TLJ 7: Leia Poppins Returns!

Icy music thaws and soars as Leia saves herself with the Force. Tony Thaxton (Motion City Soundtrack, Bizarre Albums, and more) joins me in a breakdown of Leia's emotional musical beats and other sounds from minutes 31-35 of The Last Jedi. We discuss orchestration vs. rock arrangements, music theory vs. intuition, and what we've learned from playing Star Wars covers.

Theme-spotting: Leia theme, Force theme, Rey theme. 

Soundtrack: end of track 4. "The Supremacy" and beginning of track 6. "Old Friends"

Discussion topics:

  • A breakdown of the music and sound in that Leia scene.

  • Using music theory vs intuition.

  • Orchestration vs. arranging for a rock band.

  • A much-needed refresher on the three (!) different Leia themes.

  • Reverb and the First Order's interior decorating preferences.

  • How Tony and I approach covering Star Wars songs and what we've learned from it.

  • If we could create a new Star Wars band...

  • Note: While leitmotif names are completely up to interpretation, I use the names from Frank Lehman's Complete Catalogue of the Musical Themes of Star Wars. I find this resource to be the most careful, objective, well-organized, and up-to-date guide of its kind.  

Tony Thaxton is on Twitter @tonythaxton, Instagram @tonythaxton, and check out his podcast Bizarre Albums.

Star Wars Music Minute is on Instagram @starwarsmusicminute, and Chrysanthe is on Twitter @chrysanthetan and Instagram at @chrysanthetan. Chrysanthe's Patreon is patreon.com/chrysanthetan.

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TLJ 8: Voicing Luke Skywalker

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TLJ 6: What Does Hyperspace Sound Like?