# Looking for scores or references for: "Lighting the Beacons" (Return of the King), West Wing theme



## Conor (Feb 10, 2016)

I'm transcribing these pieces and would like to check my work. Does anyone know if full (& faithful) scores are available for either of them? Or, failing that, can anyone recommend something in the classical literature with a similar orchestration?

West Wing theme (W.G. Snuffy Walden):

This one seems pretty transparent, just being thorough... 

"Lighting the Beacons" from Return of the King (Howard Shore):

Looking at 0:58-end, and especially 1:58-end.


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## Rodney Money (Feb 10, 2016)

I saw these guys on YouTube performing it. Contact them and ask where they purchased the score: https://www.rotterdamsphilharmonisch.nl/


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## marclawsonmusic (Feb 11, 2016)

For the LOTR piece, not sure there is a score out there for that one. It's called 'The White Tree' on the soundtrack, so you might do some checking on that.

You might also find some good info in Doug Adams' book on the LOTR scores -> 
 

It's an unbelievable resource.


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## marclawsonmusic (Feb 11, 2016)

Oh, for the second part you mentioned (1:58-end), that is the 'Minas Tirith' theme, which seems to be in this book -> http://www.sheetmusicplus.com/title...urn-of-the-king-orchestra-sheet-music/5447775


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## RiffWraith (Feb 11, 2016)

Rodney Money said:


> I saw these guys on YouTube performing it. Contact them and ask where they purchased the score: https://www.rotterdamsphilharmonisch.nl/



Def worth an email, but chances are they rented the sheet music from a service like Joann Kane Music Service. Assuming that's the case, there is no way the op is going to get his hands on it.


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## RiffWraith (Feb 11, 2016)

marclawsonmusic said:


> It's called 'The White Tree' on the soundtrack,



True, but on the extended OST, it's called 'The Lighting of the Beacons' 

And +1 to Doug Adams' book.


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## RiffWraith (Feb 11, 2016)

marclawsonmusic said:


> Oh, for the second part you mentioned (1:58-end), that is the 'Minas Tirith' theme, which seems to be in this book -> http://www.sheetmusicplus.com/title...urn-of-the-king-orchestra-sheet-music/5447775



Watch what you buy. I am not saying that^ would be a bad thing to have, but it's not the actual sheet music. Look carefully, and you will see that the sheet music is Arranged by Victor Lopez. Who is Victor Lopez? A teacher with a music education degree, a trumpet player, and recording artist. Don't count on this sheet music being accurate.

Cheers.


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## marclawsonmusic (Feb 11, 2016)

Yep. The only place you can get the actual stuff is from Howard Shore or New Line or... 

The Doug Adams book is cool because it has some score reductions (and pages of handwritten score) which could definitely be used to put together you own arrangement.


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## Rodney Money (Feb 11, 2016)

RiffWraith said:


> Watch what you buy. I am not saying that^ would be a bad thing to have, but it's not the actual sheet music. Look carefully, and you will see that the sheet music is Arranged by Victor Lopez. Who is Victor Lopez? A teacher with a music education degree, a trumpet player, and recording artist. Don't count on this sheet music being accurate.
> 
> Cheers.


I love Victor Lopez. His marching band piece "Salsa and Chimps" changed my life in 1994.


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## marclawsonmusic (Feb 11, 2016)

RiffWraith said:


> True, but on the extended OST, it's called 'The Lighting of the Beacons'



Cool. One interesting thing is the track from the movie is not the same as the one on the original OST... (not sure about the extended OST). My kids and I noticed that last time we watched the movie.

Either way, what a killer cue. :-D I need to watch those movies again soon.


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## RiffWraith (Feb 11, 2016)

marclawsonmusic said:


> One interesting thing is the track from the movie is not the same as the one on the original OST...



Tracks on 'regular' OSTs are sometimes the same as in the movie - but usually not. Not that I know what the % is... 

Yes, killer cue. One of my favs. If I get a chance I will check, but I am going to say the ext. OST version is the same as in the film. This is based on Fellowship - where the ext. OST is 99.5% identical to the film. Which I happen to know as fact.


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## Conor (Feb 11, 2016)

The Victor Lopez arrangement is greatly simplified. (For middle/high-school groups, I imagine -- anyone know what "Grade 3.5" means?)

I actually do own the Doug Adams book, which is great in a lot of ways, but doesn't help me here as the music examples are mostly short reductions. In this case there's a four-line handwritten sketch -- which is incidentally labeled as "Production: rotk Cue: Minas Tirith(602) -- which is pretty awesome to see! But there's not enough detail to tell me how it was orchestrated.

(Anyone else do Mike Verta's transcription challenge and completely miss the Trombones + Violas rhythmic part, which was more felt than heard? Them's the kind of learnings I'm after at the moment. )


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## Rodney Money (Feb 11, 2016)

CobraTrumpet said:


> The Victor Lopez arrangement is greatly simplified. (For middle/high-school groups, I imagine -- anyone know what "Grade 3.5" means?)


It means, "That this piece can be played by people who've played on their instruments for 3.5 years which translates to late middle school/ early high school aged children."


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## marclawsonmusic (Feb 11, 2016)

CobraTrumpet said:


> The Victor Lopez arrangement is greatly simplified. (For middle/high-school groups, I imagine -- anyone know what "Grade 3.5" means?)



I'm pretty sure the link I sent wasn't the grade 3.5 version. (my kids are in band so I know the difference)

It says 'Intermediate' for difficulty and says 'Belwin Pop Concert Full Orchestra'. It _seemed_ like a more legit version... but I understand your hesitation since it was arranged by a third party.


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## marclawsonmusic (Feb 11, 2016)

Grade 3.5 = LOTR 'easy piano' edition


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## Conor (Feb 11, 2016)

Whoops, sorry, must have been conflating two different arrangements there!

The Victor Lopez one is definitely simplified, though -- found a couple different YouTube videos which identify it.


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## Maestro1972 (Feb 11, 2016)

http://www.sheetmusicplus.com/title/the-west-wing-main-title-sheet-music/4878898


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