How to Write Like John Williams - EP3: HP (Quidditch)

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[@PromixDelPiero]

Can't wait for Asteroid Field

[@TheLibrarianUU]

Ook!

[@AynenMakino]

This is VERY nice stuff! I've been looking at John Williams' work lately and your timing is impeccable. Thanks for this!

[@Mikhael_bureau]

John Williams often write in a more plagal harmonic style to avoid too much "temperated colors". Thats help to build multi-directional contrapuntic lines between différents layers. In the main melody and the orchestra's layers sounds good, all the harmonic buildup can move in a very more free way. Aaron Copland was one of the first to have an similar approach in film music.

[@conforzo]

Does he ever talk about these things? How he thinks about harmony etc?

[@mocaman123]

I stumbled on to your videos. Best Fall I've had in years!!!

[@nRGmusicproduction]

I absolutely love your videos. I really don't know how you find the time for doing music and making long tutorials like this one. Respect!

[@JJBerthume]

I don't know how I find the time either haha - thanks!

[@aidanmcbride3780]

Love this series! How many more of these do you think you'll do?

[@JJBerthume]

Aidan McBride I don't plan on stopping! :)

[@thevfxwizard7758]

@@JJBerthume I hope you're able to start back up again, I really learned a lot from this series so far! There's so much great work to go through, from Star Wars to Indiana Jones to Jurassic Park.

[@itznoxy7193]

Are we ever going to see another one of these? I've been on the edge of my seat for years

[@FreakieFan]

I've learned so much from this series. I really hope you will pick it up again soon. These 3 episodes were extraordinary. And there's so much good stuff left to explore with Williams!

[@carlpowell0]

This series is beast. I gotta watch #2 now. Ty!! I cannot read staff music, but have played gt for 13 years and studied theory and am writing for ochestra these days. Using my ear only gets me ao far but your soloing of specfic parts and the breakdown of their relationship is invaluable to me!

[@b1odome]

As a John Williams fan, I can't wait for more videos in this series. Thanks for the very thorough analysis - I really appreciate the work you put into this!

[@mathewowen8148]

This is really awesome dude! Love this so much. Great way to look at Orchestration from a master, from music I really love. Your energy and passion and knowledge really shine through, and it's really well paced. Cheers!

[@carlpowell0]

Had this song as my phone ringtone for over a year btw lol

[@bret6484]

One thing jjay pointed out is that Williams starts one melody before the last one ends so that the piece keeps moving and building. He also drops a beat in order to achieve this 9/8 to 6/8

[@VasilBelezhkov]

I've found my way how to write the glissando in the Harp part to be useful for both score reading and PC playback. I type all these small notes from the scale, I 'squeeze' them to each other (except the 1st and the last) and I make them invisible (again, except the 1st and the last). P.S. I don't know how the other viewers prefer, but I personally feel somehow 'distracted' when you switch to concert pitch all these Horn and Trumpet parts... Great job, JJay! Thanks for sharing it!

[@sannylad9204]

Contrary motion is the bomb dot com

[@IzzacV]

These are so invaluable. Thank you so much for taking the time to do these videos! They are a huge help.

[@JohnMassari]

Piatti = Plates Two hand held Cymbals. Note to be confused with Suspended Cymbal. Wonderfully engaging videos. I look forward to watching and listening to more.

[@SteveRieck-Music]

Love this channel. Thank you!

[@OrisStories]

Hey man! I enjoyed watching this tremendously and I love your enthusiasm! You've made a music nerd very very happy, thank you so much!

[@tedsheridan8725]

Do Buckbeak!

[@stevenklinden]

These are great, and I hope this series will be continued some day.

[@carlpowell0]

24:15 i think i saw on the FB orchestration online recently that flutes lower register is dominate when clarinet is above it, and vice versa. Regardless you are the bomb dot com JJ. Cant believe i havent set the time to watch these before these are fantastic. Im learning so much in a short amount of time. Going to try use all this info in my next piece of music! Thankyou sir

[@paulenright9888]

Fantastic video again J Jay, thanks so much.

[@JJBerthume]

Paul Enright Cheers Paul!

[@carlpowell0]

im only 17 mins in hell yes. this is such an awesome indepth analysis thanks so much man!

[@pessilevanto8074]

Great work! To split hairs a little bit: In the origina, the 2 oboes play in unison with flutes and clarinets in bars 4 to 6 (of your Sibelius score).

[@AntKneeLeafEllipse]

I dunno if you're still doing this series, but Hook is a sentimental score for me.

[@pavelns]

These vids are wonderful inspiring and helpful! I hope you plan to do more Williams in the future !

[@VemundOsland]

Immensely impressed by your knowledge and work, JJay! :-) I especially love these John Williams score videos - I learned a ton! You've got yourself a huge fan from Norway. Having transcribed a couple of Johnny's scores into Sib myself (Superman, Far and Away, Jurrasic Park), I would gladly send them to you, saving you some work or what not. Regardless - thank you so much for your channel! All the best, Vemund

[@JJBerthume]

Vemund Osland Hey thanks so much Vemund! And as much as appreciate the offer, I actually like inputting the scores myself as it forces me to contend with every detail.

[@SingaLife]

I'd love to see an analysis of the Jurassic Park Theme or of 'Flight to Neverland' :) Love your videos, very helpful and educative!

[@handznet]

Love these so much, I wish you would do more JWs pieces like this and some Silvestri and Horner on top :)

[@TonyVBlue5]

Amazing, I'd have liked if you went on with the following part (Gryffindor theme) which is a great continuity to the Quidditch melody, and it's even richer with its orchestration, but anyway I love those videos, keep doing ! :)

[@AMReed8]

Thanks, JJay!

[@LesterBrunt]

Even in Gradus it says that you should follow those rules whenever possible, sometimes it just isn't possible to follow the rules without sacrificing something musical. If you find that even after careful examination your line works better with a few paralel octaves or fifths or crossing voices then you should use that. Music doesn't do well with strict symmetry or form in my opinion. It needs to be somewhat organic and free or else it sounds stiff and dull.

[@richardmichell921]

Hey dude!! Can you do schindlers list??

[@itznoxy7193]

Please do something from Star Wars next. The main titles IMO.

[@josed.vargas3961]

Quintuplet is what I hear the 5s called

[@josed.vargas3961]

lovely analysis by the way

[@JJBerthume]

Jose D. Vargas Ah yes thanks!

[@ashleythorpe7933]

42:13 Wagner popularised that technique in the Ride of the Valkyries and Siegfried's theme

[@josed.vargas3961]

If you have a 7th chord but the 7th is in the bass is it called 4th inversion or would you just call it like for example C/B?

[@JJBerthume]

You could, but it depends on context. If the note B only exists in the bass, then yes, however; if that B exists in other octaves above the bass you should say Cmaj7/B. The chord symbol nomenclature is designed for efficiency with small ensembles like pop or jazz bands and lets the bass player know what note they should play. This is why classicists prefer the figured bass nomenclature, where a Cmaj7 in 3rd inversion would be called C4/2.

[@QuietGuyCO]

7th in the bass is a 3rd inversion; C/B is lead sheet notation; figured bass is 6/4/2.

[@JJBerthume]

QuietGuyCO Yep, but the 6 is implied - the standard is to just write 4/2.

[@georgehill6098]

C/b is the same as C42. Not C/B. An uppercase B would imply a polychord of C Major over B Major. Lowercase for individual notes for bass player to follow. It's a jazz thing, primarily.

[@cukcek]

JJay what do you think about "Write Like Danny Elfman"? :)

[@ITBahren]

At 8:15 I would say that they're playing within the key of C Maj. Lydian due to the 4th degree being raised which makes it the same scale as D Maj. So as long as C is in the bass line it makes sense to play a D Maj. triad over C because both have the 4th degree of C Maj. Lydian

[@JJBerthume]

007Raizor Correct, but determining mode has to do with figuring out tonic, which is inferred by accent in modal music, not dominant function, therefore the trombones are implying C Lydian and the trumpets D Ionian - because they are unaffiliated with each other harmonically in this passage, we would consider it a juxtaposition of key centers, or non-chromatic bimodality. We cannot definitely say the trumpets are merely in C Lydian because of the fact that they emphasize the note D so strongly at the ends of their little phrases.

[@ITBahren]

Oh ok then, good to know! :) I'm still having trouble with modes so this definitely helps, thanks a lot for the clarification and for such a quick reply, by the way I love your work both in composition and tutorials and look forward to more of your videos :)

[@ITBahren]

Also I have trouble in finishing pieces because I end up losing focus or just get tired of the music even if I think it's good and usually just start composing something else from scratch, do you have any advice? You don't need to reply as I'm sure you are a very busy person but thanks anyway :)

[@JJBerthume]

007Raizor Cheers! Save that question for the 10K livestream!

[@ITBahren]

Will do if I can catch it! :)

[@Tobiax123]

Great video JJay! This piece is a great example of Williams taking inspiration from Jupiter (again). The tambourine is the last nail in the coffin. I don't mind him doing that, I love both Holst and Williams and I understand that everybody has to build on the shoulders of the past giants. I think this is what I should do more often too when composing, at least copying the orchestration ideas from the best. I often find myself mimicking the major/minor chordal movement lines of Holst and Williams.

[@JJBerthume]

Kasu-_- Glad you enjoyed the video! Holst actually borrowed a lot from Wagner! And Wagner from Berlioz (even complete rips in some of his operas), and Berlioz from Beethoven, Beethoven from Haydn, etc. As far as the tambourine is concerned, it has been used as accent percussion for thousands of years, that's not a case of borrowing any more using a suspended cymbal or a violin section is haha. There have definitely been times where Williams has had to emulate a temp track to please the director like Mars in Star Wars, but I don't think this cue is a good example of that, I don't see the correlation. Using similar textural devices isn't ripping off, Holst didn't pioneer or invent them, he learned them from other composers. Stealing a melody however, that's a different story.

[@Tobiax123]

Thanks for answering with extra info! I know that tambourine is of course used before so many times but the style and orchestration of the whole piece combined with the same kind of tambourine line was reminding me so much of the Jupiter that I just had to write about it :) There's some other Williams track also with the same tambourine line and orchestration but I really can't remember what it was. It's clear that he borrowed from Holst and Stravinsky (maybe partly because of temp tracks) but I think that is just the highest praise for those great composers. Unfortunately my knowledge of Romantic era doesn't go that much further so I don't recognize the Wagner or Berlioz parts that easily. How much would you say that you yourself "borrow" from the greats in your compositions knowingly or unknowingly? I've seen that you've used some rhythmic lines from ET for example. Textural stuff is of course easier to use than clear melodies or bigger orchestrated parts.

[@tommasorossi578]

Are you gonna do a part four or its a far Dream?

[@theviolinoob]

Awesome job man,do High-Wire Stunts From "Jurassic Park"

[@carlpowell0]

Say, how would you, JJ, recommend that one learn staff music? I may have the money to get saxophone or piano "lessons" next month. I can play them by ear fine but perhaps learning an instrument with the notation is a good option. Cheers from australia :-)

[@lachieoverlord1253]

Where did you get the score book from?

[@heathjelovic961]

11:41 Waiting for him to play the Friends theme guitar riff.

[@matanarava6742]

Can you please do Duel of the fates?

[@daemonturk]

Where do you buy the score?

[@JJBerthume]

Hal Leonard or Alexander Publishing.

[@poplarboydavid]

Would you be so kind to tell us the excellent equipment that you use to create the orchestral sounds and software etc?? With many thanks - love your channel!

[@JJBerthume]

Hey David, I'm so happy you're enjoying the videos! I'm using the notation software Sibelius (by Avid) with the soundset NotePerformer (by Wallander Instruments) - both of which I would highly recommend! Especially NotePerformer, it's very cheap, low hardware intensity, effortless to install and works right out of the box without having to do a thing. It has great rhythmic and pitch humanization algorithms which help imitate an organic live performance better.

[@poplarboydavid]

@@JJBerthume Thanks, so much! Sorry two more questions if you don’t mind. Can you play the sounds in NotePerformer from a midi keyboard? And how is the manuscript written, from a computer keyboard? Or can it scan the notes being played on a keyboard and transcribe from that, too? Thanks! :)

[@JJBerthume]

@@poplarboydavid You can play the sounds with a MIDI keyboard, although there is a noticeable (but not unplayable) latency. It was designed more for playback than live performance. You can notate music in Sibelius with several different workflows (I know people who just use a computer keyboard and do it very quickly), but my favorite and most efficient method is to use a MIDI keyboard in conjunction with a numerical keypad, which corresponds to the keypad in Sibelius which controls rhythms, articulations, etc. Also, computer keyboard shortcuts always really speed things up (I used to be really lazy about learning keyboard shortcuts but then I realized that a little short-term effort to memorize them saves HOURS UPON HOURS in the notation process). You can also easily make your own custom shortcuts in Sibelius or change existing ones to that which is most intuitive to your brain. Avid also has a piece of software called Photoscore, purchased separately but works in conjunction with Sibelius to scan sheet music and convert it into Sibelius files. I've used it a few times: if scanning from professional engraved sheet music it works almost always flawlessly; with handwritten scores it performs very well or very poorly depending on the legibility of the notational handwriting. Hope that helps! :)

[@poplarboydavid]

@@JJBerthume Thanks so much for your helpful reply! Blessings!

[@Cameron_Moody]

Where do you buy your scores? Great work, JJay!

[@KrystofDreamJourney]

Hal Leonard Publishing.

[@aceplayerMusic]

still waiting for part 4 lmao

[@itznoxy7193]

It seems you missed the third horn around 28 minutes. Its in my score at least .

[@owang3r]

que sons usas? nao é sounds sibelius 7! cumprimentos

[@BillMillerMusicComposer]

What sound libraries do you use in Sibelius? Great video! :D

[@JJBerthume]

NotePerformer 1.5.8

[@kosmos6485]

Hi, Why your Sibelius sounds so good? What version is it?

[@JJBerthume]

Kosmos I use the third-party soundset NotePerformer.

[@kosmos6485]

Thanks very much. It is really good. Which library do you use and how to do that?

[@adelam4903]

24:06 I really feel sorry for those clarinet players.

[@JJBerthume]

Why?

[@adelam4903]

JJay Berthume it sounds really high pitched to me, I know some clarinet players and they'd have a hard time playing that. Probably because I hear them playing more often that people who would be able to play that.

[@JJBerthume]

It's actually not that high at all for professional players.

[@adelam4903]

JJay Berthume And that's why. Not professional. I'm comparing it to what people I know play, who aren't professional. To them, it would be WAY too high.

[@joshtimmins4410]

For an average player, that is not to high at all , and would be playable for all players of Grade 3 standard ;))

[@1990Jprice]

Nice video as always, did you get a new camera?

[@JJBerthume]

Jordan Price No haha, new lens (nifty fifty) and soft box!

[@mattheasboelter5217]

That soft box really makes a huge difference in how professional the video looks.

[@golbzrtmontzgn7927]

Shit a major second my counterpoint is bad... Wait... what about think of it like a major ninth chord ? Problem fixed

[@Jamesivansongwriting]

Great Job! What plugins do you use with Sibelius? They sound great!

[@JJBerthume]

Jamesivansongwriting Thanks! NotePerformer 1.5.8

[@Jamesivansongwriting]

JJay Berthume Thanks. Sounds great. It appears intelligent enough to analyse phrases and play them back correctly. I am fed up notating orchestrations differently so that they play back as I would like them to sound. Keep up the good work!

[@JJBerthume]

Jamesivansongwriting Yeah NotePerformer solves that problem!

[@blaynealbright]

Please do Star Wars next

[@aarons1972]

JJay: I've put this off long enough - thank you so much for your tutorials and inspiration! I've just completed a blog about scoring for a fan-fiction film entitled "Highlander: Hans Kirschner" and I give you due credit at the end for these amazing videos you create. Inspiring, informative, and incredibly useful. Thank you!!! Would love to have your feedback on my work. There is a link to the film in said blog entry: www.aaroncadamsamuels.com/single-post/2018/06/04/Scoring-Highlander-Hans-Kirschner

[@madbugger69]

You keep saying aaam maaaa

[@JJBerthume]

Mana mana doot doo do do do

[@alexandrodiova8386]

Not first :c

[@JJBerthume]

Lol you commented before I uploaded the thumbnail

[@alexandrodiova8386]

So you can see how much i love your videos :b

[@alukea123]

I think your better than Williams