The Last Jedi: "The Battle of Crait” by John Williams (Score Reduction and Analysis)

[@patricksuiter]

The way Williams is able to weave the themes into his action music is so incredible. Great analysis, thanks for your work as always :)

[@trevorjensen2706]

Yes, you rarely see that in today's films. Many directors today want more obscure, minimalistic theming, and like soundscapes over strong motivic material.

[@JediMaestr0]

I love these breakdowns; John Williams shows genius even when it’s not obvious to the ear. I’d love to see some analyses of John Powell’s action music in Solo - particularly Train Heist/Marauders Arrive, Mine Mission, and Into The Maw!!

[@G-0]

This is one of my favorite John Williams pieces ever, especially for Star Wars. Every theme bobs in and out seamlessly and the intensity is high. Great analysis!

[@mattg5461]

There's a lot to be criticised about the sequels, but they have some of my favourite musical moments of the entire franchise, this being one of them

[@moviemaestro800]

John Williams, continuing to be a truly remarkable composer through thick and thin. This may be one of his most impressive action cues ever written.

[@spitfiremark1a768]

Thank you for posting this I cannot stand this film but always like to hear Williams use the Tie fighter Attack cue from STAR WARS Still a most amazing track 45 years later.

[@handznet]

Thanks a lot. Every analysis is blessing

[@TB1M1]

Wagner nod at 2:27 haha. Awesome work. Main title and Escape would be good aswell.

[@trevorjensen2706]

This kind of storytelling through music, to my sadness, is something many of today's directors do NOT want in their films. The leaning trend for Hollywood scores to create much more obscure sounds than themes to avoid saying who's the hero, who's the villain, etc. Williams is an old-school kind of a composer that stands out, especially now, because his type of scoring and orchestration choices are rare. An especially rare choice for orchestration is his use of woodwinds. Many films today, for some reason, rely so much more on electronics and synthesizers (are we in the 1980s again?) over acoustical instruments, especially the woodwinds.

[@AndreyRubtsovRU]

oh quit it. times change. tastes change. both are fine.

[@trevorjensen2706]

@@AndreyRubtsovRU, both are indeed fine, but I prefer more orchestrated scores.

[@ryanslocum7767]

I have listened to this score sometime last week and really wanted to see someone do an analysis of it. Thank you so much! This made me very happy seeing a new video. Thank you so much for your hard work!

[@ctsr1117]

I've been dreaming about this! This is so good!

[@fsaeyoutubepremium802]

Terrific work, David. Beautifully laid out. I'm curious about which notation software was used to create the reduction. Was it Dorico?

[@DavidMcCaulley]

MuseScore actually ! And thank you for the kind words; I work hard to make the quality of my videos stand out!

[@argon7430]

Brilliant work as always

[@jofi22]

This is an amazing transcription of what is probably one of my favorite tracks in all of the saga. I'm curious, was it done all by ear, or did you manage to get ahold of the sheets somehow?

[@redleader4876]

2:35 2:36 2:37

[@joejohnson8966]

Fantastic

[@fnherzog]

I love Rey's theme at 3:17, is that a specific progression like I VI ....? Because Zimmer uses basically the same chords in Jack Sparrow's Theme

[@kirbyspencer]

With more recent scores his action cue scoring has been a lot more focused, you don't get quite as many elements being layered - compare this to something from ROTJ for example. I wonder if its a concious decision in a cinematic world now dominated by SFX.

[@jb1980ist]

I imagine it's also to facilitate editing. Even in this set of cues, you can see a bunch of measures snipped out of the film.

[@dDd1244-w6c]

Where do you actually get the full JW scores? I can’t seem to find any of the actual cues anywhere to buy …

[@tonieprawda]

Thanks for the reduction! second bar is a flat 6 not an augmented 5th btw

[@drewcollier1138]

Great job! Curious 4:58 about measure 20 of 8M76 "To the Target". The film has measure 20 modulating to F-sharp with the melody on high strings and woodwinds. The album omits this measure entirely. Your version has measure 19 repeated into 20 and has the audio for measure 19 looped instead of using the FYC recording. What exactly is the "real" version?

[@BlazinInfernape]

This would be a score reduction of the original "real" score, the fully orchestrated one. Multiple times a measure in this video wasn't in the film, obviously David McCaulley didn't just make it up, they were changed, either during recording or in post. I'd say most of these changes were probably made during the actual recording session since I don't hear any signs of the audio being altered, but they definitely worked with the exact same sheet music this video was made from.

[@racingindie2168]

Hello! Thanks for this, this is so amazing. Are you doing that by ears or do you have the original orchestral score?

[@dbp_pc3500]

Hi there! At the beginning of the score, Is it common to write Fb instead of just E natural ??? Is there a specific reason to do that?

[@matthewjimenez3831]

Always love watching these video! I’m curious to what font the title text is in?

[@server_5172]

Where do you get the original PDF for the scores?

[@andreiter]

Nice one! I wish you could do 1979's Amityville Horror 😍

[@DIDCHOI]

Is this based on his sketch scores? Interesting how the opening is notated in Dbm rather than C#m. Curious if that's him or you while transcribing?

[@bordeauxcolor]

Unfortunately his score is not allowed to shine enough in the sequels

[@loicbicais5075]

Nice

[@TillisIsDone]

This movie would have been better if the screen was black, the audio was cut, and it was only the music.

[@SDfan2002]

This is the best Star Wars movie

[@SAPOINSATTE]

What a waste of John's time doing this film and the other SWs sequels. Well at least he got paid well of course.

[@metodoinstinto]

Such good music for such a bad movie