Williams- Star Wars

• John Williams composed the 'Main titles/Rebel Blockade Runner' from Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope.
• The main motif in the piece is associated with Luke Skywalker, making it a leitmotif.
• The piece uses repetition and an interval of a 5th (Bb – F).
• Major and minor chords are used in root position and first inversion.
• The piece uses quartal harmony, which is built up of 4ths rather than 3rds.
• The piece uses tritone (Db - G).
• Some chords in the piece have added notes which sometimes create dissonance.
• The piece starts in Bb Major and remains in this key for the ABA section.
• The tonality becomes less clear and unstable as the music follows the action on screen.
• Sometimes two keys are present at the same time, creating bitonality.
• The use of lots of dissonance sometimes makes it sound atonal (no sense of key).
• The piece follows a ternary form (ABA), with the main theme A (Luke Skywalker), Theme B, and main theme A (Luke Skywalker) as the three parts.
• The piece is mainly homophonic (melody and accompaniment), with pedal notes and inverted pedal notes used.
• The piece has a strong rhythmic feel and pulse, with the use of triplets.
• The piece is performed at a fast tempo, with a metre of 4/4 (4 crotchet beats in a bar) and changes to 3/4 (3 crotchet beats in a bar) during the piece.
• The piece starts ff (very loud) and has extreme contrast, with the main theme A being loud and Theme B being quiet.