Academy of Scoring Arts talk - The Harmonic Techniques of John Williams' Action Music

[Ludwig 1,120]

For those interested in film score analysis, I'll be giving a virtual guest talk on harmony in John Williams' action music. The talk is with the Academy of Scoring Arts this Sunday, Sep. 10th, from 10am-12pm Pacific Time (they're based in L.A.). I'll be breaking down two cues from the original Star Wars trilogy: "Attacking a Star Destroyer" from The Empire Strikes Back, and "Fight in the Dungeon" (the Rancor scene) from Return of the Jedi. The idea is to give a sense not only of the kinds of chords Williams often uses, but also how he tends to use them in an action scene.

 

You must be a member to attend, but you can sign up entirely for free on the Academy's website. Here's the link for the talk on the ASA's site (includes a link to sign up with ASA):

https://scoringarts.com/event/the-music-of-john-williams-with-special-guest-mark-richards/

[karelm 2,914]

I'll be there!  Looking forward to hearing your talk!

 

[igger6 894]

This sounds AWESOME! Do you know if the video will be available after the event?

[Ludwig 1,120]

Yes, but I think you need to be a paying member for that. At the free level, I think you can watch excerpts of it on their site after the event. You can see the different levels here:

 

https://scoringarts.com/membership-join/

[Bayesian 1,363]

I sat in on your seminar today, @Ludwig, and it was really insightful. Thank you for letting us in on your research and interpretations of the methods of JW’s compositional genius!
 

It was enlightening, too, to think about the two examples you chose, from 1980 and 1983. You’re  discussing advanced harmonic methods he was employing four decades ago—that folks have only relatively recently started grappling with musicologically. Imagine what JW’s worked into his repertoire since then!

 

 

[karelm 2,914]

1 hour ago, Bayesian said:

I sat in on your seminar today, @Ludwig, and it was really insightful. Thank you for letting us in on your research and interpretations of the methods of JW’s compositional genius!
 

It was enlightening, too, to think about the two examples you chose, from 1980 and 1983. You’re  discussing advanced harmonic methods he was employing four decades ago—that folks have only relatively recently started grappling with musicologically. Imagine what JW’s worked into his repertoire since then!

 

 

Totally agree.  Very informative and enlightening discussion.

[Ludwig 1,120]

16 hours ago, Bayesian said:

It was enlightening, too, to think about the two examples you chose, from 1980 and 1983. You’re  discussing advanced harmonic methods he was employing four decades ago—that folks have only relatively recently started grappling with musicologically. Imagine what JW’s worked into his repertoire since then!

 

 

 

Yes, and he continues to use these techniques now, too! This is the moment from The Dial of Destiny where Indy and Helena slide down the pool of water into Archimedes secret chamber. Could have been written for a Star Wars score from 40 years ago - the chords, spacing with the semitone spaced out to a major 7th, chromatic planing of those chords, and of course for the last chord, the leap up of a minor 3rd, a common octatonic move! While his action scoring as a whole is now certainly different than it was back in the day, it's good to see he hasn't abandoned such effective techniques. Without even seeing the scene, it just seems to scream "oh no!", the last chord almost being like the musical equivalent of shouting "aaaaah!".

 

 

 

 

 

[karelm 2,914]

8 hours ago, Ludwig said:

 

Yes, and he continues to use these techniques now, too! This is the moment from The Dial of Destiny where Indy and Helena slide down the pool of water into Archimedes secret chamber. Could have been written for a Star Wars score from 40 years ago - the chords, spacing with the semitone spaced out to a major 7th, chromatic planing of those chords, and of course for the last chord, the leap up of a minor 3rd, a common octatonic move! While his action scoring as a whole is now certainly different than it was back in the day, it's good to see he hasn't abandoned such effective techniques. Without even seeing the scene, it just seems to scream "oh no!", the last chord almost being like the musical equivalent of shouting "aaaaah!".

 

 

 

 

 

Great example, Mark!  Why do you think the music during the Battle of Syracuse feels so new?  How is JW able to parlay these techniques over decades and still have them sound so fresh? 

[Faleel 5,356]

12 hours ago, Ludwig said:

 

Yes, and he continues to use these techniques now, too! This is the moment from The Dial of Destiny where Indy and Helena slide down the pool of water into Archimedes secret chamber. Could have been written for a Star Wars score from 40 years ago - the chords, spacing with the semitone spaced out to a major 7th, chromatic planing of those chords, and of course for the last chord, the leap up of a minor 3rd, a common octatonic move! While his action scoring as a whole is now certainly different than it was back in the day, it's good to see he hasn't abandoned such effective techniques. Without even seeing the scene, it just seems to scream "oh no!", the last chord almost being like the musical equivalent of shouting "aaaaah!".

 

 

 

 

 

Kinda of like how the alternate Fortress of Solitude, or Ben Gardner's Boat kind of sound like something from TFA.

[Ludwig 1,120]

13 hours ago, karelm said:

Great example, Mark!  Why do you think the music during the Battle of Syracuse feels so new?  How is JW able to parlay these techniques over decades and still have them sound so fresh? 

 

I think that one of the things that makes Williams' music so incredibly rich is that he's able to cultivate the various aspects of music individually and, in doing so, come up with something that has new elements but that also retains something of what he's done before. So the rhythm of Luke's theme is basically retained in Across the Stars, but the melody, harmony, and orchestration are of course all different. Yet you can still hear the resemblance. Or the harmony of the Force theme underpins the first half of Rey's theme even though the melody, rhythm, etc. are all different. And again, though subtle, the connection can still be heard.

 

I think it's kind of the same thing here. He keeps the harmony the same (that was a perfect example - he uses a min(add#4) right at the start of The Battle of Syracuse!), but changes the other elements from his older action scoring. So the harmonic rhythm in Syracuse is very slow (one chord for a very long time!) but in his classic action music, he would usually change the chords far more quickly. And maintaining interest in the Syracuse cue is based very much on the ever-changing ostinato and layering melodies overtop of that, as well as using unusual instrumental combinations to create a unique orchestral timbre. So harmonic rhythm really slows down here, and I think that allows for a much different approach to scoring action that can highlight things other than the harmony, and create something that sounds new but not completely disconnected from what he wrote before.