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John Williams

John Williams. By Michael Tu. Biography. Born on February 8, 1932 Full Name is John Towner Williams Family would later move to Los Angeles, California in 1948. His father was a jazz percussionist that played with the Raymond Scott Quintet.

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John Williams

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  1. John Williams By Michael Tu

  2. Biography • Born on February 8, 1932 • Full Name is John Towner Williams • Family would later move to Los Angeles, California in 1948. • His father was a jazz percussionist that played with the Raymond Scott Quintet.

  3. Would learn from Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco while attending UCLA. • Was drafted by the U.S. Air Force in 1952. • Conducted and arranged music for the Air Force Band. • Term of service with the Air Force ended in 1955.

  4. Williams would attend the Julliard School in New York City after his service. • While there, he would study piano with Rosina Lhévinne. • While attending school, Williams worked as a jazz pianist for several clubs.

  5. Worked as a music arranger and bandleader for Frankie Laine. • After Julliard, Williams moved back to LA to work as an orchestrator and pianist at various film studios. • First major composition was for the movie Daddy-O in 1958.

  6. Williams would later composed over ninety motion pictures, including: • Jaws, the Star Wars series, Superman, Indiana Jones series, E.E., Home Alone, Jurassic Park, and the first three Harry Potter movies.

  7. Williams also composed themes for some television series and the Olympics. • Williams also composed and conducted concerts. • Was the Principal Conductor of the Boston Pops Orchestra from 1980 to 1993.

  8. Became the Laureate Conductor of the Pops after retiring from his previous position. • Some concerts he wrote includes: a cello concerto for Yo-Yo Ma, a concerto for horn for Dale Clevenge, “The Five Sacred Trees”, for Judith LeClair, and a concerto for clarinet for Michael Zukovsky.

  9. Williams also worked with the London Symphony Orchestra, the Cleveland Orchestra, the New York Philharmonic, and the Boston Symphony Orchestra. • Was married twice. • Married his first wife, Barbara Ruick, in 1956.

  10. The two had three children together: Jennifer, Mark, and Joseph. • Barbara tragically died in 1974 due to cerebral hemorrhage. • Williams would eventually remarry in 1980 to Samantha Winslow.

  11. History • Jaws was released in theaters on June 20, 1975. • Jaws became the first motion picture in the US to gross $100 million in the box office. • Would eventually reach $470.7 million world wide.

  12. Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope was originally released in theaters on May 25, 1977. • Grossed $775.4 million.

  13. Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark was released in theaters on June 12, 1981. • Grossed $384.1 million.

  14. Those three movies garnered many accolades. • Jaws was a Golden Globe, BAFTA and Oscar winner. • Episode IV was an Oscar, Golden Globe & BAFTA winner. • While Raiders of the Lost Ark was an Oscar and Grammy nominated.

  15. Listening Guide • Jaws theme • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E-sX2Y0W8l0&feature=related • 0:16 – song starts, beginning is being played by some woodwind/brass and string instruments. • 0:37 – pace quickens, building in intensity; plays a melody that’ll be repeated many times in the song • 0:43 – percussion instruments are added in the mix • 1:17 – song builds to a crescendo, then the previous melody takes a backseat and a new melody is added to the mix • 1:47 – previous melody comes back to the front • 2:00 – melody goes into another crescendo and again goes into the background while a new melody surfaces • 2:16 – crescendo builds up one last time • 2:50 – song ends

  16. Star Wars theme • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4rQSJDLM8ZE&feature=related • 0:03 – song starts with a medley of instruments from string, percussion, and brass family starts playing; plays the main melody • 0:50 – main melody repeats • 1:05 – pace quickens before it slows down to almost a stop • 1:30 – a singular flute plays a small solo before the other instruments begin to play again; tempo quickens • 2:00 – a darker, oppressive feeling melody is played followed something that sounds more joyous and free; main melody is played again • 2:12 – melody gets a lot faster and sounds hurried • 2:19 – main melody is played again • 3:07 – song comes to a slow crawl once again; tempo is slow • 3:45 – pace is quickened and the main melody is being played again • 4:50 – melody changes, making its way to the conclusion • 5:30 – song ends

  17. Indiana Jones theme • www.youtube.com/watch?v=4rQSJDLM8ZE&feature=related • 0:02 – song starts with the brass family, begins with the iconic fanfare (main melody); string and percussion instruments are also used • 0:39 – brass instruments dies down and strings take center stage with percussion backing up • 0:55 – brass instruments comes back • 1:22 - and leads back into the main melody • 1:38 – transition into main melody gets a little bit airy sounding • 2:10 – fanfare dies down and a more somber tone begin to play; tone is softer and less rushed. • 3:35 – tone becomes more livelier and tempo picks up a bit, with the familiar melody starting in the background • 4:01 – old melody comes back into the forefront • 5:09 – song ends

  18. Sources • http://web.archive.org/web/20071012155709/http://sonyclassical.com/artists/williams_composer/adbio.html • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_compositions_by_John_Williams • http://www.last.fm/music/John+Williams/+images?page=1 • http://www.dlwaldron.com/JohnWilliamsbio.html • http://mahawa.jw-music.net/family.htm

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