ESB 4: Snowspeeder Macroharmony (Minutes 16-20 with Jenn Harding)

Music theorist Dr. Jenn Harding joins Xanthe for an analysis of minutes 16-20 of The Empire Strikes Back. We talk about textural shifts, snowspeeder sound design, macroharmony, musical structure, spectrograms, math, intonation, the Leia-Han-Luke love triangle (and what the music has to say about it), and more! 

This episode is also on YouTube (with spectogram visuals): https://youtu.be/nnflnU9iecM 

Timestamps:

00:00 - Hello there!
04:15 - Interaction between music and sound design.
06:54 - How Ben Burtt crafted the snowspeeder and snow sounds.
14:07 - Mechanical-sounding perpetual motion with triumphant trumpet flourishes on top.
22:58 - Weird, angular oboe melody and a massive texture shift.
27:54 - No music during the impassionate kiss.
32:10 - Fuzzball, nerfherder.
35:10 - How Ben Burtt made the Imperial Probe Droid explosion sound.
37:38 - Using math to analyze harmony, intro to macroharmony.
45:16 - How would you define harmony? Harmony (abstract) and sonority
48:15 - Spectograms and discrete Fourier transform (DFT). (Visual demonstration of these Star Wars minutes viewed through the spectogram)
1:02:38 - Quick Tip: Orchestral listening challenge.
1:06:54 - Why does knowing the harmonic landscape of something matter?
1:12:45 - 12-tone scale, interval ratios, imperfect reality of intonation.
1:21:20 - Dialogue causing changes in the structure of the speeder music.
1:27:40 - Imperial March sounds steady but doesn't have the same motor. Accents. Why does the Imperial March sound almost... human?
1:45:59 - SWMM Questionnaire

Things Mentioned:

Jenn's Visual Pitch Class Vector Calculator: https://www.jenndharding.com/vectorcalculator
Jenn's DFT Panorama Generator: http://www.jenndharding.com/panorama
Complete Catalogue of the Musical Themes of Star Wars (by Frank Lehman): https://franklehman.com/starwars/.

Check out Dominic Sewell's analysis of these cues!

2M2 Ben's Instructions - https://youtu.be/Dh9W98GykGs
2M3 Luke's Rescue - https://youtu.be/UTFX2QjGqzQ
2M4 The Imperial March - The Probe Scanner - https://youtu.be/UZaQDrN7YZU

Musical Themes:

16b. Dark Side (Ostinato)
24) Imperial March Vamp
10a. Imperial March (Theme)

Cues:

Very end of 2M2 "Ben's Instructions"
2M3 "Luke's Rescue"
2M4 "The Probe Scanner"

Where are we in the soundtrack?:

"The Wampa's Lair/Vision of Obi-Wan/Snowspeeders Take Flight"
"Rescue from Cloud City/Hyperspace"
"The Imperial Probe/Aboard the Executor"

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STAR WARS MUSIC MINUTE QUESTIONNAIRE:

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

Adventure. Nostalgia. Romance.

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

The sound design and its coordination with the score.

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

Lord of the Rings (by Howard Shore)

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Guest: Dr. Jenn Harding

https://jenndharding.com
https://twitter.com/dizzyfingers42

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