How To Write Melodies Like John Williams - Continuity of Line
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- Опубліковано 27 лют 2017
- In this episode of Everything Music we explore the melodic construction of some of John Williams most famous themes. We are deconstruction the interval and rhythmic construction of the Raiders March, Star Wars and Superman themes. I also have more a few more examples of octave displacement and the use of interval jumps verses stepwise motion. We will also be discussing melodies that have multiple lines going on simultaneously.
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I was so confused about John Williams' overly accomplished life until I realized that film composer John Williams and classical guitarist John Williams are in fact two different people. The trouble that understanding could have saved me in my undergrad...
I just remembered this once thing that classical guitarist John Williams was part of that had a sort of Halloween-ish feel, and it was sort of like film composer John Williams' stuff for some movies (I can't think if which ones other than Prisoner of Azkaban)
Same here. The first time I heard of classical guitarist superstar "John Williams" I thought it was the same guy from the super popular soundtracks. It blew me away until I soon noticed these were 2 different people:)
Mitchell Yost Music Its a pretty basic name tho
For a second there I thought you meant that film score JW had two aspects, one of which is his classical guitar side hahaha
I thought they were the same person until I saw this comment. Kind of relieved that someone isn't that overly accomplished as you put it, but also kind of disappointed
My favourite continuous melody from John Williams is the throne room scene at the end of Star Wars. From the first notes it captures you and delivers you to the credits flawlessly. So many moods and such a singable melody.
Thanks for your commitment to teaching rick. Every time I watch, I feel like I'm in a college classroom with a caring professor. Best part is that it doesn't cost a cent💰. I'm glad I'm old enough to remember when technology like this didn't exist. Makes me appreciate what you do so much more 💡
You know Stan- The only reason it doesn't cost anything is because many of my subscribers have bought my book or donated to my channel. Without them, I wouldn't have the time to make these videos. So you point about it being free is because other people are will do their part however big or small to support my channel. I wouldn't normally comment about this but your bag of money emoji was particularly tacky. Food for thought...Thanks for watching and taking the time to comment. Rick
Rick Beato if you have a problem with people thanking you for posting free videos maybe don't post them and just share your thoughts with your paying subscribers ?
Rick Beato Hey Rick. I can tell that you are a super intellectual and talented guy. As such we tend to overthink inert comments that are actually huge thumbs up. You are reading way to much into a "money bag 💰". To me it's my way of showing how much your content being available free of charge means to me. Before this technology it was next to impossible to find the information without going to school or working at a studio. I do realize the time and effort it takes to make even a short video. Life is not always about monetizing though. Sometimes you have to just give it away and the universe provides 🌊. I provide FREE Mixing lessons to kids in my area and give them recording equipment at no charge. Most months I'm upside down. I understand the need to charge for services. I played in bars for years and had to fight to get paid at many venues. It's the life many of us choose because we love music. Just remember what Freud said : sometimes a money bag is just a money bag 😉
@@RickBeato to me you sounded quite rude for replying like this to stan d
It helps to know where John Williams came from, and part of that is as a student of Mario Castelnovo-Tedesco. Looking at Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco's music, one can see similarities in thematic development. Repetition gives form. In studying counterpoint, one becomes aware of rules where, if a melodic leap is made in a direction, stepwise passages usually follow in the opposite direction, and I hear that being followed in your discussion of Williams' melodies. While bebop follows the target notes of the chord progressions, thematic development as we see it in classical music limits the melody to a number of select motifs or melodic fragments and builds on those. In a fugue, you have the question and the answer and strettos developing melodic material presented in those. In sonata form, you have the exposition where a melody is presented based on the tonic, a counter idea is presented after modulating to the dominant, and melodic content from those are developed further while modulating through several keys. When I took a guitar symposium with Howard Roberts and he played a solo over chord changes to "Misty", I noted how his melody held together compared to a solo by a famous younger jazz guitarist because Roberts limited his melodic choices. This isn't just the strength of John Williams' melodies, but especially those of Henry Mancini (who also took a few lessons with Castelnuovo-Tedesco, as did Jerry Goldsmith). The audience gets lost when every idea "including the kitchen sink" is thrown at them. As Chuck Berry said in "Rock and Roll Music" "I have no kick against modern jazz Unless they try to play it too darn fast And change the beauty of the melody . . ." One of the musicians in the Wrecking Crew Movie noted that the audiences didn't especially want to hear them play free and bebop jazz, so they started playing rock and roll to make money. When I took composition at university, my internationally known instructor gave me as lesson one: limit the number of melodic ideas in your compositions (and he was a pioneering electronic musician). To guide those following your instruction, what path do you want to lead them down to compose music successfully?
Steve Gray Great post mate. I've found that octave displacement lets me write much stronger melodies than before but it creates structural problems in my music as I don't know what to do with all this power! It's interesting to read the differing paths taken with this issue in different genres as I ponder how to tame the wild stallion: I think I need to limit the number of ideas and use arrangement to create variation.
Great comment on the typical aspects of thematic development in Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco's music, bebop, the fugue and the sonata form ... compressed in a nutshell (and comparing them with each other).
As someone who doesn't know a lot about music theory and does things by ear, I absolutely love your videos. You make music theory fun and interesting and understandable for me. Thank you so much!
Love the John Williams videos. Keep them coming!
Perfect! I'm so glad I found your channel. Love your approach and commitment.
i just watched this and your video on developing a musical idea from scratch. both are fantastic at getting me to understand how to get started. thanks a ton Rick!
I found the dissection of melodies, discussion of principles very helpful. I especially appreciated you pointing out the hours he spends working out melodies. I always thought I could never write good melodies, but maybe I can work at it.
Great stuff, Rick! I remember reading that John Williams had initially composed this theme and the one that follows it in the score separately, and asked Spielberg to choose one. Spielberg liked both and Williams so cleverly put them together! :-)
Rick, your videos are always very interesting! You are a Great Teacher!
Thank you for everything Rick
There is so much good information in this video that I want to watch it again and again.Really great content
Did I just stumble on the most interesting treasure cove of musical knowledge and outlook out there on UA-cam. Not only, about rock/pop/contemporary music but jazz AND orchestral music?! I stumble on one of your "Why this song so great" analysis series on Metallica and I'm just binging on your music theory, music anecdotes and musical techniques. Thanks for sharing your amazing knowledge in such a relatable manner, Mr Beato!
You need to interview him! Would be the best and most important music interview ever
So unbelievably helpful
Rick Beato Thank you for the post! Very informative.
Thank you for teaching!
Absolutely love your videos and the explanation of music theory.. its hugely useful.
This is a really great video. Thanks so much for taking the time to do this :)
Great illustration... octave displacement FTW!
You are beyond amazing Sir !
Rick Beato is so cool for making a video like this!!
Thank you, Master of Music.
Just discovered your channel Rick, you come across as so approachable and friendly, and your videos real helpful, thanks allot :)
I know nothing about music, but I just found this channel and find it very interesting. I feel I'm listening to some foreign language- haha.
I'm a new subscriber because of the super great job you did with this video. Very well done! I first encountered Holst's 'The Planets' when we played it in college orchestra. This was well before the first Star Wars movie came out, so I immediately knew where Williams drew some of his inspiration when I first listened to the score. Your excellent video gives me ideas for more videos that you might want to think about for future consideration.
Idea 1: 'How Holst influenced movie scoring'. I recently read an article from an orchestration professor who made a general comment about how influential Host has been to film scoring. I've finished listening to my Holst music library and realize that's true. Consider putting together a similar video to this one going over a wider list of movie composers that you feel have been similarly influenced by Holst accompanied by your excellent 'play-by-play' analysis.
Idea 2: The same idea only with other modern 'revolutionary' composers such as Orff, Stravinsky, Schoenberg, etc., from your perspective, as being key influencers for movie composers.
Idea 3: The same idea, only you get out your 'crystal ball' and make your predictions as to whom the key influencers will be from our contemporary composers, along with the all important 'why' (popularization of a little used bit of music theory, sound tonality, some new musical invention, whatever). This last idea might be a real blast to do, and to maybe update every 3-5 years or so, to see how your predictions are holding up. (No pressure.)
Thanks for creating a UA-cam channel with such rich and deep content. I can't think of anyone else who has such a wide skill set and also shares it with the general public. Thank you.
John Williams: "Hmm interesting. I just thought it sounded cool"
dff fff yeah I think that’s how most of the music rick talks about was made. Rick is here to show us the formulas and mathematical side to how they work
I think classical composers/movie composers really think about this stuff, they have to understand technically what mood/feeling to convey with the melody and sounds
John Williams Interview: "The interesting thing about The Raiders March is that it is a very simple little tune, but I spent more time on those bits of musical grammar than anything else. The sequence of notes has to sound just right so it seems inevitable, like it has always been with us. It was something that I chiseled away at for a few weeks, changing a note here and there, to find the correct musical shape. Those little simplicities are often the hardest things to capture."
Would love if you could talk on 'Hedwig's Theme' from Harry Potter. It's such a unique piece by John Williams and so perfectly fits the movie.
This is very useful because melody has been a lost art in pop music for quite awhile. You have to go back to the mid-20th century to find a lot of melodies. I've been playing guitar in open D lately and it is interesting how many songs are based on chord tones- a lot of Joni Mitchell falls right out in open D, but also things like Tennessee Stud.
How to write melodies like John Williams:
1) You
2) Can't
Have a good day
Great job! I'm enjoying your videos. I saw John Williams perform with the Seattle Symphony recently and Steven Spielberg showed up to talk about film music. It was a great lesson in film music and how important it is. Thanks for the John Williams video. I appreciate it. :) Take care, Sam.
Thanks for the great videos!
Great info- thank you
Some of those melodies are a lot like practice exercises. I remember learning those for the violin. I know that the rest of the orchestra members had many of the same etudes. This has been a really fun video.
this is awesome...at least after I "get it" thank you!
Amazing how much mileage John Williams gets out of octave displacement. Notice how if you take Star Wars (12:34) and *don't* do the octave jump, you wind up with the E.T. theme (minus one grace note).
One must admire his economy
muy bueno el video! gracias! saludos desde Argentina!
Me agrego al saludo de parte de otro argentino :)
I would love to see a video on how to compose using bitonality / polytonality!
I second this.
Bacchic Bachian ie Stravinsky rites of spring
Yes, and Milhaud of course.
this is such an effective way of crafing a melody line here. because a good melody consist of many balanced elements: direction, interval, rhythmic weight etc. by firstly going all the way up, you put aside the direction balance which you will come back later and focus simply on interval(leap/step), rhythmic weight of each note(motif) and the notes being used. When you start something you always want less distraction to begin with. After crafting a melody line going only upwards, you can come back to play with shifting any notes down/up by octaves and balance the pitch range.
on top of this, you may also start with a different melodic elements combo(like direction and motif) and add other elements later.
this is good for practice or when you are writing something new and don't know where to begin with. point is to start from simplicity.
Nice video! Thanks a lot. 12:19 reminds me of a visit to the Pokemon center. :)
excellent
Will be in touch soon. I have to set up a pay pal account. You're future plans are awesome.
Hey Rick, I'm new to your channel, so forgive me if you've covered this already, but could you do a video on writing vocals melodies for contemporary music, such as rock, pop, or country? Thanks for all of the amazing advice!
one whole night in 2015 i tried to understand the melody of schindler´s list. also therefore i love this video.
Hey Rick, love the videos. Great stuff! Wondering if you'd be up for doing a video or two on Jeremy Soule and Chance Thomas - both video game composers rather than film but they are able to achieve such a mood with their work! If you do Jeremy Soule though, go for one of the exploration tracks from the Elder Scrolls series? I'd love to hear your take on those and on Chance Thomas's music for the Lord of the Ringers online game's Rohan expansion. All the best!
AndeyTheFellowes I would love this as well! Soule's music from Skyrim is fascinating!
That C Major displacement thing you made reminds me of John Adam's crazy stuff :)
how much do you think his thematic style style might have to do with writing for horns? there's something almost military in a lot of these
rus Archer i agree
I am not sure but I think we grow near to a military base
He wrote for the military band when he was part of it with 18 yo
The less in how to make a good melody is really great! I'm just wondering how to choose the chords to put underneath it...
I really find all of your videos useful in my own musical journey, and my new compositions. I'm curious if you could do a lesson on the beethoven writing style. Thanks!
can you do a video on Koji Kondo next, as he has been inspiring people probably as much as John Williams did - not trying to take anything away from Williams here
Prokofiev 5 has a ton of octave displacement as well. Mostly for practical orchestration reasons I suspect.
This theme at 12:40 is similar to (with a bit of octave displacement) the main theme of Mahler's 8th symphony!!!
Your channel is lit
Could you make an in depth video on how to mimic those shrill high arpeggios and other fast runs he does with those woodwinds? I wanna know exactly what instruments those are and how they are used to get such a sharp sound. Other composers do it too. Often times it sounds like piccolos and flutes just running up and down scales, or sliding. They are shrill but provide a nice emphasis.
Hi Rick, great video I really enjoyed it!
Is there any chance you could make a video about Schenkerian analysis? Just because I'm finding it difficult to find a source that can teach it in a concise way, and I think many other people will be in the same position.
I was going to do a video on it. I need to find my book from college to get a couple PDFs from it. Give me a week or so.
Woohoo, thanks Rick!
I think syncopation is what makes a song catchy. I wrote a song on Sibelius 7.5 where I would be uncomfortable sight reading the notes which is about a 5 out of 10 where Indiana Jones is a 4 and 10 is Paganini. The most syncopated parts grabbed my friend's attention and interest.
John's best collective work is the ET soundtrack - hands down (for me anyway)
Really good video. However, what I'd like to see is how these melodies are harmonized and brought into polyphony which John Williams utilizes a lot.
Great video. I never understood what "In the key of" meant. Still a little fuzzy. Is it related to "Revolving" So a melody jumps around a particular note, or hits a particular note most often? But I am still confused about how that piece of information would help me understand anything about a melody. Because what i hear, is a bunch of different notes being played, I know there are various notes that can be played multiple times. Does it have something to do with resolution to? Starting out on one note and ending on that same note after tension is being built?
SHENKER, YES!!! A great composer makes melodies with 2 or more lines incorporated into it. Bach would do this constantly and even in the Violin Partitas and Cello suites you get a strong sense of polyphony despite being monody. Utilizing the different registers/strings of the instrument stratifies the lines and devices like 'barriolage' allow for pedal points against a moving line.
Stravinsky and Copland absolutely adored octave displacement...and they were pretty great haha
Beautiful stuff! Those programmed parts do sound better slower I think.
Just realised you justified why those parts are fast!
Please do a video on Lalo Schiffrin!!
Rick, have you watched Your Name. movie?
It's amazing in terms of soundtrack. It makes it so emotionally engaging
What exactly do you mean with internal resolution? Can you write it out or elaborate on that?
Hi Rick: Could you do a video on how to write harmonies like the great arranger Robert Farnon from the 40's and 50's. My uncle gave me the Farnon record Light N' Easy on London records, B20033 with harmonies great inner harmonies. Wonderful! I'm sure John Williams was influenced by Robert. Thanks
How about something on Zappa composition and melodic lines
Next: Ennio Morricone. Please, Mr. Beato!
Pls could you do a series on How write like The Beatles did or breaking down some of their best tunes and why they have such a lasting appeal where so many other songs do not. For me The Beatles are unsurpassed in songwriting even today which makes them very special indeed. My fav song are If I fell, Here There And Everywhere, Penny Lane, Strawberry Fields and quite a long list to follow. Also I love the Songs Brian Wilson wrote for the Beach Boys like Warmth Of The Sun and God On;y Knows.
Any insights of these wonderful songs would be so wonderful to learn from you Rick:))
PLEASE talk about Danny Elfman! Particularly his Beetlejuice theme. He seems to keep alternating between standard 4 bars of common time and 3 bars of 4/4 and the final bar at 6/4. Also, his love of the augmented 5th interval (Beetlejuice and The Simpsons themes) and his haunting use of chord progression. I'd LOVE to write music that sounds like Elfman! It's pure, old school Hammer Horror and there are so few videos on his music.
Can you do a Video on how to write melodies like Justin Hurwitz (La La Land)?
Not for nothin but, you know he wrote the show music for 60's era Lost in Space... There are so many time hearing one of his movie soundtracks where I hear the distant echo of those horns.
Where do we can buy your book, specially outsiders like europeans?
You could do a podcast. This information is great and It could be listened in a car trip or something, for example.
iTunes dor iPhones and stitcher for android guys.
You can write me at rickbeato@gmail.com and you can order my book from me. It's in PDF form. I'm going to look into a podcast right now. Thanks! Rick
Normally I put your videos in background while I'm doing other things, and later in that day I experiment your musical tips in my instrument.
Ok. Soon I will send you an e-mail asking for it.
The most used podcast or channels:
Itunes, stitcher, spotify, soundcloud, overcast, iHeart Radio, Google Play Music.
It's seem a lot, but its just a audio file delivered in several channels in order to reach as many people as possible.
Good work. Valuable information.
How to write like Shakespeare xD
I like Williams' Cantina Band.
Surprised there isn't a big discussion about the role of rhythm in these themes
who wrote the 50's commercial "to a smoker, it's kent". Sound familiar?
can you anaylize how justin hurwitz writes?
What is a cadence point?! please and thank you!
It's like musical punctuation.You have commas and full stops. Chords built on 5-1 of the scale and 4-1 are full stops, 5-6 and 1-5 are more like commas etc. So when you get 5-1 it sounds resolved and complete. 5-6 sounds like the musical sentence is incomplete and is waiting to resolve to 1 finally.
I wrote some lyrics for the Superman theme:
I'm wearing blue tights,
Yes I am!
I'm wearing blue tights
TIGHT THEY ARE! (falsetto)
You're welcome.
You should talk about Koji Kondo's music.
Check out the 8-bit music theory channel for that!!
I thought that as a general rule that in a melody you don't have jumps of more than an octave.
rules are meant to be broken.
"rule".... do not think about "rules" when it comes to music
classicalhero7 Octave displacement doesn't mean a jump of more than an octave. The melodies Rick demonstrate don't have intervals bigger than an octave.
How to write Melodies like John Williams.... NO ONE can write melodies like John Williams, no one!! There I saved you 27 minutes of your time....
(P.s Actually a great video Rick, love your studies into film music, keep up the good work).
Can someone explain what 'contuinity of line' means? I googled it and got nothing
+daemonturk You didn't get anything because you're spelling continuity wrong :)
Lol. Still got nothing though
I ll bet he came close. I know id be uncomfortable if any of my songs were as similar as the lost ark theme is to the kent cigarrette commercial.
Hello Rick
Where is the vertical meaning? "An American in Paris" (G. Gerschwin) resumes lots of things with the intervals. George died when John was 5 yo. and John's father was a professional percussionist. You can't escape this. "Strike Up The Band" is full of what you explained.
My point of view: Melodies without bass lines (and harmonies) means 25% only. [okay for the ostinato or pedal]
Nevertheless, I really appreciate this video, your knowledge-sharing, your style, and especially your haircut.
Huge thanks to you ;)
John williams in that lost ark theme appears to have violated the copyright of the kent cigarrette ad of 1973 melody .....to a smoker its a kent
To write the Star Wars theme, heist bits from Glazunov's "The Seasons." For Harry Potter, use Faure's "Prelude to Pelleas and Melisande.
Ooh ooh I know... take holst or Dvorak and just add a bar or two...
Is the superman theme C harmonic major?
If so, putting the archetypal Ubermench character as its subject changes the way I hear the mode completely. Really cool.
Also, that octave displacement chord progression is beautiful. Reminds me of Olafur Arnolds.
Hey, that melody movement wasn't scalar! It was vector duh
Interview Brad Mehldau!
I need to find someone who knows him. It would be great!
Rick Beato You're in luck. He's my classmate! Played in concert A band together!
Are you equipped to record video and audio from a Skype video call on your computer?
How to write like Hans Zimmer next.
badas
G up to a C is a 4th not a 5th.
Go to a not as well known composer of the past make sure no copyright then do ur business there
translator please
It would be easier for understanding the theory if you build your own example(s) to be more accessible. In this lesson for example your own examples are just random noise for a less sophisticated listener (like example at 21:20). Nothing memorable or hummable. This is my main gripe for most of the, otherwise great, lessons. Since I want to learn to compose for common man, not highly intelligent music professionals.
difficult to be all things to all people.
but yes the etude is a bit rough on the ears. Not musical for my tastes. Midi sequencers make it too easy to rattle off stuff like this. (one would never "hear" this in their head and then write it down I think.)
But I have learned so much off Rick's videos that this critique pales in the light of the other goodies. Keep rolling Rick!
Who else comes close to John Williams as composer?
Terry Cupboards I’ve heard of Hans Zimmer but not sure which film scores he composed.
John Williams stands out in how he writes each theme and how he joins them altogether . And they are all things anyone can hum about. Some composers focus more on simply creating an ambiance and that’s it.
Erich Wolfgang korngeild: kings row theme
kingkakig John Powell (how to train your dragon, han solo story)
Does anyone else think that Rick Beato resembles Robert Downey Junior ?