What did you think of this theme? Was it your favorite from the film, or were there other moments you thought were even cooler? ALSO, if you want to grab some info on the upcoming Black Friday sale INCLUDING some free sneak peeks at the content, check this out- cornellmusicacademy.com/blackfriday
Fantastic entry into the growing canon of minimalist-inspired but aggressively emotive film music. It's the mechanical buildup of Zimmer's "No time for caution" glued onto the arpeggios and brass presence of Glass's "Window of appearances" and the raw emotive power of Arvo Pärt's "Fratres".
When I first heard it in the theatre I was blown away. It sounded so organic and so mechanical at the same time. Paired this film's visuals was just otherworldly and so beautiful. Best film I've seen this year and a lot was thanks to the score.
It was damn good. Saw it with some friends a month or so ago, and I do remember the music. Thing is, I was kind of sick when I saw it, which tainted the experience.
The thing about the score is that it’s not just background music. It feels incredibly intertwined with the film and the experience of watching it. The color, the visuals, the story, the performances; the music is fundamentally connected to all these things, and changing the music would change the whole experience.
@@davidw.2791it is in my opinion. depends on how good you are and how often you play and what instruments you are familiar with. i can play both violin and keyboard. i think it’s easier on keyboard…. still tuff
Not so difficult to play but we can feel that the composer is not a violonist so it’s not fully natural to play you can probably have exactly the same pattern profile but more playable
Same here. It feels like something is going wrong, against the natural laws: the nucleus is forcefully split apart, the fabric of reality is being torn down.
@@standporter It's actually a pretty "common" element (and it was before Inception as well), because it just works extremely well ! But played in this context, it takes a whole different vibe !
It kicks in after a line from Bohr spoken to Oppenheimer. "It's like reading sheet music. The question isnt whether you can read the music, its whether you can hear the music. Can you hear the music, Robert?"
The build up to the bomb going off has got to be the most amazing build to a release that I’ve ever witnessed in my life. Such a fast paced moment but it feels so intense for whether or not the bomb will actually go off. The moment let me at the edge of my seat with my eyes glued to what could possibly happen next
I loved the entirety of the movie but the second act, everything about los alamos and making the bomb leading up to the first test is absolutely phenomenal. The buildup in the last few minutes before the test including the absolutely nerve wrecking trinity by ludwig göransson was incredible in theatre. As it isn't a science fiction movie or anything made up you obviously know where the build up leads and still it was way more captivating than many recent movies i saw, even some which i'd say are great in their own right. This movie but especially the second act was just outstanding
Trinity to me feels like it's borrowing very heavily from pieces like "Threnody For The Victims Of Hiroshima". Goransson did his homework, that much is for sure...
To me the build up during the last 10 minutes or so of the "not an actual trial" was even wilder, it just kept getting more and more and more and more and more and more tense and anxious for so so long without losing momentum until it finally blew up... and it blew me away (pun intended).
When tempo changes like this, as a drummer, knowing this is coming, you stop counting. Your body continues playing at the tempo, and you start listening to the new tempo. You don't start counting it, just listen. Then you switch. Very challenging. What can help for musicians who don't play with their mouth, is to talk while playing and keeping tempo. It can be very difficult to do unless you start talking at the tempo you are playing.
You really do "hear the music" instead of "read the music" in that sense. Your body keeps going with the current while you're hearing and prepping the future.
@@redleader5625agreed. Most of the time self taught musicians get trashed for not practicing certain things but I developed this ability through my many years of passive practice and listening to tons of music. I don’t practice it much but I’ve noticed I’ve never had to trouble adapting or following any tempo change or beat pattern. I play guitar and my biggest challenge is knowing exactly where I am and I don’t do enough practice with my fretting hand.
I suspected drummers have an easier time with it, so it's neat to see at least one confirming it for me. I'm still in aw the way percussionists can just sort of...separate each of their limbs from each other. I know its "just" lots of practice and internalized tempo, but I still find it to be pretty impressive.
Studio recording artist: What I need is a person who signals the tempo to the other musicians. Orchestra player: You mean a conductor. Studio artist: No! My thing is totally different.
@@johndodd7870 so many scores have tempo changes he makes it sound like it's a big deal. my national anthem is plagued with tempo changes and orchestras and bands play it all the time
The score is in one word: perfect. It fits absolutely perfect for the movie and is absolutely mouth melting to listen to. I was already amazed by what Ludwig did for Tenet, his previous and also first work with Chris Nolan, but the score for Oppenheimer just proved once again that he is a musical genius.
I fucking loved the Tenet soundtrack. Everything about it was perfect for the movie. It gave off a claustrophobic feeling by having such a high tempo with the very extreme volume (it either was very quiet or hella loud). It also perfectly somehow captures a metallic sound, since the movie is very futuristic and „distant“ if you know what I mean. And the best part? You could play the soundtrack backwards and it still would make sense melodic wise.
one of the most spectacular things in music is being able to portray stories and emotions without the context around it and I feel Oppenheimer’s soundtrack does this brilliantly
a comment on the UA-cam upload of this track said something about the music itself sounding like a particle accelerating until it disintegrated, and, well, nuclear bomb -- so yes, absolutely
@@RegentStudios I really don't think that sudden tempo changes are as hard as it's being made out to be. It's not terribly easy, but honestly as long as you get just vaguely in the ballpark of the right tempo it doesn't really matter that much, and that's not a difficult thing to do at all. Tracking it would be much harder than playing it live.
Oppenheimer is one of my most favorite recent films, its so complex and such an important story to tell, and beautifully executed. Cool to see that's reflected in the complexity of the score.
as a violist this is already incredibly hard to play at even slower speeds, it's absolutely amazing that the orchestra could play it at all those different tempos while staying so in sync. MAJOR props (no pun intended ahah)
When I first heard the piece, it reminded me of fusion/fission. We expand, then contract, and it gets more intense. The contrast between the ascending and descending patterns can also be compared to the black and white to colored scenes. Ludwig killed it with this piece. Insane work.
Oppenheimer was such a mindblowing and spine-tingling experience, the score was a big part of that for me and I'm glad you took some time to talk about it. Your content really is exciting each time, thank you and keep doing what your doing!
I didn't know the human brain was even capable of keeping track of two completely unrelated rhythms simultaneously. Crazy stuff! Also crazy that it sounds so pleasant and doesn't throw the listener completely off!
Yeah. I don’t think I could do that. I’m no rhythmic genius or professional musician, but o have kept my skills from being a vocalist and pianist for a choir for decades. And I’ve never had to play one tempo while hearing the next one. I think I’d need some practice to be able to do it.
@@mal2ksc fascinating, I had no idea! :) I would've thought that something like this basically never comes up because rhythms usually have some kind of simple whole number relation to another.
And during movie scoring sessions, the musicians rarely see the music in advance so they come in and sight read. I wonder how many takes it took to pull this off.
This song has always made me think of a centrifuge spinning faster and faster until it shatters. Great video by the way! You always make music theory fun.
They show Lawrence working on the first cyclotron in his lab, the desendant of which is CERN. Oppenheimer starts out pondering the implosion of stars. That tactile sensation of building frightful momentum and spinning out of control is very thematic and intentional
I think it's actually a mixture of metric modulation and tempo changes. From an ascending phrase to a descending phrase, the time in which 3 8th notes are played becomes the time in which 4 8th notes are played. So the tempo is multiplied by 3/4 to get the new tempo. From a descending phrase back to an ascending phrase, the new tempo is not actually determined by the tempo of the previous descending phrase, but the tempo of the previous ascending phrase. The song starts at 150 bpm, and for each new ascending phrase the tempo increases by 30 bpm from the previous ascending phrase. I'm not sure if I'm 100% accurate, but I overlayed a click track with these tempo changes on top of the original and it seems to be correct.
The second transition from descending to ascending is also a metric modulation! If you subdivide the 6 beats over two bars into 5 instead, that’ll become the new best for the next ascending phrase, which is a very cool and difficult transition, but totally achievable mathematically by humans :)
@@devindriggs6695 Thanks for sharing! Now that I think about it, technically all the transitions from descending to ascending can also be considered metric modulations, where 6 goes into 5, 7 goes into 6, and n goes into n-1. Pretty neat lol
For the first part, I was sure this was what was happening and was waiting for him to talk about it! When he was talking about subdivision at 9:00, I thought he was going to go "and what if we took just six of the eighth notes..."
I love how the song has that particle accelerator sound, when it accelerates around the halfway mark. It’s so good, and makes me think of science and atoms
That is one of the most mind-blowingly difficult asks for a recording process. When you have limited studio time because it’s expensive and you can’t use other parts of your body or your voice to keep time while the other click is coming in case you muddy the track with background noise this is so unbelievably impressive.
The other interesting thing is that a C, Am, Em, G set is probably one of the most "elementary" chord groupings and using that for a scene about "hearing the music" of elementary particle physics is so apt, creating a sound so seemingly complicated, rhythmic, repetitive and yet beautiful, deep but somehow, simple.
Absolutely! The overlaying of the click track a few bars out before a tempo or groove change (after you go into auto pilot) is how many complex shows or even crazy medleys happen. It sucks to have sometimes two click tracks happening in your ear but it is the easiest way for this to go as smoothly as it can, so gotta learn to love it. And the Oppenheimer soundtrack is GORGEOUS!
Cute joke, I always see an image of all these musicians explaining the meaning of a Score, and then the composer being "I just played something and I liked it."
The soundtrack to Oppenheimer is one of the most thought provoking, and emotionally satisfying pieces of composition ever made for cinema. It truly conveys the story of Oppenheimer without any words and when you watched it in cinema, you really feel the effect of the musical melody really engulfing you in such a sense of tension, excitement and “on the edge of your seat” feeling
It’s such a beautiful piece of music. And honestly come to think of it it’s kind of a testament to how Oppenheimers mind worked. Very complicated and hard to understand. But amidst this sea of complicated thought emerges a horn line. Maybe that’s his true idea peaking through. That becomes the center point of the piece. All these complicated ideas coming together to form a very uncomplicated horn line.
Seeing you get so excited about music is what keeps bringing me back to your channel for more - even for me as someone who knows literally nothing about music. Love it!
Oh the world you're missing. I suggest you study music theory in some way .. and you'll begin to understand a language that is around perhaps every human being.
I loved this piece, such a rush and hair raiser. It almost has a Shepards tone feel to it, rising higher and higher. Also the fact that this peice sounds like it's spinning mimicks what it could be like when the forces used to create such explosions come together. The more I listen to it the more dizzy it makes me... in a good way. Fantastic piece of compostion - showing there is still hope in Hollywood. It's as effective as the use of the piece of music called To Heal by Underworld used in the film Sunshine... I wonder what (or WHO) connects both of those films!
@@SpencerTwiddy☺️ I've not seen Tenet should give it a go at some point. Larsson and Nolan seem to work well together. And I know Nolan is a fan of the Shepard's Tone, using it for the Batmobile and Dunkirk. The film Sunshine directed by Danny Boyle, it's very good but the final act can sometimes divide people. But the final final scene...pure beauty
Man I've been *waiting* for this review from you ever since I heard the soundtrack. I love how you break things down and couldn't wait to see how you tackled a piece like this, amazing job!
Oh my god I LOVE writing and listening to music that has the relative modes for 6, 4 and 1 chords completely change how an ostinado sounds, and the way it was executed in the soundtrack sounds so dang satisfying. And that's completely ignoring the tempo modulations that require you to have a degree in rocket science in order to keep up with it.
Dude, i just want you to know that your work is wildly under appreciated. Your musical talent and ability to break down and scrutinize music like a college professor analyzes a poem is practically unrivaled on youtube. I love your work and keep it up👍👍👍
can we talk about how ridiculously amazing the recording musicians are??? the instrumentalists who managed to produce this mind boggling product?? jesus
Something I loved about this soundtrack was how Ludwig Goransson captured a very Nolan-esque feel with the style. yet it’s still unique and different from what Hans Zimmer, who has done so much of the music in a good number Nolan’s movies, and I think that’s cool.
The "Can You Hear the Music" montage and theme was the single most memorable cinematic experience of my life. So beautiful and powerful that it brought on tears.
Just have to give massive creds to how this video was put together. As someone that makes a lot of videos for both myself and my clients, I realize the effort put into this and the incredible attention to detail. BIG Props Charles!
Lüdwig spent the last decade quickly becoming one of my favorite composers, I'm always in awe of what he brings to a new project. Oppenheimer is going to sweep the Oscars and score would be no surprise among them.
Ludwig is already holding his future Oscar. God, his work in Oppenheimer is unbelievable. I lost the count of how many times i've listened this theme, and i ALWAYS get excited when the song is rising, and rising, and becoming a trainwreck of anxiety. And "Trinity" is even more powerful, my heart nearly EXPLODED in the theater, watching the bomb test scene. A truly unforgettable experience.
The way he does it by the way is having 2 or more sections of violinists interchange. One group plays one section, when the tempo changes another section takes over, and when it changes again another group or the prior group takes back over. Thats also why if you listen closely you can hear it pan from left to right and back. That’s the magic of orchestra. I used to play violin myself. Favorite piece of mine to play was fantasia on an original theme by Joe Phillips.
You remind me of one of the professors I had in my second year who took great care in teaching us how to listen to music with intention. You break things down in a manner that would make Leonard Bernstein himself take notes. I really love how you're doing these breakdowns!
I ADORED this theme when I first heard it in theaters. This video kinda proves why I love it too. I had this feeling the random shifting to new rythms and tempos had a similarity to the random decay of radioactive elements. Oppenheimer was harnessing that random decay to make a bomb. Such a cool way to depict that idea!
For the tempo changing, I think they probably used a visual click paired with a auditory one, it makes more sense to me than having two click at once or stopping one in the middle.
charles havnt watched one of your videos in what too long so I just want to congratulate you on the current production quality. gonna have to go back and watch every video you've made in the past 6 months now
Such an amazing theme! I was so blown away by the scene during which it plays. The only thing I thought was disappointing is that the theme doesn't really make much of a return during the rest of the movie. I would have loved it if it was more of a leitmotif, like Zimmer did so well in Interstellar.
The UA-cam algorithm gave this video to me "accidentally. " I don't believe in accidents. Sir, I must say, as the son of a classically trained concert pianist mother, watching this made me smile. When a movie would come out, she would sit down and do this with me at her knee, trying to excite me into wanting to play. I didn't, really. My grandmother was also not enthused with my lack of wanting to play. I now, of course, wish I had. She's been gone about 5 years now, but videos like this remind me of her. Thank you❤
I am only an occasional viewer of your channel, but this was by far the best video I've yet seen from it. It's the first time I've felt like anything was actually explained instead of merely described. If things carry on like this, I might actually subscribe.
The thing about the lydian mode is that the sharpened 4th degree note that gives it that "yearning" feeling is slightly unstable and the effect is somewhat either ruined/completely "resolved," if everything is ended on the 5th scale degree chord of the lydian mode in question, and one might think that the 5th scale degree major chord of the lydian scale chosen is actually the root chord (and it sounds "resolved") and the first scale degree major chord (in lydian) you were playing was in fact just actually the 4th (subdominant ) of the relative ionian mode all along. Think of two examples: "Part of That World," from the Little Mermaid, where the song starts on a IV and not the I chord. Or "A Thousand Miles," by Vanessa Carlton where the chord you start with is the IV chord.
I'm extremely grateful to have found your channel, Charles! Because through your videos, I am understanding the deep musical and aesthetic genius that many film composers possess. I watch you from Brazil :)
Ludwig Göranson is in the absolute top tier of composers and producers of our time, it feels like he fluently speaks many musical languages, his music is so intentional yet feels so natural. Whatever he touches turns to gold.
I totally thought it was metric modulation after listening to it a few times. Then I tried to tap along and see if I could figure it out and got so confused, I’m so glad you made this video
These little creative choices are soo hard to make and the core reason of the beauty of an art piece (like this track), yet they are soo hidden and complex to understand that most people don't bother to think about these creative choices We just come on UA-cam search for it, listen it, listen it behind some shorts and just forget about these such masterpieces.
Hearing this score in the theater was certainly an experience. Felt like I was transcending during it. Together with the visuals, it was just a sensory overload in all the best ways.
The most mind blowing thing about this composition is the tempo change that keeps happening throughout! It's incredible that the musicians had to note the tempo change, two measures before it happened! The video explains the metric modulation with great clarity using the drum set and that tempo change is really tough on the brain.
Wow man you're awesome! I'm a piano novice rn and one of the first things that I've realized is that I could understand and play notes by ear. So cool to see you having your own content and how excited you are of making connections and discovering patterns!! Bravo.
This is by far the best movie track of the last 5-10years. It's fresh, original yet still majestic, complex and epic. One Oscar does not give it justice tbh.
I picked up the violin for the first time in months to learn the theme, though admittedly I can only play through the first couple of tempo changes (I would love to see any footage from their recording session). Also, a great way to just drill the notes of the theme is to play along to "Quantum Mechanics" which is considerably more tame than "Can You Hear The Music"
You're the only music UA-camr I've watched who gets sooo into the music as its playing. I'm glad I'm not the only one who just closes their eyes and starts smiling anytime a certain song plays
Ludwig Goransson is awesome. I’d love see you breakdown Daniel Pemberton’s work in Across the Spider-Verse. Great score heightened by it’s incredible use of theme and motif.
Oppenheimer was RIVETING!!! I was glued to the screen until the credits, whereupon I rushed to the bathroom and then back to my seat to finish watching the credits 😂
honestly i found myself almost disappointed when i learned it wasn't a clever metric modulation trick, but now i have far more appreciation for the musicians as playing one tempo while quickly adapting to and internalizing a second is mind-bogglingly difficult
The tempo changes ARE metric modulations. When transitioning from the ascending theme to the descending theme, subdivide the bars of 3 beats into 4 instead: this becomes the new tempo for the 3 beats to a bar in the descending motive. When transitioning from the descending motive back to the ascending one, subdivide the 6 beats over two bars into 5 instead. These become the new beat for the next ascending motive. That’s why it gets faster when going from ascending to descending, but slower when going from descending to ascending. It’s also why over time, the whole piece builds in speed, because the second ascending motive will end up a little faster than the first time around under these mathematical subdivisions. A little disappointed that you didn’t end up discussing it; I hope everyone gets the chance to read this and try to hear it themselves, because I really love this theme and the complicated rhythmic relationship it’s constructing!!
My hat's off to the musicians that mastered the score. Ludwig completed the theme song using music to switch the tempos and also admitted he knew it would be difficult for musicians to play. But they eventually found a way. Kudos to people who are masters of their craft
Out of all of the fears and justifications I had for not continuing music at a professional level, I could never have thought this one up. That's absolutely impressive. Massive props to those musicians.
This is rad; I wonder if divisi in two per stand could also work and simplify this, so one stand partner plays til the new tempo, and the other plays at the new tempo, alternating. This is so cool though, I definitely am going to be practicing this on my commute everywhere
I watched this movie for the first time 3 days ago and I've not been able to get this theme out of my head. It's haunting, beautiful and a perfect score for this movie. Stunning. Thanks for breaking it down, Charles!
Nearly always picking the music that gives me chills. I don't exaggerate that the scene in which this plays, combined with the Imax Soundsystem honestly provoked some altered state of melancholy/ euphoria in me. I sat transfixed... When I looked at the soundtrack afterwards I was astonished how much shorter it was than it seemed at the time
Your teaching style is akin to a really good story teller. Your like the Neal degrass Tyson of music! Your both genius at your craft while inspiring the average person to want to know more even if that person isn’t a physicist or a musician
@@Trebotableyou can only kiss your _reflection_ on the lips. You can kiss your _own_ shoulder and whatnot, but then your reflection is just kissing itself too. But yeah, that's a trippy thought 😂
Love how ppl call these musicians crazy (they truly are rly good, don't get me wrong!!!) yet many prog metal and death metal bands deal with these kinds of tempo changes all the time 😅
Let's not forget the influence that contemporary classical pieces like Rite of Spring had on metal. That is the original impossible time signature and insane dynamics
one of the foremost influential adults on my life was my middle school orchestra teacher. ..and i love that your channel somehow has seamlessly and enthusiastically and passionately picked up music theory where he left off. aaand i don't think it's bad to have a 20-year gap in one's musical education: not when it's taught with pop/modern culture experiences like this.
What did you think of this theme? Was it your favorite from the film, or were there other moments you thought were even cooler? ALSO, if you want to grab some info on the upcoming Black Friday sale INCLUDING some free sneak peeks at the content, check this out- cornellmusicacademy.com/blackfriday
the theme is so magical and ethereal it's insane
It is so good
It almost has a Hans Zimmer / Interstellar feel to it with all the horns and grand buildup. It’s gorgeous 🥹
Fantastic entry into the growing canon of minimalist-inspired but aggressively emotive film music. It's the mechanical buildup of Zimmer's "No time for caution" glued onto the arpeggios and brass presence of Glass's "Window of appearances" and the raw emotive power of Arvo Pärt's "Fratres".
The theme and its ebbing and flowing tempo reminds me of a Geiger Counter and how they tick at different speeds depending on radiation levels.
When I first heard it in the theatre I was blown away. It sounded so organic and so mechanical at the same time. Paired this film's visuals was just otherworldly and so beautiful. Best film I've seen this year and a lot was thanks to the score.
I agree with you
It was damn good. Saw it with some friends a month or so ago, and I do remember the music. Thing is, I was kind of sick when I saw it, which tainted the experience.
„organic and mechanical“ describes the *physics* of this movie really well
The thing about the score is that it’s not just background music. It feels incredibly intertwined with the film and the experience of watching it. The color, the visuals, the story, the performances; the music is fundamentally connected to all these things, and changing the music would change the whole experience.
It feels so free yet constricted, breathing in yet exhaling
as a violinist, when i heard this in the theater, i was blown away. it's so incredibly hard to play, yet such an incredibly beautiful piece of music
Is it any easier on a keyboard?😮
@@davidw.2791 Not really, because it's counting so it's the same across all instrumentation
@@alphabetsoup6013 Thank you!
@@davidw.2791it is in my opinion. depends on how good you are and how often you play and what instruments you are familiar with. i can play both violin and keyboard. i think it’s easier on keyboard…. still tuff
Not so difficult to play but we can feel that the composer is not a violonist so it’s not fully natural to play you can probably have exactly the same pattern profile but more playable
I adore that Oppenheimer brass motif SO much. So much reverb, so much power, YES
It’s surprisingly similar to the Miguel theme from Across the Spiderverse
Same here. It feels like something is going wrong, against the natural laws: the nucleus is forcefully split apart, the fabric of reality is being torn down.
It's good, but it's also nearly identical to the descending fifth motif at the end of Inception.
@@standporter It's actually a pretty "common" element (and it was before Inception as well), because it just works extremely well ! But played in this context, it takes a whole different vibe !
The orchestration and sound design for that are absolutely unique and I love it. Sounds like a ton of reverb and distortion. Maybe saturation
Ludwig Goransson is really making a name for himself. Knocks it out of the park every time.
Yeah I feel like he came out of no where with the first Black Panther and has had hit after hit ever since
@calesun9 I'm on a huge Bill Conti buzz and he was able to channel that in Creed while remaining original. Same can be said about The Mandalorian.
@fuzzydunlop1988 oh yeah, I can hear those similarities
Mandolorian is crazy
@@bryce6915 of course
For those who aren’t familiar with the movie or soundtrack, this technically isn’t called “Oppenheimer’s Theme” but rather “Can you Hear the Music”.
Appreciate you saying so.
It kicks in after a line from Bohr spoken to Oppenheimer.
"It's like reading sheet music. The question isnt whether you can read the music, its whether you can hear the music. Can you hear the music, Robert?"
it's like "Interstellar's Theme", but rather called "Cornfield Chase"
@@boppertron4929 "Yes, I can."
@@twitchchronicle1186 i relate more to "Interestellar's Theme" being "Day One" instead of "Cornfield Chase"
The build up to the bomb going off has got to be the most amazing build to a release that I’ve ever witnessed in my life. Such a fast paced moment but it feels so intense for whether or not the bomb will actually go off. The moment let me at the edge of my seat with my eyes glued to what could possibly happen next
I loved the entirety of the movie but the second act, everything about los alamos and making the bomb leading up to the first test is absolutely phenomenal. The buildup in the last few minutes before the test including the absolutely nerve wrecking trinity by ludwig göransson was incredible in theatre. As it isn't a science fiction movie or anything made up you obviously know where the build up leads and still it was way more captivating than many recent movies i saw, even some which i'd say are great in their own right. This movie but especially the second act was just outstanding
Trinity to me feels like it's borrowing very heavily from pieces like "Threnody For The Victims Of Hiroshima". Goransson did his homework, that much is for sure...
I had such a visceral reaction to that sequence, I couldn’t move or stop myself from hyperventilating. Absolutely phenomenal
Uhm you didn't know?
To me the build up during the last 10 minutes or so of the "not an actual trial" was even wilder, it just kept getting more and more and more and more and more and more tense and anxious for so so long without losing momentum until it finally blew up... and it blew me away (pun intended).
When tempo changes like this, as a drummer, knowing this is coming, you stop counting. Your body continues playing at the tempo, and you start listening to the new tempo. You don't start counting it, just listen. Then you switch. Very challenging. What can help for musicians who don't play with their mouth, is to talk while playing and keeping tempo. It can be very difficult to do unless you start talking at the tempo you are playing.
This is brilliant advice that can work for any instrumentalist willing to put in the time to master it. Thanks for sharing it!
You really do "hear the music" instead of "read the music" in that sense. Your body keeps going with the current while you're hearing and prepping the future.
@@redleader5625agreed. Most of the time self taught musicians get trashed for not practicing certain things but I developed this ability through my many years of passive practice and listening to tons of music. I don’t practice it much but I’ve noticed I’ve never had to trouble adapting or following any tempo change or beat pattern. I play guitar and my biggest challenge is knowing exactly where I am and I don’t do enough practice with my fretting hand.
I suspected drummers have an easier time with it, so it's neat to see at least one confirming it for me. I'm still in aw the way percussionists can just sort of...separate each of their limbs from each other. I know its "just" lots of practice and internalized tempo, but I still find it to be pretty impressive.
@@redleader5625Thats what I was thinking. This gives a whole new meaning to the line “Can you hear the music?”
Composer: It's impossible to play this score from beginning to end with the correct tempo. 🧐
Orchestra: Hold my click track. 😎
Studio recording artist: What I need is a person who signals the tempo to the other musicians.
Orchestra player: You mean a conductor.
Studio artist: No! My thing is totally different.
@@johndodd7870 considering the music, one conductor is not enough
It took them 48 days to perfect this
@@johndodd7870 so many scores have tempo changes he makes it sound like it's a big deal. my national anthem is plagued with tempo changes and orchestras and bands play it all the time
@@lorenamenendez6709If a piece of music has that tempo changes it might as well be rubato!
The score is in one word: perfect. It fits absolutely perfect for the movie and is absolutely mouth melting to listen to. I was already amazed by what Ludwig did for Tenet, his previous and also first work with Chris Nolan, but the score for Oppenheimer just proved once again that he is a musical genius.
Ok
@@LavaCreeperPeoplegreat input
@@EjayT06 i don't know man, i just agree
@@LavaCreeperPeople haha fair enough
I fucking loved the Tenet soundtrack. Everything about it was perfect for the movie. It gave off a claustrophobic feeling by having such a high tempo with the very extreme volume (it either was very quiet or hella loud). It also perfectly somehow captures a metallic sound, since the movie is very futuristic and „distant“ if you know what I mean. And the best part? You could play the soundtrack backwards and it still would make sense melodic wise.
This guy can hear the music.
For those who don’t get it: The name of the piece is “can you hear the music”
thats pretty smart
one of the most spectacular things in music is being able to portray stories and emotions without the context around it and I feel Oppenheimer’s soundtrack does this brilliantly
Yes
Absolutely
Dune as well
I think we can add Interstellar to that as well!!
a comment on the UA-cam upload of this track said something about the music itself sounding like a particle accelerating until it disintegrated, and, well, nuclear bomb -- so yes, absolutely
I cannot wait to see orchestras across the country playing Oppenheimer live in concert
yo ray chen arrangement?
I feel like its a pretty international score by now, I’m excited to hear all countries explore Ludwig’s music!
It’s likely not playable in concert due to the tempo changes. But that would be very cool for sure. 😂
@@RegentStudiosWith enough practice, anything is possible. Though you might actually have to look at the conductor for once lol
@@RegentStudios I really don't think that sudden tempo changes are as hard as it's being made out to be. It's not terribly easy, but honestly as long as you get just vaguely in the ballpark of the right tempo it doesn't really matter that much, and that's not a difficult thing to do at all. Tracking it would be much harder than playing it live.
Oppenheimer is one of my most favorite recent films, its so complex and such an important story to tell, and beautifully executed. Cool to see that's reflected in the complexity of the score.
Overrated movie
@@ekieli lol
@@ekielimost sane Barbie movie enthusiast
@@ekieliperfectly rated
same here, I was blown away, pun intended! If not for the unnecesary sex scenes and overload of dialogue, it would be a perfect 10, I rate it an 8!
@7:00 is quite possibly the most emotionally intense sequence of chord identifications I've ever experienced
i can see his excitement building up as it reaches the end
Almost busted ngl
as a violist this is already incredibly hard to play at even slower speeds, it's absolutely amazing that the orchestra could play it at all those different tempos while staying so in sync. MAJOR props (no pun intended ahah)
When I first heard the piece, it reminded me of fusion/fission. We expand, then contract, and it gets more intense. The contrast between the ascending and descending patterns can also be compared to the black and white to colored scenes. Ludwig killed it with this piece. Insane work.
Are you saying that because the movie is about nuclear bombs? If not, Goransson is a genius.
Oppenheimer was such a mindblowing and spine-tingling experience, the score was a big part of that for me and I'm glad you took some time to talk about it. Your content really is exciting each time, thank you and keep doing what your doing!
I didn't know the human brain was even capable of keeping track of two completely unrelated rhythms simultaneously. Crazy stuff!
Also crazy that it sounds so pleasant and doesn't throw the listener completely off!
Yeah. I don’t think I could do that. I’m no rhythmic genius or professional musician, but o have kept my skills from being a vocalist and pianist for a choir for decades. And I’ve never had to play one tempo while hearing the next one. I think I’d need some practice to be able to do it.
@@mal2ksc fascinating, I had no idea! :) I would've thought that something like this basically never comes up because rhythms usually have some kind of simple whole number relation to another.
You should listen to some prog rock/metal or jazz lol. It's literally all they do every song.
@@hrothgarnogar_unrelated_ rhythms? Are you sure?
And during movie scoring sessions, the musicians rarely see the music in advance so they come in and sight read. I wonder how many takes it took to pull this off.
Listening to this theme in IMAX has completely blown my mind, one of the best cinematic experiences I’ve ever had
Dolby cinema is better than Imax is every possible way.
This song has always made me think of a centrifuge spinning faster and faster until it shatters. Great video by the way! You always make music theory fun.
They show Lawrence working on the first cyclotron in his lab, the desendant of which is CERN. Oppenheimer starts out pondering the implosion of stars. That tactile sensation of building frightful momentum and spinning out of control is very thematic and intentional
But that's the best part, it doesnt shatter, just at around the point of shattering, it goes back to spinning!
Listening this Song is like levitating and spinning at the same time while the earth is crushing and burning
I think it's actually a mixture of metric modulation and tempo changes.
From an ascending phrase to a descending phrase, the time in which 3 8th notes are played becomes the time in which 4 8th notes are played. So the tempo is multiplied by 3/4 to get the new tempo.
From a descending phrase back to an ascending phrase, the new tempo is not actually determined by the tempo of the previous descending phrase, but the tempo of the previous ascending phrase. The song starts at 150 bpm, and for each new ascending phrase the tempo increases by 30 bpm from the previous ascending phrase.
I'm not sure if I'm 100% accurate, but I overlayed a click track with these tempo changes on top of the original and it seems to be correct.
The second transition from descending to ascending is also a metric modulation! If you subdivide the 6 beats over two bars into 5 instead, that’ll become the new best for the next ascending phrase, which is a very cool and difficult transition, but totally achievable mathematically by humans :)
@@devindriggs6695 Thanks for sharing! Now that I think about it, technically all the transitions from descending to ascending can also be considered metric modulations, where 6 goes into 5, 7 goes into 6, and n goes into n-1. Pretty neat lol
For the first part, I was sure this was what was happening and was waiting for him to talk about it! When he was talking about subdivision at 9:00, I thought he was going to go "and what if we took just six of the eighth notes..."
Soo fun that people have teories about a song, and it is not just 4 cords!
@@Myrslokstok it isnt just fore cords???? I never knew 😱
Can You Hear The Music just gives out a bold blend of euphoria and existentialism
I really hope Ludwig gets some love at the Oscar’s for this, the score is truly an amazing composition
There’s nothing that comes close to this in other movies this year
He's literally winning everywhere.
He is an absolute lock for the Oscar win.
He just won it
He just won it
I love seeing Charles so excited because it makes me know that I might not be as insane as I think
Nolan always know who can fit the score with his film. Hanz zimmer, Ludwig Goransson. It's absolutely astonishing
I love how the song has that particle accelerator sound, when it accelerates around the halfway mark. It’s so good, and makes me think of science and atoms
That is one of the most mind-blowingly difficult asks for a recording process. When you have limited studio time because it’s expensive and you can’t use other parts of your body or your voice to keep time while the other click is coming in case you muddy the track with background noise this is so unbelievably impressive.
The other interesting thing is that a C, Am, Em, G set is probably one of the most "elementary" chord groupings and using that for a scene about "hearing the music" of elementary particle physics is so apt, creating a sound so seemingly complicated, rhythmic, repetitive and yet beautiful, deep but somehow, simple.
Absolutely! The overlaying of the click track a few bars out before a tempo or groove change (after you go into auto pilot) is how many complex shows or even crazy medleys happen. It sucks to have sometimes two click tracks happening in your ear but it is the easiest way for this to go as smoothly as it can, so gotta learn to love it. And the Oppenheimer soundtrack is GORGEOUS!
Cute joke, I always see an image of all these musicians explaining the meaning of a Score, and then the composer being "I just played something and I liked it."
Toby Fox:
The soundtrack to Oppenheimer is one of the most thought provoking, and emotionally satisfying pieces of composition ever made for cinema. It truly conveys the story of Oppenheimer without any words and when you watched it in cinema, you really feel the effect of the musical melody really engulfing you in such a sense of tension, excitement and “on the edge of your seat” feeling
It’s such a beautiful piece of music. And honestly come to think of it it’s kind of a testament to how Oppenheimers mind worked. Very complicated and hard to understand. But amidst this sea of complicated thought emerges a horn line. Maybe that’s his true idea peaking through. That becomes the center point of the piece. All these complicated ideas coming together to form a very uncomplicated horn line.
Seeing you get so excited about music is what keeps bringing me back to your channel for more - even for me as someone who knows literally nothing about music. Love it!
Oh the world you're missing. I suggest you study music theory in some way .. and you'll begin to understand a language that is around perhaps every human being.
@@MR-vj8dn I’m most likely too dumb for that 😂
@@MatthewKiff There are levels of knowledge and understanding around this, as with other things. If you’re interested you probably can learn 😊👍🏻
I loved this piece, such a rush and hair raiser. It almost has a Shepards tone feel to it, rising higher and higher. Also the fact that this peice sounds like it's spinning mimicks what it could be like when the forces used to create such explosions come together. The more I listen to it the more dizzy it makes me... in a good way. Fantastic piece of compostion - showing there is still hope in Hollywood. It's as effective as the use of the piece of music called To Heal by Underworld used in the film Sunshine... I wonder what (or WHO) connects both of those films!
omg ur right, it rlly does feel like a sort of shepards tone!
This comment is so spot-on!!! I’ll add that what you’ve described reminds me of WINDMILLS and FAST CARS by Göransson in TENET.
@@SpencerTwiddy☺️ I've not seen Tenet should give it a go at some point. Larsson and Nolan seem to work well together. And I know Nolan is a fan of the Shepard's Tone, using it for the Batmobile and Dunkirk. The film Sunshine directed by Danny Boyle, it's very good but the final act can sometimes divide people. But the final final scene...pure beauty
Why on earth am I calling him Larsson?! Apologies it should be Göransson. Need more coffee clearly ☕
Man I've been *waiting* for this review from you ever since I heard the soundtrack. I love how you break things down and couldn't wait to see how you tackled a piece like this, amazing job!
Can you hear the music, Mr Cornell ?
- Yes I fu****g can.
Oh my god I LOVE writing and listening to music that has the relative modes for 6, 4 and 1 chords completely change how an ostinado sounds, and the way it was executed in the soundtrack sounds so dang satisfying. And that's completely ignoring the tempo modulations that require you to have a degree in rocket science in order to keep up with it.
Dude, i just want you to know that your work is wildly under appreciated. Your musical talent and ability to break down and scrutinize music like a college professor analyzes a poem is practically unrivaled on youtube. I love your work and keep it up👍👍👍
When that bass hits I always feel goosebumps from it.
THOSE HORNS SEND CHILLS DOWN MY SPINE EVERY SINGLE TIME
I literally had tears in my eyes when you were playing all the chords.. So beautiful... I wish to have your level of pitch perfection
can we talk about how ridiculously amazing the recording musicians are??? the instrumentalists who managed to produce this mind boggling product?? jesus
Something I loved about this soundtrack was how Ludwig Goransson captured a very Nolan-esque feel with the style. yet it’s still unique and different from what Hans Zimmer, who has done so much of the music in a good number Nolan’s movies, and I think that’s cool.
The "Can You Hear the Music" montage and theme was the single most memorable cinematic experience of my life. So beautiful and powerful that it brought on tears.
Just have to give massive creds to how this video was put together. As someone that makes a lot of videos for both myself and my clients, I realize the effort put into this and the incredible attention to detail. BIG Props Charles!
Every time I hear you talking about music, I realize how far I still have to go.
Did you say it blew up on purpose? Lol. 0:03
Lüdwig spent the last decade quickly becoming one of my favorite composers, I'm always in awe of what he brings to a new project. Oppenheimer is going to sweep the Oscars and score would be no surprise among them.
Ludwig is already holding his future Oscar. God, his work in Oppenheimer is unbelievable. I lost the count of how many times i've listened this theme, and i ALWAYS get excited when the song is rising, and rising, and becoming a trainwreck of anxiety. And "Trinity" is even more powerful, my heart nearly EXPLODED in the theater, watching the bomb test scene. A truly unforgettable experience.
Something about this theme always gave me such a unique feeling its amazing
The way he does it by the way is having 2 or more sections of violinists interchange. One group plays one section, when the tempo changes another section takes over, and when it changes again another group or the prior group takes back over. Thats also why if you listen closely you can hear it pan from left to right and back. That’s the magic of orchestra. I used to play violin myself. Favorite piece of mine to play was fantasia on an original theme by Joe Phillips.
You remind me of one of the professors I had in my second year who took great care in teaching us how to listen to music with intention. You break things down in a manner that would make Leonard Bernstein himself take notes. I really love how you're doing these breakdowns!
I ADORED this theme when I first heard it in theaters. This video kinda proves why I love it too. I had this feeling the random shifting to new rythms and tempos had a similarity to the random decay of radioactive elements. Oppenheimer was harnessing that random decay to make a bomb. Such a cool way to depict that idea!
As soon as I heard the music I knew there was a video from you on its way about it- I cannot explain how excited I was for it.
For the tempo changing, I think they probably used a visual click paired with a auditory one, it makes more sense to me than having two click at once or stopping one in the middle.
charles havnt watched one of your videos in what too long so I just want to congratulate you on the current production quality. gonna have to go back and watch every video you've made in the past 6 months now
Such an amazing theme! I was so blown away by the scene during which it plays. The only thing I thought was disappointing is that the theme doesn't really make much of a return during the rest of the movie. I would have loved it if it was more of a leitmotif, like Zimmer did so well in Interstellar.
The UA-cam algorithm gave this video to me "accidentally. "
I don't believe in accidents.
Sir, I must say, as the son of a classically trained concert pianist mother, watching this made me smile. When a movie would come out, she would sit down and do this with me at her knee, trying to excite me into wanting to play.
I didn't, really.
My grandmother was also not enthused with my lack of wanting to play.
I now, of course, wish I had. She's been gone about 5 years now, but videos like this remind me of her. Thank you❤
I am only an occasional viewer of your channel, but this was by far the best video I've yet seen from it. It's the first time I've felt like anything was actually explained instead of merely described. If things carry on like this, I might actually subscribe.
Just hit the sub button already, Charles always delivers!!
What a wonderfully lacklustre and just meh comment rofl
Your reverence and passion for the craft is amazing to watch. Keep up the good work!
The thing about the lydian mode is that the sharpened 4th degree note that gives it that "yearning" feeling is slightly unstable and the effect is somewhat either ruined/completely "resolved," if everything is ended on the 5th scale degree chord of the lydian mode in question, and one might think that the 5th scale degree major chord of the lydian scale chosen is actually the root chord (and it sounds "resolved") and the first scale degree major chord (in lydian) you were playing was in fact just actually the 4th (subdominant ) of the relative ionian mode all along.
Think of two examples: "Part of That World," from the Little Mermaid, where the song starts on a IV and not the I chord.
Or "A Thousand Miles," by Vanessa Carlton where the chord you start with is the IV chord.
I'm extremely grateful to have found your channel, Charles! Because through your videos, I am understanding the deep musical and aesthetic genius that many film composers possess. I watch you from Brazil :)
Ludwig Göranson is in the absolute top tier of composers and producers of our time, it feels like he fluently speaks many musical languages, his music is so intentional yet feels so natural. Whatever he touches turns to gold.
I totally thought it was metric modulation after listening to it a few times. Then I tried to tap along and see if I could figure it out and got so confused, I’m so glad you made this video
This chord progression kind of reminds me of Refuge by Steven Wilson, on the To The Bone album. Extremely interesting analysis, thanks Charles!
These little creative choices are soo hard to make and the core reason of the beauty of an art piece (like this track), yet they are soo hidden and complex to understand that most people don't bother to think about these creative choices
We just come on UA-cam search for it, listen it, listen it behind some shorts and just forget about these such masterpieces.
Hearing this score in the theater was certainly an experience. Felt like I was transcending during it. Together with the visuals, it was just a sensory overload in all the best ways.
The most mind blowing thing about this composition is the tempo change that keeps happening throughout! It's incredible that the musicians had to note the tempo change, two measures before it happened! The video explains the metric modulation with great clarity using the drum set and that tempo change is really tough on the brain.
the second the movie ended i told my family the soundtrack was fire. Im glad you made a video on it.
I love how much effort went into making this video!
It’s so impressive that he wanted them to be able to play it, rather than assemble it it pieces and/or use samples
Wow man you're awesome! I'm a piano novice rn and one of the first things that I've realized is that I could understand and play notes by ear. So cool to see you having your own content and how excited you are of making connections and discovering patterns!! Bravo.
I wish I could hear this piece for the first time again
This is by far the best movie track of the last 5-10years.
It's fresh, original yet still majestic, complex and epic.
One Oscar does not give it justice tbh.
I picked up the violin for the first time in months to learn the theme, though admittedly I can only play through the first couple of tempo changes (I would love to see any footage from their recording session). Also, a great way to just drill the notes of the theme is to play along to "Quantum Mechanics" which is considerably more tame than "Can You Hear The Music"
I never have any idea what you're talking about in these videos but I keep coming back just for your sheer excitement.
1:48 bro chill
What the sigma
Wait until 2:09
You're the only music UA-camr I've watched who gets sooo into the music as its playing. I'm glad I'm not the only one who just closes their eyes and starts smiling anytime a certain song plays
If you play "Can you hear the music" 3 notes at a time it sounds very similar to "destroyer of worlds (from oppenheimer)" it's really interesting
YES!!! I've been waiting so long for you to do this video!
Ludwig Goransson is awesome.
I’d love see you breakdown Daniel Pemberton’s work in Across the Spider-Verse. Great score heightened by it’s incredible use of theme and motif.
Oppenheimer was RIVETING!!! I was glued to the screen until the credits, whereupon I rushed to the bathroom and then back to my seat to finish watching the credits 😂
honestly i found myself almost disappointed when i learned it wasn't a clever metric modulation trick, but now i have far more appreciation for the musicians as playing one tempo while quickly adapting to and internalizing a second is mind-bogglingly difficult
Man I love Ludwig Gorranson. I learned about him from Tenet and he’s done some amazing work.
The tempo changes ARE metric modulations. When transitioning from the ascending theme to the descending theme, subdivide the bars of 3 beats into 4 instead: this becomes the new tempo for the 3 beats to a bar in the descending motive. When transitioning from the descending motive back to the ascending one, subdivide the 6 beats over two bars into 5 instead. These become the new beat for the next ascending motive. That’s why it gets faster when going from ascending to descending, but slower when going from descending to ascending. It’s also why over time, the whole piece builds in speed, because the second ascending motive will end up a little faster than the first time around under these mathematical subdivisions. A little disappointed that you didn’t end up discussing it; I hope everyone gets the chance to read this and try to hear it themselves, because I really love this theme and the complicated rhythmic relationship it’s constructing!!
My hat's off to the musicians that mastered the score.
Ludwig completed the theme song using music to switch the tempos and also admitted he knew it would be difficult for musicians to play.
But they eventually found a way.
Kudos to people who are masters of their craft
Out of all of the fears and justifications I had for not continuing music at a professional level, I could never have thought this one up. That's absolutely impressive. Massive props to those musicians.
This is rad; I wonder if divisi in two per stand could also work and simplify this, so one stand partner plays til the new tempo, and the other plays at the new tempo, alternating. This is so cool though, I definitely am going to be practicing this on my commute everywhere
You are so dedicated in making this video, even putting examples almost in everything that you want to explain. What a legend.
@00:24 when your acting like you know whats up........
“how exquisite”
I watched this movie for the first time 3 days ago and I've not been able to get this theme out of my head. It's haunting, beautiful and a perfect score for this movie. Stunning.
Thanks for breaking it down, Charles!
Nearly always picking the music that gives me chills. I don't exaggerate that the scene in which this plays, combined with the Imax Soundsystem honestly provoked some altered state of melancholy/ euphoria in me. I sat transfixed... When I looked at the soundtrack afterwards I was astonished how much shorter it was than it seemed at the time
I don't know how I got here and didn't understand a word of what this guy is talking about but I think I want more.
Your teaching style is akin to a really good story teller. Your like the Neal degrass Tyson of music! Your both genius at your craft while inspiring the average person to want to know more even if that person isn’t a physicist or a musician
A thought to disturb peaceful slumber: In a mirror, you can kiss yourself, but only on the lips.
@@Trebotableyou can only kiss your _reflection_ on the lips. You can kiss your _own_ shoulder and whatnot, but then your reflection is just kissing itself too. But yeah, that's a trippy thought 😂
For Narcissists Only: Laws of reflection require that if you kiss yourself in a mirror, it will always be on the lips.
@@Trebotable
What's disturbing about that?
When I heard it I was blown away by how beautiful the piece is, but after this video I understand HOW HARD it also is. Amazing!
Love how ppl call these musicians crazy (they truly are rly good, don't get me wrong!!!) yet many prog metal and death metal bands deal with these kinds of tempo changes all the time 😅
Let's not forget the influence that contemporary classical pieces like Rite of Spring had on metal. That is the original impossible time signature and insane dynamics
The scene towards the start where this score just creeps in slowly matching the speed he writes on the board almost just beautiful.
My immediate thought when I first heard this in the theatre was "Oh wow! Charles Cornell is gonna cream his pants when he hears this!!" 😂
one of the foremost influential adults on my life was my middle school orchestra teacher. ..and i love that your channel somehow has seamlessly and enthusiastically and passionately picked up music theory where he left off. aaand i don't think it's bad to have a 20-year gap in one's musical education: not when it's taught with pop/modern culture experiences like this.