HANS ZIMMER

Hans Zimmer

Born September 12, 1957 in Frankfurt, Germany.

Film composer and video game composer.

Plays the piano, keyboard, synthesizer, and guitar.

Early Years

He moved to London in the 1970’s and began composing jingles for “Air Edel Associates”.

By 1980 he was using computers live on stage.

Shortly after this he met and began working with the film composer Stanley Myers.

He has written music for movies ever since then.

Awards

He has written roughly 100 feature film works.

He has received major awards nominations for his music in “Rain Man”, “Lion King”, “Crimson Tide”, “The Preacher’s Wife”, “As Good As It Gets”, “The Prince of Egypt”, “The Thin Red Line”, and “Gladiator”.

Works

He has done the music for many children’s movies including “Sprit: Stallion of the Cimarron”, “The Prince of Egypt”, “The Road to El Dorado”, “Madagascar”, and “Kung Fu Panda”.

Some of his most famous works for adult movies include all the “Pirates of the Caribbean” movies, “Inception”, “The Dark Knight”, “Sherlock Holmes”, and “The Da Vinci Code”.

“Dream Is Collapsing” -Inception

This song is definitely one of my absolute favorites. It starts out quietly and then the string section comes in. The beginning is very nonmetric.

The bit of the song that is first starts out with is playing in the background while the strings do their part. I believe this is polyrhythm because there are 2 rhythms playing at the same time.

“Dream is Collapsing” -Inception

The string part is the melody of the song. It is the part that appeals the most to the listener and it is the part people remember the most.

“Dream Is Collapsing” –Inception

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=imamcajBEJs

“Davy Jones” –Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest

Like “Dream Is Collapsing”, this song starts out quietly and nonmetric. The beginning sounds like a music box.

This song is very unique because of its use of the organ. The organ sounds rough and a little scary.

After the soft music, the organ comes in and you can hear a beat in the background that sounds like a heartbeat.

“Davy Jones” –Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest

This song is a little repetitive. The organ plays the same part over and over.

After that, it ends with the same soft music box tune.

“Davy Jones” –Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fur86y7dQJ4

References

Film Tracks Composer Tributes: Hans Zimmer. (1997). Web. 12 Dec. 2012 http://www.filmtracks.com/composers/zimmer.shtml