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How'dya Hum?


Justin

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Ok, so I'm standing in Subway taking the temperatures of the chicken salad (quite a good sandwhich BTW) and I start humming Battle of The Heroes. Not just the theme though, I start with the strings at the beggining,

Ba de ba da da de BA de ba da da de.....

Then the horn comes in...

Maaaa na na naaa naaaa maaaa naaaa naaaa naaaaaa....

Anyway, the point is that when I was humming it I hummed the entire cue with all the orchestrations going in my head. It was awesome. Then I worked my way through the Potter scores. :)

How often do you hum Williams? And when you do, do you just hum the melody or the whole thing. Does it occasionally get out of hand? (Arms swinging, legs dancing etc...)

Justin - Who has to contain himself at Subway....

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Sure do, including orchestrations. Common tracks are Buckbeak's Flight, Battle of the Heroes, Enter Lord Vader, and Tom Newman's Main Title to Angels in America. I often find the BotH theme going manically through my head over and over again, with increasingly 'immense' orchestrations, like at 0.35-0.55 in Anakin vs. Obi-Wan, and picturing myself floating fast along a river :)

BTW, does anyone else find themselves conducting into thin air when listening in the privacy of their room? :P

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I once hummed two minutes of "Battle of the Heroes" with my friend. I did the bass line, he did the melody. It was... quite awful.

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I've been humming the Emperor's theme a lot lately. I guess that comes from my desire for UNLIMITED POWERRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!

Or from my appreciation of the theme. Take your pick.

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Oh please i hum Williams more than i listen to him. My recent favorite is Genreal Gravious Speak etc.

bam baam badam baam badam baam badam badadaam bambambaaa badam baa badam bambaaa bambambabambambaa

BTW the above is completely accurate. I pride my self in humming Williams right.

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I hum when people are around... Whistle loudly when they aren't...

I do the opposite. I whistle many times during the day. At work, in the supermarket, while listening to music, walking down a street, during 2 minute silences to respect the dead (erm, that last part is a lie). Whistling is my joy expressing itself, so i dont stifle it. Of course, others are only hearing me whistling a certain instrument's role in the Orchestra playing in my head. So sometimes it must sound hideous (even though i think my whistling is like a songbird.....the divine playing on it's flute...i have to say ever so humbly).

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Oh, yeah, I "hum" all the time--instrumentations and all (much to the anger of my siblings :P ).

I also have a habit of just making up music in JW style as I go--mostly action music (also to the anger of my siblings ;) ). Does anyone else do that?

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Me too! I'm always humming or whistling something. Usually JW, but others creep in there as well.

I'm always humming JW to my children.

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It's fun to hum along to the music while it's playing, leave the room out of earshot, then come back and see if you're still in synch with it.

The great thing about this Board is that I discover that other people also do the weird things that I do!

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It's fun to hum along to the music while it's playing, leave the room out of earshot, then come back and see if you're still in synch with it.

The great thing about this Board is that I discover that other people also do the weird things that I do!

As well as others on the board that make you realize you aren't as geeky as you thought.

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Or maybe I'm just as geeky as I feared - but that's OK :P

Oh, and yes, I hum all the time - full orchestrations too. I find that I tend to hum alot from Empire of the Sun, The Empire Strikes Back, E.T. and Jurassic Park.

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As well as others on the board that make you realize you aren't as geeky as you thought.

Or that there are actually other people in the world as geeky as you.

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You just put your lips together and blow.

When you're doing an accurate whistle of something like the Asteroid field, it gets a little bit more complex than that though. You need a good set of lungs and breathing technique to keep it all going properly without breaks, and to keep it sounding loud enough to portray the "power!!". :P

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Sure, orchestration and all-- the problem at first being what instrument to focus on; can be quite a dilemma when you'd like to do the nice counterpoint as well.

And the great thing, indeed, is coming back and still being right on it.

As for pseudo-conducting, it's part of the fun, of course. I must be quite good, too, because the orchestra never makes a single mistake.

Cerrabore: I tried that with a friend, too, with the main title of Total Recall-- adding each a layer to the mix.

objprk0001.gif

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When you're doing an accurate whistle of something like the Asteroid field, it gets a little bit more complex than that though. You need a good set of lungs and breathing technique to keep it all going properly without breaks, and to keep it sounding loud enough to portray the "power!!".  :P

I can probably whistle the Asteroid field if i wanted to.

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Oh, yeah, I "hum" all the time--instrumentations and all (much to the anger of my siblings  :devil: ).

I also have a habit of just making up music in JW style as I go--mostly action music (also to the anger of my siblings  :devil: ).  Does anyone else do that?

Darn, I thought that I was going to be the first to say that! That is actually what I do most often. I make up pounding action cues in my head that are in the style of Williams greatest stuff, like "Anderton's Great Escape", War Of The Worlds, both of William's Jurassic Park scores, and more.

~Conor

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I hum and whistle constantly....badly, I might add. :oops:

But, yeah, I do orchestrations sometimes.

BOTH is great fun, I sing the chorus; I'm guessing it sounds ghastly, but I enjoy myself. :devil:

ttbk, :devil: (a humming rendition of) March from The Great Escape, Bernstein

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Humming The Magnificent Seven is one of the worst things you can do. You will never get it out of your head. I was once kept awake until 4am because I could not get that theme out of my head.

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ttbk, :devil: (a humming rendition of) March from The Great Escape, Bernstein

LOL That's a great one to do the instrumentations on! I love doing the tuba! ;):P:devil:

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BTW, does anyone else find themselves conducting into thin air when listening in the privacy of their room? :)
All the time!

I don't hum too much. It's too close to singing and we won't even go there with me. I mostly whistle. My work mates sometime have to throw a paper clip at me cuz I get going and don't realize I'm whistling!!

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Whistling is the way to go! Neil and I can attest to each others' penchant for this subtle and complex art-form. :)

Ray Barnsbury - who surely annoys people with absent-minded whistling

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BTW, does anyone else find themselves conducting into thin air when listening in the privacy of their room? :)

Yes - frequently - but I have an excuse!

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I whistle more than I hum. Just today during class, I started whistling Voldemort's theme, then the girl next to me said "Jeez, you'd think you'd start whistling Harry Potter since you've just read the book."

Then I said "That was from Harry Potter". She seemed quite surprised, then asked me to whistle other tunes from HP, so I did, then she was like "No! That's not from Harry Potter!" Stupid girl.

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My hummings are really bad. I sometimes even find myself emulating Tremolo strings and things like that! LOL Man I'm such a geek ! :)

Portamento is particularly interesting to mimic xD

Actually, sometimes I use my nose to mimic snare drums and rolling cymbals! LOL

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Whisteling is too loud. I can hum secretly. I find the hardest track to hum to is The Hunt. That is if i'm trying to incorporate the orchestration.

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I mostly whistle. It's too difficult to incorporate full orchestration I think. Rather, I switch back and forth to whatever part comes to the forground in my head at the time.

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I hum all the time, and often get in trouble witht those around me who constantly tell me to stop. I love doing full orcehstrations and tracks too, I can't just start and not get to the end. I make up action tracks in Williams style too, mostly in the shower (where I hum the loudest).

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Ah yes, the shower. Forget singing in the shower. Humming is the way to go (although sometimes I just sing cues).

- Marc, who thinks this must be one of the geekiest threads here (well, maybe only slightly more geeky than the rest, but anyway).

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Hum also all the time. Hum as mamy parts of the score as possible. Especially nice in cues with thorough counterpoint like Throne Room and Finale :D

Btw is there anyone who can clap the counterpoint of Throne Room exactly accurate along with the recording? :(

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Does anyone hum to Williams in the car? I was listening to The Belly of The Steel Beast and I seriously got far too carried away to the point where I had to check my mirrors to make sure no one was watching.

Justin

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I had my first driving lesson yesterday. I dread what will happen when I play something like Star Wars and the Revenge of the Sith in the car while driving.

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I only hum the Emporer's theme and other choral bits. Everything else, I whistle. Incessantly. (Or, rather, whisple. Whistling is very loud, so I just blow air through my lips so it has the bare force necessary for anote.) Often times, I start whistling, and I don't even realize that I am. People either interrupt me to tell me to stop, or ask me what I was whistling. And if I don't realize I am whistling, I have to go back and "hear"what it was.

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Or, rather, whisple. Whistling is very loud, so I just blow air through my lips so it has the bare force necessary for anote.

Hehe, I do that all the time :)

I also 'whisple' both in and out to allow for an uninterrupted rendition :)

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