How John Williams Writes a Theme (We Wrote 5 to Prove It)

[00:00:00]This video was going to be something else entirely. We were going to cover some of the top John Williams regressions of all time. But after listening to some of his absolute classics, we soon figured that he just doesn't ride that way. And then something clicked. We found a pattern to the way he composes his music. We realized that a lot of his themes have a certain structure to them or a formula, you could call it that. There's often a static A part with a pedal tone, then followed by a B part with complex devices. There's more to it, of course, but that's the essence of it. A perfect balance of simple and complex. And just to show you that this works, I created five classic John William styles using this simple principle. We tried our best to keep it condensed and that's why this video is mostly going to be about the harmony. So, let's start with the first example. Let's start with something broad.

[00:01:16]So, we've established that it's important to have a pedal tone. What is a pedal tone? A pedotone is just a simple held note in any register. For our musical examples, we're going to be using a low register pedal tone. More specifically, we're going to be using a tonic. What that does to the music is something interesting. It kind of grounds the music, you know, and it makes anything that happens on top feel quite static, almost as if we only have one chord happening at all times. So, the music went like this.

[00:02:11]So, there's not much going on contentwise for the first four bars, and that's exactly the way we want it, you know, but we've got a couple of little signature John Williams sounds there. We've got the suspension, right, with this E flat over B flat. So, four over one. And then we've got the major 7 chord at the end, which is also a sound he likes to use a lot. The more interesting part of the progression though is the second half. So the B part of the theme, we could call it that. So right after that B flat pedal tone, we go straight into chord six.

[00:02:59]So we're picking up pace. You know, the harmonic rhythm feels faster. Although it isn't. It feels faster because we don't have that pedal to ground in the music anymore. The second chord there is not necessarily what you might expect. I feel like probably most people would default to just a plain regular F major, which is fine, absolutely fine.

[00:03:26]And it is something that John Williams would do as well. But often times John Williams likes to go for the not so obvious choice. So six 3 4 1.

[00:03:43]And what happens here, you know, after these four chords is, you know, the cool part really is the part where John Williams often times likes to hit you with the unexpected chord there. And this is just to grab your attention for a brief moment. He often times likes to establish a very simple idea and then just kind of bring it outside to grab your attention and then bring it back home. What I did here, G flat major 7 chords. We established before that he likes to use major 7 chords a lot. This chord might seem a bit random. How did I even come up with that? And the truth is there isn't a straightforward way to explain this with conventional harmony.

[00:04:35]But the closest the closest thing to it would be a concept called pivot point modulation which sounds like a really fancy kind of thing but the concept is actually quite simple. So let me try and explain this in simple terms. So basically any melody note could be a chord tone. A chord tone is just a note that's part of a chord. If we closely inspect each of the notes that we've got in the melody, you'll see that we've got so many more alternatives that aren't immediately obvious. Like for example, the note F could be many things. Could be the fifth of B flat, could be the tonic of F, could be the ninth of E flat, and so on and so forth. The further we go from B flat major, the more interesting options we get. I decided to go, for example, with the major 7th of G flat.

[00:05:47]Why did I pick that chord specifically and not something else? There isn't a particular reason other than I like that chord. And we established that John Williams likes major 7 chords as well.

[00:05:59]And this note is a pivot that allows us to basically enter the key of G flat.

[00:06:07]That's it. So we went from G minor, B flat major 7, holding that G flat.

[00:06:24]So we Okay, so we've got a couple more pivots there. The first couple of chords are actually quite simple. Chord one in G flat, then chord five over its third, of course. And then what's what happens here is chord four, just a B major, but I decided to put a different note in the bass there. We're creating again a major 7 chord. And then for the last note, we land on F again. So I saw that as an opportunity to create an F major chord that allows us to modulate back to the key of B flat major. So, it sounds like this.

[00:07:08]I hope that made at least a little bit of sense. I know I went pretty fast, but don't worry, we're going to drill the formula with a few other styles as well.

[00:07:20]So, next in line is going to be something different, something soaring.

[00:07:42]Right. So, a bit of a change of pace here. We went for something a little bit more active. You can find music like this in a lot of cues from Jurassic Park, ET, you know, all over it works.

[00:07:55]This music was similar in a lot of ways to the previous one. It was major, of course. So, we're in the key of C major.

[00:08:04]And if we look at the first four bars, we literally only have suspended chords, which goes without saying, you know, they go perfectly with just a low C pedal tone.

[00:08:18]And if we look at the melody, you'll see that it's pretty much non-committal as well. So we create this suspended sort of vibe.

[00:08:35]The more interesting bit comes right after this. So we start with this chord which we talked about before. We basically go to chord four again, but um instead of playing like a plain regular all, you know, F major, we put the third on the bass and the ninth as well. So it kind of becomes a little bit more Williams is just a tiny bit more interesting. And then we have some borrowed chords, which are basically chords taken from a parallel key. Sounds like this.

[00:09:21]Right. So, let's break it down. We land on an A flat major, which comes from C minor. Remember, we're in the key of C major. So, there's a quick modal interchange there. Then we have a D major, right? Which comes from C Lydian. So it's the second degree of C major. Then we end on a B flat major 7 which is chord seven and comes from C mixelyolyian. So that's one way to see it. But realistically the way you'd come up with this sort of progression you know that feels very lively very very active is by just doing very little with your hands by is by having very economical movements. So if we go from the first chord which was that F major right in in first inversion you see that I'm moving very little and there's almost always a common tone in this case being the note C.

[00:10:23]And then on the next one there's a touch more movement. And then on the last one we use that A and the D of course as a pivot. We could also see it that way right.

[00:10:35]And of course, if you want to make it more williamsy, you can add major 7s to all of these chords. So that was it.

[00:10:44]Suspended chords followed by a quick chain of borrowed chords, model interchanges, pivots, call them whatever, whichever way you like. It's just a matter of semantics really. So next in line, let's try something uh a bit different. Let's do something Marchie Allah Indiana Jones. Just a quick note, if you don't know us, Master the Score is an online course platform and we currently have a huge summer sale. These are for anyone who wants to grow as a composer, giving you a broad skill set that transfers to any genre.

[00:11:20]Our courses range from the basics of composition, orchestration, even building piano chops to full-on orchestral cinematic production, including making mockups, mixing and template creation. Basically, anything that's key to being a composer today.

[00:11:37]We've got styles as well, anime music, John Williams and classic films course, my own course, and up to modern sound design and trailer music. When you buy a course, you get immediate access to our active community where you can build contacts with upcoming composers, professionals, ask questions, get feedback from our tutors, and share your own work with everyone. And if that wasn't enough, we've got exclusive discounts as well from many plugins and sample library developers like Cinematic Studio Series or Sin Samples, just to mention a few. Once again, 40% off all courses up to the 23rd of July. Links below. Back to the video. So, next in line, let's try something uh a bit different. Let's do something March Allah Indiana Jones.

[00:12:45]I wanted to play you this one next because it's remarkably similar to the previous one. It does a lot of the same stuff. Um we we start with the suspended chords just like the previous example.

[00:12:57]Of course, we have this now in the key of G.

[00:13:04]And then for the second half of the first half of the progression, we just have a couple of quick changes there. So we have a quick model interchange going to the key of the relative minor key.

[00:13:19]So 6 7 1. I did this just to show you that you can basically do whatever you like as long as you keep the pedal tone really. But then the cool part comes.

[00:13:37]So a couple of borrowed chords followed by, you know, C major. So back to the home key. There's multiple ways to see this.

[00:13:46]We we've said it many times now. But if we want to relay everything back to G, the closest match for these two chords, you know, F minor 7 and A flat major 7, these two chords would come from the Fian dominant scale, which sounds scary, but just realistically it's just a scale. It's just a term, you know, and it's that classic, you know, Hollywood sound.

[00:14:17]kind of sounds like Lawrence of Arabia a little bit which is not John Williams.

[00:14:22]Again, it's just a fancy term. Don't worry about it. You know, you can post the screen right now if you want to get the formula, but just so you know, you don't have to you don't have to know the ins and outs of everything to do the same movements to do the same tricks.

[00:14:37]So, F minor 7, A flat major 7, C major, and what happens next is the same move we had before.

[00:14:48]But again, we're in this John Williams kind of environment right now. So, the cheapest way to make it sound more like him would be adding a bunch of major 7s.

[00:15:03]That's it for this example. I just want to prove to you that this method works across all styles. So, let's try something completely different.

[00:15:35]If you're familiar with John Williams music, you might have recognized the style. You know, you can find a lot of cues that sound similar to this one in uh scores like Home Alone or The Terminal, just to mention a few. And obviously, it's a little bit simpler than the previous examples. There are a couple of neat little tricks here and there that are definitely worth talking about. And I think for this particular one, it might be interesting to look at the MIDI. Here's my project. I like to work in logic as you can see. And for this particular example, all of the accompaniment is in the string. Sounds like this.

[00:16:30]Right off the bat, you can see it's pretty simple. It's just a pedal tone of G held by the bases and the cellos. And on top we have some chromatic planing.

[00:16:42]What is that? Chromatic planing simply means moving a chord structure up or down chromatically. If we mute the tremolo on the second violin for a second, you can see that this is exactly what is happening on violin one and violas. It's basically just a G minor triad moving up and down.

[00:17:11]And for the melody, we have that on clarinets and Celeste. But let's focus on clarinets for a second. You can see that they're basically reefing up and down the scale. Again, using some chromaticism as well, using some notes that are not part of the key, and they're harmonized in thirds at times.

[00:17:42]And that together with the strings is what gives it that quirky sound, you know, the chromaticisms and the harmony.

[00:17:48]Super duper simple, right? Just the same principle as the other examples, but with slightly different harmonic devices. Let's now have a look at the second half which is where the more interesting things happen. We basically have a direct modulation and this progression becomes now a 1 145 in C minor with a little passing chord in the middle. I I'll show you how it sounds like. 1 4 5 and then that little extra chord at the end, the you know the chromatic quirkiness, you know, is not directly related to C minor in any ways. From that point, we go back to C minor with a one five and a little passing chord in between.

[00:18:43]You recognize the sound, right?

[00:18:47]Let's play it again. 1 6 minor five. And at this point, we have a secondary dominant. It's a device we haven't talked about before, but in simple terms, it's just creating a 51 cadence to bring us back to the home key. So D major and back to G minor. So let's play the whole B section again.

[00:19:30]Right. I hope that made sense. Let's do one more. Let's do something that sounds like Star Wars.

[00:19:56]That was in a lot of ways similar to the quirky one, right? And I think for this one, I want to show you the MIDI as well. At least for the first half of the piece, we're in a minor key again with the accompaniment on strings. And let's have a listen.

[00:20:22]That's it. I wanted to show you the MIDI just because visually you can clearly see what happens here. We basically have a pedal tone held by bases and cellos and the rest on violins and vias that alternate between a B flat minor and a G flat minor. I'm going to switch to piano really quick just to show you the voice leading. This is just a plain regular B flat minor and it shares one note with a chord G flat, that being the note D flat. And what I ended up doing as well was creating a little bit of dissonance, a little bit of crunch by keeping the note B flat on top, which is the major third of the chord. So we basically create a major minor chord, but it doesn't really register that way to the ear when you add the strings. Let's switch back to the media and highlight it there.

[00:21:18]So it's this part we were talking about.

[00:21:20]We have that semmit tone crunch. And of course, it's the same note that we have on the bass as well. It's just a cool little trick to create tension. Yeah.

[00:21:29]Right. Now, the interesting bits, the second half of the progression. This is where it gets complex. Like all of the other examples, we could see it from a couple of different angles. It's either as a direct modulation to E flat, which is the first chord, or a direct modulation to A flat. I like to see it in a flat because it's the last chord, you know, and it's the one that kind of gives a sense of resolution, but neither angle is perfect in the sense that we've we've got extra chords. We basically start with chord five minor, right? E flat.

[00:22:18]Then we've got the flat six uh with a third on the bass. And note how this is basically just one note away from a flat.

[00:22:31]At this point, we have a 51 cadence, right? E major to a major.

[00:22:37]Look at how smooth this motion is. It kind of reinforces the idea that, you know, voice leading and just economical movement in general is the more important asset to create these kinds of vibes. And then from this A minor, we resolve down a semmit tone with a triton substitution.

[00:23:01]My god, I'm so sorry. I know this sounds like a lot. to a flat minor, but we put the fifth on the bass just to create a bit of extra tension. Is it really a triton substitution here? In my opinion, it doesn't matter. You know, it's just a flat. It's just a flat second really.

[00:23:18]It's that frigian kind of sound, right, that we had before. And at this point with a flat over E flat, you know, we go up a step with the same kind of chord structure with B flat minor over F.

[00:23:35]Create a five and then one back to B flat. So that was a lot. I'm sorry about that. Once again, I want to reinforce the concept that that what's important here is the economical movement and the voice leading. So, let's play the whole passage one more time. We're going to put the Roman numerals on screen, but look for the economical movement and see how smoothly we move from one chord to the next using melody and voice leading as well. So, I'm going to play it slowly.

[00:24:24]Right. And something something to be mentioned as well is the rhythmic cell we're using here right at this point.

[00:24:39]So that's an extra element that allows us to move freely between these changes.

[00:24:44]the you know the rhythmic cell is quite literally the same. So it kind of adds a bit of glue to the progression. That's it. At its core the concept is really quite simple but we did use a lot of devices to create development. And I just want to reiterate once more that you don't have to know the ins and outs of everything to be able to use a particular device, you know, but if at any point during this video you felt like you really like something, of course, feel very free to go down a rabbit hole and just do your own experiments and studies is definitely worth it. That's everything for now. I hope you enjoyed the video and be sure to check out our website if you want to get the MIDI file or more information about our courses. Thank you very much for watching and I'll see you on the next one.