I’m excited to announce my second talk with the Academy of Scoring Arts this Saturday, October 5th, 10am-12pm PST (they are based in Los Angeles). This time, we’ll be discussing the opening cue of John Williams’ score for Raiders of the Lost Ark, “In the Jungle”, where Indiana Jones and a small group walk through a South American jungle in search of archeological treasure. The talk will focus on the wonderfully strange harmony in this cue as we analyze all kinds of typical chords and harmonic techniques found in his music, especially those from octatonic scales.

To attend the talk, you must be a member, but you can sign up for free on the Academy’s website. Here’s the link for the talk on the ASA’s site (to sign up with ASA, just click “Join” on the menu in the link):

https://scoringarts.com/event/john-williams-raiders-of-the-lost-ark-score-study-part-i/

Hope to see you there!

I’m excited to announce that I will be giving a virtual guest talk on harmony in John Williams’ action music. The talk is with the Academy of Scoring Arts this Sunday, Sep. 10th, from 10am-12pm Pacific Time (they’re based in L.A.). I’ll be breaking down two cues from the original Star Wars trilogy: “Attacking a Star Destroyer” from The Empire Strikes Back, and “Den of the Rancor” from Return of the Jedi. The idea is to give a sense not only of the kinds of chords Williams often uses, but also how he tends to use them in an action scene.

You must be a member to attend, but you can sign up entirely for free on the Academy’s website. Here’s the link for the talk on the ASA’s site (includes a link to sign up with ASA):

Hope to see you there!