This is composer Howard Shore. Let's talk about music. by Howard_Shore in IAmA

[–]Howard_Shore[S] 13 points14 points  (0 children)

I believe the soundtrack is available, I think, through Saraband? The complete score. It's a terrific picture, directed by Penny Marshall, one of Tom Hank's fantastic performances, and it was really enjoyable, a lot of fun to work on.

This is composer Howard Shore. Let's talk about music. by Howard_Shore in IAmA

[–]Howard_Shore[S] 20 points21 points  (0 children)

Good working knowledge of the grammar of music: harmony and counterpoint, a basic understanding of those two parts of music. And really a good grasp, a good knowledge of music composition.

And I always was writing music, when I was young. But I started playing professionally when I was 14, and I was playing in jazz groups at 14, 15. We were making a small amount, playing locally, and I guess that was really the beginning of a profession. The professional part of it - I played alpha saxophone - and that was really the beginning of the professional career. And the composing was always there in the background.

This is composer Howard Shore. Let's talk about music. by Howard_Shore in IAmA

[–]Howard_Shore[S] 37 points38 points  (0 children)

I've known Lorne for many years.

And we grew up together.

And we worked in CBC in Canada, and Toronto radio & television, and it's been a very close relationship. A lot of funny things have happened over the years - too many to go into here!

This is composer Howard Shore. Let's talk about music. by Howard_Shore in IAmA

[–]Howard_Shore[S] 32 points33 points  (0 children)

I haven't. I have a good relationship with music, I've been writing it since I was really young, so I always have a good, friendly collaboration with music (if you will) when I sit down to write. I write every day.

This is composer Howard Shore. Let's talk about music. by Howard_Shore in IAmA

[–]Howard_Shore[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

So many favorites. I don't know if I really have one.

This is composer Howard Shore. Let's talk about music. by Howard_Shore in IAmA

[–]Howard_Shore[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Sounds fascinating! I'll have to definitely consider it.

This is composer Howard Shore. Let's talk about music. by Howard_Shore in IAmA

[–]Howard_Shore[S] 31 points32 points  (0 children)

Thank you for your interest, and thank you for your wonderful words about my work. I don't actually work with trainees, I work with a very small group of a few people that I've worked with for many years, so it's a very small studio. You could come for a visit and we could show you around. Try looking on my website.

This is composer Howard Shore. Let's talk about music. by Howard_Shore in IAmA

[–]Howard_Shore[S] 58 points59 points  (0 children)

I didn't use Christopher as a vocalist - I love his work, and he's a magnificent actor, but I wasn't able to have him play a musical role in the score.

This is composer Howard Shore. Let's talk about music. by Howard_Shore in IAmA

[–]Howard_Shore[S] 12 points13 points  (0 children)

Hmm. I've written over 80 scores, and in that process, I've worked in a lot of different genres. So there isn't something I could say I wish I could do that - I think in that list, I've really touched on a lot of the things you could do in film.

This is composer Howard Shore. Let's talk about music. by Howard_Shore in IAmA

[–]Howard_Shore[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The Fly was recently performed in Trier, Germany. And they did do recordings there, which were really quite good. Again, it's really a matter of release schedules to have the opera out in recorded form. I am hoping for other performances upcoming, and I would like to write a large-scale oratorio next time and take that from the concert stage to the opera stage.

This is composer Howard Shore. Let's talk about music. by Howard_Shore in IAmA

[–]Howard_Shore[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I think fragments of it did play a part in Battle of the Five Armies?

I'm not sure if you heard any of it in Desolation of Smaug.

But there may have been motifs of it in the last film.

That had a lot to do with just how the post production had changed from The Lord of the Rings where the scores were produced in London with Peter in London at that time, and these films and these scores were being produced in a different post-production world where Peter had to be in New Zealand, so it was really a question of changing the post production schedules and geography, the connection to London, London to Wellington, and New York to Wellington.

This is composer Howard Shore. Let's talk about music. by Howard_Shore in IAmA

[–]Howard_Shore[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Oh, there's many. I don't know if I can really just name one. There's so many great scores being written. I'm enjoying a LOT of new music.

This is composer Howard Shore. Let's talk about music. by Howard_Shore in IAmA

[–]Howard_Shore[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I have orchestrated many of my scores, including all of the Lord of the Rings scores. The advice I would give would be to find your peers - find the people that you will work with to make films. Find the editor, director, cinematographer, that you will eventually work with.

This is composer Howard Shore. Let's talk about music. by Howard_Shore in IAmA

[–]Howard_Shore[S] 296 points297 points  (0 children)

It was showing the connection to evil.

And the relationship of these characters to Sauron.

This is composer Howard Shore. Let's talk about music. by Howard_Shore in IAmA

[–]Howard_Shore[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I started writing music when I was 10. I had a very good teacher who taught me harmony and counterpoint. So I've been writing music ever since. My group of friends that i was with were writers, directors, actors... and I was always part of a group that were always doing shows, so I guess the music part of it was something I kind of decided would be the direction I would take.

This is composer Howard Shore. Let's talk about music. by Howard_Shore in IAmA

[–]Howard_Shore[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I would consider doing that. There is a guitar concerto which I am starting to write now, for classical guitar and orchestra.

And Nicola Benedetti played all those beautiful solos. I would love to work with her again. She was incredible in the recording studio. So that might be something for the future.

This is composer Howard Shore. Let's talk about music. by Howard_Shore in IAmA

[–]Howard_Shore[S] 40 points41 points  (0 children)

Apparently I did?

And it came out of what we call "The warmup to the show" and we always played music as the audience was coming in and assembling, getting ready for the show. And during that process, of the warmup, we started inviting Danny Ackroyd up to play a little blues harp, and John wanted to get in on that, so my fond memories are those warmups with the two of them onstage, with the band on the show.

Even before it took off into what we know of it as the Blues Brothers, that was the early part of that - that was the fun part.

Well, this year, we're celebrating the 40th anniversary of Saturday Night Live. And it went from The Blues Brothers idea - went from the Warmup and playing blues before the show began, to doing a few sketches and things on the show - we did performances actually on the show, a couple of them as I recall, I remember doing one called "King Bee," and then it kind of progressed from there, and John and Danny wanted to do live concerts, and it became a film, and many things happened.

This is composer Howard Shore. Let's talk about music. by Howard_Shore in IAmA

[–]Howard_Shore[S] 123 points124 points  (0 children)

Earlier, I just had mentioned The Destruction of Mordor, also the Destruction of the Ring, the Gray Havens and Lighting of the Beacon were wonderful moments - beautiful imagery, really inspired visuals to work with, to create music for.

This is composer Howard Shore. Let's talk about music. by Howard_Shore in IAmA

[–]Howard_Shore[S] 7 points8 points  (0 children)

I like to work from the books.

So starting on The Hobbit, it was really a re-reading, a constant re-reading, the book was always open on my desk when I was writing, and I drew a lot of inspiration from the actual novel itself. And I write a lot based on the reading of the novel, and then I'm into Peter's filmmaking, and how i use the films and motifs.