The Bearded Trio

John Williams.  His music is instantly recognisable and some more than others.  Here are seven movies that every one will instantly recognise thanks to the maestro, John Williams 1 - Star Wars It's one of the biggest franchises in the world and has been since it exploded on to the big screen back in 1977 and of course it needed a soundtrack to compliment the excitement on screen and Williams didn't disappoint.  In fact, when George Lucas heard the soundtrack for the first time during the making of A New Hope, the director said that the music was one of the few elements that exceeded his expectations. 2 - Indiana Jones Adventure!  That's the emotion the theme to Indiana Jones evokes.  Thanks to Steven Spielberg we get two for the price of one in the signature piece.  When John Williams was writing the music he went to Steven with two versions for the melody.  Spielberg asked "can't you use both?"   So he did and we get the familiar tu...

Daniel Dudych asks where have all the physical versions of soundtracks gone?    Being an avid Star Wars collector, I like to collect anything SW-related that suits my fancy, and one of those things is the soundtracks, I have them from all the films, but why have they never released the soundtracks to “Clone Wars”, “Rebels” and “The Mandalorian”? Looking on Amazon, they have the “Rebels” CDs, but they are all imports from the UK. You can get the music from “The Mandalorian” on Amazon Unlimited, but that’s a monthly subscription service, or you can buy MP3’s of Episodes 1,2,3,4,5,6, & 8 for $8.99, and Episode 7 for $7.99 (why is this one less??), that comes out to $70.92 if you want to buy all the music from Season 1. I can still get the soundtrack for the “Clone Wars” movie, but the music Amazon has for the series is again, an import…and look at the price??? Is it personally delivered to your house by Ewan McGregor, Natalie Portman, and Hayden Christensen?   ...

What is the John Williams Moment? I can safely say that John Williams and his wonderful, his magical, his sublime music has been with me every single day since I walked out of that cinema having watched Star Wars for the first time in 1977. For four decades I have amassed some truly magical music moments thanks to the master, but every now and then you get what I call a John Williams moment that if you’re lucky will stay with you for the rest of your life. What is the John Williams moment? Well, let me try to explain. You know when you smell a certain food and it instantly reminds you of another time in your life? Perhaps it’s the smell of toast in the morning that takes you back to your mother cooking you breakfast before heading out to school. Or maybe it’s not a smell. Perhaps it’s a special place that you had fond memories of and when you visit it brings a smile to your face. Well, for me there are certain tracks from the vast soundtrack collection of John Williams t...

This Top 30 Is A Huge Surprise! We were sent this news story today and just had to share because I find it rather unusual.  According to a poll by Scala Radio , they asked 2000 adults what their favourite score is and unusually War Horse came out top!  Don't get me wrong the John Williams soundtrack is a beautiful piece of work (Dartmoor, 1912 is simply sublime) and listen to it often but would it be my number one?  What's more, The Book Thief also by John Williams made the top thirty.  Am I being too harsh here? Now, they do say they have (oddly) excluded franchises and sequels (even though Marvel films are allowed) and it's limited to releases in the last ten years but still the results are a genuine surprise to me, here's the full press release for your enjoyment: War Horse. Despite having lost out on both the Oscar and Golden Globe for Best Original Score to ‘The Artist’ in 2012, the 2011 movie’s music is considered the best among film fans. A tenth of th...

Late For Work Or Being Chased Because You've Stolen The Declaration Of Independence?  These Soundtracks Are Perfect To Listen To As You Zip Through The Traffic From the world of movies and TV here are ten pieces of soundtrack music I think you should listen to during rush hour. So if you're in your car driving to work or walking through crowds of people block after block then the following music will fit the setting and help you beat the traffic. Just don't speed. The Chase, Hans Zimmer - The Rock Using his signature drum and base beat the track starts slow but builds into a frantic fast moving track that would be ideal moving between traffic. Just don't chase any Hummers through the streets of San Francisco. Rush Hour, Mark Macina - Speed Couldn't have a rush hour playlist without at least one from the movie Speed and its called Rush Hour. Like The Chase this uses a fast tempo and builds tension and brings a sense of urgency. Perfect if you are late for ...

John Williams Christmas Music To Enjoy This Christmas Eve T'was the night before Christmas (well almost) and all was quiet. Let's rectify that and make it even more like Christmas with ten tracks by John Williams. Merry Christmas. Lets start with a classic from the movie, Home Alone. We'll return to Home Alone later. Next up it's a real treat. John Williams conducting Sleigh Ride with the excellent Boston Pops. Over to Home Alone 2 now with Christmas at Carnegie Hall. All aboard the Hogwarts express now as we head to the magical land of Harry Potter for Christmas, floating candles and all. Staying within the Harry Potter universe we have this wonderfully majestic piece from The Chamber of Secrets. Has a magical Christmas feel.  You can read more about Fawkes the Phoenix in my other blog post -  Winding Down With Williams - Fawkes The Phoenix Back to Home Alone now. We couldn't do a John Williams Christmas list without this  Finally lets have ...

From the world of movies and TV here are ten pieces of soundtrack music I think you should listen to during rush hour. So if you're in your car driving to work or walking through crowds of people block after block then the following music will fit the setting and help you beat the traffic. Just don't speed. The Chase, Hans Zimmer - The Rock Using his signature drum and base beat the track starts slow but builds into a frantic fast moving track that would be ideal moving between traffic. Just don't chase any Hummers through the streets of San Francisco. Rush Hour, Mark Macina - Speed Couldn't have a rush hour playlist without at least one from the movie Speed and its called Rush Hour. Like The Chase this uses a fast tempo and builds tension and brings a sense of urgency. Perfect if you are late for work. London Chase, Trevor Rabin - National Treasure 2 This has the fastest beat of the entries so far and is a perfect piece of music to go with a chase sc...

O ne of the things people remember the most about a movie is its musical score. There are so many films that have become memorable just because of their musical score. The great composer John Williams has produced scores which we’ve all memorized whether we know it or not. This includes scores from the Indiana Jones movies, the Star Wars movies, Jaws, and so many others. A few years ago, Williams did the musical composition for Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens. Although the score was quite impressive, everyone seems to still refer back to the musical scores of the original Star Wars trilogy. It has been hard for composers over the last 10 years to leave a lasting effect on audiences to where they remember the musical scores after they see the film. That is why the most trending musical scores come from musicals themselves. Films, like La La Land, have a variety of musical scores in which people can remember because they get to see the actors singing and/or dancing to the b...

Having been learning music theory with a view to composing, I get a real kick out of taking the concepts I've encountered and link ing them back to my favourite scores by John Williams. So, here's a look at a few (fairly basic) musical ideas under the hood of some of the scores we all love. By Sanj Krishnan MASTERS OF SIX Some of Williams's most memorable themes are his romantic ones -- themes written to underscore a cinematic love affair, or a character who represents a film's romantic quality. Three of the best-loved such themes share something in common--a major sixth interval.  For a quick primer on intervals, here's a scale (of D major, as I'll be using that for examples below).  We start with D (treated as '1') and then, re lative to that D, each successive note up the scale is an interval . So A is the '5th', and C-sharp a major 7th. (Were the C not sharpened, it'd be a minor 7th).  Here's the f...

StarWars.com has announced the release date for the soundtrack for Star Wars: The Force Awakens , by legendary composer (and member of The Bearded Trio!) John Williams. StarWars.com is thrilled to announce that Williams’ soundtrack for Star Wars: The Force Awakens will hit stores on December 18, the same day as the movie’s release, and is now available for pre-order . Williams’ stirring, romantic compositions are a key component of the Star Wars saga, and among the most well-known music in film history. With new characters, worlds, and surprises on the horizon, the legacy of powerful, moving Star Wars music continues. I do not see a track listing on the pre-order page, so we should be safe from spoilers. Source: StarWars.com The Bearded Trio - The Site For Steven Spielberg, George Lucas and John Williams THE BEARDED TRIO ON FACEBOOK THE BEARDED TRIO ON TWITTER THE BEARDED TRIO ON GOOGLE+ THE BEARDED TRIO ON PINTEREST CLICK HERE FOR FACTS ON STEVEN SPIELBERG CLI...