Ironically, this musician has not yet written a blog on the music of Star Wars. There seem to be plenty of blogs out there about how great the music is or how inspiring, but I want this one to be different. I don't pretend to know everything about John Williams or the composition of his music for the films. I have not actually sat down and done a thorough analysis of the music, such as I did as a music major in college. I remember listening to Mendelssohn's Italian Symphony continuously over several days (and by continuous, I mean I listened to absolutely nothing else) as I pieced together a paper for Music Theory V: Form & Analysis. Quite frankly, now as a professional musician, mom and functioning human in our society, I don't have that much time. Also, I'm 99.44% positive that there isn't a soul that will want to read a blog with in-depth analysis of chord progressions, form on macro- & micro- levels, instrumentation, etc.

So what I'm hoping to achieve here is to give you some of the tools you need to enjoy the music of Star Wars on a slightly deeper level than perhaps you're used to.

1. John Williams draws he melodies for his movie scores from other composers. Most composers/songwriters will tell you that they find inspiration from the music they listen to. It is not uncommon to outwardly quote melodies (in classical music: Antonin Dvorak's New World Symphony, mvt.3 is a quote of a Beethoven Symphony; Watch the Coldplay Live DVD and you'll hear them talk about how they tried to write a "Kate Smith Song"; the examples are endless) and it is very common to compose a little "nod" to your favorites. Apparently, John Williams must be a fan of Igor Stravinsky. Looking especially at "Star Wars: A New Hope" soundtrack you will hear several similar examples of this. Most prominently is "The Little People Work" and "The Desert and the Robot Auction": clearly based on Igor Stravinsky's Ballet "The Rite of Spring."

Hearing the opening string pizzicato accompaniment and interjections from the winds, anyone familiar with The Rite of Spring recognizes this at once. Enter the English Horn (tenor oboe) solo above the string pizz. and you are certainly reminded of the "Dance of the Adolescents" from Rite of Spring. There is a small bassoon solo, very high in the bassoon range, a direct nod to the bassoon solo which begins the entire Stravinsky Ballet. Lastly, my absolute favorite part of John William's orchestration technique is his ability to write rockin' Tuba solos! There is a wonderful tuba solo 2:17 mark on "Little People Work", which to my ear sounds as if it is a kissing cousin to the tuba solo in Stravinsky's "Petrushka" Ballet.

If you are not familiar with the music of Stravinsky and love these tracks from the SW soundtrack that I have mentioned, I highly recommend you pick up some Stravinsky, beginning with "Rite of Spring", "Petrushka", and "Firebird". Great CD's are those with Leonard Bernstein directing the New York Philharmonic Orchestra. Stravinsky was a composer of the first half of the 20th century. When the "Rite of Spring" premiered, most audiences were familiar with Tchaikovsky Ballets (Nutcracker, Swan Lake, Sleeping Beauty, etc.) and were appalled at the music and "sexual" choreography of "The Rite of Spring." When the ballet premiered in NYC a riot actually broke out in the audience and the performance had to be stopped.

2. John Williams was a student of Henry Mancini. Known best for his music to "Breakfast at Tiffany's" (Moon River springs to mind) and composer of the ever-popular "Baby Elephant Walk" Mancini is one of those great composers who manages to mainstream his movie music by giving us memorable melodies and formats (in this case: pop songs) which general audiences can appreciate. John Williams excels at this skill as well. Just listen to the track "Cantina Band" with it's swing and techno-jazz sounds - need I say more? The jazz band on this song is great! I hear a reed ensemble of saxophones and clarinets, faintly in the background there is a bit of trombone (flutter tongue during the rhythm section break around :37). Our rhythm section consists of steel drums standing in for the usual piano which gives this rhythm section it's more "galactic" sound, bass and of course drum kit. At 1:30 we get the percussion section "solo" where you can hear these instruments better. Bass is doctored up - to my ear I hear a fretless bass with some serious effects to give it that unworldly sound. Our reeds also get a few "effects" for the main theme though throughout we do hear a pure clarinet in the breaks. This leads me into my next section....

3. John Williams' affinity for certain instruments and avoidance of others. Clarinet is certainly very low on JW's list of instruments to feature in the orchestra, rarely soloing in anything except the "jazzy" tracks such as Cantina Band. For those who may not know, an orchestra consists of these instruments: violins, violas, cellos, bass (string section), flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon (woodwinds), trumpet, trombone, french horn, tuba (brass) and any combination of percussion & drums (including piano, harp, timpani). Most of the principal players, or "first chair" if some of you remember that from your school band days!, are featured as soloists. JW loves to feature the flute and oboe (Leia's Theme), trumpet & brass (Main Theme), tuba ("Little People at Work"), English Horn, this as you remember is a larger oboe, is one of his favorite's to feature. As an oboist but in particular an English horn player this makes me happy knowing my instrument is so prominenty featured by one of my favorite composers.

4. John Williams is a master at quoting his own music. Oh sure, we all know that at the end of Anakin's Theme in The Phantom Menace JW closes out with a few notes from our favorite Imperial March. But what about some other quotes? They are everywhere! A few snippets here, something else there. A little quick blip from the flutes to remind us of the Asteroid Field from Empire Strikes Back. But my favorite is found in the Phantom Menace. The track is named: "Watto's Deal and Kids at Play." There are innumerable quotes in this track. The scene is when Anakin is working on his pod racer, Shmi discloses to Qui-Gon that Anakin has no father, etc. etc.. Ever pay attention to the music? Listen carefully you'll hear a bit of Anakin's Theme morph into Luke's at 2:30. Keep listening just a bit further to 3:06 - the music swells as Anakin yells, "It's working! It's working!!" Recognize the melody? That is a small quote from the 1997 SE of Return of the Jedi - the new song JW wrote for the Ewok Celebration. This is a beautifully subtle quote from the OT. It's just a few notes but enough to satisfy both my SW and music needs.

5. Common misconception perpetuated by JW himself: Anakin's Theme Is a 12-Tone Row. WRONG! Twelve notes in a row do not constitute a 12-tone row. In a pure 12-tone row, all 12 pitches of the octave (c, c#, d, d#, e,f,f#,g,g#,a,a#,b) are used before any can be repeated. Sure he uses all twelve in this melody, but several are repeated before we hear all 12 of them. As a historical note, Arnold Schoenberg, master of this form, is rumored to have used this form of composition to pass codes during WWII. Could explain why 12-tone music is not for the "casual" listener.

6. John Williams didn't use a chorus in Star Wars until Return of the Jedi. Um.... perhaps someone can clear this up better for me, but I am certain that there is chorus is Empire Strikes Back on the track "City in the Clouds" . At the 5:25 mark there is a faint undertone of voice a la 1920's style orchestral/choral music. This would make sense as George Lucas was trying very hard to make the OT feel like a Flash Gordon serial - why not have the music reflect the same style? If I ever have the honor of John Williams himself reading my humble blog and he feels the need to clarify, this musician would be forever grateful.

And here ends my dissertation on some of my favorite points of John Williams' soundtrack for the Star Wars Saga. I hope you learned something (either about the music or about why I'm a nutjob!). Thanks for sticking with me to the end!