In order to be a musician or a composer, you need to dedicate time to your craft. Practise practise practise. Drill scales, learn chord progressions, expand your repertoire and your playing abilities. But you'll also need to develop a reverence for the history of the art form. Look at the works of those you admire and those who have come before you. Much like a tennis player who improves best when paired with a master. And there can be no greater than renowned maestro John Williams.
Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Harry Potter, Home Alone, Schindler's List and many many more. The scale, quality and variety of his work is extraordinary. His vast talent has been lovingly, insightfully commemorated in Disney+'s newly released documentary, aptly named "Music by John Williams".
To any fan, or aspiring composer it's an absolute must see. Letting us glimpse behind the curtain to watch John's process over his storied career. From sketching out melodies on the piano, to spotting sessions with Spielberg. (To the uninitiated a spotting session is when a composer and director watch the film together to determine where music should feature.) In a swift one hundred and five minutes, we are given exclusive access to his private archive of beautifully leather bound sheet music from his film scores, along with interviews with musicians and directors he has worked with. A testament to his iconic full orchestral sound, and championing of the style of old Hollywood film scores. Through the course of Disney's documentary we also see how much joy, humour and vulnerability is part of his identity and artistic process. It's there in his music and in the relationships he cultivates with his directors. As director J.J. Abrams remarks in the film: "he is confident enough to be vulnerable". Rather than composing in isolation, he's in communion with his directors. It's a dialogue, as they mutually find a way to get the score to serve the story.
A particular moment of the film that resonated with me is when Williams reflects on scoring Spielberg's moving masterpiece "Schindler's List". On viewing it, John Williams found himself overcome with emotion and said to Spielberg:
"Steven, this is a great great film ...
and you need a better composer than I am to do this score."
To which Spielberg, in the vein of Hans solo, replied:
"I know.
But they're all dead."
A hilarious moment, with an easily missable undercurrent of the profound. I've always taken issue with people who preach "if you want to get anywhere in life, you better learn to be a hundred percent confident in yourself." Do you really know anyone who's truly living without a form of fear or a lack of confidence? Cause I don't. Doubt and fear are part of the human condition. It is knowing that this is part of the creative process, part of life that helps you survive and endure it. This is why this was the most refreshing insight of the documentary. That someone as talented as John Williams with such an exemplary outpouring of work could be struck with doubt, was such an empowering essential message for all musicians and composers. You do not need to approach your work without fear. Fear and doubt are in fact part of the journey. In embracing them, you will give your work a vulnerability and authenticity that will allow people to connect with it in a way that may never happen if you go through life impervious to those feelings.
So whether you seek to learn something about composing for film; are yearning for ways to inspire and improve your music, or simply wish to enjoy being carried away by the iconic soundtracks of our collective childhoods, I strongly urge you to watch this documentary. Like John Williams, it's a classic.
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