Questions to Bear McCreary

[Monoverantus 363]

So, I’ve booked an interview with Bear in December, where the two of us will dig deep and talk about Easter Eggs and nerdy stuff. Naturally, I already have a few questions that I want to ask him, but I think you guys have many suggestions too.

Things I want to talk about:

 

What did you know in advance?

Halbrand=Sauron

Stranger=Gandalf

Sauron hints in both Halbrand and The Stranger

 

Discussing transformative themes

Elendil and Isildur -> The Faithful

Rings of Power chords -> Rings of Power theme

Southlands/Halbrand

 

Discussing the lyrics

What are the lyrics for Khazad-dûm/Sauron/Nampat/Valinor/The Mystics/others?

What is the connection between Nampat and Sauron’s lyrics (Nampat burzum-akh)?

Other interesting trivia?

 

You were involved in the first trailer, what about the others?

Why put The Stranger theme in the first trailer?

Unique orchestrations of TRoP music in other trailers?

This Wandering Day unique performance?

Are the Ring-hint and Rivendell arpeggio intentional?

 

Discussing the future

Just like Nolwa Mahtar, are there other musical moments you would like to re-use or expand upon?

Will you collaborate with other composers?

Will more B themes be used?

 

Easter eggs and comparisons

Halbrand motif in Galadriel?

Halbrand B theme similar to Bronwyn and Arondir?

Durin the fourth begins with a fourth

Suspensions in Elven themes like Galadriel, Valinor and Elrond

Similar chord progressions in Galadriel, Númenor and Valinor

Other franchises:

Galadriel=Gaal’s theme from Foundation

Galadriel/Sauron=God of War Main theme

Elendil and Isildur=Rambo

Elrond=Caprica

Halbrand=Charles Vanes from Black Sails

 

This is what I can come up with at the top of my head, so go ahead and post all the questions you have and we'll see how many we have the time to adress.

Be mindful that some questions may be off-limits if they concern future seasons, as I’m sure he’d like to keep some secrets.

Also, naturally I will let him know how much we love the score and appreciate the insane work he's put into it, so if you have any message you absolutely want him to hear, feel free to post it too.

[Bounty95 558]

I'd love to know whether he intends to use the same approach for future seasons (i. e. no additional composers, full orchestra for every cue etc.). I hope this is not an off-limit question. 

[Monoverantus 363]

8 minutes ago, Bounty95 said:

I hope this is not an off-limit question. 

Nah nah that's fine. You can post whatever questions you want, but if they concern future seasons I can't guarantee that he can or wants to answer.

[WampaRat 1,105]

1. How did he manage his other projects while he was concentrating so heavily on this?

 

2. How does Bear choose which projects get the “100% Bear” treatment? Or do some projects have a contractual obligation that he personally will be involved in “x” amount of cues etc. 
 

3. When does he sleep? 😁

 

So stoked for this @Monoverantus! Congratulations on booking such a big interview! I have no doubt it will be a terrificly granular and nerdy smorgasbord of info for these scores!

 

 

[JNHFan2000 2,959]

Wow, incredible that you booked an interview with him. How did that go? (A question for you)

 

I would love to know which was the hardest theme to come up with/compose?

2nd might be off limits. But if he's allowed, would he want to incorporate Shore's main title maybe somewhere?

[Holko 9,525]

37 minutes ago, Monoverantus said:

Also, naturally I will let him know how much we love the score and appreciate the insane work he's put into it, so if you have any message you absolutely want him to hear, feel free to post it too.

Make sure he also knows how much we appreciate that he allows us to appreciate all his hard work instead of just sitting on most of the material for years or decades!

[Monoverantus 363]

5 minutes ago, JNHFan2000 said:

Wow, incredible that you booked an interview with him. How did that go? (A question for you)

I just asked him on twitter. He's interacted with me a few times before (including watching my video back in August), he seems quite happy to interact with fans in general.

8 minutes ago, JNHFan2000 said:

I would love to know which was the hardest theme to come up with/compose?

2nd might be off limits. But if he's allowed, would he want to incorporate Shore's main title maybe somewhere?

He's answered both of these in streams and articles. 1: Elrond 2: He's open to it

[JNHFan2000 2,959]

Ah, I missed those. Thanks!

[crocodile 8,006]

I can't think of anything specific at the moment but I always enjoy the question giving our insights into their thought process. The genesis of ideas, how they land on the right ones etc. I enjoy seeing how other people's minds work, if that makes sense.

 

Also, I am also wondering, like many others,  if Bear ever sleeps.

 

Karol

[Nick1Ø66 4,713]

Mr. Bear, on page 720 of The Lord of the Rings, there is a quote from Frodo, he says “In a world full of mirth and magic, you lose time within yourself”.  Do you agree with this comment?

[Jay 37,351]

3 hours ago, Monoverantus said:

So, I’ve booked an interview with Bear in December, where the two of us will dig deep and talk about Easter Eggs and nerdy stuff.

 

 

AWESOME!!

 

3 hours ago, Monoverantus said:

What did you know in advance?

 

He made it clear in his blog posts he had the scripts to all 8 episodes before he began composing the music.

 

"My creative process began with several video conferences to discuss the broader scope of the narrative, with J.D Payne, Patrick McKay, as well as producers Lindsey Weber, Justin Doble, Callum Greene, and Ron Ames, who coordinated the series’ massive post-production apparatus. (I had still never met any of them in person, beyond Lindsey from our work at Bad Robot. And though I did not know it at the time, I would not meet any of them in person until after the score was done!)

The creative team sent me cuts of the first two episodes. My musical imagination spun into overdrive as I beheld images of Valinor, Khazad-dûm, Galadriel, Elrond, and countless other icons of Tolkien’s Second Age. I felt Spanish director J.A. Bayona was clearly able to synthesize references to Peter Jackson’s visual language with his own unique directorial style. Particularly claustrophobic sequences in the second episode evoked his masterfully terrifying feature The Orphanage. I poured through the scripts for all eight episodes. As I read, the story came alive in my imagination, making me feel like a kid again, reading my favorite fantasy novels."

 

3 hours ago, Monoverantus said:

Why put The Stranger theme in the first trailer?

 

He answer this in his blog post too:

 

"I chose to feature The Stranger’s Theme in this trailer. The Stranger’s Theme is unlike any other because it does not share any musical traits specific to any of Tolkien’s cultures or places. We don’t know where The Stranger comes from, so he comes from everywhere and nowhere. I also just really adore this interesting harmonic progression and melody. I loved the idea that The Stranger’s Theme would be the first theme fans would hear from The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power."

 

 

Make sure you re-read all 4 blog posts so you don't ask him questions he's already answered!

[Monoverantus 363]

42 minutes ago, Nick1Ø66 said:

Mr. Bear, on page 720 of The Lord of the Rings, there is a quote from Frodo, he says “In a world full of mirth and magic, you lose time within yourself”.  Do you agree with this comment?

With the German accent too, of course

39 minutes ago, Jay said:

He made it clear in his blog posts he had the scripts to all 8 episodes before he began composing the music.

Great, I had a feeling he'd mentioned this somewhere, but hadn't checked yet.

41 minutes ago, Jay said:

Make sure you re-read all 4 blog posts so you don't ask him questions he's already answered!

Oh believe me, there's a lot of homework to do. Apart from re-reading articles and blogposts, I have a few films to watch and scores to study. Not just his own stuff, but the other composers he's cited as inspirations too (James Horner, Basil Poledouris, Jerry Goldsmith, Bernard Herrmann, Danny Elfman, John Williams, Ennio Morricone, Nino Rota, Shirley Walker, Elmer Bernstein).

[Jay 37,351]

Phew!  That's a lot of homework, but it will pay off!

Such a cool opportunity you have!

[Score 770]

3 hours ago, Monoverantus said:

So, I’ve booked an interview with Bear in December, where the two of us will dig deep and talk about Easter Eggs and nerdy stuff. Naturally, I already have a few questions that I want to ask him, but I think you guys have many suggestions too.

 

 

Very interesting! Although this might not be of interest for everybody, I would ask if he has any plan to publish the full scores (sheet music) of his work for ROP. Since he considers himself a "professional film music nerd", you might tell him that he cannot truly boast that title until he does the nerdiest possible thing in film music, which consists in publishing the written scores.   

 

1 hour ago, Nick1Ø66 said:

Mr. Bear, on page 720 of The Lord of the Rings, there is a quote from Frodo, he says “In a world full of mirth and magic, you lose time within yourself”.  Do you agree with this comment?

 

I'd rather go with the more appropriate: "Mr. Bear, what does Frodo say on page 720 of The Lord of the Rings"?

[Nick1Ø66 4,713]

25 minutes ago, Monoverantus said:

With the German accent too, of course

 

You should do the interview as Hans Jensen!

[TheUlyssesian 2,478]

Congratulations! You deserve it. 

 

I'll think of some questions and post later.

 

Has he answered this one? He said he would in his blog posts.

 

 

[Jay 37,351]

Huh!  No, there's nothing about that in the 4 blog posts!  Is a 5th blog post coming, maybe?

[Monoverantus 363]

23 minutes ago, TheUlyssesian said:

Has he answered this one? He said he would in his blog posts.

 

 

Well, he has also said that he'll contine with episodic blog posts too.

[enderdrag64 624]

3 hours ago, Score said:

Very interesting! Although this might not be of interest for everybody, I would ask if he has any plan to publish the full scores (sheet music) of his work for ROP. Since he considers himself a "professional film music nerd", you might tell him that he cannot truly boast that title until he does the nerdiest possible thing in film music, which consists in publishing the written scores.   

This would be amazing! Even if that doesn't happen/isn't possible it would be cool to get a complete list of all the cue titles/slate numbers, maybe on a blog post or something 

[WampaRat 1,105]

1 hour ago, Monoverantus said:

Not just his own stuff, but the other composers he's cited as inspirations too (James Horner, Basil Poledouris, Jerry Goldsmith, Bernard Herrmann, Danny Elfman, John Williams, Ennio Morricone, Nino Rota, Shirley Walker, Elmer Bernstein).

Man. I love that my favorite composers are his favorite composers 😊

I particularly love that Conan the Barbarian is one of his favorite scores of all time (as mentioned in his Friendship Onion interview)

[A. A. Ron 1,742]

7 hours ago, Jay said:

Huh!  No, there's nothing about that in the 4 blog posts!  Is a 5th blog post coming, maybe?

I thought he said in the 4th post that he still wanted to do an additional post for every episode (so 8 more).

[Tydirium 1,167]

Really wish I hadn't opened this thread before watching the show. I'm just about to start watching tonight; I had been dutifully avoiding all spoilers and waiting to watch the show until the albums were available for purchase. Guess I just didn't expect to see what are probably season finale spoilers out in the open at the top of this thread. Ugh.

[Monoverantus 363]

8 hours ago, Tydirium said:

Really wish I hadn't opened this thread before watching the show. I'm just about to start watching tonight; I had been dutifully avoiding all spoilers and waiting to watch the show until the albums were available for purchase. Guess I just didn't expect to see what are probably season finale spoilers out in the open at the top of this thread. Ugh.

Oh crap, I'm so sorry about that

[Alan 689]

Great opportunity, congratulations! I wonder if he'd be able to confirm his intentions to release the music for future seasons in the same way. A generous season spanning highlights album with complete/near complete weekly episodic albums?

[Richard Penna 3,686]

Yes, I'd echo our thanks for the near complete episode albums and perhaps ask where the idea came from, given that it's almost unheard of in a TV show.

[JNHFan2000 2,959]

Not just in TV. In film as well

[Cerebral Cortex 3,357]

I've tried my best to follow along but some of these may have already been answered. Congrats on the opportunity to interview him. Cool of you to ask the community for possible questions. 

 

Which of the themes, either for characters or places, was your favorite to develop?

 

Much of the first season felt like a long introduction (or reintroduction) to Middle Earth and the Second Age. Can you comment on how how much the musical material reflects this introductory stage of the story, and have we actually heard any of these themes in their fullest yet?

 

Howard Shore’s musical precedent for Middle Earth is famous for how it subtly draws connections between its leitmotifs, but music in TV often falls into a trap of playing the same motifs every time certain people or places are on screen, with little in the way of variation or connective tissue to develop the ways these motifs relate musically to one another. Can you describe how you’ve approached weaving together these new themes to create a new musical tapestry worthy of Middle Earth?

 

Alternate version of the last question:
Based on this first season, Rings of Power is a show about several seemingly disjointed plot lines eventually coming together to form the various catastrophes of Tolkien’s Second Age. With all this rapid jumping between characters, places, and plot beats, what has been your approach to developing a musical tapestry for the show that is as varied as what’s on screen, yet still ensures a connected, cohesive musical story is being told?

[Stark 312]

It could be interesting to ask if, should the rights become available for the show through some means, he would include any of Shore’s themes from the films.

[Tydirium 1,167]

I really hope not. Rings of Power should just continue to be its own thing.

[DangerMotif 1,037]

On 18/10/2022 at 10:38 AM, Stark said:

It could be interesting to ask if, should the rights become available for the show through some means, he would include any of Shore’s themes from the films.

He already addressed it in a previous interview 

[Edmilson 7,436]

What I really want to know if he plans on using the help of additional composers for the next seasons. Will he want to submit himself to this grueling marathon every two years?

[DangerMotif 1,037]

3 hours ago, Edmilson said:

What I really want to know if he plans on using the help of additional composers for the next seasons. Will he want to submit himself to this grueling marathon every two years?

Really hope he does the whole show solo

[Edmilson 7,436]

1 hour ago, Gibster said:

Really hope he does the whole show solo

Me too. But will he have energy to do it? According to his blog posts, scoring the First season alone was very demanding. I don't know if he will want to subject himself to this experience every year.

[Stark 312]

18 hours ago, Gibster said:

He already addressed it in a previous interview 

I must have missed that, what did he say?

[TolkienSS 407]

14 hours ago, Edmilson said:

I don't know if he will want to subject himself to this experience every year.

 

That's what the audience said.