For the four of you who might still be interested in dissecting those RIDICULOUS chords at 1:09, some of my coworkers offered up another theory for them: that John Williams simply had a cat walk across his piano, and notated the result. Until someone can offer a better explanation, this theory is officially canon for me. If you like monstrous mystery chords and mischievous musical felines, then consider becoming a member by clicking “JOIN” above. Memberships help support the channel, and grant you access to downloadable analysis PDFs, exclusive members-only analysis videos, and a complimentary ride on Hagrid’s flying motorcycle. 🐈

The more I listen to the Harry potter scores by John Williams and the more you break them down the more I appreciate William's genius. Thank so much for that.

This reduction blew my mind, because I've always felt the pulse differently in the first 8 bar! I feel the downbeat on the C (second celesta note), and I can't feel it the other way even if I try

Syncing it all with the scene itself really does help you understand not only how the music is applied to the scene, but also to what lengths masters like John Williams can help fit such wonderful music into such a small amount of time - and in such an important expository scene. The more you listen and watch, the more intellectually stimulating Williams becomes, while still being just as enjoyable to listen to for entertainment. I'm glad that you recognize this in film music, and help us all of us understand more and more the importance of music in film. Thank you!

first, I'm your huge fan~ I just did some work on that 31-35 measures chords. 31, 1 Eb maj7 + D maj7 extracted form G double harmonic minor (female melody ''Db'. J.W hided that note in 'D maj7' ) 31. 2 B major + Am from E harmonic minor (f.m 'Eb' in 'Eb maj7) 32. 1 C major + Bbm from F harmonic minor (f.m 'E' in 'C major) 32. 2 B7 + Cm from E harmonic minor (f.m 'F#' in 'B7') 33. 1 Ebm + D maj7 from G double harmonic minor (f.m 'A' in 'D maj7) 33. 2 Dm + Ab major from D Dominant Diminish (f.m 'Ab' in 'Ab major') 34. 1 Em7 + F#m from D Ionian (f.m 'A in 'F#m') 34. 2 C7 + F#m6 from C Dominant Dim (f.m 'C' in 'C7') 35. 1 Ab maj7 + F#m from Db double harmonic minor (f.m 'Eb' in 'Ab maj7') (in this case F# added to Db D H minor scale usually omitted. so that makes 3 serial half step intervals F#-G, G-Ab, Ab-A) all mixed polychords are not exact order I noted. just mixed them up with proper intervals, skips, inversions and instrumentation! the core of this marvel is female choir. the melodies(Db, Eb, E, F#, A, Ab, A, C, E) they sing are all from Db harmonic minor and all nine poly chords flow to express notes from Db harmonic minor with other than Db harmonic minor scale except last chord(this time Db DH minor mode. what a finish!!) these wonderful series are completely under Mr Williams' control. there's no exception!! Salute John Williams and Brad Frey...... I can't thank you enough Man!!! I hope this will help a little!

Now this is an INCREDIBLE analysis. John William's scores for Harry Potter are some of his best works I think.

Thank you so much! This might be my favourite cue from the 1st movie. Can't wait for the Diagon Alley cue :-)

I want to thank you so much for taking your time and effort and also talent on doing this. Thank You bro

Its nut how RHYTHMIC a scene can be with the right music underneath

Thank you for this analysis!

This is brilliant, thank you. I'm learning so much. I think Hedwig's theme signifying magical occurrences is fitting. Hedwig is Harry's link to magic and the wizarding world when he's with the Dursleys. Therefore she represents the magical world in a way? That's the way it's always made thematic sense to me.

OMG!!This is totally incredible!!!LOVE IT!!!

Thank you so much for the work you put into this channel. I follow you with great pleasure!

Exceptional work.

Guau, this score is incredible. Thanks Williams and thank you for sharing!!

Extraordinary analysis !!!!

I love your videos and HP music gains even more magic thanks to you. But wouldnt it be more accurate to look at this #4 and b6 as a intervals, that give specific sound to lydian and aeolian modes?

I believe that the chords used in the cat passage would be coming from oliver messiaen's limited transposition modes, the seventh mode sounds similar

i actually love you for this

Ook! [That dissertation is 750 pages long ffs..... Mine was only 180....]

That is just magnificent!! Thank you!!!❤️

Great work! Do you do this by ear or you have scores?

Someone knows where can I buy this sheet music?

It'd be delightful to go for "The ultimate war (long version)" from Hook someday !

Thank you so much for making this video (as well as all the other great analyses on your channel)! :) I’ve wanted to get a peek at the score for this particular scene for many years, especially because of the intriguing chord progression at 1:09 that is virtually impossible to transcribe by ear with reasonable accuracy, so I’m happy I can now check which notes I’ve been missing. Analyzing such passages is obviously quite a challenging undertaking, as they are, for all intents and purposes, not tonal (I think I’d call them neotonal or perhaps atonal) and hence tend to elude formal analysis using a theory of traditional functional (tertian) harmony; so if I may, I’d like to suggest you take a more voicing- and voice-leading-based approach here, i.e., paying closer attention to the interval relationships between the various pairs of vertically/horizontally adjacent notes in/between the individual voicings (chords):

I'm curious... why is "cor anglais" written in French? Also who would be the composer (for film scores, I mean) with the most complex music? I find William's scores to be more complicated that other soundtracks I listen to, Zimmer, Silvestri, Howard Shore...

Where did you get these scores from? Really want to see the full thing for orchestration stuff.

Where can I find the complete sheet music?

where did you get score to this?

John Williams Isolated Score Prologues

3:42 always gives me Swan Lake vibes

thank you very very much!

I was listening to M. Ippolitov-Ivanov's Songs of Ossian the other day, and I noticed that there is an interesting similarity between the B section of the second movement, Kolyma's Lament (kzfaq.info/get/bejne/iLR9ibh626q4dac.html ), and a section in this cue where Dumbledore is carrying baby Harry to Dursleys' doorstep. Notice the similarities in key (e minor), orchestration (harp, violin thrills, violoncello pizz., oboe playing the theme), and even some in themes themselves.

Could you please do a analysis video on Howard Shore’s score on Hugo? the music there is incredible

Could you please send me those PDFs? I cannot see that tiny little notes! Its cool thx.

Where I can get the score?

Amazing

Look, I just need to know who tf played Celeste for this score. That player was going HAM for the entire score... decuplets with chords, all the runs up and down... ALL WHILE sight reading 😓

1:20 what does the matrix mean?

It's a pity that john williams doesn't write his orchestration. So I think it should be interesting to see the difference, even if I think John give his opinion about them.

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Why does it skip to the next page at 2:02?

1:06 seriously no one can read all that. there has to be a better way-- how about score reduction downloads? Why do it at all if all your ideas/thought of analysis are moot or someone's screen grab?