Williams' film music is taught at Liverpool University!

[filmmusic 1,825]

This is what I found browsing the net:

 

https://www.liverpool.ac.uk/study/undergraduate/courses/music-ba-hons/module-details/

 

Quote

 

The Film Music of John Williams (MUSI370)

Aims

- To provide students with an account of John Williams'' film music output (including stylistic development and compositional technique) - To provide students with an understanding of the relationship between John Williams'' film music and the narrative and dramatic content of the relevant films - To provide students with an understanding of the relationship between John Williams'' film music and traditional or historical compositional techniques - To provide students with an appreciation of the contextual issues relevant to understanding John Williams'' film music (e.g. Hollywood; directorial vision; populism etc).

 

Learning Outcomes

To demonstrate knowledge and understanding of the development of John Williams'' film music output (from a stylistic perspective) To demonstrate knowledge and understanding of the relationship between John Williams'' film music and earlier compositional traditions and conventions To be able to relate elements of John William''s compositional technique to specific film contexts or mechanics To demonstrate an awareness of broader critical and cultural issues, as relevant to situating John William''s film music in context To be able to apply knowledge, understanding, and awareness (as described in the prior learning outcomes) to original case-study filmexamples

 

 

Does anyone go to that university?

It would be great if this was an online course!

[Thor 7,490]

Cool! Wish there were all these kinds of niche courses back when I was a student.

[bruce marshall 1,315]

I was worried the course description would say something like:

 

the sexist, racist, and classist elements of his music.will be explored within the context of post- war American imperialism. We will examine how the backlash against the fight for the rights of the LGBT community , radical feminism, and racial oppression, were underlying themes of the STAR WARS and INDIANA JONES trilogy. Special emphasis will be placed on Third World musical styles that were suppressed by William's reactionary embrace of European romanticism.

INSTRUCTOR: Thor Haga

 

 

 

[filmmusic 1,825]

I see the teacher of this is a Dr Giles Hooper.

I wonder if he's a member here...

[bruce marshall 1,315]

Giles?

He taught Buffy the Vampire Slayer-!!

[Thor 7,490]

48 minutes ago, bruce marshall said:

I was worried the course description would say something like:

 

the sexist, racist, and classist elements of his music.will be explored within the context of post- war American imperialism. We will examine how the backlash against the fight for the rights of the LGBT community , radical feminism, and racial oppression, were underlying themes of the STAR WARS and INDIANA JONES trilogy. Special emphasis will be placed on Third World musical styles that were suppressed by William's reactionary embrace of European romanticism.

INSTRUCTOR: Thor Haga

 

Ha, ha. That sounds more like something Adorno would concoct back in the day. "Birdie sings, music sings" and all that.

[Biodome 714]

1 hour ago, bruce marshall said:

I was worried the course description would say something like:

 

the sexist, racist, and classist elements of his music.will be explored within the context of post- war American imperialism. We will examine how the backlash against the fight for the rights of the LGBT community , radical feminism, and racial oppression, were underlying themes of the STAR WARS and INDIANA JONES trilogy. Special emphasis will be placed on Third World musical styles that were suppressed by William's reactionary embrace of European romanticism.

INSTRUCTOR: Thor Haga

 

 

 

I know your reply is satire, but I wouldn't mind learning something like that in general. The way ideology is reflected in and reinforced by cultural phenomena, such as film music, would be a fascinating subject to study.

[Thor 7,490]

19 minutes ago, Biodome said:

I know your reply is satire, but I wouldn't mind learning something like that in general. The way ideology is reflected in and reinforced by cultural phenomena, such as film music, would be a fascinating subject to study.

 

Check out this book, a classic on the matter: https://books.google.no/books/about/Composing_for_the_Films.html?id=jrJUvOWaNf4C&redir_esc=y

 

There are several others too, like this: https://www.amazon.com/Strains-Utopia-Caryl-Flinn/dp/0691006199

[Biodome 714]

6 minutes ago, Thor said:

 

Check out this book, a classic on the matter: https://books.google.no/books/about/Composing_for_the_Films.html?id=jrJUvOWaNf4C&redir_esc=y

 

There are several others too, like this: https://www.amazon.com/Strains-Utopia-Caryl-Flinn/dp/0691006199

 

Thank you! I haven't heard about those books before. I'll check them out!

[Jurassic Shark 12,051]

Give us a summary when you've read them!

[Biodome 714]

25 minutes ago, Jurassic Shark said:

Give us a summary when you've read them!

 

I won't indulge in your own laziness. Go and read them yourself! 

[Falstaft 2,132]

Wow, I knew of Hooper's musicological work, but not that he taught a Williams course!

 

I now know of at least three institutions that have dedicated Williams undergraduate classes: Liverpool, M.I.T. (taught by the wonderful Marty Marks), and Tufts by me. I suspect there's quite a lot more out there.

  

3 hours ago, Biodome said:

I know your reply is satire, but I wouldn't mind learning something like that in general. The way ideology is reflected in and reinforced by cultural phenomena, such as film music, would be a fascinating subject to study.

 

Yep, satire aside, this kind of critical approach has value too. I tried to cover both appreciation, historical contextualization, and evaluation in my Williams course this past spring (though COVID interfered with all of it to a certain extent). Hopefully I'll get a chance to teach it again soon, it was quite popular. I think there even may be a few of my pupils who now lurk JWfan!:

 

Tufts MUS-55

The Music of John Williams and Star Wars

A critical evaluation of the music of John Williams. Emphasis is placed Williams's eclectic style and the wider cultural and social currents in which his music participates. The composer’s engagement with history and politics is given special attention, notably through collaborations with directors like Spielberg and Stone and connections to local musical institutions. Second half of course dedicated to the scores for the Star Wars franchise, focusing on topics of thematic construction, myth, and gender and racial representation. No prior background in music required; essential musicological concepts introduced through direct study of Williams's music.

[bruce marshall 1,315]

7 hours ago, Biodome said:

I know your reply is satire, but I wouldn't mind learning something like that in general.

Only barely.

There is a ton of writings out there that are IDENTICAL to what I wrote.

Buyer beware.

6 hours ago, Biodome said:

 

...

 

.read them yourself! 

That is cruel-

4 hours ago, Falstaft said:

 

  

......historical contextualization, and evaluation .....

 

Tufts MUS-55

The Music of John Williams and Star Wars

A critical evaluation of the music of John Williams. Emphasis is placed Williams's eclectic style and the wider cultural and social currents in which his music participates. The composer’s engagement with history and politics is focusing on topics of thematic construction, myth, and gender and racial representation.

..

 

See, I told you I wasn't joking!

😁

I doubt Williams has ever thought of ANYTHING like what you study.

Maybe someone like Wagner did.

[Yannick 40]

1 hour ago, bruce marshall said:

Only barely.

There is a ton of writings out there that are IDENTICAL to what I wrote.

Buyer beware.

That is cruel-

See, I told you I wasn't joking!

😁

I doubt Williams has ever thought of ANYTHING like what you study.

Maybe someone like Wagner did.

 

Maybe he wasn't. It doesn't matter, you can still search for influences, analise the way he represented characters (and genders, of course) across his work, the impact on culture, how the people interpreted the music and the impact it had

 

I can think about his Star Wars work. Leia's theme is maybe the most romantic from the Original Trilogy, used to represent a woman, even thought there are variations according to how she acts. If she takes the lead, JW gives us an action cue, but it's mainly a classic representation of a woman, I think. 40 years later, he didn't wrote Rey's theme that way, because her character was created in a different era, under others circunstances. Was supposed to express a different idea of feminity. And even if JW didn't thought about it, you can't deny the influence of context. You have ideology even in music, yes. Because it is a cultural expression.

 

Wagner being antisemite doesn't make The ring of the Nibelung a nazi composition, for example.

 

I'm sure a lot of people in the forum can explain it better than me and go way deeper since I'm just a sociology student and not an art/music specialist. I think is nice to have different perspectives to think about it. It enriches the debate 

[Biodome 714]

1 hour ago, bruce marshall said:

 

1 hour ago, bruce marshall said:

See, I told you I wasn't joking!

😁

I doubt Williams has ever thought of ANYTHING like what you study.

Maybe someone like Wagner did.

 

Well, what John Williams or any other composer explicitly think isn't that important to critical theory. Ideology can be spread not only by a conscious decision, but also by unconscious actions, habits, and social forces that lie beyond our awarenes. It can silently permeate the very fabric of our society and our daily routine without most of us ever realizing it.

 

Here's one of my favourite living philosophers, Slavoj Žižek, deducing things about the English, the French, and the Germans just by examining the shapes of their toilets:

 

 

These are the small, eye-opening things that make us think twice about the reality that we all take for granted. You feel yourself beginning to ask questions about why certain phenomena are the way they are, what those phenomena tell us about the society in which they exist, and what else can be deduced from all of it.

 

Of course, philosophy isn't everyone's cup of tea, and I perfectly understand it if you're not into it. Some of the thinkers, like Hegel, Lacan, or Derrida can even be off-putting due to their obscurantist style of writing that neccessitates the use of secondary literature. There are even running jokes like these 

 

 

It takes time and effort to wrap your head around, but once you do, I feel that it's greatly rewarding.

[Jurassic Shark 12,051]

I'd rather study algebra.

[bruce marshall 1,315]

But....but....

Williams is not the source, the director and screenwriter espouse " philosophy " or " ideology"

Ascribing intentionality, conscious or unconscious , to the composer  is ........

 

B.s..

Nothing personal.

😊

8 minutes ago, Jurassic Shark said:

I'd rather study algebra.

I'll assign SHARK to watch the toilet vid.

Have your ' report' on my desk Friday morning, PST.

11 minutes ago, Jurassic Shark said:

I'd rather study algebra.

I'd rather watch a BAD Terence Malick film#😅

[bruce marshall 1,315]

New book coming this fall:

 

The Music of John Williams: How one composer perpetuated white, male Patriarchy in the films of George Lucas and Steven Spielberg

 

Published by Haga Press

 

😉

10 hours ago, Biodome said:

 

I won't indulge in your own laziness. Go and read them yourself! 

I tried using my voice- to text option.

It crashed!

[bruce marshall 1,315]

One would hope they also offer courses on THE BEATLES?