# The John Williams Compositional Techniques blog (Vision and Purpose)



## Leandro Gardini (Jan 12, 2017)

During the past few years I have been studing the compositions of the man which I consider the best film composer of all times.
As a result I have gained some knowledge and skills which I beleive should be explored as a resource for others, and, thinking about this, I decided to write a book which I call The John Williams Compositional Techniques.
This book is a dream that is becoming true as the project progress towards the many ideas I have been given by the people interested in learning more about Jonh's ability to compose.
Today, besides the book, I am preparing a series of lectures as well and for a good start, I decided to put available part of the book in my new blog.
In the next few weeks I will be posting once a week something interesting about the book. Mostly they will be exercices and analisys about short fragments of the best scores the composer has written.
The first two exercises can be seen here:
Creation of Texture 1

Creation of Texture 2


For more details about how they were created and stay updated please visit:
http://www.leandrogardini.com/blog

Please let me know your requests and opinion about this project.

Thank you for you support!


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## Rasmus Hartvig (Jan 12, 2017)

Very interesting and a great idea! I'm definitely someone who would buy a book on that subject, so I look forward to following the process.


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## Parsifal666 (Jan 12, 2017)

Great! Please keep us posted, I'd love to check it out!


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## Musicam (Jan 12, 2017)

Hi Leandro, can you make videlectures or a course?


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## Paul T McGraw (Jan 12, 2017)

Seems very interesting. Are you offering your book for sale?

Are you just going to give examples of "textures" or did you draw any conclusions? Are you going to explain *why* some textures work in a given context and *why* other textures might not work in that context?


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## Assa (Jan 12, 2017)

I'd be also very interested in this!  Very interesting!


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## Eric G (Jan 12, 2017)

Why don't you create a Kickstarter or something? I would certainly invest in a book like that.


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## Haakond (Jan 12, 2017)

This looks very interesting. I will indeed follow This project!


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## toddkedwards (Jan 12, 2017)

This looks very interesting and promising. I've subscribed to the blog and your Youtube channel.


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## desert (Jan 12, 2017)

i want to read this book!


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## desert (Jan 12, 2017)

douggibson said:


> In music composition quotation can often fall into the same category as masturbation and religion in everyday society:
> Practice them all you want, but no one wants to hear you talk about it.



:|


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## Leandro Gardini (Jan 13, 2017)

Thank you all for the inicial support. I am happy it pleased the majority. 


Musicam said:


> Hi Leandro, can you make videlectures or a course?


This is a good idea for the future. So far, the book is the main focus. Thanks for the idea!


Paul T McGraw said:


> Seems very interesting. Are you offering your book for sale?
> 
> Are you just going to give examples of "textures" or did you draw any conclusions? Are you going to explain *why* some textures work in a given context and *why* other textures might not work in that context?


The Creation of Textures exercises are meant to make you more fluent in your writting. If you can keep the same level of energy, variation and quality of the original textures you will become more productive when you have to create something for another scene.
Explaning why a texture works or doens't is related to the energy and drama of the scene. It is very difficult to get conclusions out of it because everyone has different perceptions. We may debate a little about it but I don't think I will be able to give you "the why".


Eric G said:


> Why don't you create a Kickstarter or something? I would certainly invest in a book like that.


Yes, certainly. 


douggibson said:


> Neat ! Great examples, and totally get the concepts. I did (still do) the same, and share your view of learning by
> re-creating then making the ideas more and more your own.
> 
> I mean this in a totally friendly way: You may want to ask for advice on wether you can sell something with direct quotations from John Williams - even just 4 measures. I don't know the answer as I am not a lawyer.
> ...


Yes, I will conform to whatever is required. So far it falls in the category of educational fair use.


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## Symfoniq (Jan 13, 2017)

leogardini said:


> Yes, I will conform to whatever is required. So far it falls in the category of educational fair use.



Excerpting for educational purposes has broad fair use protection in the US. I don't know about the rest of the world.


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## Paul T McGraw (Jan 13, 2017)

leogardini said:


> The Creation of Textures exercises are meant to make you more fluent in your writting. If you can keep the same level of energy, variation and quality of the original textures you will become more productive when you have to create something for another scene.
> Explaning why a texture works or doens't is related to the energy and drama of the scene. It is very difficult to get conclusions out of it because everyone has different perceptions. We may debate a little about it but I don't think I will be able to give you "the why".



OK, so if I understand what you are doing, your approach might be called "modeling" which is a process that has been used by classical music composers since (and including) Bach and Mozart and Beethoven. Information on modeling techniques is hard to find. So your book could be of great help to people interested in understanding the process of composing and modeling. In my own studies I have found modeling to be of maximum benefit to me if the modeled composition is approached holistically. I hope your book will use that strategy in examining the music of Williams.

John Williams is in my view the greatest living composer of my lifetime. Many academics reject his music, just as they did to Rachmaninoff during his life. I would be thrilled to see your book, and encourage you to get beneath the surface elements and help us to fully understand his music.


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## NoamL (Jan 13, 2017)

I've wished for a long time that JW himself would write such a book, for the benefit of all younger composers. It's not such a crazy idea when you consider that Rimsky-Korsakov, Schoenberg, Hindemith, Copland, Berlioz and some others all wrote books from their personal perspectives.

His treatment of melody and harmony in broad themes and the way he structures and develops material in song-like or suite-like pieces are, I think, pretty well and widely understood.

By contrast his harmonic language & his developmental techniques in underscore, especially fast action music, are more opaque to study. And it's precisely in this respect that his music presents the starkest contrast with film scores of today, like you alluded to. Sometimes it seems to me that these techniques just aren't in the toolkits of many composers today - that there are top composers out there who could quite capably write a sideways of "Raider's March" or "Across The Stars" or "Buckbeak's Flight", yet not this:



Have you developed insights into this sort of kaleidoscopic action writing that seems to be a hallmark of JW's style? If so I really look forward to your book.


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## byzantium (Jan 13, 2017)

Paul T McGraw said:


> John Williams is in my view the greatest living composer of my lifetime.



Yep.



NoamL said:


> I've wished for a long time that JW himself would write such a book, for the benefit of all younger composers.



Wouldn't that be fantastic!


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## Parsifal666 (Jan 13, 2017)

Paul T McGraw said:


> John Williams is in my view the greatest living composer of my lifetime.



Cases could be made for Penderecki, Phillip Glass, Gorecki, McCartney. But yeah, John is up right there in my book.


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## Parsifal666 (Jan 13, 2017)

byzantium said:


> Yep.
> 
> 
> 
> Wouldn't that be fantastic!



Magical.


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## newcreation08 (Jan 13, 2017)

I would be very interested in this book. Hope, its coming out soon!


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## cheul (Jan 13, 2017)

@leogardini will your book cover how you'd go from a musical idea in the form of a sketch of melody + harmony, different types of development and how it's then fleshed out as this or that orchestral texture ? I know my question may sound vague, as an alternative question : what will your book really cover ? Only fully orchestrated music ?


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## Mundano (Jan 13, 2017)

Hello!
I want to ask you if you were in contact with JW to write a book about his composition techniques. It would be great if you quote parts of interviews you had with him explaining furthermore what you yourself have learned from him (?).

Best Regards


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## Leandro Gardini (Jan 14, 2017)

Paul T McGraw said:


> OK, so if I understand what you are doing, your approach might be called "modeling" which is a process that has been used by classical music composers since (and including) Bach and Mozart and Beethoven. Information on modeling techniques is hard to find. So your book could be of great help to people interested in understanding the process of composing and modeling. In my own studies I have found modeling to be of maximum benefit to me if the modeled composition is approached holistically. I hope your book will use that strategy in examining the music of Williams.
> 
> John Williams is in my view the greatest living composer of my lifetime. Many academics reject his music, just as they did to Rachmaninoff during his life. I would be thrilled to see your book, and encourage you to get beneath the surface elements and help us to fully understand his music.


I don't know what modeling is but it sounds interesting Paul. 
The Creation of Texture is one of the final parts of the book and is there to help you apply the many principles described in the previous chapter. 
It is basically a way to connect your study of the principles described with the original music so that you have your own parameters to determine your level of understanding.


NoamL said:


> I've wished for a long time that JW himself would write such a book, for the benefit of all younger composers. It's not such a crazy idea when you consider that Rimsky-Korsakov, Schoenberg, Hindemith, Copland, Berlioz and some others all wrote books from their personal perspectives.
> 
> His treatment of melody and harmony in broad themes and the way he structures and develops material in song-like or suite-like pieces are, I think, pretty well and widely understood.
> 
> ...



Yes, my analisys have been focused specially on his action/drama cues.
We already have many good analisys about his main famous themes, which by the way, can be easily analised by any old composition method.
What intrigued me was his "least famous" cues like action and orchestral sound design when he was not tonal at all.
The book goes right into that kind of writting which i believe is what people are most interested too.


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## Ashermusic (Jan 14, 2017)

Looks great, Leo!


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## Leandro Gardini (Jan 14, 2017)

cheul said:


> @leogardini will your book cover how you'd go from a musical idea in the form of a sketch of melody + harmony, different types of development and how it's then fleshed out as this or that orchestral texture ? I know my question may sound vague, as an alternative question : what will your book really cover ? Only fully orchestrated music ?


What the book covers is the way I think Jonh thinks music while composing.
For a very long time I have been trying to understand his techniques but nothing that I have studies before seemed to help me understand his process.
After hours of thinking I started to see some paterns in his music which was the first proof that I was going in the right direction.
I could only be confident about the guesses when I applied every principle to my own music.
Since the book is about a man that works with condensed scores and full scores the book will deal with these kind of notation.
I believe it is important to have a full score mindset to fully benefit from this book but I will consider other options upon request.


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## Assa (Jan 14, 2017)

Leo, that sounds like this the book I was waiting for, hurry up, I can't wait! :D


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## Leandro Gardini (Jan 20, 2017)

The second article has been posted in the blog.
This week I've analyzed one famous Star Wars battle between Obi Wan and Jango Fett.
Using many of the John Williams action cue techniques described in the book, the Creation of Texture exercise has been applied to the actual movie scene.
To have access to the full explanation click in the link below:
https://www.leandrogardini.com/…/Creation-of-Texture-Part-I…

Video:


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## cheul (Jan 24, 2017)

Thanks for posting these updates, though I must say I have a hard time following your concept. For the moment being it is about contrasting textures over a couple of bars, right ?
How far have you progressed with your book, if I may ask ? I think a lot of us are excited about this.


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## Leandro Gardini (Jan 27, 2017)

A new article has just been posted on The John Williams Compositional Techniques.
This week we are going to discuss some aspects of how to compose ala Jurassic Park style and apply it to an scene.
Enjoy: https://www.leandrogardini.com/single-post/2017/01/27/Scoring-in-Jurassic-Park-Style-1

The Scene:

The Score:


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## Leandro Gardini (Jan 27, 2017)

cheul said:


> Thanks for posting these updates, though I must say I have a hard time following your concept. For the moment being it is about contrasting textures over a couple of bars, right ?
> How far have you progressed with your book, if I may ask ? I think a lot of us are excited about this.


It is more than contrasting textures I would say. Please let me know what exactly you are not getting.
The essence of the book is ready. Now I am taking care of the examples.


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## NoamL (Jan 27, 2017)

Hmm not sure I understand. These just seem to be examples of compositions. You definitely seem to have a handle on his style... but writing it is not the same thing as explaining it.


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## Leandro Gardini (Jan 28, 2017)

NoamL said:


> Hmm not sure I understand. These just seem to be examples of compositions. You definitely seem to have a handle on his style... but writing it is not the same thing as explaining it.


I see your point. Please keep in mind that this blog is just scratching the surface.
The book would be pointless if I put available all its content in the blog.
I will limit the blog to explain just some concepts.


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## Leandro Gardini (Jan 29, 2017)

douggibson said:


> Neat. I look forward to getting the book. You don't transpose the Contrabasses ?
> Looks odd to me, even in C scores these are usually up an octave.


This is a bad habit of me. 
I will edit the future scores one octave above.


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## Leandro Gardini (Feb 4, 2017)

The fourth article has been released in the blog.
This time the subject is the John Williams harmonic language.

"One of the main aspects that defines the personal style of a composer is his harmonic language. Many composers in the history have used certain kinds of harmonies and, in many cases, even sequence of chords." cont...

https://www.leandrogardini.com/single-post/2017/02/04/The-John-Williams-Harmonic-Language

Video


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## Leandro Gardini (Feb 12, 2017)

The fifth article of The John Williams Compositional Techniques blog has been published.
This week the subject is: The Williams Modulating Themes

Click here:
https://www.leandrogardini.com/single-post/2017/02/12/The-Williams-Modulating-Themes

Minority Report

Seven Years in Tibet


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## wbacer (Feb 12, 2017)

Yup, I just finished transcribing the chord changes to "Jurassic Park." Another great example of how he modulates his themes...just brilliant


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## Leandro Gardini (Feb 13, 2017)

wbacer said:


> Yup, I just finished transcribing the chord changes to "Jurassic Park." Another great example of how he modulates his themes...just brilliant


Fortunately there are many themes by him that would be great to analyze and apply for modulation.
I believe he is one of the few composers that is not becoming minimalist in harmonies today.


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## Leandro Gardini (Feb 18, 2017)

The sixth and last article has just been published.
This week the subject is: Williams, the virtuoso composer.
https://www.leandrogardini.com/single-post/2017/02/18/Williams---The-Virtuoso-Composer

Tinkerbell arrives


I suggest everyone to first read the text in the blog before watching the video.

Enjoy!


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## novaburst (Feb 24, 2017)

Paul T McGraw said:


> John Williams is in my view the greatest living composer



Yep too


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## Leandro Gardini (Feb 25, 2017)

The John Williams Compositional Techniques - Vision and Purpose:

https://www.leandrogardini.com/…/2…/02/25/Vision-and-Purpose

For those who missed the six previous articles here they are:

https://www.leandrogardini.com/blog


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