Star Wars sequel trilogy: Will John WIlliams ever record another Star Wars score with the London Symphony Orchestra (LSO) again? While I enjoyed the score for The Force Awakens, I couldn't help but notice that there was just something different about it or missing. Part of it could have been the recording techniques, digital vs. analog, or a host of different variables, but one element I feel that supersedes all of that was the absence of the LSO. Yes, the musicians used to record the score on The Force Awakens I'm sure are world class and likely some of the best in the world, but there is something to be said when comparing a group of musicians that have been put together in a very short amount of time with very little time playing together as a group to record a film score, as opposed to a world class orchestra that has been playing together for years. I also realize that even the musicians in the LSO change over the years, but as a unit, I would bet they have spent much more time playing together than any group of musicians put together to perform on one film score. For me personally, I felt that overall, The Force Awakens score was amazing and the playing was good, but I felt that the cohesion and crispness experienced with the LSO at least on the prequel scores, was lacking. I just wanted to get everyone's opinion on this. With the recent news that Williams will be recording the score for Episode VIII on and off now and into early next year, does this signal Williams official departure from the LSO on Star Wars? Do you think we'll ever get another Star Wars score composed and conducted by John Williams with the London Symphony Orchestra? Fingers crossed, I'm hoping we get just one more with the LSO, but of course, I am thankful that we still have John to bless us with new material for Star Wars regardless.

There's been discussion of this piece scattered in various threads, and I figured it was prime time it got its own thread to increase visibility of this piece Here are two performances of it on Youtube, anyone know of any others?

Has anyone else been unlucky enough to run into one of those fanatics who thinks every cinematic entry in the Star Wars franchise (god forbid you call it a "franchise", it's the "collective works of an auteur!") is magical and sacred, and if you feel that certain entries don't measure up to par with others, you're not a "true fan"? I've spoken to them online and met them in real life. I worked with one bloke who insisted that to call yourself a true fan, you shouldn't criticise any entry in the series for perceived failures, and he asked how you could only like one part of the series? I've always been baffled by this mindset. It's as if they're incapable of assessing a single, individual work of art by its own merit, and instead seem to be blinded by brand loyalty. And they hold the content creators (ie George Lucas or whoever) to an almost deified level, that criticism of their work shall not be tolerated. And if you're the poor sod who dares to hold the content creators to account for their failures, the white knight fan brigade will attempt to vilify you by making false accusations toward you or attempt to ostracise you from their community. The Harry Potter fandom has a few vocal participants like this who believe every entry in the novel series is flawless and equally great and JK Rowling is incapable of mistakes or errors in judgement. I guess they're free to think so, but just because they think so doesn't make it so. But it seems to be most prominent in those two fandoms from what I've observed. You might have seen it elsewhere. But I've never seen anyone bark at others for expressing dislike toward certain DC or Marvel movies and accuse them of not being real fans if they only see merit in certain films but not all of them. Same goes for say, Star Trek, Jaws, Indiana Jones, Godzilla, James Bond, Friday the 13th, Nightmare on Elm Street, just to name a few examples. I dunno, this is just my ponder for the day.

Being that this is the first Star Wars score that will not be composed by Williams, What do people think about the decision of having Desplat do it? I never really got into him until recently, mostly "imitation game," "danish Girl," and "unbroken." The man definitely has talent but... Star Wars talent? Maybe he'll pull some great themes out of his ass but what I'v observed is that he excels in more "thoughtful" movies, ya know, the ones where the theatre is filled with a whole lot of white people sitting with their legs crossed and fingers folded on their lap. Not that that is all he does, but the music from "godzilla" or "zero dark thirty" never really stood out to me as much as the ones mentioned above. I might be completely off, but I still feel like someone along the lines of Giacchino would be a better pick? I just don't get the sense that Desplat can make a more than serviceable star wars score based on my experience with his music. Then again, i totally didn't see "The Secret Life of Pets" score coming from him, and that one's great! Thoughts?

Found this interesting little gem the other day. I wonder if he will make any other arrangements.

I have recently endeavored on a project to listen through all of the Star Wars soundtracks and pull out the popular leitmotifs present within the films, ones like "Across the Stars", "The Main Title", or "The Force Theme". In order to do this I need to be able to listen to the complete scores for all 6 of the movies, ones that are movie accurate. The extended editions for all of the originals and the Ultimate Edition TPM soundtrack work just fine, but the Attack of the Clones, Revenge of the Sith, and Force Awakens scores are highly edited and extremely lacking. This is particularly prominent in the Attack of the Clones soundtrack, where I find listings of all the musical cues but never the songs themselves. I looked around and saw that people have created their own soundtracks that play just as it is in the movie but I haven't been able to get my hands on them, so I would be very appreciative if someone with more experience than I could supply me with the complete scores for these movies: Attack of the Clones Revenge of the Sith The Force Awakens But with particular emphasis on Attack of the Clones. Thanks!

So I was on the BMI repertoire, just looking through John Williams' page, mainly to check for any TFA cues, when I came upon a cue I had not seen before, credited to John Williams called "Death of Ki Adi". So obviously Ki-Adi-Mundi is a character in Episode 3 that was killed during the order 66 scene. Does this mean that there was music specifically for his death, or that BMI made a mistake somehow, or there was a character in another movie with that name? I'm kind of confused right now. Take a look for yourself; it's on page 11... http://repertoire.bmi.com/PublisherCatalog.asp?fromrow=251&torow=275&keyname=BANTHA%20MUSIC&querytype=PUBWORKS&keyid=17754&page=11&blnWriter=True&blnPublisher=True&blnArtist=True&affiliation=&cae=&term= EDIT: On a side, note, the only cue we don't have from TFA that I could find was a cue called "Bring Her to Me". Not sure if it's referring to the film mix, or an unused cue.