"Braaaaaaaahhhhmmmssss!"... That's cool, man: repetitions. "Braaaaaaaahhhhmmmssss!"... Ok, ok. I understood. "Braaaaaaaahhhhmmmssss!"... (By the way, I would hear some music by Brahms.) "Braaaaaaaahhhhmmmssss!"... WHERE THE HELL ARE MY BRAHMS CDs?!?!
One important aspect of John Williams themes is the instrument(s) (timbre) chosen for that theme. The trumpet in Indiana Jones.The celesta in Harry Potter theme. The lower strings in Jaws. Without this specific instrumentation -These themes would not be anywhere near as effective.
UndertakerU2ber No, he didn’t. Let me fix it for you, he was INSPIRED by other composers. Often, the movie directors use temp music when editing the film. In the case of Star Wars, the temp used Holst’s “The Planets” and Stravinsky’s “The Rite of Spring”. Hence, the similarities.
@@avadakedavra9500 Ah yes, he was "inspired" to copy pieces at times note for note and then took all of the credit without any acknowledgement of the better composer. He wrote arrangements at the very least without listing it as such, but if we're being honest, he fucking stole musical ideas most of the time with little to no originality layered. No need to get angry over a blatantly talentless hack, buddy.
I'd say it's a mixture of simple and singable melodies (good luck humming a Zimmer-esque low brass pad progression) and consistent repetition. There's a podcast called Star Wars Oxygen where they counted all the leitmotifs/themes in the movies, and some of them are repeated up to 50 times _per movie._ Also, John Williams was lucky to score several franchises (Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Jurassic Park, Harry Potter), so his themes were burned into our memory. 1:40 did you just call The Last Jedi a spin-off? lol
Zimmer writes good themes when they really need to be there, and that lets him get away with his signature style, the problem comes when other film composers, who often don't write good themes, use Zimmer's style as a massive crutch and fail to make anything memorable.
There's much more to it though. Williams' themes are catchy because they're well-written. He has a distinct harmonic language (chromatic mediant modulations, extended chords etc.), an excellent grasp on voice leading and counterpoint, and a great sense of phrasing and balance, with harmonic and melodic rhythms that perfectly complement the melodic outline of the theme. Additionally, his orchestration is outstanding. Anyone can compose a motif and then work it into a melody a hundred ways. But try doing that in musescore and create something of the same quality as the force theme and you'll realize it's nowhere near as simple as this video suggests (even though this is mentioned at the end).
One could argue that John Williams played a huge part in the creation of these franchises. I remember at the AFI award ceremony how Lucas joked how Spielberg and him, when discussing Indiana Jones, both said at the same time that "John has to write the music." Steve then said that that's the most important part, they can write the story after lunch.
@@JakeAdkinsOfficial Which is a shame because it's such an iconic soundtrack that has since been cheapened by those who lacked the talent to do something original themselves.
@@TheKazragore Agreed. It's still probably one of my all time favorites. I remember being furious when "The Social Network" won best score at the Grammys over "Inception" (or maybe it was the Oscars, I forget)
Well this was the best surprise to wake up to this morning! Loved the video and your take on this idea was very insightful. Thanks for going with my suggestion :)
I don't disagree with your points, but I think other musical elements are important. Perhaps I'd say that the ideas you discuss are important to making a great melody memorable (along with how easy the melody is to sing or hum), but the theme first needs to make a strong impression. To me, the power of great melodies often lies in the orchestration and harmony and all the backgrounds supporting material. For instance, if the orchestration of the Flying Theme from E.T. didn't have the brilliant, soaring orchestration it has, I think the melody would be catchy still, but nobody would care enough to "catch" it and keep it in their head.
GoldWater Have you done a video on this? I'd be interested to see if you have any further insight. His may be simplistic but I think it's quite insulting to say 'lazy'. These videos take a lot of time and effort.
Thank you for showing the musical scores of whichever example you are having us listen to, it really solidifies it in the memory and increases the learning from a teacher that I am happy to have found on TH-cam! Just a simple video like this, that explains something from your point of view, helps anyone who wants to learn. Which is another reasom why I have been really enjoying your channel since I have found it. Teaching others, for the sake of helping everyone, is a trait I adore.
I know; catch is that Lady Gaga Poker Face stuff; this is well beyond 'catchy.' It is top tier musical composition and this is how all the greats compose music, from classical to blues to rock
Can you review the Phantom of the Opera? It's one of my favorite musical masterpieces, and there's lots of interesting stuff in terms of theory, like the 7/8 rhythm in Don Juan triumphant. And of course, just the emotions of it are overwhelming, and fills you with a cascade of shivers.
I agree with a couple of others who mentioned the importance of the singability of his music. People walked out of the theaters after one viewing singing the Star Wars theme, making dun-dun-dun-dun shark music, or wanting to take three running steps and leap into the air with Superman's themes, they were catchy because they were singable. I think you could do an entire video on how they're also intricately tied to the emotions of the characters and stories and modulated to express a variety of moods in different situations. A great example is how he made Yoda's theme playful and spritely like the character when we first met him, then grand and uplifting when he's raised Luke's X-Wing, and then harken back to it in the action-packed finale when Luke ran around Bespin. You touched on this when you were talking about repitition within the themes. This is a broader form of repetition that first familiarizes us with a theme and then plays with it, sometimes even playing with our expectations of it. I was an oddball kid, for sure, but I would sit on my swing in the backyard when I was 10-12 and sing an entire medley of my favorite Williams music. The neighbors probably really wondered about me. Back to the singability, I always remember Richard Donner in an interview describing the first time he heard Williams's score with the title sequence and how "it SANG the name Superman." Su-per-maaan. I take that even further. The second Superman theme, what I like to call the Determination March (vs. the Hero March), has just the right number of syllabiles to sing, "Look up in the sky, it's a bird it's a plane. Look up in the sky ... SUPERMAN!" To this day I'm convinced that's how he developed that theme. :-)
I agree with Oscar's main features of John Williams' music when we include the singability that several folks mentioned and the poetic appropriateness to character and setting. He creates "Signature Sounds" that instantly communicate where we are and whom we're with. This is true in film scores and his occasional music. Sound design scores also have signature sounds, but with Williams there's always a melody. These poetic signatures, like the opening of Hedwig's Theme, are the most hook-like and catchy bits of of melody.
It's worth pointing out that those four iconic notes from the Indiana Jones theme have the rhythm of the word "Indiana". The next three are "Doctor Jones". Williams has said that he often starts out with the title of the movie or the main character in order to get the ball rolling and then changes it as necessary to make it work. ET's theme started with the rhythm of the phrase "ET, The Extra Terrestrial", but was modified to flow better. "Jurassic Park" lost the first syllable in the three notes, but the whole rhythm turns up a few notes later in the melody. Knowing this won't make us John Williams, but it can surely help if we're stuck for a starting point on a new composition!
I loved this! I think my TH-cam algorithm is sending me all these because I've been doing my own deep dive of Williams Star Wars music (which included attempting to rank my favorite uses of the Force Theme, among other moments, in every Star Wars movie). Aside from Binary Sunset (still my favorite, even though it's cliche at this point), you included one of my favorites - the Battle Over Coruscant cue! My three favorite Williams pieces - Immolation Scene, Jedi Steps and A New Home actually all feature this same type of repetition now that I think about it; but each repetition adds layers and meaning. I like what you said at the end about other features as well; specifically musical storytelling and bringing themes to a satisfying resolution because for me that's a huge part of it. Not just that the themes repeat and are reused, but that they mean something and (especially with the Force theme, but Rey's Theme is another good example) can be used with so many different variations, keys, tempos, instruments, counterpoints, flourishes, etc that they can convey a lot of different things. Heck, even in The Phantom Menace - compare Anakin is Free to The Tide Turns. Both are the Force Theme, but both have VASTLY different feels and emotions. I love the prequels, and a huge part of that is the way the music carries the story (along with the visuals), almost like an opera (especially in Revenge of the Sith which I think is the best score he's ever done). Storywise I have a lot of criticisms about the sequels but the things done with the Kylo/Ben themes (and the way it eventually merges into Rey's) is one of my favorite things to geek out over.
i've always been interested in music theory and analysis and this video ignited that realization. it's so amazing how scientific music is, and i find it fascinating.
William's music, when applied to movies, follows the role of the Greek choir from Greek classical theater. the actors did, and the choir created ambient..... when there was no dialogue, the choir was the interlocutor of the speaking character. the same way the choir chants "Two houses, both alike in dignity" in Romeo & Juliet to set up the theme, the same way the music plays the theme of the Force every time Luke is on screen.... it's the media telling the viewer "This guy, has Force power!" it's not just _repetition_ , it's _relationship applied to situation_ . if the same tune plays with the same character, that's because the tune _belongs_ to that character, and must surround it every time the character is on screen! and since _the character_ is usually _the whole movie_ , then the tune will play _all the fucking time_ !
I've just gotten on TH-cam thinking "it would be so nice to have someone talking about music theory right now". Mind you, I didn't even hope for it to be John Williams at that.
@@troyandrade615 As I recall, Williams played trumpet in the US Air Force band, where he also did arrangements. It all really shows in the martial, heroic beat in many of his works. Star Wars, Indiana Jones, etc. And of course the iconic Imperial March.
There are quite a few film composers whose works I really love, but it's nearly impossible to argue against John Williams being the greatest film composer of all time. His work has been more impactful than anyone else's, he has written the scores for some of the most beloved films ever, and his music almost inarguably made every one of them feel complete. I don't know anybody who doesn't feel like Superman is coming when his theme plays, or that the score of Harry Potter isn't a perfect musical encapsulation of the wizarding world.
More like we have an usually unrecognized music within us. Williams recognizes it & brings it out to be recognized. Of course we love it as we all share it.
Mozart has some of the most memorable tunes like the start of Symphony No. 40, and the Turkish March. So I guess John Williams is just doing it the traditional way with a modern twist.
In addition to repetition is the element of the sequence: where a motivic idea is not merely repeated but shifted in pitch, another way to get that motivic idea to lodge in our ears. Most famous are probably Beethoven's 5th or Mozart's 40th symphonies. Leonard Bernstein gave a talk discussing a pattern to the repetitions of the great masters, a pattern which he called "on your mark; get set, go." The idea is to 1) state your theme or motif ("on your mark"). 2) Repeat or sequence it ("get set"). And finally, 3) do something to the motif that breaks the established pattern ("go") and sets the motif in flight. You can certainly hear that same construction in John Williams better-known scores: Jurassic Park, Star Wars, Indiana Jones and others.
@@_Chuvisco_ The archetype movie series was immersive total-art of th-cam.com/video/JWhRThHJGoE/w-d-xo.html , so far ahead of its time. Film music composers owe an incalculable debt to Wagner's genius.
Doesn't Disney music composer/songwriter Alan Menken also count as someone who makes unforgettable melodies? I think he is up there with John Williams, both of whom created the music of my childhood. Great video by the way!
7:45 It's mondain but I freaking like it. Always loved Gaga's old songs like crazy when I was yonger. And I still do. Man the Jurassic park theme is nostalgia x1000. After your video I really can see similarities between all those themes ! Nice work.
He kind of likes to rip on that one, I just always loved the chorus lol Don't think people fell in love with that song particularly for the repetitive part but might just be my experience.
You have to be a friggin genius to use just an E and an F for the most memorable part of the Jaws theme (with the occasional low D) Kind of reminds me of how Peter Benchley said he knew he was a bad author. But by the time he found that out, he was rich from the Jaws book (he was the reporter on the beach, too).
A video on harmonic moods might be interesting. JW tends to use major major seventh resolutions when he’s pointing towards space or the sky. Gives a feeling of wonder (stolen from Holst of course). Great work!
I think it's an adherence to the ideas of the Sonata Allegro format. Question > answer >question > answer> recapitulation He is classically trained, after all
Thank you for your delightful explanation of John William"s Movie Music. Could you also so the same thing with John Barry and his peculiar style of movie music? Cheers!
@@thegoldentb7596 Those are the best. The Targaryen theme is actually my favorite melody in the entire show, I just figured the main theme is more popularly known. but yeah, aaaaaAAAAA all the way
Brilliant video, great stuff as always. You are genuinely one of the best channels on TH-cam. The shade on Poker Face is a bit misplaced though, I think. Yes, if you take that one bit of the vocal line, on its own, out of the context of the rest of the band (which is going through a chord sequence with a melodic riff over the top), out of the context of the rest of the verse (where the instrumentation and texture builds and the vocals do flow into a full melody), then there isn't anything very musical or musically interesting going on, no; but that's really not a fair analysis. You could also take many Bach pieces and take a little, carefully selected bit of the lead melodic line out of context, and only look at its rhythm and not pitch, and it wouldn't look interesting either since he (like much of pop music) was broadly tied to the rhythmic forms of the dance music of his day; not that Lady Gaga and Bach are comparable in quality. And the whole verse bit of the song is really just a way of building tension towards a notably lusher chorus, and in the form of the pop song the verse is always really just a framing device for the chorus so you can't separate them like that anyway. I'm not saying Poker Face is some great work of art, I don't even think it's that good myself (although some pop songs undoubtedly are), but it's important not to characature things in that way; it can come off as goofy if we're not careful.
My favorite pieces by composers like Mozart, Beethoven, and Tchaikovsky do the same thing - probably because I was a fan of John Williams and other movie composers first.
It's where all this stuff comes from actually. After the Baroque, composers shied away from highly complex music (involving heavy counterpoint--the interplay of 2 or more independent melodies, and long themes that hardly ever repeat). Instead, they came up with shorter, "distinctive melodic features" that they developed in quite extraordinary ways. This began with the skilled hands of Haydn, and in my opinion, culminated in Mozart, and to a great degree in Beethoven as well.
Pop music is not entirely about the 'music' ... it's about the entire package: period of time + tune + lyrics + video + marketing + artist's own unique qualities .. also, every generation seeks something *new to listen to. IMO, 'Poker Face', though musically simple is a highly complex pop tune... and Yes, it's catchy as hell :)
I find that similar type of repetition in Beethoven, for example in the first four notes of the 5th Symphony, and the first three notes of the 9th Symphony mvt 2. He introduces the piece with the most basic theme in its bare form, and then takes it all over the place connecting it to itself over and over again in a variety of ways.
There's a book by Leonard Bernstein called The Joy Of Music. One of the chapters is in the form of a dialog about why Beethoven was the greatest composer. The conclusion was that, although there's no one thing Beethoven did better than anyone else, he always knew, better than any other composer, what the next note had to be.
Howard Shore jumped right up to John Williams level of composition and beyond with the Lord of the Rings trilogy. I place the two of them equally on the same scale even though Williams has a more impressive resumé as he was given such juicy visuals to work with movie after movie.
I don't know if we can say that about Jaws, but it demonstrates the power of the minor 2nd (also Halloween and Psycho). Pretty slick to toss up and E and an F and have it be a whole song (with the occasional low D).
I would also note for the theme of ET, in the fourth section it starts off with a turn and then it close and then a leap. It’s sort of flip-flops the whole formula but keeps it at the same time.
Repetition in this sense could also be referred to as Call and Response. There’s an initial Call statement, and then a Response that’s similar (repetition), but takes the Call to a new place. Then, typically, the Call and Response “join forces” to wrap everything up nicely. Further, his melodies are also very lyrical, and you could easily imagine a vocalist singing words to them - the melodies are a vocal statement in this sense. I feel these two things contribute to the memorability of his melodies.
The braam in Inception had a purpose though, it was the kick music, Edith Piaf's Non, je ne regrette rien, used to wake the dreamers but slowed down as it would sound in the dream. Non je ne regrette rien was also purposefully chosen to be used as the kick song in the film as it's lyrics are relevant to the plot's elements of regret and being influenced by one's past.
I've always said that John Williams is simplistically complex, and Hans Zimmer is complexly simple. John Williams, although a brilliant melody writer, really excels at utilizing beat, rhythm, and repetitive structures in his music (specifically with the top lines). Then, he marries that with a complex interweaving of call-and-response, chord changes, and fluttering winds. He's also very versatile at making each score sound unique, whilst still maintaining that same, bold, LSO sound. Superman hearkens back to the 1930's and 40's era of film & serials, while capturing the whimsy of a comic book and yet the majesty and strength of the title character all at once. However, a lot of his soundtracks sound the same orchestration wise. (Well, not orchestration wise, but rather, he utilizes snare, timpani, horns, strings, and winds very similarly in Star Wars, Harry Potter, etc.) Hans Zimmer, on the other hand, often writes very simplistic, almost post-modernistic music that, on its own, doesn't tend to really stick out the same as Williams music. (Unless overly repeated, a la Inception horns) However, Zimmer is a great composer because he's able to take these very rhythmically simplistic and melodically dull themes and really spice them up by utilizing all the parts of the orchestra and using unusual sounds (scraped strings in TDK, organ in Interstellar, Johnny Marr on Inception :P ) to really set each and every film score apart. They almost sound like they're from completely different composers! I personally prefer Williams myself, although Zimmer often gets airplay on my playlists when I just want some calming, undisturbing music to listen to while studying, relaxing, animating, etc. Apples and Oranges, but there's no surprise why they're both very well loved and used in Hollywood from their respective eras. Great video! Loved every minute of it. :)
Have you done a vid on Henry Mancini's music? When I watched Breakfast at Tiffany's again a while back I was struck with the unique charms of his score.
Take Dvorak's Requiem and you will see the same sighing theme (half note up, full note dow, half note up, e.g. c - c# - b - c) in every single movement.
A catchy song is a very well written song.. no other explanations are necessary :) and sometimes catchy is confused with ''very easy to listen to'' which is the description for most of the generic music we hear at the moment..
I find most modern music to be painful tp hear because I can hear all the Auto-tune. It sounds just like guitar feedback, which i could always hear before the mixer even registers it.
"Braaaaaaaahhhhmmmssss!"...
That's cool, man: repetitions.
"Braaaaaaaahhhhmmmssss!"...
Ok, ok. I understood.
"Braaaaaaaahhhhmmmssss!"...
(By the way, I would hear some music by Brahms.)
"Braaaaaaaahhhhmmmssss!"...
WHERE THE HELL ARE MY BRAHMS CDs?!?!
BRAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHMMMMMSSSSSSS!
I’m louder than you. 😜
Brahms: The Inception? Coming soon? EPIC!
Here Brahms does BRAAAAAHHHHMS: th-cam.com/video/NAyomcOQ9Oo/w-d-xo.html
@@dperry913MusicTracks I hope the sequel is a BAAAAACHS or a BEEEEETH.....
I just want to point out that the composer of the music for the Lord of the Rings movies is Howard Shore, so lets show him some love, as well.
Minas Morgul goes hard to this day
no
YES!!
@@PC-oi3dw true
@@PC-oi3dw 😂😂😂😂
One important aspect of John Williams themes is the instrument(s) (timbre) chosen for that theme. The trumpet in Indiana Jones.The celesta in Harry Potter theme. The lower strings in Jaws. Without this specific instrumentation -These themes would not be anywhere near as effective.
Yeah
So much truth in your statement.
Don't forget he plagiarized from a lot from other talented composers and claimed it as his own.
UndertakerU2ber No, he didn’t. Let me fix it for you, he was INSPIRED by other composers. Often, the movie directors use temp music when editing the film. In the case of Star Wars, the temp used Holst’s “The Planets” and Stravinsky’s “The Rite of Spring”. Hence, the similarities.
@@avadakedavra9500
Ah yes, he was "inspired" to copy pieces at times note for note and then took all of the credit without any acknowledgement of the better composer. He wrote arrangements at the very least without listing it as such, but if we're being honest, he fucking stole musical ideas most of the time with little to no originality layered. No need to get angry over a blatantly talentless hack, buddy.
I'd say it's a mixture of simple and singable melodies (good luck humming a Zimmer-esque low brass pad progression) and consistent repetition. There's a podcast called Star Wars Oxygen where they counted all the leitmotifs/themes in the movies, and some of them are repeated up to 50 times _per movie._ Also, John Williams was lucky to score several franchises (Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Jurassic Park, Harry Potter), so his themes were burned into our memory.
1:40 did you just call The Last Jedi a spin-off? lol
Zimmer writes good themes when they really need to be there, and that lets him get away with his signature style, the problem comes when other film composers, who often don't write good themes, use Zimmer's style as a massive crutch and fail to make anything memorable.
I hum the Interstellar soundtrack all the time and I haven’t even watched the movie.
There's much more to it though. Williams' themes are catchy because they're well-written. He has a distinct harmonic language (chromatic mediant modulations, extended chords etc.), an excellent grasp on voice leading and counterpoint, and a great sense of phrasing and balance, with harmonic and melodic rhythms that perfectly complement the melodic outline of the theme. Additionally, his orchestration is outstanding. Anyone can compose a motif and then work it into a melody a hundred ways. But try doing that in musescore and create something of the same quality as the force theme and you'll realize it's nowhere near as simple as this video suggests (even though this is mentioned at the end).
One could argue that John Williams played a huge part in the creation of these franchises. I remember at the AFI award ceremony how Lucas joked how Spielberg and him, when discussing Indiana Jones, both said at the same time that "John has to write the music." Steve then said that that's the most important part, they can write the story after lunch.
JakeTheGearHeart Zimmer’s scores for Driving Miss Daisy and As Good As It Gets are a nice contrast from his more brassy, percussion heavy music.
Inception brass was first original.
Then all poor trailers made me dislike it.
Andrew V. Braaaam braaam, even comments go brraam now haha
It got so bad that Hans actually complains about it now. (see 7:10) th-cam.com/video/GGs_NT4iL2c/w-d-xo.html
@@JakeAdkinsOfficial Which is a shame because it's such an iconic soundtrack that has since been cheapened by those who lacked the talent to do something original themselves.
@@TheKazragore Agreed. It's still probably one of my all time favorites. I remember being furious when "The Social Network" won best score at the Grammys over "Inception" (or maybe it was the Oscars, I forget)
I listen to John Williams music everyday. No joke
Congratulations
Wow! do you want an award?
Me too brother
I listen to Hans Zimmer everyday.
Why are those comments needlessly mean
Well this was the best surprise to wake up to this morning! Loved the video and your take on this idea was very insightful. Thanks for going with my suggestion :)
In the words of Adam Neely, repetition legitimizes.
Repetition legitimizes.
Repetition legitimizes.
Lepetition Regitimizes
Alexandr Sevrjukov what the fuck is a adam neely
Repetition legitimizes
So inception is about planting an idea in someone's head and then they planted the braam idea - spooky
Braamception.
precisely
I don't disagree with your points, but I think other musical elements are important. Perhaps I'd say that the ideas you discuss are important to making a great melody memorable (along with how easy the melody is to sing or hum), but the theme first needs to make a strong impression. To me, the power of great melodies often lies in the orchestration and harmony and all the backgrounds supporting material. For instance, if the orchestration of the Flying Theme from E.T. didn't have the brilliant, soaring orchestration it has, I think the melody would be catchy still, but nobody would care enough to "catch" it and keep it in their head.
Definitely the orchestration is a key element. It makes a huge difference.
I honestly think his explanations are simplistic, if not lazy. Of course a theme needs to be repeated. Catchy words for a catchy video.
GoldWater Have you done a video on this? I'd be interested to see if you have any further insight. His may be simplistic but I think it's quite insulting to say 'lazy'. These videos take a lot of time and effort.
@@Cesar_SM Great name. It's got to be one of those songs nobody but music majors knows the name of, lol.
That’s Herbert Spencer to you.
Thank you for showing the musical scores of whichever example you are having us listen to, it really solidifies it in the memory and increases the learning from a teacher that I am happy to have found on TH-cam! Just a simple video like this, that explains something from your point of view, helps anyone who wants to learn. Which is another reasom why I have been really enjoying your channel since I have found it. Teaching others, for the sake of helping everyone, is a trait I adore.
Catchy is such a trivial word to use to describe the motivic nature of William's music.
I know; catch is that Lady Gaga Poker Face stuff; this is well beyond 'catchy.' It is top tier musical composition and this is how all the greats compose music, from classical to blues to rock
I recently played A New Hope live in concert and almost couldn't believe how much the force theme appeared either lol
Great video btw!
Not gunna lie mate. I do love a good Braaam ;)
Can you review the Phantom of the Opera?
It's one of my favorite musical masterpieces, and there's lots of interesting stuff in terms of theory, like the 7/8 rhythm in Don Juan triumphant.
And of course, just the emotions of it are overwhelming, and fills you with a cascade of shivers.
Thanks again. Rewatching this video 3 years later. Thanks for this. It's an awakening video.
The word you are looking for with distinctive melodic features is motifs or even a leitmotif- you build on motifs to develop a theme
John Williams is the greatest composer of our time period.
@Evan HodgeName anyone, in the last century, who has impacted and influenced Music and art, more than Williams has.
I agree with a couple of others who mentioned the importance of the singability of his music. People walked out of the theaters after one viewing singing the Star Wars theme, making dun-dun-dun-dun shark music, or wanting to take three running steps and leap into the air with Superman's themes, they were catchy because they were singable.
I think you could do an entire video on how they're also intricately tied to the emotions of the characters and stories and modulated to express a variety of moods in different situations. A great example is how he made Yoda's theme playful and spritely like the character when we first met him, then grand and uplifting when he's raised Luke's X-Wing, and then harken back to it in the action-packed finale when Luke ran around Bespin. You touched on this when you were talking about repitition within the themes. This is a broader form of repetition that first familiarizes us with a theme and then plays with it, sometimes even playing with our expectations of it.
I was an oddball kid, for sure, but I would sit on my swing in the backyard when I was 10-12 and sing an entire medley of my favorite Williams music. The neighbors probably really wondered about me.
Back to the singability, I always remember Richard Donner in an interview describing the first time he heard Williams's score with the title sequence and how "it SANG the name Superman." Su-per-maaan. I take that even further. The second Superman theme, what I like to call the Determination March (vs. the Hero March), has just the right number of syllabiles to sing, "Look up in the sky, it's a bird it's a plane. Look up in the sky ... SUPERMAN!" To this day I'm convinced that's how he developed that theme. :-)
I think it's complete genius to make an iconic theme with just an E, an F and a few Ds thrown in on occasion. Lol
I agree with Oscar's main features of John Williams' music when we include the singability that several folks mentioned and the poetic appropriateness to character and setting. He creates "Signature Sounds" that instantly communicate where we are and whom we're with. This is true in film scores and his occasional music. Sound design scores also have signature sounds, but with Williams there's always a melody. These poetic signatures, like the opening of Hedwig's Theme, are the most hook-like and catchy bits of of melody.
It's worth pointing out that those four iconic notes from the Indiana Jones theme have the rhythm of the word "Indiana". The next three are "Doctor Jones". Williams has said that he often starts out with the title of the movie or the main character in order to get the ball rolling and then changes it as necessary to make it work. ET's theme started with the rhythm of the phrase "ET, The Extra Terrestrial", but was modified to flow better. "Jurassic Park" lost the first syllable in the three notes, but the whole rhythm turns up a few notes later in the melody. Knowing this won't make us John Williams, but it can surely help if we're stuck for a starting point on a new composition!
I loved this! I think my TH-cam algorithm is sending me all these because I've been doing my own deep dive of Williams Star Wars music (which included attempting to rank my favorite uses of the Force Theme, among other moments, in every Star Wars movie). Aside from Binary Sunset (still my favorite, even though it's cliche at this point), you included one of my favorites - the Battle Over Coruscant cue! My three favorite Williams pieces - Immolation Scene, Jedi Steps and A New Home actually all feature this same type of repetition now that I think about it; but each repetition adds layers and meaning.
I like what you said at the end about other features as well; specifically musical storytelling and bringing themes to a satisfying resolution because for me that's a huge part of it. Not just that the themes repeat and are reused, but that they mean something and (especially with the Force theme, but Rey's Theme is another good example) can be used with so many different variations, keys, tempos, instruments, counterpoints, flourishes, etc that they can convey a lot of different things. Heck, even in The Phantom Menace - compare Anakin is Free to The Tide Turns. Both are the Force Theme, but both have VASTLY different feels and emotions. I love the prequels, and a huge part of that is the way the music carries the story (along with the visuals), almost like an opera (especially in Revenge of the Sith which I think is the best score he's ever done).
Storywise I have a lot of criticisms about the sequels but the things done with the Kylo/Ben themes (and the way it eventually merges into Rey's) is one of my favorite things to geek out over.
My favourite movie theme is Rosemary’s Baby. Eerie, terrifying, ethereal, yet beautiful. And it does indeed employ motif repetition.
I love that "Braaam" is the legit term. I mean, you can never mistake it, then
This was very interesting and fun, thank you!
Harry Potter is pretty complex...in a period around when he wrote his violin concerto. Would be interesting to see a video about that. Great job!!
@@cinemascore-along Ahh. I'll take a look. Thanks
Hey! Please talk about the work of ennio morricone too!
I can't listen to Morricone without crying.
Bruh yes. Cinema Paradiso is beautiful.
Yes! The Maestro, please!?
This honestly completely changed how i write music, love it, thank you so much
Isn't the Force Theme a motif? that's why it comes up at significant scenes that deal with the mythological side of Star Wars.
Great topic and video! You put light on this mistery
This video deserves my Like due to the “TLJ is a spinoff” remark alone.
i've always been interested in music theory and analysis and this video ignited that realization. it's so amazing how scientific music is, and i find it fascinating.
i'm so grateful for the fact that i found your channel such amazing content thanks for posting :) i really like it a LOT!!
I barely started watching the video but I'm sure glad that you called these last movies "spin-offs".
William's music, when applied to movies, follows the role of the Greek choir from Greek classical theater.
the actors did, and the choir created ambient..... when there was no dialogue, the choir was the interlocutor of the speaking character.
the same way the choir chants "Two houses, both alike in dignity" in Romeo & Juliet to set up the theme, the same way the music plays the theme of the Force every time Luke is on screen.... it's the media telling the viewer "This guy, has Force power!"
it's not just _repetition_ , it's _relationship applied to situation_ .
if the same tune plays with the same character, that's because the tune _belongs_ to that character, and must surround it every time the character is on screen!
and since _the character_ is usually _the whole movie_ , then the tune will play _all the fucking time_ !
I've just gotten on TH-cam thinking "it would be so nice to have someone talking about music theory right now". Mind you, I didn't even hope for it to be John Williams at that.
Awesome video. I love Williams' music.
Incredible breakdown. Really enjoyed it
He uses a lot of French horns in his music. It's a signature with him.
Yeah I think he has a thing for the french horns lol. And the Trumpets. Mostly, if it isn't the French horn, it is a trumpet, or vice versa.
@@troyandrade615 As I recall, Williams played trumpet in the US Air Force band, where he also did arrangements. It all really shows in the martial, heroic beat in many of his works. Star Wars, Indiana Jones, etc. And of course the iconic Imperial March.
There are quite a few film composers whose works I really love, but it's nearly impossible to argue against John Williams being the greatest film composer of all time. His work has been more impactful than anyone else's, he has written the scores for some of the most beloved films ever, and his music almost inarguably made every one of them feel complete.
I don't know anybody who doesn't feel like Superman is coming when his theme plays, or that the score of Harry Potter isn't a perfect musical encapsulation of the wizarding world.
More like we have an usually unrecognized music within us. Williams recognizes it & brings it out to be recognized. Of course we love it as we all share it.
I had to pause this video several time in order to satisfy my urge to listen to the whole themes that were presented here. Great time.
Reminds me of Stairway to Heaven. Same musical idea repeated infinite times with small adjustments.
Mozart has some of the most memorable tunes like the start of Symphony No. 40, and the Turkish March. So I guess John Williams is just doing it the traditional way with a modern twist.
Mozart is a genius. So is Tchaikovsky. Williams copies geniuses.
In addition to repetition is the element of the sequence: where a motivic idea is not merely repeated but shifted in pitch, another way to get that motivic idea to lodge in our ears. Most famous are probably Beethoven's 5th or Mozart's 40th symphonies. Leonard Bernstein gave a talk discussing a pattern to the repetitions of the great masters, a pattern which he called "on your mark; get set, go." The idea is to 1) state your theme or motif ("on your mark"). 2) Repeat or sequence it ("get set"). And finally, 3) do something to the motif that breaks the established pattern ("go") and sets the motif in flight. You can certainly hear that same construction in John Williams better-known scores: Jurassic Park, Star Wars, Indiana Jones and others.
Wagner. It's all in Wagner.
Of course!!
@@_Chuvisco_ The archetype movie series was immersive total-art of th-cam.com/video/JWhRThHJGoE/w-d-xo.html , so far ahead of its time. Film music composers owe an incalculable debt to Wagner's genius.
Who got it from Berlioz, who got it from Weber, who got it from ... and so on.
Unless it's Holst, Debussy or Tchaikovsky.
The Holst influences on Star Wars are undeniable.
Doesn't Disney music composer/songwriter Alan Menken also count as someone who makes unforgettable melodies?
I think he is up there with John Williams, both of whom created the music of my childhood. Great video by the way!
Daniel Bach Totally agree. You could argue Williams is the movie score GOAT, and Menken the movie song GOAT
@@s1me007 GOAT?
@@danielbach9205 Greatest of all time
Simplicity is magic.
7:45 It's mondain but I freaking like it. Always loved Gaga's old songs like crazy when I was yonger. And I still do.
Man the Jurassic park theme is nostalgia x1000.
After your video I really can see similarities between all those themes ! Nice work.
He kind of likes to rip on that one, I just always loved the chorus lol
Don't think people fell in love with that song particularly for the repetitive part but might just be my experience.
I think it's because those melodies aren't too complex and can be remembered and so reproduced in our heads easily
You have to be a friggin genius to use just an E and an F for the most memorable part of the Jaws theme (with the occasional low D)
Kind of reminds me of how Peter Benchley said he knew he was a bad author. But by the time he found that out, he was rich from the Jaws book (he was the reporter on the beach, too).
@@windsofmarchjourneyperrytr2823 No too complex, or simple doesn't mean it's easy to find.
You never fail to inform. Awesome! So useful.
Thank you! Your videos are amazing. I'm learning so much from each and every one of them.
A video on harmonic moods might be interesting. JW tends to use major major seventh resolutions when he’s pointing towards space or the sky. Gives a feeling of wonder (stolen from Holst of course). Great work!
Ah, how to find other music majors:)
I love your vids! They are so well thought out!
Music is amazing. Great video. Thanks
I think it's an adherence to the ideas of the Sonata Allegro format.
Question > answer >question > answer> recapitulation
He is classically trained, after all
Thank you for your delightful explanation of John William"s Movie Music. Could you also so the same thing with John Barry and his peculiar style of movie music? Cheers!
Ramin Djawadi does the same thing essentially in Game of Thrones. Everyone knows the main theme or the Rains of Castamere.
Even the Stark theme
Daenerys gets the best themes. You cannot beat the "Aaaa AAAAAAAAAA" part of her songs.
@@thegoldentb7596 Those are the best. The Targaryen theme is actually my favorite melody in the entire show, I just figured the main theme is more popularly known. but yeah, aaaaaAAAAA all the way
Westworld too, and the first Iron Man theme is amazing
I loved the theme song.
Can't stand the show. Got bored right away.
god I love john Williams
Brilliant video, great stuff as always.
You are genuinely one of the best channels on TH-cam.
The shade on Poker Face is a bit misplaced though, I think.
Yes, if you take that one bit of the vocal line, on its own, out of the context of the rest of the band (which is going through a chord sequence with a melodic riff over the top), out of the context of the rest of the verse (where the instrumentation and texture builds and the vocals do flow into a full melody), then there isn't anything very musical or musically interesting going on, no; but that's really not a fair analysis.
You could also take many Bach pieces and take a little, carefully selected bit of the lead melodic line out of context, and only look at its rhythm and not pitch, and it wouldn't look interesting either since he (like much of pop music) was broadly tied to the rhythmic forms of the dance music of his day; not that Lady Gaga and Bach are comparable in quality.
And the whole verse bit of the song is really just a way of building tension towards a notably lusher chorus, and in the form of the pop song the verse is always really just a framing device for the chorus so you can't separate them like that anyway.
I'm not saying Poker Face is some great work of art, I don't even think it's that good myself (although some pop songs undoubtedly are), but it's important not to characature things in that way; it can come off as goofy if we're not careful.
My favorite pieces by composers like Mozart, Beethoven, and Tchaikovsky do the same thing - probably because I was a fan of John Williams and other movie composers first.
It's where all this stuff comes from actually. After the Baroque, composers shied away from highly complex music (involving heavy counterpoint--the interplay of 2 or more independent melodies, and long themes that hardly ever repeat). Instead, they came up with shorter, "distinctive melodic features" that they developed in quite extraordinary ways. This began with the skilled hands of Haydn, and in my opinion, culminated in Mozart, and to a great degree in Beethoven as well.
"repetitions within repetitions"
*BRAAAAAAAAAMMMM*
Omg you called TLJ a spin off.. I can't 😂😂
That made me unreasonably happy.
I mean... should we consider it canon?
@@jacksoncurrin9618 I wouldn't
@@doomiesama4741 agreed
@@jacksoncurrin9618 It's Legends LoL
Pop music is not entirely about the 'music' ... it's about the entire package: period of time + tune + lyrics + video + marketing + artist's own unique qualities .. also, every generation seeks something *new to listen to.
IMO, 'Poker Face', though musically simple is a highly complex pop tune... and Yes, it's catchy as hell :)
I laughed hard at 'spin offs'! :D Love your work! :)
I think the relevant keyword here would be "leitmotif"
I find that similar type of repetition in Beethoven, for example in the first four notes of the 5th Symphony, and the first three notes of the 9th Symphony mvt 2. He introduces the piece with the most basic theme in its bare form, and then takes it all over the place connecting it to itself over and over again in a variety of ways.
sophisticated analyses. keep going!
You've earned my respect by calling the Last Jedi a spinoff.
"And Schindler's List"...
*Shows screencap from Taken.*
SOUNDS LIKE THE WAY OF ALL CLASSICAL MUSIC.
Savage Liam Neeson roast.
Great video! Thanks.
Thank you :) Very interesting analysis.
John Williams is a Legend. Talent personified.
Very great and interesting! Well done!
Why so catchy? They are optimistic, grand and dignified.
I wonder if you could make a video "Why Beethoven Is A Genius" like you did with Mozart
There's a book by Leonard Bernstein called The Joy Of Music. One of the chapters is in the form of a dialog about why Beethoven was the greatest composer. The conclusion was that, although there's no one thing Beethoven did better than anyone else, he always knew, better than any other composer, what the next note had to be.
@Warrior Son Yess I wish he would do that
Williams also reminds me of Wagner in use of leimotifs. The Star Wars saga is much like the Ring of the Nibelung anyway.
Great video.
Yes, there is genius in simplicity if done right.
"And spinoffs"
The Last Jedi
Wait, what?
What, you want to consider it a genuine part of the star wars saga? 😂
I will take seriously a composer's avant guard work only after they've proven the can write a good tune. William's you're a legend.
I know the "Braam" from The 100. Cool knowing where it came from.
Could you make a video on John Powell? Imo I think he's the closest thing to a modern Williams. His work on Solo last year is a great example!
I know his How to train your dragon themes and Kung Fu Panda is the best out of ANY animated movies
Thanks a lot for this analysis!
Howard Shore jumped right up to John Williams level of composition and beyond with the Lord of the Rings trilogy.
I place the two of them equally on the same scale even though Williams has a more impressive resumé as he was given such juicy visuals to work with movie after movie.
I don't know if we can say that about Jaws, but it demonstrates the power of the minor 2nd (also Halloween and Psycho). Pretty slick to toss up and E and an F and have it be a whole song (with the occasional low D).
I would also note for the theme of ET, in the fourth section it starts off with a turn and then it close and then a leap. It’s sort of flip-flops the whole formula but keeps it at the same time.
You've got a great channel here, mate.
Repetition in this sense could also be referred to as Call and Response. There’s an initial Call statement, and then a Response that’s similar (repetition), but takes the Call to a new place. Then, typically, the Call and Response “join forces” to wrap everything up nicely. Further, his melodies are also very lyrical, and you could easily imagine a vocalist singing words to them - the melodies are a vocal statement in this sense. I feel these two things contribute to the memorability of his melodies.
"...the other movies..."
[Ep. III clip]
"...and its spinoffs."
[Ep. VIII clip]
SHOTS FUCKING FIRED
This guy knows his Star Wars, if George made it, it’s a mainline Star Wars movie, if he didn’t it’s a fan made spin-off
The braam in Inception had a purpose though, it was the kick music, Edith Piaf's Non, je ne regrette rien, used to wake the dreamers but slowed down as it would sound in the dream. Non je ne regrette rien was also purposefully chosen to be used as the kick song in the film as it's lyrics are relevant to the plot's elements of regret and being influenced by one's past.
I've always said that John Williams is simplistically complex, and Hans Zimmer is complexly simple.
John Williams, although a brilliant melody writer, really excels at utilizing beat, rhythm, and repetitive structures in his music (specifically with the top lines). Then, he marries that with a complex interweaving of call-and-response, chord changes, and fluttering winds. He's also very versatile at making each score sound unique, whilst still maintaining that same, bold, LSO sound. Superman hearkens back to the 1930's and 40's era of film & serials, while capturing the whimsy of a comic book and yet the majesty and strength of the title character all at once. However, a lot of his soundtracks sound the same orchestration wise. (Well, not orchestration wise, but rather, he utilizes snare, timpani, horns, strings, and winds very similarly in Star Wars, Harry Potter, etc.)
Hans Zimmer, on the other hand, often writes very simplistic, almost post-modernistic music that, on its own, doesn't tend to really stick out the same as Williams music. (Unless overly repeated, a la Inception horns) However, Zimmer is a great composer because he's able to take these very rhythmically simplistic and melodically dull themes and really spice them up by utilizing all the parts of the orchestra and using unusual sounds (scraped strings in TDK, organ in Interstellar, Johnny Marr on Inception :P ) to really set each and every film score apart. They almost sound like they're from completely different composers!
I personally prefer Williams myself, although Zimmer often gets airplay on my playlists when I just want some calming, undisturbing music to listen to while studying, relaxing, animating, etc. Apples and Oranges, but there's no surprise why they're both very well loved and used in Hollywood from their respective eras.
Great video! Loved every minute of it. :)
The John Williams style remember me Wagner. For example the force theme is a sort of "Leitmotiv" which is repeated over and over in various situations
I love absolutely ALL of your videos 😍
I've thought about this long ago, feels good to be validated (I've actually doubted a lot about this)
This explains why the main theme in Madoka Magica normally gets stuck in my head too
Have you done a vid on Henry Mancini's music? When I watched Breakfast at Tiffany's again a while back I was struck with the unique charms of his score.
Take Dvorak's Requiem and you will see the same sighing theme (half note up, full note dow, half note up, e.g. c - c# - b - c) in every single movement.
But B to C is a half step. A minor 2nd. It's not a full step down. Bb would be, tho.
@@windsofmarchjourneyperrytr2823 Correct. c-c# is a semitone up, c#-b is a full step down and b-c is a semitone up, as I said.
A catchy song is a very well written song.. no other explanations are necessary :) and sometimes catchy is confused with ''very easy to listen to'' which is the description for most of the generic music we hear at the moment..
I find most modern music to be painful tp hear because I can hear all the Auto-tune. It sounds just like guitar feedback, which i could always hear before the mixer even registers it.
Agreed. He is amazing in that!