Epicness

Movie music.

EPIC movie music.

Most of my iTunes library is made up of soundtracks for movies and musicals.

48% of my library is under "Soundtrack"
19.6% of my library is under "Broadway"
8.7% of my library is under "Classical"
5.2% of my library is under "Gospel and Religious"

The above genres each have at least 100 songs. The other 18.5% is made up of all the rest of the genres of music...each with less than 100...Alternative, Celtic, Choral, Country, Holiday, Instrumental, Jazz, Karaoke, Opera, Original, Pop, R&B, Rap, Rock, Vocal, and World.

I have a total of 2,477 songs in my iTunes library.

Why so many soundtracks? With nearly 1200 songs, it is obvious that soundtracks are my favorite thing to listen to. I don't really know why I like them so much. The soundtracks that REALLY keep me coming back are the ones that I like to describe as "epic." Funnily, these are also my favorite types of movies. I like things on an epic scale, whether it is Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, Avatar, Indiana Jones, Transformers, Inception, Star Trek, etc. Interestingly enough, there are many people who would place these movies in their favorite movie list as well. Why? EPIC.

The music sets the mood for the movie or show. A little light piano solo with a soft string ensemble is so very romantic (The Notebook), while a powerful horn section backed by rhythmic strings and a tech beat lets you know that something awesome is in store (Transformers).

It is these kinds of soundtracks that inspire me to write music. So when I listen to these scores, I always listen with a musician's ear. I am always looking for what instruments are used, which ones on the melody create what kind of mood, how are the harmonies filled out, and one of my favorite things to listen for: how are the themes used, reused, and mixed with other themes (Pirates of the Caribbean 3 is a great example of Hans Zimmer and his exposition of melodies, their development, variations, melodic mixture)?

As I acquire new soundtracks, I always attempt to recreate the style of music that is presented. Before the new millennium, the popular soundtrack music was the kind of music John Williams did. His orchestral scores usually featured trumpets and other brass instruments and the string section of the orchestra. Over the last decade, epic movie music has become very electronic, and fewer melodies, with chord changes on a synthesized beat sometimes being the most interesting part to listen to. Hans Zimmer has been probably the most influential composer to bring this change about. His most famous early works in the 1990's and even early 2000's were movies like The Lion King, Prince of Egypt, Muppet Treasure Island, Gladiator, Pearl Harbor, and Pirates of the Caribbean. In the last 5 years or so, his most epic movie music has been Batman Begins, The Dark Knight, Angels and Demons, and Inception. Very electronic. Very rhythmic. Very driving. He has been involved with almost every epic blockbuster movie in the last decade.

So a few days ago, thanks to my music electronics class, I have really begun to use GarageBand sounds to work on mixing orchestra music with electronic sounds to come up with something that is in the very style of modern epic scores. Posted below is what I came up with. My own melodies, but the background beats and bass ostenato is very traditional (of the last decade). You can hear influences of the music of Transformers, Tron, The Dark Knight, Inception, etc. As I have been working on honing my composition skills based on movie music influence, I am learning new stuff as the styles evolve. Not to say this is all that is out there. NO. This is a single genre in the genre of movie music that I love to listen to. Take Avatar, How to Train Your Dragon, Up, etc!

So enjoy listening to this piece. It starts out super soft and slowly crescendos through the first minute and a half. I have no official title for it yet, as it is very "traditional epic." Thus I simply call it "Epicness."

Comments, critiques, etc. are all welcome on my first serious attempt at mixing orchestral and electronic sounds!

Back with a Vengance

Well it has been many many months since I last posted, so I am have cleaned up my blog here and I am starting anew!

As you can see, the title of this blog has been changed to "Note Perfect." I really am bad at titles, so Becca (my wonderful girlfriend) suggested this one to me. I have a passion for music and the performing arts, and since my last post at the beginning of the fall semester, I was in 4 shows between then and Christmas. I was always rehearsing for something during the evening. I loved it! But due to all the distractions and stuff that came with being in so much, combined with my awful study habits, I have been placed on financial suspension. I lost my major academic scholarship, but after sending a letter of appeal to the financial aid office, they granted me half of it for this spring semester with the faith that I will bring my GPA up. So here I am, back at OC thanks to that letter of appeal and a few other small, fortunate happenings.

But after being cast in both the cabaret and the opera again this year, the music faculty and I thought it would be in my best interests if I didn't do any shows this spring. So while the theme of this blog IS primarily music and theater, I will have to put off all that sort of exciting news for when I am back on the stage!

Until then, I will simply blog about the other exciting things that happen in my life!

This semester is barely a week over, and the Christian College Choral Festival has already come and gone! Basically, a bunch of Christian college and university choirs got together at OC this last weekend to sing some songs for each other and then together under the direction of a very special guest conductor! Follow this link to my official OC music and theater blog to learn more! www.oc.edu/backstagepass