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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