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New Project: John Williams Potter Scoring


Potter Scoring Project

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@Tizzeres thank you so much! That means a lot and we're really glad to hear. It's been great for us to try for better sound quality as we go. But we are especially happy hearing that the films are sounding unified, since that's the ultimate goal!

 

 

Sorry for the brief hiatus, everyone, but we will be publishing cues 22 and 23 together next week (instead of cue 22 today). Stay tuned for some Malfoy cues, and thanks for your enthusiasm!!

 

 

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This whole set of projects has been such a sweet comfort in the trying times we all have found ourselves in of late. Thanks so much for all the hard effort you guys have put behind these and for sharing them with the community. They are such a joy. 

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@Cerebral Cortex you've made our day, and we are so happy to be sharing our project here! Thanks so much for commenting. It's a labor of love working on this project - usually a nice forced break from the rest of our careers, but it's especially worth the work when we hear from you and the other JWFans. We really are glad you're enjoying this.

 

MS

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Perfect for Halloween! Malfoy and Snape's material really do have amazing atmosphere to them. Definitely feels like a natural extension of The Chamber of Secrets material, and tracks like "Secrets of the Castle" from Prisoner of Azkaban

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@Potter Scoring Project

Once Half Blood Prince is finished, will you be releasing a curated “album” version like you did with Order of the Phoenix? It’s so terrific.

 

I’m curious as to how you decide upon which cues to include. Do you wish to emphasize new material? Material you find particularly interesting? Material that helps you hit a desired album length?lol

 

^^^Subsequently, these are questions I’ve always wanted to ask Williams himself when he assembles an album. Like why the Force Awakens ost can be such a great summary of the score while the KotCS ost is left wanting in my book;)

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Re-re-re-re-listened to your version of GOF and OOTP these days, and I'm becoming more and more "well-versed" in your new themes, so now they feel like they are part of the rich tapestry Williams created for HP. Can't wait to listen to the full HBP score, and to what you have in store for the upcoming movies! Solid work, you definitely deserve to be supported more, with a Patreon or something

 

PS: I just wanted to ask, how do you re-orchestrate JW's material so accurately? Do you have the full orchestral sheet music for the first HP movies?

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On 17/11/2021 at 12:42 PM, redishere said:

Re-re-re-re-listened to your version of GOF and OOTP these days, and I'm becoming more and more "well-versed" in your new themes, so now they feel like they are part of the rich tapestry Williams created for HP. Can't wait to listen to the full HBP score, and to what you have in store for the upcoming movies! Solid work, you definitely deserve to be supported more, with a Patreon or something

 

PS: I just wanted to ask, how do you re-orchestrate JW's material so accurately? Do you have the full orchestral sheet music for the first HP movies?

Wow thank you for writing about your re-re-re-re-listen! And thanks for saying that about the themes! I’m particularly excited about having the full HBP score done and out there because it’s my personal favorite of the three I’ve written. It stems from my love for COS probably. Can’t get enough of those COS action sequences. Having support/Patreon would be great, but just by the nature of the project we’d probably get into some hot water with WB and JW’s lawyers. But that’s so nice of you to say, and if we find enough incentive and legal loopholes, we’ll certainly consider it.

 

In regards to the P.S., we may…..or may not…..have obtained the first three potter scores in their entirety via sheet music leaks, which I’ve been using for extensive reference in both re-stating old material and creating new. I also own all 4 of the Hal Leonard Signature Editions which are commercially available. All of the scores are currently covered in sticky notes that specify which moments I want reprised or re-orchestrated for Deathly Hallows. I also did not have them before writing GOF, so when we eventually go back and make that score sound better with the new samples, I’ll be spicing up some spots that I now know how to do properly.

 

Thanks as always for commenting!

 

BP

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10 hours ago, Potter Scoring Project said:

Wow thank you for writing about your re-re-re-re-listen! And thanks for saying that about the themes! I’m particularly excited about having the full HBP score done and out there because it’s my personal favorite of the three I’ve written. It stems from my love for COS probably. Can’t get enough of those COS action sequences. Having support/Patreon would be great, but just by the nature of the project we’d probably get into some hot water with WB and JW’s lawyers. But that’s so nice of you to say, and if we find enough incentive and legal loopholes, we’ll certainly consider it.

 

In regards to the P.S., we may…..or may not…..have obtained the first three potter scores in their entirety via sheet music leaks, which I’ve been using for extensive reference in both re-stating old material and creating new. I also own all 4 of the Hal Leonard Signature Editions which are commercially available. All of the scores are currently covered in sticky notes that specify which moments I want reprised or re-orchestrated for Deathly Hallows. I also did not have them before writing GOF, so when we eventually go back and make that score sound better with the new samples, I’ll be spicing up some spots that I now know how to do properly.

 

Thanks as always for commenting!

 

BP



I totally get it, and I truly wish you get the recognition you deserve. I was actually listening to the "real" score for HP5 and grinned when I realize I was expecting some of your themes to appear! You've done it :D


I even tried to rip my HP DVDs surround sound to get rid of the score and replace it with yours, but unfortunately the score is in every channel!

Anyway the Horcruxes scene was really well done (I love the two-chords COS motif)!

 

P.S: This is unrelated, but I hope the gorgeous opening of Family Portrait will make its appearance somewhere, those chords give me chills every time! I'm also looking forward to listening to the new and improved GOF!

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Nice climax for the Fawkes "B" Theme! Admittedly I was hoping we'd get a final soaring statement of the "A" theme, or a faster version of the "B" theme a la Williams' original suite, but I still like the big, intense, epic statement of it. 

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While this is my least favorite of the films, this cave scene is admittedly one of my favorites in the whole series. So bone chilling and sorrowful. Wonderful WONDERFUL job. The final cues can’t come soon enough! 
 

PS- super dig the “Visions of Anne Lively” -esque moment with the three note Voldemort motif when Harry almost drowns with the Inferir. Great tip of the hat there!

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11 hours ago, Potter Scoring Project said:

There is absolutely some Fawkes A Theme Payoff. It was hard to find the perfect moments, but they exist. Stay tuned! 

 

Fair enough. You absolutely nailed track 40! I love that moment when the 3-note motif comes in. It really ups the tension and the stakes in that scene, giving the feeling that Voldemort is somehow watching or controlling all of this, despite not being present for the whole film. 

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Again. Fantastic work here. This is a difficult and long scene to score. I’m curious as to how many iterations or alternates of a cue you compose? Especially since you don’t have a director who needs to approve anything. How do you decide when to use a particular theme? (Or fragments of a theme?)

 

I went back and listened to the album versions of your scores to GoF and OotP. Just between those two projects, I can tell your confidence and abilities had increased immensely (Your OotP might be my third favorite Harry Potter score behind two of Williams works btw;) I adore the Room of Requirement montage music. Cant wait for the grand finale to this one!

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Completely agree on WampaRat's post. I'm also interested in possible Alternates or Early Versions if there are any and how you decide which one will make it.

 

As of today I listened to your complete HP5 score is on my top 5 list of most listened music albums I listened this year. So it's most likely also one of my favorite HP scores but more because of of cues like "Flight of the Order", "The Ministry of Magic", Harry Kisses Cho", "Azkaban Breakout" and all cues with Umbridges Theme and all cues with "A Window to the Past". "The Room of Requirement" is also great, but Hoopers version is one of my most ever favorite cues of all time therefore hard to beat. I sadly can't listen to your work without comparing it automatically to the work of Doyle, Hooper (and Desplat in a few months).

 

If I remember this film correctly, only 5 or so minutes are missing, meaning 1 or 2 shorter cues left (excluding the End Credits). Looking forward to it.

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Gotta love those "Leaving Hogwarts" callbacks! I actually have a few questions regarding thematic material. 

 

So we have this new trio theme for the main characters. Is this replacing the original friendship theme / "Harry's Wonderous World" for the most part? That used to be the theme for the trio, but you guys seem to prefer to use it sparingly, and in places where I thought you'd use the original theme, you used your new one for the main 3. This isn't a bad thing, mind you, I'm just curious if you guys have a specific purpose in mind for it.

 

My other question is about the flying themes that make up the second half of Hedwig's theme. The 4th Hedwig theme from "The Firebolt", and "Escape from the Dursleys" in particular I always loved as a dramatic and emotional theme. Are you planning on keeping them around for any more important scenes? "Double Trouble" seems to be the new mischief theme most of the time (though I do love the callbacks to "Nimbus 2000" in this score), and in OOTP all of the major flying scenes use "Buckbeak's Flight". Once again, not a complaint, just wondering if those are going to make any more appearances, or if they'll be replaced with darker themes. 

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@Potter Scoring Project Went through and listened to all of the HBP cues. Terrific work. From start to finish.  Your arrangement of the double trouble theme that carried over from OTTP for the Weasley Bros is truly a gem. I love how you ran with it and adapted even more for the “Weasley Wizard Weezes” cue. It truly feels like Williams could have written it. Not a mediocre imitation. A legitimate Williams composition!


Cant wait for the End Credits and the curated album 😊

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41 minutes ago, Potter Scoring Project said:

HWW is more about Harry only. I’ve made sure to use it when Harry is in awe of the magical world, for a transition that is Harry-centric, or a moment that Harry is feeling emotionally independent from Ron and Hermione (even if the two are present). The Trio Theme is about the three of them, but specifically the three of them and their lasting friendship through the years. It’s more nostalgia-based than anything. Since most of their moments together in the later films are quiet, it didn’t feel right to use any existing themes over them. I tried a few, and nothing quite clicked. 

 

That makes sense. I'm surprised you went that route since in the first 2 scores that theme is so linked to the trio (or at least friendship) with it sometimes being used for Harry only, but I do also really like the way you use it, and it's very satisfying when it does appear. Not to mention it was nice to see it being used as a base for the Harry and Cho theme. I'm excited to hear what you do with it and how you incorporate the different sections of the Hedwig theme in Deathly Hallows! I'm especially interested to see what you do to separate yourself from Desplat's work, as I think his music for the first part is the best non-Williams HP score. 

 

You absolutely nailed the end credits suite by the way! It was nice to see it be full of expanded material, along with the darker variation on Hedwig's theme! I was expecting a new suite for Fawkes, similar to your new suite for A Window to the Past from OOTP, but I also like the quote of the more fantastical original suite, as it acts as a more grand farewell to Dumbledore after the more subdued versions of the theme in the film. Overall, this was a great HP score, and improves, or at least makes me appreciate the film it belongs to far more than I did before just like your OOTP score did. 

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Yes! Just finished listening to these End Credits. Bravo once again. I’m very interested to here more of that RAB motif in Deathly Halllows. I get a real “ghost motif” vibe from Williams score to The Patriot.

 

I know it’s a bit late in these series to be asking this. But im curious if you’ll pull in some of the more medieval textures and instrumentation Williams brought in from PoA? Perhaps for moments with the Gray Lady in DHpt2? Or moments in the Three Brothers story? Or the horrific Nagini/Bathilda Bagshot scene? 
 

I was listening to PoA the other day and it struck me how different it truly sounds from the prior two HP scores (mostly due to Curon’s directive that Williams score it that way). It’s much more sparse and eerie with an emphasis on those specialty instruments. Bringing in those instruments (er…samples;) might help that entry feel less of an outlier in this more orchestrally robust series. Either way, I look forward to your output in these final two films!

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I honestly can't wait for the full score presentation, it's the best end-of-the-year gift!

Oh, and speaking of Family Portrait… @Potter Scoring Project
 

On 28/11/2021 at 9:57 PM, Potter Scoring Project said:

I totally love the Family Portrait opening as well […]. We're unsure if it will make it into Hallows because everything is getting so much darker but it's in our heads as well. […] Maybe for a deleted scene. :)


… I tried tracking it over the '19 years later' epilogue and it's almost perfect (it even has the same length if you start the cue right when Leaving Hogwarts starts in the original scene); granted, it's a lot more subdued, but with a few tweaks and a crescendo at the end, it could be quite an emotional ending!

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I'm not deep into your topic, but I just saw Cue No.40. WOW, that was great music. It made me cry watching Dumbledore's death. I think you are really getting close to Williams as far as I can tell in this cue. Will listen to the whole thing soon now. Great. Thanks @Potter Scoring Project

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6 hours ago, Michael G. said:

I'm not deep into your topic, but I just saw Cue No.40. WOW, that was great music. It made me cry watching Dumbledore's death. I think you are really getting close to Williams as far as I can tell in this cue. Will listen to the whole thing soon now. Great. Thanks @Potter Scoring Project

 

Thanks so much! That's great to hear and we look forward to hearing your thoughts on the whole thing. Also, Dumbledore's death was an important scene for us so I'm glad it's landing emotionally. We appreciate the comment!! 

 

MS

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15 hours ago, Potter Scoring Project said:

without giving too much away, Hallows 1 is very PoA-like in that it steps away from the typical storyline.

😃😃😃 Very excited to hear it!

And you guys have done a marvelous job and using those PoA themes. Hearing that sped up reprise of “The Walk To Buckbeak” was such a treat Btw.

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@WampaRatThank you! The little nuggets of smaller cues we’ve reprised/re-vamped all stem from listening to the first three scores over and over, and saying “I want that part, and those 30 seconds, and some of that” then figuring out how to incorporate them without it sounding forced. It’s so fun, and really helps integrate the JW sound across the back half of these movies.

 

@redishere Thank you so much! This is my favorite of the three I’ve written so far. But I’m super biased cause COS is my favorite of the JW scores, and this was my chance to show my love for it. So glad you enjoyed it!

 

- BP

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15 minutes ago, Potter Scoring Project said:

 

We actually just posted those! It's mostly adapted material from the end credits, but hopefully still a couple of good suites/theme presentations. Over on the Concert Arrangements page we have the "Dark Forces" suite and Slughorn's theme!

 

MS

Nice. It makes sense to me to combine the draco task and the HBP theme into one suite. Very cool. Reminds me of Williams approach of combining roses theme with the Luke in exile theme for Last Jedi in “The Rebellion is Reborn”. Or the two different friendship and victory themes in the “Rise of Skywalker” suite. 
 

Wonder if that’s becoming more a habit for Williams these days? Rather then a suite per theme. A couple themes in one suite?

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On 09/01/2022 at 9:48 PM, WampaRat said:

Reminds me of Williams approach of combining roses theme with the Luke in exile theme for Last Jedi in “The Rebellion is Reborn”. Or the two different friendship and victory themes in the “Rise of Skywalker” suite. 

 

On 09/01/2022 at 9:51 PM, Power Windows said:

To be fair, the Superman theme (true, it originated as a main title/credits suite) is multiple bits of thematic material in one.

 

True!! Not sure if any of the more character-related moments like Superman or Raiders will happen but it's interesting to think about. Something might lend itself to that kind of combination by the time we get to the end and have everything to pick from. We do keep the Star Wars sequels in the back of our minds as well - hearing the "trio" theme in TROS definitely felt like it gave us license to introduce the same idea in OOTP, and I thought of Rebellion is Reborn with the Dark Forces suite too. At the same time, it's sort of this movie's dark version of Harry's Wondrous World... 

 

On a slightly related note, I was thinking earlier about how much more creative combining he did of cues within tracks for the Potter OSTs, than we've gone for on our CD-style arrangements (though of course the Children's Suite was also in the mix for SS). Maybe we'll experiment more with suite/arrangement possibilities after we're done working on the films all the time. :)  -MS

 

 

Speaking of, here it is! The Soundtrack Arrangement for Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2021). This film has been such a great time, especially with what it offers thematically and emotionally as a penultimate chapter. Enjoy this presentation of the score! Thanks as always for the support and enthusiasm! 

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To be fair, the Superman March wasn't written as a concert arrangement. They simply combined the opening title and end title cues together on the OST album, like they had done for Star Wars, then liked how it sounded and made the published sheet music match it and the rest is history. 

 

Same with Raiders, the published March is the end credits cue (without the coda) 

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In our last Half-Blood Prince post (!!), we've got some of the Deleted Scenes today (using other material from the main score like with each previous film). We appreciate all of your support so much - stay tuned for an update next week!

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On 31/01/2022 at 4:23 AM, bollemanneke said:

Sorry if I missed tsomething, but are you going to publish the score in one folder as well again?

 

Yes! It's on the "extras" page with HBP score presentations but here's the FLAC download link https://drive.google.com/uc?export=download&id=15WlqQ6EB-x0GB9gEg7JcVmTb1OBd8_cC

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Deathly Hallows part 1 is officially on the way!!

 

LLL 7 copy.png

Unfortunately, I can’t promise a release date for this one like with previous scores - but I hope to announce one within the next 6 weeks. We will of course keep you updated and are so grateful for the support, as always!

 

Something we DO know the launch day of (TODAY), is our brand new Patreon page!!

 

We’ve had many requests for additional content, and several people have asked about supporting our work financially over the past couple years. We’re happy to announce that it looks like this is possible as long as we don’t directly charge for copyrighted content :) so we’ve worded it pretty generically about supporting all of our compositional endeavors.

 

We came up with some bonus content to offer you if you subscribe as well, besides just project support. You can check it out here: patreon.com/ravendorstudios

 

It’s been great sharing this with you all over the past couple years and we’re excited about this next step in keeping the project going.

 

BP
 

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Happy Birthday JW!!! 

 

We have a random bonus post for hype over on our Patreon page. This first one is public so anyone can check it out! It's a (hopefully) deep cut trivia question that Ben asked me out of the blue one day and one of the answers definitely surprised me, so hopefully it'll make some of you think as well. 

https://www.patreon.com/posts/62219735

 

We'll close the poll at the end of the day so head over and make your best guesses! 

MS

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