Film Composers Jerry Goldsmith

Film Composers

Jerry Goldsmith (1929 – 2004)

He was born in Los Angeles, California.

He learned to play the piano at the age of six.

At the age of fourteen, he studied composition, theory and counterpoint with teachers Jacob Gimpel and Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco. He attended the University of Southern California and studied with the famous composer Miklós Rózsa. Rózsa inspired him to become a movie composer.

In 1950, Goldsmith found work at CBS as a clerk in the network's music department.
Goldsmith provided tailor-made scores for many different genres; including war films (The Blue Max), film noir (L.A. Confidential), action movies (Rambo: First Blood), erotic thrillers (Basic Instinct), sports pictures (Rudy), westerns (Breakheart Pass), comic book adaptations (Supergirl), and science fiction (Total Recall and five Star Trek films). His ability to write terrifying music won him his only Academy Award for his violent choral/orchestral score for The Omen. He also was awarded with Emmys for television scores like the Holocaust drama QB VII, and the epic Masada, as well as the theme from Star Trek: Voyager.

Due to his wide grasp of different musical techniques, Goldsmith's scores were never as quickly identifiable as those of composers with different abilities. While his work could be as light-hearted as the main title of Dennis the Menace, it also included QB VII's "Kaddish for the Six Million", a choral work honoring the victims of the Holocaust.

He enjoyed using strange instruments, ethnic instruments, and ethnic music.

He wrote: film, radio, and television music
The Omen
The Secret of N.I.M.H
Poltergeist
Gremlins
Hoosiers
Alien
First Knight
Small Soldiers
The 13th Warrior
Looney Tunes: Back in Action

Film Composers Hans Zimmer

Film Composers

Hans Zimmer (born 1957)

Born in Frankfurt, Germany

He plays piano, keyboard and guitar.

He played keyboard and synthesizer with the bands Helden and The Buggles. The Buggles recorded the song Video Killed the Radio Star.

He began working on movie scores in the 1980’s. His first big movie was Rain Man in 1988. The score of Rain Man was nominated for an Academy Award.

In 1995, he received an Academy Award for Best Original Score for the animated movie The Lion King.

“His scores are broadly thematic, ethnically diverse, and immensely popular with a younger generation of film music fans.”

His score for the movie Gladiator is one of the best selling film score albums of all time.

He also works with other composers on music for movies.

He has written: television music
film music:

Days of Thunder
The Lion King
A League of Their Own
The Prince of Egypt
Mission: Impossible 2
Black Hawk Down
The DaVinci Code
The Simpsons Movie
Pearl Harbor
Hannibal
The Ring
Shark Tale
Gladiator (with Lisa Gerrard)
Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (with, and credited to Klaus Badelt) He also wrote the music for the other Pirates of the Caribbean movies.
The Rock (with Nick Glennie-Smith and Harry Gregson-Williams)
Madagascar (with Heitor Pereira, James Dooley)
Batman Begins (with James Newton Howard)
Kung Fu Panda (with John Powell)

Film Composers John Williams

Film Composers

John Williams (born 1932)

He was born in Floral Park, New York.

In 1952 he was drafted into the Air Force. While in the Air Force part of his duties included conducting and arranging music for the Air Force Band.

In 1954 he entered the Julliard School in New York. He also worked as a jazz pianist in many clubs and studios in New York.

His music can be considered neoromanticism. He is inspired by the large orchestral works of the late 19th century, especially the works of Richard Wagner and the concept of the leitmotif. A leitmotif in music is a musical idea that is linked to a particular character, situation or element.

Williams is best known for composing music for movies. He has been nominated for an Academy Award (Oscar) 45 times and has won 5 times. The only person that has had more Academy Award nomination is Walt Disney.

He has also composed the theme music for four of the Olympic Games.

For many years he was the conductor of the Boston Pops Orchestra.

He wrote: Film Music
Olympic Music
NBC Nightly News theme music

Academy Awards winners:

Fiddler on the Roof (1971) (Scoring: Adaptation and Original Song Score)
Jaws (1975) (Original Score)
Star Wars (1977) (Original Score)
E.T. (1982) (Original Score)
Schindler's List (1993) (Original Score)

Other Movies:
Jaws
Star Wars (All movies)
Harry Potter (the first 3)
Indiana Jones (All movies)
Memoirs of a Geisha
Jurassic Park
Home Alone
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
Superman

20th Century Frederick Delius

20th Century

Frederick Delius (1862-1934)

Born in England

His parents were from Germany but they had immigrated to England.

He was expected to become a businessman like his father.

He went to Florida in 1884 to manage an orange grove. While in Florida, the music of the black workers influenced him greatly.

He studied with the American organist Thomas F. Ward in Jacksonville.

Later in life Delius was stricken with paralysis and blindness so a young musician transcribed his music for him.

He wrote: Orchestral music

On Hearing the First Cuckoo in Spring
Sea Drift
In a Summer Garden
Marche-Caprice

20th Century Carl Orff

20th Century

Carl Orff (1895-1982)

Born in Germany

He was very interested in music education

He founded a school in 1924.

He used percussion instruments in his teaching. These instruments included xylophones and metalaphones. These instruments are now called ”Orff Instruments” and are used in many elementary schools in the United States.

He wrote: Operas
Orchestral music
Cantatas

His most famous piece of music is called Carmina Burana and was written in 1937.

Impressionism & 20th Century Claude Debussy

Impressionism and 20th Century

Impressionism – gives the sense or feeling of something (in nature or life) through music or art

Claude Debussy (1862-1918)

Born in Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France

He studied the piano and music composition at the Paris Conservatory. He was a very good pianist.

Wrote: Operas
Chamber music
Orchestral music
Songs
Piano music
Solo instrumental music

Clair de Lune (piano)
The Afternoon of a faun (orchestra)
Syrinx (flute)

Debussy was one of the only Impressionistic composers.

20th Century Igor Stravinsky

20th Century

Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971)

Born in Oranienbaum, Russia

His father was a bass singer at the Imperial Opera.

He was taught piano but his parents didn’t want him to be a musician. He went to the University of St. Petersburg to study law but he also continued his musical studies.

In 1913 a production of one of his ballets, The Rite of Spring, caused a riot because the music was so different from everything written before. The music from this ballet was later used in the Disney film Fantasia. It was used in the section with the dinosaurs.

In 1939 he came to the United States to deliver some lectures at Harvard University. He liked the United States so much that he decided to live in California and he became an American citizen in 1945.

He wrote: Ballet music
Film music
Chamber music
Operas
Church music
The Firebird
Petrouchka
The Rite of Spring
The Soldier’s Tale

20th Century Aaron Copland

20th Century

Aaron Copland (1900-1990)

Born in New York, New York in Brooklyn

His parents were Lithuanian immigrants.

When he was 21 he traveled to Paris, France to study with the famous music teacher Nadia Boulanger. He was her first full-time American student.

Some of his music incorporates elements from jazz. He also wrote pieces of music that were like classical music.

Many of his pieces of music are patriotic in nature and have ideas from American culture.

He wrote: Orchestral music
Songs
Piano Music
Film Music

Billy the Kid – ballet
Lincoln Portrait
Fanfare for the Common Man
El Salón México
Appalachian Spring - ballet

20th Century Leonard Bernstein

20th Century

Leonard Bernstein (1918-1990)

Born in Lawrence, Massachusetts
His father didn’t want him to become a musician but still took him to orchestra concerts and allowed him to take piano lessons.

He studied at Harvard University and the Curtis Institute of Music. He was the only student ever to get an A in the conducting class taught by Fritz Reiner at the Curtis Institute of Music.

Bernstein was well known as a conductor, composer, author, music lecturer, pianist, educator and for many years he was the music director of the New York Philharmonic Orchestra.

He conducted a series of concerts for television from 1958 to 1972. These concerts were called Young People’s Concerts. They were not only concerts but were also educational programs.

He wrote:
three symphonies
two operas
five musicals
church music
vocal music
solo instrumental music
chamber music
piano music

Fancy Free (ballet), 1944
Candide (operetta), 1956
West Side Story (musical), 1957
Prelude, Fugue, and Riffs for Solo Clarinet and Jazz Ensemble, 1949
On the Waterfront (film score), 1954

Instrument Ensembles

Ensembles

Ensembles – groups of instruments

One – solo
Two – duet
Three – trio
Four – quartet
Five – quintet
Six – sextet
Seven – septet
Eight – octet
Nine – nonet
Ten – dectet

Chamber Ensembles

Trios
Piano trio – violin, cello, and piano
Woodwind trio – flute, oboe, and clarinet

Quartets
String quartet – 2 violins, viola, and cello
Saxophone quartet – soprano, alto, tenor, and baritone

Quintets
Woodwind – flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, and
French horn
Brass – 2 trumpets, French horn, trombone and tuba


Orchestras

String orchestra – violins, violas, cellos, basses and
sometimes harpsichord

Baroque orchestra – violins, violas, cellos, basses,
harpsichord, oboes, bassoons, natural trumpets
and timpani

Classical orchestra – violins, violas, cellos, basses,
flutes, oboes, clarinets, bassoons, natural trumpets, hand horns, and timpani

19th Century orchestra – violins, violas, cellos, basses,
harp, flutes, oboes, clarinets, bassoons, trumpets, French horns, trombones, tuba, and percussion

20th Century orchestra – violins, violas, cellos, basses,
harp, flutes, piccolo, clarinets, bass clarinet, oboes, English horn, bassoons, contrabassoon, trumpets, French horns, trombones, tuba, and percussion


Other ensembles –

Marching Bands – flutes, clarinets, saxophones,
trumpets, cornets, French horns, euphoniums, trombones, tubas (sousaphones), percussion

Concert Bands – flutes, oboes, clarinets, bass clarinet, bassoons, saxophones, trumpets, cornets, French horns, euphoniums, trombones, tubas, and percussion

Wind Ensembles – same as a concert band with only
one player on each part

Gamelans – traditional groups from Bali and Java

Steel drum bands – from the Caribbean islands

Jazz Bands – Dixieland, “Big Band”, small band, and
Jazz-Rock fusion

Rock Bands – traditional rock, heavy metal, soft-rock,
and pop bands

Music Theory Page 2

Music Theory Page 1

Percussion Family

Percussion Instruments

Snare drum*
Bass drum*
Cymbals*
Timpani*
Tabla
Maracas
Gong
Triangle
Systrum
Slapstick
Naqara
Side Drum
Castanet
Wood Blocks
Sand Blocks
Bells
Chimes
Glockenspiel
Tambourine
Waisted Drum
Tom-tom

Piano

Xylophone
The instruments with the * are used in the orchestra the most often.
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Percussion Family

The sound is produced by hitting the instrument.

Small = High sound Tight = High sound
Large = Low sound Loose = Low sound

Not all percussion instruments are drums. All drums are percussion instruments.

Drums have at least one drum head. The drum head is the part of the drum the player hits.
The percussion instrument that uses strings to make a sound is the piano

Kettledrums have one drumhead and the other side of the drum is solid.
The other types of drums have either one drumhead and an open bottom or both the top and bottom have a drumhead.

Woodwind Family

Woodwind Instruments

Flute*
Clarinet*
Oboe*
Bassoon*
Piccolo
Saxophone
Chalameau
Recorder
Pan Pipes
Double Bassoon
English Horn
Racket
Zurna
Fife
Fipple Flute
Bass Clarinet
Curtal
Bagpipes

The instruments with the * are used in the orchestra the most often.
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Woodwind Family

The sound is produced by:
1. the air vibrating
2. the reed or reeds vibrating

Short + narrow bore = High sound

Long + wide bore = Low sound

Bore = diameter = distance across a circle or tube.

Not all woodwind instruments are made out of wood.
Some woodwind instruments use a reed or reeds to make a sound.

Multiphonics - playing more than one note at the same time
Trills - changing back and forth between two notes rapidly

Brass Family

Brass Instruments

Trumpet*
French Horn*
Trombone*
Tuba*
cornet
Bugle
Flugel Horn
Baritone
Conch Shell
Euphonium
Shofar
German straight trumpet
Egyptian Trumpet
Hunting Horn
Sousaphone
Sackbut

The instruments with the * are used in the orchestra the most often.
____________________________________________________________
Brass Family

The sound is produced by the player’s lips vibrating.

Short + narrow bore = High sound

Long + wide bore = Low sound

Bore = diameter = distance across a circle or tube.

Not all brass instruments are made out of brass.
Brass instruments use different size mouthpieces.
“Natural” instruments do not have valves.
Valves are used to change the length of the instrument.

Hand stop - when the player places their hand far enough into the bell of the instrument that the sound is dramatically changed