Musical Superman (A Tribute to John Williams)

A theme I wrote in tribute to John Williams. One of the best, if not the best, film composer I've ever listened to.

SoundClick artist: Dan Wesley - Film Music Composer...

WELCOME TO YOUNG COMPOSERS!!!!!!

ahem...sorry for the outburst lol :)

i enjoyed your piece very much, the piano was soothing and the orchestra was very heroic. the only thing i didnt like was that i think you over-used the symbal crash, but that is an opinion and im sure plenty of people would disagree with me. cheers and keep composing!

correction: welcome BACK to young composers lolol:D

Danny

John Williams is a great composer. This is a very nice tribute to his wonderful music.

Ron

thatguy...the only thing i didnt like was that i think you over-used the symbal crash

I thought I might have been going a bit overboard. However these are things to remember for next time.

correction: welcome BACK to young composers lolol:D

Ya, I'm a bit of an off and on composer, due to time constraints.

However I do enjoy it a lot, and hope to keep it up.

Danny

John Williams is a great composer. This is a very nice tribute to his wonderful music.

Ron

Thanks Ron, I'm glad you liked it.

And thank you both for the comments! :thumbsup:

John Williams is a genius. :) I've heard many people say that he steals other's music but as far as what I've listened to by him, I don't here any plagiarized material.

Beautiful tribute!

Wonderful thematic material! I love the melody and orchestration... It would sound perfect if performed by a live orchestra! The only thing I found a little "not to my taste" was the piano intro, it introduced your wonderful theme, but I found it sounded a little shallow. The only other critique I have is the solo violin sample, I personally felt it took away from the depth of the piece. Still though, great work, keep it up!

Johnwilliamsfan (A mutual believer in the greatest composer the world has ever known. John Williams.)

Haha I do like John Williams a lot but for those who dont think he steals listen to Dvorak's 9th (New World Symphony) and listen to the beginning of movement 4 then listen to JAWS hahahah..but i do agree that he is great for film music, symphonic works i disagree

John Williams is a genius. :) I've heard many people say that he steals other's music but as far as what I've listened to by him, I don't here any plagiarized material.

Beautiful tribute!

It depends on what you define as plagiarism. John Williams is great at what he does and I really enjoy his film scores and orchestration, but he's not exactly the most innovative composer out there. :P His plagiarism isn't direct, but he does imitate styles for a certain effect, often basing it on the temp track made of previously written/recorded orchestral music. I hear lots of Holst's "Mars" in the beginning of the Star Wars soundtrack. But then again, this isn't really different from any other film composers. :)

Back on topic ;)...

I like the piece. I can definitely hear the Williams influence. Great theme. You might want to shorten up the piano intro. It gets a little monotonous after the first 20 seconds or so.

Johnwilliamsfan...The only thing I found a little "not to my taste" was the piano intro, it introduced your wonderful theme, but I found it sounded a little shallow.

I added the piano as a last minute thing, it was kind of a nod to his Jurassic Park score. (This includes the ending)

The other thing I did, which was a first, was write the theme out on the piano and then orchestrate it in Finale (Usually I write everything on Finale)

This was because I know Williams write by hand with piano, which I think is pretty cool.

P.J. Meiser...I like the piece. I can definitely hear the Williams influence. Great theme. You might want to shorten up the piano intro. It gets a little monotonous after the first 20 seconds or so.

Thanks. I agree the piano was a bit long at the beginning, I guess I was thinking the theme was hard to follow and had to play it out more. I wish I could make my themes play out as smoothly a John Williams theme.

As for plagiarism, I think there is a lot of film composers who plagiarize more often and obviously than Williams does. And I also think that the longer music exists the more this will become. it's kind of like more and more films these days are remakes, whether their supposed to be or not.

Thanks for all the comments guys!

^I guess I can agree with that. I actually struggle with the same thing. It's hard to be original these days without delving into atonal or otherwise non-traditional styles of music.

Innovation is such a broad spectrum which mostly includes crap. John Williams didn't have to be innovative to be a genius. Or to be popular for this matter, seeing as how grand audiences aren't thrilled by any sort of new creation but rather by stuff that he knows that they don't know. To be a good composer you must first stand below all music, and claim only what is handed to you.

Even the greatest, like Mozart, were not so original. They used the equations and properties they were given to compute new varieties. These varieties are what we as the lame listener hear to be original.

Nice piece by the way.

As you comprehend music more and more, you will realize how simple the accompaniments of Williams's melodies are. Even if you have a lesser melody, then will you be able to accompany your melody with correct rhythms and counterpoint. Something that I doubt you may never be able to compute completely is harmony. Harmony is something that very few can master and I would not stress it as much because it is the tool for a genius of ripe status.