John Williams Writes New Theme for ESPN College Football Championship - OF GRIT AND GLORY

[Will 2123]

Well, it was literally only a few seconds, but sounded like classic Williams! I think it was the very end — had that held dissonant chord that JW often likes.

[Bayesian 993]

19 hours ago, JohnTheBaptist said:

Seems a bit highbrow for the American football audience. I wonder why they didn't go with Hans Zimmer or some RCP hack.

Maybe they remember the weak-ass music Zimmer and his 40-strong army of assistants came up with for FIFA some years back and decided they could aim higher.

 

I'm a bit surprised, but certainly very happy, that the ESPN brass would not only think to turn to JW but also approach him with the same reverence that any of us diehard fans would if we had the opportunity. And when the answer came back yes, ESPN responded with a full court press (sorry, bad pun), what with seven (!) cameras to film the recording session and effusive praise for the composer -- almost like they knew they'd basically won the lottery and they were not going to screw up this chance.

 

I'll bet this will be on YouTube in no time flat after it airs. If ESPN is smart, they'll be ones to put it up in HD before someone else uses their computer nerd skills to do the job for them.

[LB Makes Stuff 26]

3 hours ago, artguy360 said:

Oh man, I hope someone recorded it! 

It’s an MP3 if that’s okay 😂

[Will 2123]

[LB Makes Stuff 26]

I am expired

[Bayesian 993]

50 minutes ago, Will said:

No one — no one — makes orchestral brass shine and soar like JW. I cannot wait to hear this in its entirety.

 

 

[artguy360 1673]

Can't wait to hear more!

[Garrett 39]

You know a John Williams song is going to be good when a trumpet plays a perfect fifth.

[Steve 478]

4 hours ago, Garrett said:

a John Williams song

I think he hasn't written a song in quite some time.

[Fabulin 3433]

In the 'collective unconscious' Williams's triumphant brass sound is so easily identifiable with American culture at this point, that if you put it over an American national sporting event, it appears to fit like a glove. As if it had always been there.

[Jay 30970]

12 hours ago, Garrett said:

a John Williams song

 

[Disco Stu 15468]

Oh no, they're going to have annoying crowd noise and commentators all over the music.  Ugh, I hoped it would be more classy than that.  The session had better leak.

[Not Mr. Big 4047]

1 hour ago, Jay said:

 

You don't like John Williams's songs??

[King Mark 3182]

2 hours ago, Disco Stu said:

Oh no, they're going to have annoying crowd noise and commentators all over the music.  Ugh, I hoped it would be more classy than that.  The session had better leak.

 well, what did I say a few posts ago? Of course they're going to find a way to mess it up and we'll only hear bits and pieces of it over crowd noises and sound effects

 

I mean what did you expect, studio recordings of all the variations on Day 1 ? This never happens with this type of piece . We don't even have clean recordings of Dear Baskettball and the various Olympic fanfare variations. The Boston pops think they gave us a great gift with a 96 kbps MP3 of Fenway Fanfare

[Will 2123]

4 hours ago, Disco Stu said:

Oh no, they're going to have annoying crowd noise and commentators all over the music.  Ugh, I hoped it would be more classy than that.  The session had better leak.

 

My hope is that the mix in the actual video will be better than that little clip. But yeah, the music definitely won't be clean unfortunately.

[Disco Stu 15468]

1 hour ago, King Mark said:

 well, what did I say a few posts ago? Of course they're going to find a way to mess it up and we'll only hear bits and pieces of it over crowd noises and sound effects

 

I mean what did you expect, studio recordings of all the variations on Day 1 ? This never happens with this type of piece . We don't even have clean recordings of Dear Baskettball and the various Olympic fanfare variations. The Boston pops think they gave us a great gift with a 96 kbps MP3 of Fenway Fanfare

 

Well I was hopeful about the full "inspirational" video presentation of the theme, which is not something they did for the NFL theme back in the 2000s that I remember.

 

This part:

Quote

Titled “Of Grit and Glory,” it runs three and a half minutes and will score a specially created series of visuals that convey “the feeling behind the night, fear and anticipation, triumph and failure,” ESPN co-director and producer Martin Khodabakhshian tells Variety.

 

I was hopeful that it might be mostly just images set to music, relatively clean.  But from the clip, it seems that it'll be lots of noise and commentary.

[Bayesian 993]

It's clear in the tweet that the commentary playing over the music was spliced from the TCU and Georgia games that got them to the championship. I find it hard to imagine that the announcers for tomorrow's game already recorded their introductory remarks when that kind of thing has always been done live. On the other hand, I don't know if ESPN's producers believe even a rousing new piece of music by JW can keep American college football audiences' attention for 3 minutes without the help of Chris Fowler's booming voice telling us how we got here, so I don't know what to expect.

[Tom 3373]

13 minutes ago, Bayesian said:

It's clear in the tweet that the commentary playing over the music was spliced from the TCU and Georgia games that got them to the championship. I find it hard to imagine that the announcers for tomorrow's game already recorded their introductory remarks when that kind of thing has always been done live. On the other hand, I don't know if ESPN's producers believe even a rousing new piece of music by JW can keep American college football audiences' attention for 3 minutes without the help of Chris Fowler's booming voice telling us how we got here, so I don't know what to expect.

I think it is highly probable that this piece is released cleanly as a single on youtube and probably within the week.  The bumpers and such will not be, and they may never be played again--so, grab'em on Monday.  

[Garrett 39]

Is the inspirational video set to the theme? Or is the theme set to the inspirational video?

[Jay 30970]

Surely the piece was recorded wild and in the 2 1/2 weeks since then they cut a video to sync to it

[Tom 3373]

1 hour ago, Garrett said:

Is the inspirational video set to the theme? Or is the theme set to the inspirational video?

Sounds a Euthyphro problem.

 

Yes, Jay is likely right.  The article says it the other way around, but that has to be a mistake.  

[Jay 30970]

Reading the article again... Now I'm not sure...

[Tom 3373]

Maybe they gave him a tentative collection of clips as a sort of temp and then reedited upon completion of the piece.  I doubt they would have begged Williams and then put heavy contraints on his composition.  

[Will 2123]

Definitely wouldn't rule out this being released digitally as a single soon. (IIRC the Obi-Wan theme was released as a single with no advance announcement.)

[BB-8 1728]

Of graphite and glory...with a Bleistift...ja, ja!

[Richard Penna 2504]

If they went to the expense and effort to record it with a huge orchestrs then you'd think there's no better way to generate hype and get people excited than to release it as a single.

 

On the other hand we know from experience that people in charge of marketing in big corporations know bugger all about score music, so expecting someone to think 'hey, why not release this?' may be optimistic.

[Tom 3373]

Two Williams's fanfarish concert pieces forthcoming in the next few days.  Not a bad way to begin 2023.  

[BB-8 1728]

18 minutes ago, Tom said:

Two Williams's fanfarish concert pieces forthcoming in the next few days.  Not a bad way to begin 2023.  

 

Sound the Balls!

 

[Bespin 6820]

1 hour ago, BB-8 said:

Sound the Balls!

 

[mrbellamy 5622]

 

 

[DangerMotif 562]

“

11 hours ago, Will said:

Definitely wouldn't rule out this being released digitally as a single soon. (IIRC the Obi-Wan theme was released as a single with no advance announcement.)

This is believed to be the largest-scale musical commission ever for the sports network. What will happen with the piece after Monday night is not clear. ESPN could theoretically use it in future college football broadcasts; no plans for a commercial release have apparently been discussed.“

[BB-8 1728]

JW: I just want to write Grit and Glory a theme.

 

[Will 2123]

3 hours ago, Tom said:

Two Williams's fanfarish concert pieces forthcoming in the next few days.  Not a bad way to begin 2023.  

 

You're referring to this plus the Vienna fanfare?

[Jay 30970]

Yea

[MrJosh 651]

On 06/01/2023 at 11:05 AM, Jay said:

 

Wow!

Wow!!

Wow!!!

Wow!!!!

..........................Wow!!!!!!

 

 

Yeah yeah yeah!

 

 

 

 

What an exciting way to start the year! I guess I have to watch some football. 

[Disco Stu 15468]

I imagine the video will air near the beginning of the broadcast before the game even starts, so if you don't enjoy football I bet you won't have to watch any.

[Jay 30970]

TIL Monday Night Football is exclusive to ESPN now, and not available over the antennae on ABC like the good ole days

 

I guess I can't watch it live

[Disco Stu 15468]

Well this is the college National Championship, not Monday Night Football (which is pro football), but yeah it is exclusive to the cable channel.  I have it via YouTube TV.

[Garrett 39]

1 hour ago, Disco Stu said:

I imagine the video will air near the beginning of the broadcast before the game even starts, so if you don't enjoy football I bet you won't have to watch any.

What about the cutdowns, stingers, and vamps that JW recorded? You probably will have to watch the game if you want to hear everything.

[Andy 2206]

What are these sports of which you speak?  

 

I don't have access to ESPN, and am relying on the J-Squad here to come through like always.

[Tom 3373]

1 hour ago, Andy said:

What are these sports of which you speak?  

 

Ah, yes, a common question: a sport is a story with a humorous climax.  

[Manakin Skywalker 3601]

1 hour ago, Disco Stu said:

Well this is the college National Championship, not Monday Night Football (which is pro football), but yeah it is exclusive to the cable channel.  I have it via YouTube TV.

 

So it won't be on ESPN+?

[Disco Stu 15468]

5 minutes ago, Manakin Skywalker said:

 

So it won't be on ESPN+?

 

Oh it might be, I don't know anything about ESPN+ or how it works

[Manakin Skywalker 3601]

2 minutes ago, Disco Stu said:

Oh it might be, I don't know anything about ESPN+ or how it works

 

I don't either, I literally just realized that I had it last night since it's part of the Disney/Hulu bundle.

 

Anyone know what game/time it's going to be? There's like a million games listed on here and I don't know which one to click on...

EDIT: Nevermind, reread the article.

[Disco Stu 15468]

Just now, Manakin Skywalker said:

 

I don't either, I just realized that I had it last night since it's part of the Disney/Hulu bundle.

 

Anyone know what game/time it's going to be? There's like a million games listed on here and I don't know which one to click on...

 

The pre-game officially starts at 7 and the game at 7:30.

[Manakin Skywalker 3601]

1 minute ago, Disco Stu said:

The pre-game officially starts at 7 and the game at 7:30.

 

You replied right as I corrected my post. 

 

Thanks though!

[Toillion 91]

Just now, Manakin Skywalker said:

 

I don't either, I literally just realized that I had it last night since it's part of the Disney/Hulu bundle.

 

Anyone know what game/time it's going to be? There's like a million games listed on here and I don't know which one to click on...

Usually games shown on ESPN aren't included on ESPN+. However, when I googled it, some articles are saying that it will be shown on ESPN+.
 

https://sportsnaut.com/how-to-watch-college-football-national-championship/

 

https://espnpressroom.com/us/press-releases/2023/01/espn-set-for-extensive-on-site-studio-coverage-in-los-angeles-surrounding-the-college-football-playoff-national-championship-presented-by-att/

[Manakin Skywalker 3601]

This is what ESPN+'s schedule is showing. So the one starting at 6:00 would be the right one then (central timezone)?

 

[Disco Stu 15468]

Just now, Manakin Skywalker said:

This is what ESPN+'s schedule is showing. So the one starting at 6:00 would be the right one then (central timezone)?

 

 

Looks like it to me!

[Manakin Skywalker 3601]

Great, then I'll be sure to record the raw stream right to Audacity!