John Williams Essay

Having scored over 100 films, awarded in the highest regards, and one of the most financially successful composers in United States history, John Williams is arguably the most popular film composer of the modern era. Williams has composed some of the most prominent scores of motion picture history, many of which have often been directed by the legendary Steven Spielberg. John Williams was born John Towner Williams in Queens, New York on February 8, 1932. Brought up in New York, Williams comes from a musical family as John’s father was a percussionist in the CBS radio orchestra. John’s music life began when he was a young child and the first instruments he learned were the piano, trumpet, trombone, and clarinet. Also, John started to compose

Williams found work playing clubs and working in recording sessions as a jazz pianist. After John’s time in New York, he moved back to California and worked in Hollywood as a studio pianist. In Hollywood, John got to work as a studio pianist for notable films such as 1959’s Some Like it Hot, 1961’s West Side Story, and 1962’s To Kill a Mockingbird. Williams’s work in Hollywood as a studio pianist and composer also made its way into television. As for his work in Hollywood television, Williams wrote songs for shows such as Gilligan’s Island and Wagon

Williams’s musical themes in movies help make them what they are as he improves the storytelling of movies. For example, in Jaws, Williams helped make the water a frightful place to be in. Williams forced suspense onto the viewer and helped create the tension, fear, and anxiety that came with watching Jaws. Also in E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial, Williams helped the alien and young boy soar into the sky with touching pieces of music. Williams generated the intense emotions that fill the viewer throughout the film as exemplified in the E.T departure scene. In Star Wars, Williams gave an extraordinary amount of power to the dark side. The iconic Imperial scores made the audience feel the strength, intensity, and evil of the dark side. For example, when the Imperial scores are heard in the early Star Wars films, it can be expected that Darth Vader and the Stormtroopers would soon appear marching in the scene. With all of Williams’s motion picture compositions, the audience can identify which scene is associated with each score. The fact that a viewer can pinpoint the scene of a movie through Williams’s music is remarkable in itself. Williams’s movie scores are so impactful; they create their own stories within the movies they are placed