John WilliamsBy: Adam Jordan

A biography of John Williams

5 Academy awards

Twenty-one Grammy awards

Three Emmy awards

Seven BAFTA awards

four Golden Globe awards

Born: 2/8/1932

Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco

Air Force

Juliard

Los Angeles

Barbara Ruick

UCLA

Daddy-O

Sugarland Express

Star Wars

Jaws

Close Encounters of the Third Kind

Super Man

Indiana JonesE.T.

Harry Potter

Memoirs of a Geisha

Jurassic Park

Boston Pops Conductor

The Five Sacred Trees

The Mission

Liberty Fanfare

Seven for Luck

Classical

Mapping emotional connections

Timeless

A sampling of John Williams

Composition History and Listening Guide

Hymn to the Fallen (1 of 3)

Listen to Me

0:20 Music begins, a snare drum begins a simple military cadence. 0:27 Tubas begin longer notes contrasting to the military candence with a different underlying theme2.0:31 Trumpets and flutes join in, trilling, for a theme3 that lend a more powerful undertone. 0:41 Vocals replace instrumental continuing an arching melody matching theme2. 1:08 Drums join vocals subtly keeping time.1:11 Oboes, bassoons and clarinets join in harmonizing with the vocals in the same arching melody as theme2.1:27 Tubas join in harmonizing with the melody, giving a more robust sound to theme2.1:42 Snare drum joins back in with the same military cadence.1:46 Flutes begin playing again, picking up the same trilling theme3. Snare drum stops playing again.1:56 Trumpets and tuba join flutes in harmony for original theme2.2:14 French horns join harmonizing with trumpets and flutes.2:20 Trombones join brass section in harmony, further bolstering the theme2.

Hymn to the Fallen (2 of 3)

• 2:42 Instruments stop playing while snare drums and tubas start playing again with consistent theme.

• 2:50 Violin and vocals begin playing in theme3. Snare drums stop playing.• 3:06 Oboes and bassoons begin playing again, joining in theme3• 3:11 Trumpets begin softly playing in theme2 coming to be more robust.• 3:20 Tubas, clarinets, flutes and trombones begin playing again in theme2.• 3:48 Xylophone begins playing, joining theme3• 3:54 Snare drums start playing in military cadence.• 4:18 All themes begin to swell, building to climax• 4:54 Vocals and violin fade out and snare drums begin playing military cadence.• 5:03 The rest of the instruments fade out and the clarinets begin playing in theme2.• 5:17 Snare drums begin playing in military cadence again. Brass section begins

playing in theme2 again.• 5:50 Snare drums stop and brass holds out last note.• 5:53 Brass stops playing leaving silence. End of Music.

Hymn to the Fallen (3 of 3)

Raiders March(1 of 3)

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Raiders March(2 of 3)0:01 Trombones begin simple melody with heavy staccato in theme1.0:08 Trumpets begin playing longer notes in theme2.0:40 French horns, flutes, cellos and violins join in with theme2. Trumpets and trombones stop playing, making room for French horns, flutes, cellos and violins.0:45 French horns fade out leaving only the violins playing.0:55 Single clash of cymbals and drums begin playing keeping time. Trumpets and trombones join back into melody playing theme2.1:09 Flutes trill sharply at timed intervals that accompany the overall melody of theme2; filling in the gaps.1:21 Xylophone begins playing keeping time with the trilling flutes.1:56 Melody swells in volume, accentuating the ascending melody, building to the climax.2:09 All other instruments drop out leaving violins and cellos to play in an entirely new and softer theme3.2:28 French horns join into theme3, bolstering the melody.

Raiders March(3 of 3)3:13 Flutes trill in sharply, but only insomuch that they add to theme3.3:35 Flutes drop theme3 and softly interject theme1. Triangle begins trilling in place flutes in theme3.4:01 Trombones start again playing theme1. Trumpets and drums begin playing again as well, starting theme2. Violins and cellos begin playing in theme2 again.4:20 Trumpets swell in volume, still keeping theme2, but again stressing and accentuating the ascending melody.4:31 Cymbals join in again crashing in time with the swell of the trumpets.4:37 French horns move to mimic trumpets in swelling pattern.4:54 Climax of melody is reached. Trumpets drop out. French horns take over for trumpets and climax continues.5:10 Climax and music ends.

Star Wars Theme(1 of 3)

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Star Wars Theme(2 of 3)0:03 Music begins with trumpets, trombones, xylophone, drums, clarinets and French horns starting in theme1.0:30 Cymbals clash in transitioning in the violins and cellos that are playing in theme2. All other instruments also transition into theme2 with the strings.0:55 Cymbals clash again at the height of a climax.1:14 Another small climax as trumpets take a more prominent role swelling in volume. The tune seems to renew, repeating the motive found at 0:30 as the strings take on prominence.1:26 All instruments fade away and the strings begin a new theme3 with the French horns acting in a supporting role. The tune seems almost unstable in the range of the vertical tones used when compared to the previous melodies. 1:38 Xylophone takes prominence momentarily as the flutes transition in with haunting, trilling tune. All other instruments go silent.1:46 Strings join back in with the French horns again acting in supportive role into a new, again unstable sounding, theme4. 1:54 Theme4 ends and brass and woodwind instruments join back into theme1. The strings continue with theme4 less loudly.2:00 Brass and woodwind move back to theme4 with the strings.

Star Wars Theme(3 of 3)2:16 Like an opposing force the brass and woodwinds begin playing theme1 while the drums keep up with theme4.2:28 Violins move from theme4 to theme2.2:35 All instruments move into theme1 again.2:51 Brass and woodwinds fade out, leaving strings in prominence as they play theme5.3:08 French horns are integrated back into ensemble playing theme1.3:10 The rest of the brass and woodwinds join back into theme1 with the French horns.3:30 Strings and harp begin playing the unstable tune of theme3. Brass and woodwinds fade out again.3:37 Cellos begin playing theme2 again.4:10 French horns move back into supporting role of theme2.4:23 All instruments begin transitioning period as they move towards theme1 again.4:40 Cymbals don’t clash this time, but the same transition as was done at “0:30” occurs again.4:59 Brass and woodwinds begins playing in theme1 again, with strings acting in a supporting role.5:17 Climax begins to build giving way to strings playing modified theme2.5:40 French horns move to prominence with drums and cymbals for climax.5:52 Music ends with staccato of trombones.

Wheeler, Jeffery. "John Williams (I) - Biography." The Internet Movie Database (IMDb). The Internet Movie Database (IMDb), 19 Feb. 2009. Web. 19 Feb. 2012. <http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0002354/bio>. "Biography." The John Williams Web Pages. The John Williams Web Pages, 5 June 2006. Web. 19 Feb. 2012. <http://www.johnwilliams.org/reference/biography.html>.

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