From Dark to Romantic to Sweeping
From Dark to Romantic to Sweeping
Here is another mini-cue comprised of several devices I’ve been studying. The first page is a device I have seen many times in John Williams’ scores for Star Wars, when he’s depicting a villain, particularly underscoring dialogue. It was interesting to see that it’s parallel major sixths in very deep instruments -- and care is needed for it to not become too muddy.
The music then transitions through a short piú mosso which was freely composed, to a lyrical oboe solo. The orchestral scenario here is a device obviously used in many scores for romantic situations, but I felt it was particularly well done in David Arnold’s The Musketeer, which is the score I’m emulating here.
The big modulating crescendo that follows is a device I spotted in McNeely’s Return to Neverland, where the destination of the modulation is unclear until the very end, where the music moves to quite a remote key. Good voice leading and a well-orchestrated crescendo hold it together.
The final sweeping theme was an opportunity to emulate the big mushy “friendship” theme in Williams’ Harry Potter scores, with triple octave strings, horns and flutes in the melody, open voice trombones/tuba in the harmony, celli and bassoons offering broken chords, and the middle woodwinds bubbling along with arpeggios.
From Dark to Romantic to Sweeping.mp3
From_Dark_to_Romantic_to_Sweeping_1.pdf
From_Dark_to_Romantic_to_Sweeping_2.pdf
Wednesday, 3 June 2009
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