Star Wars

Question 1

Context

Answer 1

• About a space war between good and evil.
• Released in 1977
• Hero/battles:
• Use of brass and the fanfare
• Major
• Loud
• 4/4 march-like
• Danger:
• Minor
• Dissonance
• Ambiguous tonality
• Space:
• Quartal harmony

Question 2

Structure

Answer 2

• Scrolling text:
• Intro (b1-3)
• Theme A (b4)
• Theme B (b12)
• Theme A (b21)
• Link (b30)
• Transition (b33)
• Starry sky (b36)
• spaceships appear with battle (b42)

Question 3

Texture

Answer 3

• Intro is polyphonic
• Theme A and B are Melody and Accompaniment (known as Melody Dominated Homophony)
• During theme A, there is an inverted pedal played by the violins
• homorhythm in the accompaniment during theme A.
• There is a bass pedal during Theme B
• Second half of piece –
• Texture changes rapidly.
• Textures reflect the uncertainty on the screen.
• All instruments doing the same rhythm at the end – homorhythm.

Question 4

Tonality

Answer 4

• starts major
• It is in Bb major – a key common with brass music and fanfares
• From br30, the tonality is much less clear (atonal) which gives the music an unstable feel. This matches with the uncertainty in the film at this point.
• At br36, the tonality shifts to c major (ish) with an added Ab and Bb
• From 51, there is a repeated C ostinato in the bass and Db chords above – this can be described as being bitonal (In 2 keys at once)

Question 5

Metre/tempo/dynamics

Answer 5

metre
* 4/4 – good for marches
* Notice the ¾ at b44. This has the effect of speeding the progress of the music up so each bar ends 1 beat earlier than in 4/4.
* At this point in the film there is a battle happening.

Tempo
* Tempo appropriate for marches (linked to battles)
* Rit (slow down) into return of A at b20
* During starry sky, tempo becomes less clear to reflect ambiguity on screen.
* B51 speeds up to 160bpm – reflects danger/excitement

Question 6

Instrumentation

Answer 6

• 3 flutes (3rd playing Piccolo)
• 2 oboes
• 2 clarinets
• Bass Clarinet
• 2 Bassoons
• 4 French Horns
• 3 Trumpets
• 3 Trombones
• Tuba
• Timps, Triangle, Snare Drum, Tam-Tam, Glockenspiel, Vibraphone, Cymbals
• Piano/Celeste and Harp
• Violins I and II
• Viola
• Cellos
• Double Bass
• Brass used in introduction for fanfare.
• Theme A uses Brass for melody and rest of orchestra for accompaniment. (Heroic theme)
• Theme B uses Strings for melody and accompaniment with some of the woodwind. (Quieter theme)
• The use of instruments becomes more flexible later in the piece.
• Piccolo used for high melody
• Full orchestra used for homorhythmic chords at the end

Question 7

Rhythm

Answer 7

• Use of triplets during introduction
• Accompaniment to theme A uses triplets and syncopation. Accompaniment also homorhythmic.
• B18 uses dotted rhythms which leads back to theme A.
• At the repeat of Theme A (b21), there are more triplets than b4 with some rhythmic displacement.
• In b32, sextuplets are used.
• Homorhythm at b44
• Rhythmic ostinato at b51

Question 8

Melody

Answer 8

Intro:
* Intro has features of fanfares:
o Repeated notes
o Disjunct
o Triplets
* There are multiple fanfare-like melody lines.
* Fanfares are associated with military and royalty – links to Star Wars Story

Theme A:
* Moves mostly upwards – represents uprising and triumphant nature
* Disjunct – leaps up (heroic)
* Has a rising 5th (leaping up)
* This is the Leitmotif for Luke Skywaker
* Features rising minor 7th – (this is unusual for a melody line as it is quite angular)

Theme B:
* Quieter – played by strings (contrasting)
* Moves mostly by step (conjunct)
* Features a rising 6th
* At the end, there is a descending dotted idea which is loud which brings us back to theme A.
* More lyrical than theme A

• Transition:
• Melodies become more chromatic
• Melody played by piccolo only
• Very high pitched
• Flurry of notes adds to mystery
• Melody less obvious – creates sinister feel
• End (51 onwards)
• Rising
• Disjunct
• Based on a diminished triad (gives feeling of danger)

Question 9

Harmony

Answer 9

• The harmony is mostly tonal, but does not always use conventional chords.
• There are some imperfect cadences but few are conventional.
  (For example, br7 bt2 ends on the dominant chord so this is an imperfect cadence. We would expect the previous chord to be I or IV but it is actually bVII which is very unusual.)
• There are other unusual chords such as the Db major chord in br15.
• From br33 – Harmony becomes less tonal and more chromatic.
  Chords such as C major with Ab; Db major with C major
• Br44 – Dissonant chords, including use of tritone
• Uses quartal harmony which is based on intervals of a 4th.