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Jaws Tuba Melody


ComposerEthan

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I'm currently in a music class in college and my professor used Jaws as his introduction to melody (this is a more general class, not a music major class). He said that the tuba player was famous for playing the two noes (E-F). I remember looking this up before and reading that the tuba player played a high-register tuba. Now in the score, I recall the Jaws E-F theme being played on strings. I always called the "Shark's Theme" the three note phrase played in the first few seconds after the initial "dun dun".

Am I wrong in saying that this is the Tuba melody that Tommy Johnson is famous for?

I wish I could provide a time stamp for this, but I'm in class.

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I'm currently in a music class in college and my professor used Jaws as his introduction to melody (this is a more general class, not a music major class). He said that the tuba player was famous for playing the two noes (E-F). I remember looking this up before and reading that the tuba player played a high-register tuba. Now in the score, I recall the Jaws E-F theme being played on strings. I always called the "Shark's Theme" the three note phrase played in the first few seconds after the initial "dun dun".

Am I wrong in saying that this is the Tuba melody that Tommy Johnson is famous for?

I wish I could provide a time stamp for this, but I'm in class.

You're right. It's the three-note motive that's played by the tuba (doubled by all four horns as well), not the E-F motive - that's played not only by the strings, but by piano, harp, percussion, and low winds, at least at the start of the cue.

Tommy Johnson's famous?

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I knew it. I brought it up to him, but he called it the Shark's secondary motive. I always looked at the 3-note motiv as the Shark it's self (its semi-fanfaric), and the E-F ostinato for the heartbeat in a way.

I guess so? He said something about royalties. Im sure he was generalizing.

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FWIW, the 'melody' or figures the tuba and horns play are based entirely around Eb7. Because it's using a dominant 7th chord and in that particular register, it subconsciously reminds of us of natural horns (i.e. hunting horns), which are built around the harmonic series of a certain note (i.e. F, Eb etc.). It's an idea/association borrowed from Stravinsky's Le Sacre.

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