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WorksheetsJohn Williams- His Creative Process
Total questions: 10
Worksheet time: 5mins
In what year was the first piece for Star Wars: A New Hope conducted and recorded according to John
Williams? (0:56)
1989
1976
1989
2000
The first day Star Wars music was recorded, a trumpet player, Maurice Murphy was admitted to what
major orchestra, having had to jump right in and play that opening high C? (1:44)
Chicago Symphony Orchestra
Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra
London Symphony Orchestra
Boston Pops
Instead of reading a script to create themes for the movie’s soundtrack, John Williams would rather do
what? (2:30)
Look at the actual film
Listen to the director of the film
Listen to other recordings
Draw the story by hand
What is John William’s process when he composes music? (2:48-3:40)
He uses the composing program called Finale to write his music on the computer after going to
the piano first
He goes to the piano to play the music and writes it by hand, scene by scene
He gets his ideas for the music by taking long walks and then writes it down
He plays his ideas on his violin first and then writes it down by hand
John Williams talks about how his themes have changed with the characters’ stories from Episode 7 to
Episode 9. How does he say Rey’s theme changes, once the “child” character of the trilogy? (3:53-4:45)
He treats the theme in the orchestra in a more “grown up way” by increasing the tempo, dynamics, and percussive elements, no longer simply presented
He creates a new theme with similar elements to portray the character’s change throughout the
movies
The theme is inverted from the original theme and other orchestral elements are added
The theme is presented much louder and faster in the same key and tempo as before
How does John Williams change the theme of Kylo Ren to help symbolize his character change in the
movie? (5:10-5:50)
He changes the theme to the major key, giving it a more heroic theme.
He turns Kylo Ren’s theme around by reharmonizing it within the orchestra, giving it a more heroic theme.
He increases the tempo of the original Kylo Ren theme to give it a more heroic sound.
He adds a significant key change in the middle of the theme to symbolize the character’s
transformation.
According to John Williams, the Emperor’s theme is a motif meaning what? (6:02)
a mini crescendo
a repeat of the same theme
a musical phrase
a short theme
How does John Williams compose the music for the lifting of the X-Wing (ship) in The Rise of
Skywalker? (7:57)
He takes the original scene from The Empire Strikes Back and adds Luke’s theme to it
He went back to the score of The Return of the Jedi to get the exact measures for the music making it the same music from before.
He went back to the score of The Empire Strikes Back to get the exact measures for the music making it the same music from before.
He uses the Force theme and changes the key to give it a bright and uplifting feeling.
What two instruments do you mainly hear play the melody of Princess Leia’s (Carrie’s) theme? (8:36,
8:54)
Trumpet and violin
Flute and cello
Clarinet and bassoon
Trombone and string bass
After watching the video, the music for Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker was most likely performed
where? (whole video)
A concert hall in front of a live audience
On the set of the movie
In a big recording studio in front of the cast and crew
At a local high school
