How John Williams Writes a Sketch | Composer Toolbox: Episode 6 

I've made a post in the community tab of this channel explaining why I released this episode early. Basically, I'm going to re-record and re-edit episodes 2-5 and fix many of the problems that people have brought up: how fast I talk, the lack of score examples, the lack of audio examples, etc. These first episodes were really a test to see what kind of format would work best, and I think the format I found didn't work. In the meantime, I've made this episode public since I don't think it suffers the same problems as the first 5 episodes (although, yeah, it probably could have used more auditory examples). Thank you for your feedback and understanding!

Willaim's - when the sad time comes deserves a WORLD funeral - his music has touched and influenced BILLIONS! over many generations.

A few things of note. -The first 2 or 3 Star Wars films were recorded without click tracks. So the only way he could sync was via clock and streamers with the arrow and seconds indications. -The sketches were taken from someone on the recording team. So the 41 and 44 notes were the take numbers they used for those portions. This also applies to the large sloppy handwritten notes on top. All mixing/booth comments.

You can see the master orchestrator Herbert Spencer talking to the maestro! Two geniuses! 😊

The clef outside the bar is truly masterful.

As someone who's background is largely in musical theatre and not film, I've always found film sketches like this fascinating because it speaks to the vastly different role of the orchestrator in theatre vs. film. Traditionally musical theatre composers only produce a piano/vocal score--they may include notes for instrumentation, but it's largely just a piano score of the music, which an orchestrator then takes and arranges for the given ensemble (in ye olden days it was a 20-to-30-piece orchestra, nowadays it varies constantly, typically based on budget). So it'll vary significantly by composer--Leonard Bernstein had a large hand in orchestrating his own works, and Sondheim is known to create very dense piano scores that the orchestrators adhere pretty closely to. But much of the arrangement itself comes from the orchestrator. This is of course wildly different from film, where the orchestrator's role is more akin to a copyist's, taking the already-determined arrangements from the sketches and formatting and copying it for the desired ensembles. Obviously still a vital role to the process, but I know when I first heard that Williams used an orchestrator on the Star Wars films, my musical theatre-head was imagining all he wrote was a piano score and that classically "Williams" sound was someone else entirely. A revelation to discover how different the roles actually are.

As a complete outsider to composition and theory, I'm amazed at how complex these sketches can be, all the symbols and shorthand, etc. Goldsmith mostly worked with just Arthur Morton and Alexander Courage for his whole career because of how easily they understood what he called his "hieroglyphics"

@8:09 Small remark: this is not a sketch score, it is a condensed score meant for the conductor (in this case that would have been Rózsa himself, I think?), which I assume was prepared from the orchestrated full score rather than Rózsa's own sketch score. I don't think Rózsa's sketches for Ben-Hur have ever surfaced, but those for El Cid have, and they are indeed three to four staff sketches IIRC.

Those numbers in boxes at the top are take numbers. This sketch was Ken's copy who made editing notes. Along the way it must have been photocopied, or scanned, or both.

After watching this and other videos more than once I have to say you have answered so many questions and taught me so much! Thank you, David!!!

you are offering a great service to the appreciation of this art form. having worked with many of the composers you cite i'm reminded of many great years in Hollywood film music. bravo.

Excellent work, David and thanks for listening and understanding. You are certainly talented and have many skills to offer. The pacing of your voice, the scores, which are brilliantly animated, makes much better sense. This video would be very useful to students studying film scoring. Bravo!!

This is a fascinating video! Thank you!

Well done! Very informative. Thank you for sharing!

Cool video. I really feel sketch on paper or in a DAW is analogous. Whether I am working on paper in the 8 bars or in a DAW, mentally I am composing the same way mentally. Funny how JW draws in the lines between the printed 4 bar lines. Did you know why it is 4 bars a page on the full score? Because orchestrators are paid per page no matter what the tempo is so they devised the "4-bar per page" standard. If you ever are looking for more of JW sketches PM me, I have a bunch of stuff.

Thanks for making this all so clear! Film scores don't come with an instruction manual on how to read them and we rarely get this kind of analysis even on the FilmScoreAnalysis channel. And it's interesting that you write music on paper like Williams; maybe you can bring it back into practice when you join the field.

Great David. Thank you very much.

Thank you for this video, very useful and interesting! All the best!

Really great and informative video! Thanks!!

Very interesting video! Thank you for sharing

Interesting note: this is from a copy of TESB score I purchased on Ebay some years ago. The marker looking stuff at the top of the page is notes from the mix session. I think Jason graves has the originals now - they were on some strange sized paper.

Fascinating!

When I first found out that JW used an orchestrator, I though everything I knew about him was a lie.... I suddenly assumed by this that none of the choices of instruments heard in the recording was of JW's own volition. Thankfully I was reassured as time went. I also envy more learned musicians than myself being able to decipher these sketches - I have decent musicianship training and can proudly read sheet music, but these hand notated sketches are borderline illegible to me. But I'm still impressed how much detailed can be expressed so economically. I really regret we lost Herb Spencer so long ago, seems the language wasn't quite as well carried through with orchestrators who took over his position, but they still do a fine job. Thanks for this fine explanation!

Whatever orchestrators get paid, it is not enough!

It should be noted that Kenn Wannberg, Herbert Spencer and William Ross are the two biggest collaborators with John Williams, Alexander Courage and Arthur Morton helped with orchestrating Superman

May I ask how you came across the sketches of the film scorers? Thank you for all of your great and inspiring videos!

You gotta love Beethoven’s sketch!

I'd say the numbers in boxes are probably rehearsal marks for the recording session, but again, I too could be wrong.

I actually sketch in finale. I'm not a piano player and having playback while recognizing instrumentation issues. I am super fast on Finale with a normal keyboard, just kind of learned out of necessity

hi david great videos I have a very good pdf with all John Williams themes on it and where they are used I can send to you ??

Could youu tell me where you got the scans of Williams' original sketch scans? Thanks and great video.

this sketching is usual and nothing only JW does. I sketch out the same way. my number of lines depent mostly on how detailed you wanna become and depending on the orchestration.

Where may we find the images of the sketches shown in this video? I can only find very low resolution images. Thank you for sharing!

Could you please analyze the main theme of Batman: Arkham City?

Great video!! What size paper are you using for your sketches? Got the pdf you provided!

Hey David, just wondering, where do you get the 8 stave score sketching sheets from? Where ever you get yours from you please send the link to me as I’ve looked everywhere and I cannot seem to find it. Thanks in advanced:)

Where did you find the scans of his work?

4:41 I read "less percussion" and "no divisi"

I'm wondering if the solid line that separates the 8 staves in two is meant for the use of percussion, to separate strings from winds, or in case the composer wants to use the sketch as a 4 line sketch. Great video!

Is there anyway I could obtain the sketch format paper you use???

Where can i buy the 8 Line Sketch Score?

Why would he not use the normal score order? Which composer did so?

I think where your talking about adding clarinets and you say he wrote "a col and violins," it's this symbol for "with": w/

The old maestros are genius. They write everything. Mozart don't need an orchestrator!

Hi David thank you for the beautiful lesson can you provide me with the 8 line staves pdf so that I can print it. Thanks

Why not subtitles?

I notice he always dont use any specific key signature in notation. What are your opinions? I suppose he avoids misunderstanding for musicians.

4:45 Williams like Goldsmith conducts often from sketches not full score. But those markings are pencil markings when he was conducting. Just like dynamic markings are subject to change. A lot of things are cued in his scores so he can put them on on or off. It's pretty much all in the sketch though. See here: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-wLuC2VpmyWc.html&start_radio=1

The Snow Battle sketch really says 2/2 like that? As a sheet music noob but writing enthusiast, this is ridiculous 😅

DARTH VADAR

Those are just measure numbers. They're 3 measures apart. Seems unconventional but it may help to have those markings during recordings.

Wow i thought John Williams also orchestrated his scores by himself..........

0:23 AI: I'm about to end this [orchestrator's] whole career! Seriously though, orchestration from a sketch is definitely an AI thing.

I would never think that Ben-Hur theme sketch is sooo .... how to say it... empty on paper...

Wholly crap to be an orchestrator in the 50-60's was probably the most challenging stuff ever. Not only you need to be a master at orchestration but also a master of decipher the bad handwritting of composers. I am not saying that JW wrote things right I am saying look at this.

The narrow burn socioeconomically bump because epoxy ectrodactyly rinse onto a somber car. third, important period

God these are so messy. It's amazing how anyone could decipher any intelligible information from these lol.