The economy's in the toilet, my stocks have dropped 40%, I've had it up to here with this stupid Presidential Election, and one of my computers had a catastrophic hard drive failure last week. 

So in light of all the negativity about, I decided this week's speedscore exercise would be to write a completely upbeat, happy, positive anthem.  You know, for optimism's sake and all that. Lots of syrup.  

Mission Accomplished: To the Promised Land

'twas fun.  Enjoy.

_Mike

It's a tough one.

I don't actually "do" John Williams, and I really don't want to "do" Bernard Herrman.  I mean, they're them, and I write how I write, without trying to be somebody else.  I learned a long time ago that my influences were clearly heard in my work (though honestly, they're Schuman/Barber/Prokofieff/Copland influences, which JW and I share an affinity for obviously).But every time I try to deliberately not do what my inner voice tells me; every time I deliberately ignore my sensibilities and choices and do something else just on principle, I generate confused and focusless work.  It reminds me of a great percussion player who got his first chance to play on a Miles Davis record... after the first take, Miles said, "Okay, on the next one, every time you want to play, don't."  The guy completely froze up.  Who wouldn't?  I've been hearing the JW comparison stuff since I was a kid first starting out, and at some point I just had to accept that was going to happen.  There are worse things.  Half the time, it's a compliment; half the time it's an insult.  At some point, it comes down to me sitting at the piano writing music, and I write what I hear in my head, and what I like.  I just don't know how to do anything else.  Trying to be something other than I am feels to me like if I was deliberately putting on a british accent.  It's fake; it's not who I am, and it isn't how I talk.  I dunno.  I hear just tons of stuff in my work harmonically that JW would never do, though admittedly not so much in this piece, so I don't think at my core I'm as much as a JW-Wannabe as the harshest critics will/would say.  And in the end, I'm not sure I care, if the music is enjoyable, contributory, and well-written.  If your wife even asks if it's a Williams piece, though, that is just a touch hard for me to be bothered by.  It's at worst a back-handed compliment.  Unless she hates JW.  Oh, well.  I'm curious to see how it all plays out. Thanks for the kind words :)

_Mike

No, I get it.  I've spent 20 years writing professionally and working on my "voice."  There was a period there in the early days - I bet we all go through this - where I second-guessed every single chord change, you know, just 'cause I wanted every movement to be "totally original." There was actually a couple years where I refused to do a V-I cadence; I'd always resolve it with a dominant 7th suspension instead.  Totally 80's. Then at some point, I realized I wasn't really "inventing" anything, and I didn't like a lot of the unnecessarily complex stuff I was coming up with.  It gave academics a hard on, but it alienated me and 99% of the people I wanted to speak to through my music.  So I decided to stop apologizing for my instincts, and let the chips fall where they may.  My writing HAS changed of course, but I'll bet in another 10 years or whatever, however much it's changed again, the core will be the same.  Just a guess.  Anyway, these exercises are about speed and first instincts, and there's no question this piece represents my comfort zone.

_Mike

 This is a very good piece of music, but I have to join Pauls opinion, this is a perfect JW copy, Indiana Jones style or something like that.

But:

Even JW copied shamelessly from Korngold, Dvorak, Holst, Strauss.

Everybody does that, from Elfman to Zimmer.

It is hard for a composer to create his own fingerprints these days, everything has been written, everything has been tried.

When I start a new piece I allways get some ideas from the iTunes store where you can listen to each piece for 30 seconds, this is great because you can't copy too much and still  get some inspiration.

Well done Mike. Technically accomplished as ever, beautifully orchestrated, well developed and a bright, positive theme. A bit less syrup and a bit more mustard would see off your detractors! Sorry to bring up the name again, but do you know the John Williams cue 'Zam The Assasin & The Chase Through Coruscant' from Attack of the Clones? It's amazing, I've been trying to find a score.

I actually had to do a bunch of dark stuff for this film I did earlier this year called Heatstroke.  Lots of - I guess you could say - Herrmann-ish stuff in it.  Tons of clusters and atmospheric stuff.  At least before the alien attacks.  It's one of those films.  I'll see if I can't put a couple cues up.

Hey, by the way, don't worry about "reproaching" me or not.  We all have a choice: You either want real feedback or you don't.  If you don't, don't post your work.  That's how I see it.  So if you get good response, great.  If you get negative response, great.  You learn either way.  If all it takes for you to give up is a few people saying they don't love your work, you're probably in the wrong game :)  I appreciate all the input, truly.

_Mike

Funny, I heard Elmer Bernstein in this, so I guess it's up to the listener. Sure there are a few "John Williams" chords and devices in there, but there's other personalities in there. Perhaps you're just not used to hearing complex harmony and orchestration from anyone but Williams. I prescribe some Prokofiev.

(Though I think the first bar of the melody is right outa Stripes.) ;)