How To Write Like James Newton Howard! Secrets of Film Scoring

In this episode of Everything Music, I will show you melodic and harmonic devices that film composer James Newton Howard uses in his writing to create his epic soundscapes! The two films that I feature in this episode are cues from the soundtrack to King Kong and The Village. This is part 1 of my James Newton Howard spotlight episodes.
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[@thevisi0naryy]

The Village soundtrack is just absolutely amazing.

[@AimeeNolte]

Fun to see your ear breaking things down. Thanks for your hard work!

[@petragaffney135]

I didn't want this one to end so soon. It was like having a fountain of gorgeous chordal and modal knowledge cascade over me. Thank you Rick.

[@RickBeato]

Pétra Gaffney You are welcome Petra!!

[@frankibio]

Please do more film scoring videos. They're fantastic.

[@CameraMan66]

Yeah!!!

[@2toneguy]

Can you please make on one on Jerry Goldsmith: themes or cues from Alien, The Mummy, Poltergeist or Star Trek would be particularly nice!

[@RickBeato]

Yes!!

[@josreb]

What did 9 people not like about this video? I have become a big fan of yours Rick and really appreciate your offering, insight, experience, education and teaching cadence. Keep it up as long as your personal passion continues to grow.

[@meriadocbrandebouc]

I was really hoping you would talk about his score for The Village ! I love the music. Particularly with the solo violin part, played by Hilary Hahn, if I'm not mistaken. Great video !! Thanks !

[@johndavis7392]

Your ability to pick out chords and melodies shows you have top notch ears I'm wondering if you have perfect pitch or relative pitch either way you are the best Rick keep sharing your gift

[@jolly968]

Seriously, great to see you transcribe a piece of music with your midi workstation. So important to show folks how to integrate the ear, music theory, and keyboard harmony skills to figure out what a composer wrote. Back in the day, some of us used similar techniques to learn modern jazz solos by the greats, such as Charlie Parker and John Coltrane, using phonograph records and starting and stopping the turntable in the 50s and 60s.

[@jingleskhanaudioproductions]

I'm just glad to have all this modern technology to break things down easily

[@jolly7728]

@@jingleskhanaudioproductions It might be easy for you. More power to ya'

[@darynandrew3666]

These are fantastic Rick! Thank you so much! Look forward to more...

[@TheoHarvey]

Your videos are awesome Rick. Only been watching for today and already invaluable information! Don't stop!

[@cledo44]

Awesome work Rick! It’s just amazing

[@MyLifeIsFireworks]

Omg the transition from the tritone F# - C to F Dorian was amazing ! And Ebmin followed by F minmaj7 totally nailed it ! ! I totally enjoyed this video and the way you analysed this score!

[@maxtofone]

Thanks Rick for another great video... The Village soundtrack is a wonderful work that I have been studying for a while. Cheers, Max

[@oholm09]

Nothing wrong with study just keep on doing

[@ppsyimcrzy]

This is incredibly helpful, Rick. As someone who relies heavily on his ear to compose/arrange, even with all the musical training I've had, I've always found it hard to explain what I'm doing. I can hear what I want in my head and can replicate it, but I'm hardly ever thinking of theory. As a final in my theory class at Juilliard (I swear that I'm not dropping that name to sound pretentious!) we were told to write an etude including all that we'd been studying, i.e. German 6ths, Italian 6ths, modulation...yada yada yada. Long story short, my brain felt trapped and I just sat down and wrote one without focusing on all the rules. Brought it in for review, and although the teacher didn't understand how I composed it without mapping it, I got an A-...got docked a couple points for an incorrect cadence at the end. ANYWAY, so as I approach arranging and orchestration as a novice, your videos are wonderful! Would love some Elfman and Silvestri breakdowns! (Back to the Future and maybe some Beetlejuice or Scissorhands!) Sorry for the long post!

[@mosesramirez6330]

Great choices, sir. Silvestri's use of percussion in particular would be interesting.

[@MaxTooney]

Lots of excellent info here--thanks for taking the time to do this! You could make another video analyzing the cues to "Signs"--which I believe to be one of his best (and most underappreciated) scores.

[@nfijef]

Fantastic. So educational, Thank's Rick!

[@M0taibi]

Rick, I think your authenticity and understanding to what your are doing make your teachings so easy to absorb. Please continue your videos. KZbin needs people like you. I would like your input on something related to Music theory. I have difficulty understanding how scales can be switched within a music piece. Thank you!

[@MISTAMUSIK]

I love this as you are breaking down hit movie scores! You know your theory as well! Nice you have someone taking the time to share this with other musicians and composers like myself! I've learned so much already!! Thank you sir. I will use some of this in some of my new songs! I really want to learn how to score film!

[@johncougar526]

Great stuff, Rick. I lean towards this type of structure naturally and this lesson helps give me a theoretical foundation for my composure which is really revealing. Learning lots, thanks again!

[@MoreshwarBriscoe]

You should do Lord of the rings by Howard Shore. Awesome channel btw, you deserve more subs :)

[@RickBeato]

+Moreshwar Briscoe I will do one about Howard Shore for sure! Also give me a little time and I should get a few more subscribers :) i've only been doing this since June.

[@vaporman442]

@@RickBeato You might have a few more subs now!

[@mtmals9786]

Superb stuff! Trying all of these on keyboard and Mixcraft. thanks so much!

[@shhtha]

Can you analyse his score for 'Signs'? (Opening titles + Hand of fate part 1 and 2)

[@tlmmusicproductions]

This is gold to me... Thank you so much.

[@gravics]

This is so awesome and fun. Thanks Rick. Happy subscriber.

[@tikolasola]

Great analysis, thank you Rick.

[@CodyAlanWoods]

Can you do one of these on Michael Giacchino next?

[@RickBeato]

Maybe not next but I will get to it. Any pieces in particular?

[@CodyAlanWoods]

Doesn't matter to me. A few i'd suggest are: "Anñyone Can Cook" from Ratatouille, "Letting Go" from Super 8, and "Carl Goes Up" from Up.

[@carminemasi]

Definitely the Star Trek !!

[@bluecollarstudio8513]

Kronos from The Incredibles.

[@mihneasechely]

Great stuff, thanks!

[@user-yi7yb5cc6i]

Awesome Video!! - In the first cue, that last Fm(maj7) Chord, I can also hear a C# up in the violins. Sounds like its right next to the C, creating a nice but very subtle dissonance.

[@bradleylinemihler]

Excellent I loved howards music for the Village

[@GabrielMenesesX]

Thanks for all that information, i will be following you... :)

[@Brianmann76]

Really enjoying the videos man. I know everyones throwing names around but Don Downie's Matrix would make a great lesson. Thank you for doing these!

[@mosesramirez6330]

+Rick Beato I agree here: Don Davis would be a good one to cover--particularly The Matrix and it's similarities to John Adams' Harmonielehre.

[@musichobbylife]

I Love JNH and just found out he was Elton John's keyboardist. That's James on Little Jeannie and Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Words. Love seeing historical Rick as well.

[@driggerfireon5760]

You are so awesome Rick.

[@h0ll0wm9n]

Excellent work on this analysis! You selected my fave JNH cue of all time. I didn't care for that film, but bought the OST CD, way back in '05, and still consider that and co-composed Batman Begins as JNH's greatest scores. Speaking of Batman Begins, consider an equally analytical video of Hans Zimmer. THX!!

[@clementgenot284]

I lov what you do ^^ One more subscriber from France ^^

[@user-nv2wt4hi8t]

James Newton Howard is a god of music and so are you Rick, love it.

[@ToxicTurtleIsMad]

He is an above average composer. Not a god of anything. The guy in the video is just a musician with perfect pitch, definetly not a god. Richard Wagner was a god of music, not these peasants

[@AmyLetitia]

WOW NICE!!! Just came across your channel. I love James Newton Howard's compositions and will be seeing him live in Manchester, England end of this year. I've subbed. I also do my own vocal arrangements to orchestral film compositions so would be good to get connected :)

[@jamesstephen2363]

Thank You Sir....Excellent Class sir....

[@zoranjasek5714]

Very Nice.many thing You is clear for me.thank you

[@amandastevens1117]

I owe my introduction into the film music world to James Newton Howard.

[@jhouse770]

Hillary Hahn played that score like an angel...the harmonics coming from her Vuillaume are incredible.

[@HariOm-ev8ng]

could you Make a tuts how to compose in the style of "James Horner", "Steve Jablonsky", "Alan Silvertri", "Howard Shore " and "Danny Elfman". their chord progression, scales techniques...

[@RickBeato]

Hi Hari, I will get around to all of them. Give me a little time :)

[@milannossin2098]

Great Stuff Rick Beato! Would love to see a video on how to write like Ennio Morricone :)

[@bradojacko8247]

Ha! I cant believe this video exists. You're awesome. JNH is THE BEST. You forgot Restoration and Dying Young. They helped make him as a film composer after pop music.

[@HYRVLR_Raouf]

Hi Rick ! Thank you very much for these videos !! Aside from the already mentioned big names some people suggested, can you do one about Bear McCreary and Harry Gregson-Williams please ? :)

[@panagiotisexplorer213]

I love his music on 1991’s My Girl!

[@briloheim]

I was listening to 'Central Park' on repeat all day today/yesterday and come to find out you're doing the breakdown of the score. Crazy. ... Elmer Bernstein? ;)

[@joycebrett8364]

I love the Grand Canyon soundtrack, as well as the movie.

[@marcinmarcin6459]

"Snow Falling on Cedars" !!!

[@horusbaals6206]

Love it

[@mehmetcemunal]

Thanks!

[@johannesbrause]

I love your work. I would really appreciate it, if you could do a video about John Powell. Especially his work on „How to train your dragon“

[@philippendletonmusic]

Awesome video. Any chance you could look at some cues from JNH's Signs?

[@samferhadian1737]

hi rick thanks for your huge knowledge! it's funny how the line at 29min15 sound very optimistic , suspended and bright for a phrygian sound and how modes can have 2 faces : real dark phrygian sound versus f#/F sonorities

[@ghostrecon29]

Great vid again Rick! Can you also do one on Bernard Hermann?

[@RickBeato]

Yes, I will. Listening now. Are there any particular pieces you want me to talk about? Rick

[@ghostrecon29]

+Rick Beato Great! North by Northwest, Mysterious Island, Taxi Driver, and Psycho would be great! Thanks Rick!

[@adamsmith4416]

Has to be there. One hundred percent with you on this one. Lalo Schifrin would be cool as well.

[@GoemonLovesFujiko]

The day the earth stood still and Jason and the argonauts. Also Morricone!

[@Metalpazallteway]

I really like this video. Congrats I was wondering if you could do another orchestral review on him but for Maleficent. If you get permission of course

[@alexandrawarg4601]

Thanx!

[@alexisvidal6200]

This is amazing!, I see you´re using kontakt, which library? keep it up!!!

[@willvaralla2667]

Would you consider doing a video on Hans Zimmer's use of layering in roughly the last minute of his song "Cornfield Chase?" Thank you so much for your videos

[@danielclason8807]

Hey Rick, do you use any vst's like NI komplete with your midi keyboard? your strings sound pretty cool :)

[@androognoix1685]

How about alan silvestri?

[@ArmandoGarcia-ci7el]

A lot of rhytmic percussions

[@sebastianmorris4316]

'Signs' please!

[@leomeneghelli1795]

When you say "F Aeolian"on the The Village's theme, the composer really thought about using it, like "Oh, I think a F Aeolian should fit really well in the mood here" or he just picked each note by their sound and you figured out that it is an Aeolian scale?

[@zachary963]

Considering the composer, it was probably intentional.

[@ruimiguelmarques5978]

Hi! What program do you use to play another instruments in the keyboard? Thank you!

[@benstiller500]

Hey Rick :-) Can´t you make a video about Michael Kamen Soundtracks? (Robin Hood) or James Horner (Willow)? They´re so much more beautful than any others...Love ya :-) Greetings from Köln, Germany, Chimp

[@Keyznguitarz]

Please talk to Geoff Koch at the Nashville Composers Association about an appearance. You rock.

[@RickBeato]

I don't know Geoff. What is the Nashville Composers Association?

[@dipta62]

Can you tell me about scoring process with fixed tempo and signature changing along with video?

[@juanma.arabia]

In that Violin part from "The village" , the violin plays sixtuplets but then it plays onñly 5 or four notes. What's going on in those parts? Thanks

[@Makanator]

Do you like how James Horner composes? His scores give the kind of sad feeling. great music his motifs are awesome.

[@Stefan_Heinrich]

great video. What orchestral libraries are you using for this i wonder?

[@RickBeato]

That looks like Spitfire Audio Albion I. I have a bunch of them but I can see it on the screen. I could have another one blended at the same time however. I don't remember.

[@Stefan_Heinrich]

great thanks. Sounds great.

[@noahk.3696]

reminds me on troy sometimes

[@theviolinoob]

Please, Alan Silvestri's BTTF analisys

[@jacobjohnson9115]

Can you do a How To Write Like Hans Zimmer? Hans Zimmer is one of my idols and I gotta know how he does it. I know that James Newton Howard and Hans Zimmer have worked together in certain films but it'd be freaking amazing to be able to compose like him.

[@jacobjohnson9115]

+tom harrison I know. I see the ad constantly and I'm too broke for it. Trust me. I'd pay for master class. But broke college student is my life right now

[@DListComposer]

To quote the back handed compliment from another famed Hollywood composer that worked for him, “Zimmer is a factory...” While he may be popular from a corporate use standpoint, there are better composers one could study, artistically speaking.

[@Ndo01]

Do you have anything on how and when to use chromatic notes?

[@DominikKaliszewski25]

Mr. Rick, you can composing ? There are some Your pieces ?

[@justinjones6810]

What kind of studio monitor volume knob do you use?

[@musicmax7]

Justin, this is a Presonus Central Station

[@jamesbrady2278]

Rick I love you but you left out Wyatt Earp and Waterworld With the ancient Asian sound to it especially the scene called swimming

[@jaydawg7820]

I often wonder how 2 dif composers would score a movie and if anyone could watch the same movie with 2 dif comps and not feel influenced by the first to the point of not being able to give the 2nd score an unbiased opinion ...

[@oholm09]

I can play like that

[@54tristin]

What planet did Rick Beato come from?

[@jedgould5531]

I keep thinking you’re about to get into the ‘how to’.... Why not do this: a graphic of the album or soundtrack, so people can easily get the author, movie and cue?

[@AirGuitar]

Time for Hans Zimmer...

[@tonyr.4778]

Like these videos, but transcribing and analyzing harmonics doesn't quite address how to write in his style. In the kong cue, he uses open basic chords and these 'extended' harmonies are just the byproduct of a singular linear melodic idea against a basic chord outline. This is how he creates the build and release of tension without actual resolution - typically 9ths and 4ths, often as passing tones. This is a much used technique for creating interest or intrigue without committing to an emotional state, allowing the possibility of later creating a focal point emotionally when it is most needed in a cue (by modulation or introducing strong thematic material). Telling what notes/harmonies are used at any given time doesn't tell me how to write like JNH as I can find the same group of notes in schoenberg, stravinsky, korngold, hermann etc. at a given time. Without the video, I don't see how to analyze what he is writing and to what purpose. Why does he introduce the brass and tymp and later snare? At what point in a scene does he modulate, why and what effect does that have. It's all in relation to the picture. Film music is so dependant and intertwined with the visuals, that in order to understand how JNH writes a cue, you need to see the visuals and first understand what he is accomplishing in relation to the story/characters/action/emotion and then see how he accomplishes it. Context is critical in how JNH writes film cues. This is not a criticism of your musical abilities, but rather a suggestion on the approach in analyzing a film cue without reference to the visuals. If you can't show video due to copyright, maybe you could describe what happens in the cue (in relation to the film), and how the composer addresses that musically. Keep up the good work.

[@jonathancoxmusic1985]

How do I get James Newton Howard to write like me?

[@ispilloil]

That first A minor chord from the King Kong piece is exactly the same as the beginning of Delta Halo Suite; kzbin.info/www/bejne/e4K1XqFsj5x-rs0

[@RickBeato]

Did that just jump out to you as soon as you heard it? Great!

[@ispilloil]

Rick Beato Lol, yes

[@bluecollarstudio8513]

I’ll have t9 relisten to The King Kong soundtrack. It didn’t grab me like Howard Shores LOTR, not sure why his score was rejected. I’d love to hear his version.

Only 30 thousand views. I don't get it.

[@RomanCoop]

So where's the explanation about how he makes music? Where are the secrets? You just say "Look, there are strings, and here's the tremolo, here's F Dorian" etc. We can see it in the scores. But how to write like JNH?

[@zachary963]

Use these chords/voicings/melodies to write your own music.

[@ayanbhuyan9922]

you are god!!

[@CosmicTeapot]

Don't be preposterous, Rick Beato is nothing like god. Rick Beato exists!

[@wurstgitarre]

The Village: Such great music - shame that the film itself is abysmal.

[@kylejudkins754]

"that's a straight f major chord" woah woah woah, it's 2019 - why are we putting that chords sexuality into a heteronormative prison??? maybe its a pan f major chorddddddddddddddddddddd /s