Back To School Extravagan-Z-A

John Williams Edition
9/2/17
Welcome back kids!  Did you enjoy your summer?  Went on amazing vacations?  Slept in past noon?  WELL WAKE UP!!  It's that time of year again - get back into the classroom and learn some stuff you'll immediately forget in June.

To celebrate, we're taking a walk down the John Williams isle in the great film music library.  This is not a "best of list."  You'll find some common favorites, and hopefully some lesser-known cues from Mr. Williams' decades of work.
Picture
Let the master class begin.

Z is for... "Zam the Assassin and the Chase Through Coruscant"

Star Wars: Attack of the Clones
Highlights: 
  1. 1:30 - Driving action begins
  2. 2:20 - Percussion feature takes over
  3. ​3:20 - Electric... guitar...?
  4. Then lots of falling and a bar.

Y is for... "Yerushalaim Shel Zahav"

Schindler's List
Highlights:
  1. Israeli song written by Naomi Shemer

X is for...  "X​ Marks the Spot"

Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
Highlights:
  1. 0:00 - Strong brass opening moves into Indy's theme and the Grail motif, and Williams' arrival fanfare
  2. ​2:30 - The X is revealed!

W is for... "Washington Ending / Raiders March"  (aka The Warehouse)

Raiders of the Lost Ark
Highlights:
  1. 0:00 - Marian's Theme
  2. 0:25 - The Ark
  3. 0:55 - The March

V is for... "Viktor and His Friends"

The Terminal
Highlights:
  1. 0:00 - Energetic and playful strings with woodwinds
  2. 1:20 - Sweet and gentle oboe with strings
  3. 2:20 - Sweeping strings melody with warm brass and then piano and orchestra
  4. ​3:20 - The main theme

U is for...  "The Ultimate War"

Hook
Highlights:
  1. 0:00 - The main theme performed by heavy brass
  2. 1:20 - The battle begins with Pan's fanfare
  3. ​2:30 - Tempo picks up - continued use of main theme and Lost Boys theme as action scoring
  4. 4:05 - Boom-chick augmented main theme trades with Hook's theme in the horns.​​

T is for... "T-Rex Rescue & Finale"

Jurassic Park
​Highlights:
  1. 0:15 - Evil low brass
  2. 3:30 - So much chaos - but it all makes sense, and is eventually tied together by the main theme.
  3. 7:20-end - Wait a sec, the T-Rex is the GOOD GUY in this movie?  Cool!!

S is for... "A Sad Day"

The Cowboys
Highlights:
  1. 0:00 - The B theme on harmonica with guitar
  2. 0:20 - Full strings
  3. ​0:51 - Flutes

R is for... "The Race to the House"

Lincoln
Highlights:
  1. 0:00 - Dancing double stop fiddles
  2. 0:30 - Banjo takes over
  3. ​1:05 - Solo fiddle
  4. 1:56 - Spoons! and banjo

Q is for... "Qui-Gon's Noble End"

Star Wars: The Phantom Menace
Hightlights
  1. 0:00 - Opening brass fanfare
  2. 0:14 - Pod racing material?
  3. ​1:30 - Low brass, drums, and evil whispering
  4. 2:15 - The big spoiler - NOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!
  5. 3:18 - A little bit of Duel of the Fates

P is for... "The Planet Krypton"

Superman
Highlight:
  1. The slow build that leads things off is the TRUE highlight of this score.

O is for... "Omaha Beach"

Saving Private Ryan
Highlights:
  1. 0:00 - Deep and dark strings - simultaneously dire, proud, and beautiful
  2. 1:50 - New melodic material, lighter than before
  3. ​2:30 - French horn solo
  4. 3:22 - Trumpet solo, and duet
  5. 5:26 ​- Clarinets, and then subdued and reverent full orchestra
  6. ​7:15 - Trumpet duet

N Is For... "A New Name... A New Life"

Memoirs of a Geisha
Highlight:
  1. 0:00 - Chimes and cello
  2. 1:20 - The main theme

M Is For... "The Magic of Halloween"

E.T. The Extra Terrestrial
Highlights:
  1. 0:00 - Quirky double reeds
  2. 0:45 - Yoda!
  3. 1:48 - Multiple full statements of the main theme

L Is For... "The Land Race"

Far and Away
Highlights:
  1. 0:00 - Light but driving strings and low brass
  2. 0:45 - High brass fanfares
  3. 3:08 - The big melodic and fanfare payoffs

K is for... "The Knight Bus"

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
Highlights:
  1. 0:24 - The craziest jazz chart I've ever heard

J Is For... "The Jedi Steps and Finale"

Star Wars: The Force Awakens
​Highlights:
  1. 0:00 - The theme everyone is hoping returns in a big way in future films.
  2. 1:40 - The Force theme on French horn
  3. 2:10 - Credits - Main theme, Rey, Kylo Ren, Finn, and The Resistance

I is For... "Imaginary Air Battle"

Empire of the Sun
Highlights:
  1. 0:00 - Orchestral flourish
  2. 1:15 - Chorus starts soft and steadily builds

H Is For... "The Hunt"

The Lost World
Highlights:
  1. Williams again gives us a fantastic action theme for a specific film sequence.
  2. How about that percussion?

G Is For... "Gilderoy Lockhart"

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
Highlight:
  1. This theme is just so full of itself.

F Is For... "Facing the British Lines"

The Patriot
Highlights:
  1. 1:00 - Clarinets on the main theme
  2. 1:30 - Period specific drum and fife over darks strings and low brass
  3. 2:00 - Horn solo, then brass fanfare

E Is For... "End Credits"

Munich
Highlight:
  1. 0:00 - Pure Williams orchestrations​ with piano

D Is For... "The Dance of the Witches"

The Witches of Eastwick
Highlights:
  1. 0:00 - Oboe and playful woodwinds
  2. 0:35 - Creepy double stop strings
  3. 0:55 - More melody in woodwinds, and the dance continues on from here.

C Is For... "Catch Me If You Can"

Catch Me If You Can
Highlight:
  1. Crazy jazz rhythms and time signatures throughout.

B Is For... "Buckbeak's FLight"

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
Highlights:
  1. 0:00 - Timpani.  Timpani!!  TIMPANI!!!
  2. 0:29 ​- Gliding strings
  3. 1:20 ​- Just pure joy

A is For... "The Adventures of Mutt"

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
Highlights:
  1. 0:00 - Another fantastic melody
  2. 1:00 - B material
  3. 1:10 - Indy's Theme
  4. 1:20 - Back to the main melody
  5. 2:00 - Main melody with Indy's Theme
  6. 2:22 - Fantastic ending - but what else would you expect?
That's our playlist for starting the 2017 school year off right.  Now get to class!

@FILMSCOREFANS

© 2017 Film Score Fans