1、LENOX, Massachusetts For over 50 years, music John Williams has taken us to galaxies far, far away , on adventures around the world.His scores make us feel giddy with joy and occasionally scare us to death as with the music from Jaws, which foreshadowed the impending appearance of the giant man-eati
2、ng shark.Starting outWilliams might be the most recognized contemporary composer in the world but writing music wasnt his focus when he was young.My primary focus was always on piano performance, he says. I had no idea that Id ever compose music.Williams grew up in a musical household with a father
3、who was a professional jazz percussionist. Williams himself was such a serious pianist that he studied with a famed teacher at the Juilliard School after a stint in the Air Force Band.I did hear players like John Browning and Van Cliburn around the place, he remembers, and I thought to myself, If th
4、ats the competition, I think I better be a composer.”Changing courseWilliams moved to Los Angeles, where he played piano on movie and television soundtracks.He picked up jobs arranging music and then composing it. For seven years, Williams worked at Universal Studios, writing TV scores.We had twelve
5、 shows a week at Universal that had to be recorded, which meant there were 12 three-hour sessions with orchestra of some kind on the stage every week, three sessions a day, usually, he says. So, I filled one or two of those as a composer and conducted my own work, also.Americas soundtrackWilliams wr
6、ote his first film score in 1960 and hasnt looked back. Whether hes writing for Steven Spielberg, George Lucas or Oliver Stone, Williams process remains the same: he writes music the old-fashioned way, with pencil and paper, and doesnt begin composing until hes seen a rough cut of the film.John Will
7、iams wrote the ominous music from Jaws, which foreshadowed the impending appearance of the killer shark. (Universal Pictures)I, over the years, have always felt more comfortable if I could go into a projection room and look at a film and not really know what to expect, he says. And If I have the lux
8、ury of going into the dark projection room and being surprised when the audience is surprised and being bored when theyre bored, I think that gives me a sense of what my job is, where I can press the accelerate button if I need to, or support an emotion or dont.Lukas Kendall, founder and editor of F
9、ilm Score Monthly, says theres an inevitability to Williams themes. They sound like they fell out of his sleeves, they sound like theyve always existed.According to Williams, it takes two-to-three months, on average, to compose a film score, going back and forth from his studio to his screening room
10、 to make sure everything matches up properly.Making his markIn mid-August, the Boston Pops celebrated John Williams 80th birthday with a gala concert at Tanglewood.In a video tribute, President Barack Obama said, Its hard to imagine ET taking flight, Indiana Jones taking on the bad guys, or Darth Va
11、der taking over the galaxy without your booming scores. Few artists have left such an enduring and extraordinary imprint on our culture as you have, and on behalf of all Americans, I want to thank you for sharing your incredible talent with us for all these years.At age 80, Williams shows no signs o
12、f retiring. Hes laureate director of the Boston Pops, is composing new classical works and recently worked on the Steven Spielberg film, Lincoln, which comes out in November.Im happy to be busy, he says. Im happy to have a wonderful family and I think, especially for practicing musicians, age is not so much of a concern, because a lifetime is just simply not long enough for the study of music anyway; youre never anywhere near finished.
