MS Music History Composers Info

1. American Composer
John Williams

2. The Character Theme
In the Romantic era, composers like Wagner created
specific themes or melodies that stood for certain
characters. John Williams has used this idea for many
of his successful movies. For example, you know the
“Jaws” theme, or would recognize the “Indiana Jones”
theme or the “Darth Vadar” theme from Star Wars.

3. John Williams Themes
The next video includes the music from many of his theme songs. See
how many musical character ideas you recognize.

4. Movies John Williams Composed Music For
 Jaws
 E.T. the Extra Terrestrial
 Star Wars Movies
 Indiana Jones Movies
 Schindler’s List
 Harry Potter Movies
 Saving Private Ryan
 Home Alone
 The Patriot
 Lincoln
 The Patriot
 Jurassic Park
 Superman
 Schindler’s List
 and MANY others

5. Background Information
Please watch all of this interview with John
Williams
Listen for how he got started writing music, how
he got started writing for movies and tv shows,
and what his advice is for anyone interested in
composing.

6. Harry Potter
This next video has John Williams explaining what the
music ideas in the Harry Potter movies are about.

7. Indiana Jones Movie Series
The next video includes John Williams, George Lucas, Steven Spielberg,
and talks about the sound ideas that went into the Indiana Jones
movies.
Pay attention to the idea of “sync points” – these are places where the
music has to exactly fit what is happening in the film action.

8. Next you will see a video of the recording session for the “NBC Nightly
News Theme”. Notice how many of the orchestra members have a
headphone set to help them hear and give the best possible
performance. Notice the way he uses the full group at times, and then
features other instruments at other times.

9. In this interview with John Williams, he talks about all of the years
that he has worked with Steven Spielberg (movie director). He also
talks about writing main themes, and which movies are some of his
favorites.