star sounds
JV Explains the hidden musical signals in the films’ scores by John Villanova
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n my humble opinion, you can’t talk about Star Wars without talking about the score. Composed largely by the legend (and recent Kobe Bryant collaborator) John Williams, the music of Star Wars is in many cases as iconic as its characters and “wow” moments. If you don’t trust me, consider this quote from the Wookieepedians: “The music for the films [is] especially distinctive as it has been known to paint musical pictures of such accessibility and precision. Williams’ invaluable contribution to the tripletrilogy and story films stands as an unsurpassed feat in the history of film scoring in terms of breadth, thematicdevelopment and cultural impact.” That’s high praise, sure. But Star Wars scholars (AKA huge nerds) have connected the score to the Late Romantic period of classical composition, suggesting that Williams intentionally included nods to important composers like Richard Strauss and Igor Stravinsky throughout the films. This grounded them in a kind of sonic framework where a musical gesture—strings, horns, drums— could foretell what was coming. Williams once suggested that these connections helped the film speak become a kind of “cross-cultural myth.” These gestures are called motifs (or if you want to get really technical,
leitmotifs), and they’re the lifeblood of a film or operatic score. They tailor our viewing by acting as the types of musical cues we’ve learned through our consumption of film, TV, and even radio, emblematic of the “show-not-tell” rule of good storytelling. German composer Richard Wagner* is credited with popularizing their usage, where a particular melody or instrumental would denote the entrance of a character or an upcoming major plot development. Films of the Seventies seized upon this idea, as the dawn of the Hollywood blockbuster meant everything was bigger, including the budget for film scoring. With those budgets came composers willing to use motifs to add to the sense of drama. Jaws is the quintessential example—that two-note signal is a surefire way to create anxiety, isn’t it? Further, in the case of Star Wars, I’d argue that the score serves an even more important purpose: It gives the series a level of seriousness or gravitas it would otherwise lack. In a world where Ewoks (read: Muppets) manage to defeat the heavily-armored stormtroopers on Endor in Return of the Jedi and Jar Jar Binks somehow breathes, the series has always had to walk a tightrope between mass appeal for kids and the serious stakes of intergalactic
12 Art Department Weekly • May 4, 2019
war. The music, I’d argue, enriches and deepens the feelings of excitement, fear, and wonder that are why people return again and again to the original trilogy of films despite their age. So for this issue, I thought I’d do a kind of musical primer, unpacking some of the most important Star Wars motifs and their meaning. Star Wars Theme “Dun DUN…
Dundundunduuuun Dun.” This sad facsimile—which probably looks like a transcription of a college a cappella group’s beatbox backing track to “Let Me Clear My Throat”—is my best attempt at writing out the main Star Wars theme. You know the one I’m talking about: It plays as the credits scroll and at times of high adventure or stress. The strings swell, the bass drums bomb. This, my friends, is an intergalactic opera. There are stakes. It matters. This fanfare pops up whenever the stakes rise in that galaxy far, far away. I don’t know about you, but even after dozens of viewings, I still get goosebumps sometimes. “Imperial March” Let’s try one more phonetic exercise. “Dun dun dun dundundun dundundun. DUN DUN DUN dundundun dundundun.” This military march with snare drums and horns usually plays when Darth Vader is doing anything—
