TROS 28: Harmonic Secret Sauce (with Dennis Hamm)

THE RISE OF SKYWALKER
Written By Chrysanthe Tan

We're fully in the credits for minutes 136-140 of The Rise of Skywalker! Jazz pianist Dennis Hamm returns to the show to break down some of John Williams's harmonic tricks. We talk about mysterious scale degrees, modal interchanges, tritone substitutions, Neo-Riemannian theory, and how nearly everything relates back to bright and dark flips between major and minor.

Timestamps:

  • 0:00 - Hello there!

  • 6:32 - Dark chromaticism in the Imperial March.

  • 18:05 - Rey's (aggressively diatonic) theme.

  • 19:10 - Minor 4 in a major key (I-iv). Leia, Han and Leia, The Beatles.

  • 21:33 - Luke and Leia's theme has all of Williams's harmonic secret sauce

  • 22:00 - Flat 2 chord over 1 or 5.

  • 23:53 - Scale degrees that convey mystery, the unknown, the supernatural: flat 2, flat 5, flat 6.

  • 27:45 - Harmony Emotions Study.

  • 33:36 - Neo-Riemannian theory. Relative moves yielding substitute chords (ex. Am for C, Ebm for Cdim).

  • 41:32 - Anthem of Evil/Psalm of the Sith.

  • 47:24 - Victory Theme and other instances of the flat 2 chord over 5 (Yoda, Obi-Wan, Luke and Leia).

  • 54:02 - Lydian of it all.

  • 56:15 - Tritone substitutions.

  • 1:02:26 - Friendship theme. Effective use of bright to dark flips, modal interchange, chromatic mediant, alternate bass notes.

  • 1:08:00 - Main theme. Modal interchange (ex. Fm instead of F in the key of Bb Major). Chromatic mediants (ex. Db in an F Major world)

  • 1:13:10 - Composers that have grabbed just a couple of John Williams tricks and then always use those.

  • 1:15:48 - Phrygian, harmonic minor, harmonic major, melodic major scales.

  • 1:20:33 - Concept of music theory stemming from comparisons between majorness and minorness (bright and dark) and how they impact the tonic key.

  • 1:26:48 - Rebel Fanfare. Octatonic diminished scale. Jazz voicings. Bluesy melodic phrase. Dark but also heroic (another harmonic flip).

  • 1:37:32 - Williams's Olympic Fanfare (doing the Rebel Fanfare a bunch).

  • 1:46:40 - Classical-jazz mashup.

  • 1:50:39 - SWMM Questionnaire

Things to Check Out:

Musical Themes:

  • 10a. Imperial March (Theme)

  • 24) Imperial March Vamp

  • 46a. Rey B (Chimes)

  • 45a. Rey A (Theme A-Phrase)

  • 46b. Rey C (Galop)

  • 58. Victory

  • 1a. Main Theme (A Section)

  • 1b. Main Theme (B Section)

  • 2. Rebel Fanfare

  • 4) Martial Rhythm

  • 18) Descending Heroic Tetrachords

Where are we in the soundtrack?:

  • OST 19. "Finale" 

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STAR WARS MUSIC MINUTE QUESTIONNAIRE:

1. In exactly 3 words, what does Star Wars sound like?

  • TROS answer: Enigma. Adventure. Epic.

  • ESB answer: Adventure. Mysticism. Justice.

2. What's something related to Star Wars music or sound that you want to learn more about?

  • TROS answer: I would love to talk to John Williams and hear more about all these things I've been speculating (where his head was at, is he more in the jazz piano mindset, etc).

  • ESB answer: Which specific classical composers John Williams borrowed from harmonically (and how, specifically).

3. What's a score or soundtrack you're fond of besides anything Star Wars?

  • TROS answer: E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (composed by John Williams)

  • ESB answer: The Last Starfighter (composed by Craig Safan)

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Guest: Dennis Hamm 

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Chrysanthe Tan

Composer / Violinist

www.chrysanthetan.com
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TROS 29: Rise of Skywalker Music and Sound Crew
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TROS 27: The Poetic Ending (with Frank Lehman)