How John Williams Recycles His Motifs 

I noticed that "Poltergeist" and "Alien" sounded a lot alike...also same guy.

That's why JW was his goto guy. Many directors know shitall about being musical.

You beat me to it :) I was impressed at his accuracy with the intervals

he was apparently a Clarinetist, which explains it tbh.

"No relation to another" is a relative term. John Williams has a jazz background. Lots of obscure and unusual harmonies to draw from.

I wouldnt say he simply fits major chords to the leitmotifs of protagonists. For example the tie fighter theme in one of the later films user major chords in parallel voice leading

@@oibruv3889 Lol i know I just meant generally

yesss his unconventional chord changes and modulations is one of my favorite things, and one of the things that makes his themes so space-y. Anakin's Theme is a good example.

Inside the Score thank you! It depends on what software you use. I use Final Cut Pro, and I had the same questions when I started the channel. The tricks that cut down on time and which I use for the animations are keying and the transform tool. Both very rudimentary tools in Final Cut Pro, but they take a bit of patience and practice to get used to. I think you do a good job on your channel regardless. And sometimes it's just better to see black notes on a white background.

Ah thanks - interesting. I'm using Sony Vegas so not sure it'll be possible, unless I make a PNG or something. May be more trouble than it's worth.

I started making tons of pngs for my original videos and in the process wasted days of my life. I never realized one could achieve the same thing with keying in Final Cut. I am sure Vegas has something similar.... But even with keying the animations still take forever.

Just realized this fine chap has hundreds of thousands of subs now. Amazing! Maybe he'll give me a shout-out someday, lol one can dream... 😅

@@MusicaUniversalis Yeah, I’m actually subbed to both of you. I was surprised to see him hear lol 😂

Well said!

it's the one similarity i noticed

It's like saying that the content of every English book consists of just 26 letters. It's a true statement, but with no content whatsoever.

Bon Bon that’s the fucking joke

r/whooosh

How about trombones glisses in Quidditch match? They're beyond the 12-notes scale

But, there is only 12 notes. lol

I wonder why you didn't analyzed that most of his motifes are using a scale.

Thanks for the suggestion. I am not a big video game player, but I always think of Halo first when I think of good "modern" video game music. I briefly played skyrim and own a copy, but never got into it (not because I found it bad, it just seemed overwhelming to me). I'll have to pop it back into my neglected Xbox and take a listen to the music.... I'm afraid to get into that game though, seems like something that would suck up months of my life. I listened to the track you mentioned "Awake", and understand why you'd initially think it was the same piece in the first few seconds. Isn't it funny how a few intervals can instantly remind us of another piece? The truth is I am no expert in the video game department, I'll leave that stuff to other RU-vidrs.

Couldn't agree more. One can only say so much in a RU-vid video especially when the focus of the video is just about motific alteration.

Makes sense, the sixth is associated with lots of the romantic era Canon. The fifth, due to the way horns have historically worked, its associated with its predominatnt use in battle signals

I like how Han and Leia's theme (and Leia's theme, which it's based on) use the major sixth and Anakin and Padmé's theme (Across The Stars) use the minor sixth, which reflects the overall hopefulness of Han and Leia's romance and the tragic, star-crossed, doomed quality of Anakin and Padmé relationship, respectively.

Correction: they need to know how to understand it.

I don’t think more people need to understand it necessarily. Music is to be enjoyed. Not analyzed. We as musicians get caught up in that a lot. And it’s fun for us because it’s what we do. But for the layman it’s a subconscious journey. No analysis. Just taken in a direction by the music. It’s a beautiful thing that a lot of musicians miss.

Hmm, Music is too subjective to be categorized in that matter. Chord progressions can generally convey a certain mood, but the amount of variables that can slightly or almost completely alter that defined mood are near infinite. I think it's best if we don't venture into such territories, I think academics find such things more intriguing than composers do. Nothing stops composers from making their own collection of motifs and progressions, I have my own sketchbook for that very reason. If you have to copy a chord progression or motif from a book to convey a certain feeling, how can that feeling ever truly be authentic? Perhaps I am too much of an idealist in this regard.

@@MusicaUniversalis Well, the same could be said about poetry, good writing, programming, painting, and any form of art whatsoever. And yet there are certain rules used by the masters, either consciously or subconsciously, that make them convey emotions the way they want it (which makes them the masters they are). Even such great masters as John Williams use certain patterns over and over in their compositions because they learned that they work in a certain way and induce certain emotions. In my opinion, understanding how art works doesn't strip the word "art" from it. Quite the contrary. It lets us understand it better and improve the art, by using these patterns consciously. Does it make Greek architecture, sculpture, art etc. less an art when you know how they implemented proportion, golden ratios, balance, and other secrets? Is their music less beautiful when you understand how they used simple ratios of frequencies to create harmony? Is it less an art if you know why a certain group of tones that makes a chord sounds good and pleasant to our ear? Is it less pleasant when you know that it's a matter of overtones coming together in a certain way so that their wave nodes match? As you said, music is a language. And if you want to be a good poet or writer, you _have_ to know the language well. Sure, you can mash up words at random and _sometimes_ come up with something great. But wouldn't it be better if you knew exactly what you're doing and using those words consciously to convey the emotions you want to convey, and not just what your viewers/listeners randomly pick up? That's why I don't see anything wrong in learning the language the masters speak, and in understanding how does it work and why.

@@bonbonpony A lexicon like that could begin with the harmonic series, then continue with melodic intervals and their harmonic effects, dissonant versus consonant. Hindemith did this work already. Then it could move to functional harmony’s melodic implications. Afterward, since modes exist now as special effects in contrast to functional major/minor, they could be brought in. Then at the very least, common harmonic movements could be described, beginning with V - I, IV - I, etc. A lot of the basic elements would have broad characterization like “tense” versus “relaxed.” This idea seems very interesting, surely similar work exists already

Those people should stop listening to mainstream trash to save the last bit of their aural sensibility.

only one note is added otherwise the motifs are tonally almost identical.

In this video you removed rhythm from the motifs and you can't do that -- the durations of the notes are a huge part of the information that a motif carries. Also, the jump of a minor seventh in the Star Wars motif is probably the most important bit of information in it, and it induces tension, while in E. T. the same note C (down the octave) is relaxation. They do have some things in common -- but then remember there exist only 12 notes and if you're on one of them and you think it's time for a change you only have about 6 choices that wouldn't make the general public raise an eyebrow. I think I could almost as easily argue similarity with the Gone With the Wind theme. When talking about these motifs it is easy to forget how much art goes into everything else.

"In this video you removed rhythm from the motifs and you can't do that --"....... but I did... hehe. That's like saying you can't reduce a piece of music to it's chords in order to understand it. Seems dogmatic to me.... You are free to make a video proving Gone with the Wind is similar. Idk, that might've been more of a flippant remark than a serious one, as that would probably be a stretch.....

I always thought they sounded rather similar

You can see the breeding and I think that is the point. Excellent vid

Yes, his concert music. All film scores (from all composers) all have the director's vision in them I'd say...

Ah I see, thanks !

All film score composers have issues with directors who edit with temp tracks and ask them to make a similar-sounding score. I know the first Star Wars was like that, but JW really went from there afterwards didn’t have to compose to temps anymore.

@Sunny Sunny Wake up and see the truth!

If there was RU-vid in the early 19th century there would be videos by “know-it-all” RU-vidrs who would tell us all about how Beethoven stole themes.

@@MusicaUniversalis It is not the same thing, dear amateur. P.S. Beethoven is an artist, Williams is a clown.