What is the role of the Composer's assistants?

Here is an excerpt of an 'article' from someone who participated in one of the AOTC scoring sessions. source

"I did not perceive any changes in instrumentation at all. I would be amazed if a composer with the stature of Williams would require last minute alterations. Remember this music is arranged and orchestrated to perfection by a whole team of assistants"


What does it mean when they say that the music is arranged and orchestrated by people other than JW. Does he compose it and the assistants fit it to what is on screen? How does that work?

Does JW compose everything?

 

I wish someone with an awareness of how film score composition works would answer Dolphin's question. I've wondered the same thing myself many times. Does Williams literally write every note for every instrument for the entire recording session?
Someone enlighten us musical neophytes please.

 

A composer isn't omniscient. There was a thread a month ago where someone stated that a composer should play every instrument. This is not feasible, and mistakes can slip in. For example - very difficult quick leaps in a trumpet part. The assistants go through the score and make adjustments to the orchestration to make it easier to play (That's one of their jobs anyway)

I expect they are in charge of making the music legible for the players too (That sort of menial task is beneath JW!)

Some composers just work on the piano and the whole score is orchestrated by another person (Andrew Lloyd Webber for example)

 

if you are referring to my post, i didnt say that composers had to play every instrument, i sayd he must have knolege of every instrument so that he knows the range and ablities of every instrument. obviosly he isnt going to write a solo for a oboe in bass cleff, if you konw what i mean...

 

Top dogs orchestrate, lackeys prepare and proofread parts, nowadays usually using software called 'Sibelius'. Most 'old style' composers who knew or know something about the orchestra prepare/d between four and ten stave scores with explicit instructions regarding orchestration. The orchestrators followed these as much as possible, with licence of freedom allowed for the more complex sections of music.

These days, most composers mock-up orchestras on samplers and synths and the arranger's job is to transcribe these parts for orchestra (often for the composer on the samplers first!), the difference being that many of the composers they work for haven't got a clue about writing for orchestral instruments as they don't come from a mainly classical background and often can't read music (Zimmer being a famous example of the former). A lot of the orchestral scores you hear today are really brought to life by the orchestrators, not the composers, and they don't really get the credit they deserve.

Williams, fortunately, is a top-drawer master of the orchestra and knows how to use a baton!.

Regarding the need to play every instrument: there was a composer called Hindemith who could pretty much do this, and he was an exceptionally good musician who wrote largely bland scores. Other composers such as Stravinsky and Prokofiev who influenced most film composers of this century were principally pianists and couldn't play a c major scale on a flute.

 

"most composers should know how to play every instrument in the orchestra so they know the ranges and capabilities of each instrument."
Jedi-Finney 12/24/01

"i didnt say that composers had to play every instrument, i sayd he must have knolege of every instrument so that he knows the range and ablities of every instrument"
Jedi-Finney 01/26/02

I rest my case

 

A composer for a film score does not have nearly enough time to do everything. If any of you have tried composing before, you will know its very tough to even come up with themes sometimes. Because of this, film composers need people to help them get the work done in time.

The composer(s), of course, writes the music, which is a very daunting task in itself. It usually takes quite some time to write all the music to a film (unless they are especially rushed). Williams does this at the piano (being a virtuoso helps).

The cues can be written on any number of staves, as was said above, and can range from extremely specific to extremely vaque in terms of orchestration. This depends on the composer's knowledge of both the orchestra and the art of orchestration (yes there are classes on just orchestration).

The orchestrator(s) converts the composer's music into any number of parts, whatever is deemed suitable for the movie. Williams' principle orchestrator for Star Wars is Herbert W. Spencer (solely listed in the credits). There are others, but Spencer did the bulk of it. Williams, being a master of the orchestra, orchestrates, sketches, etc. sometimes, but Spencer does the most orchestration by far.

Once this is done, copyists, editors, etc. do their job. This is checking for mistakes in the score, copying out parts, or whatever else needs to be done before the music can be recorded.

When it comes time to record, the conductor (usually the composer, but not always) does a read through to make sure the parts are correct. Then they record however many takes are necessary to perfectly (and I mean perfectly) align the music with the film. The recording alone can take quite awhile.

Once this is all said and done, and the music is flawlessly matched with the visuals, the hard stuff is finally done. The music to be released on soundtrack, which includes concert pieces, then needs to be recorded (but does not require all the painstaking methods).

As you can see, film scoring is a very difficult task. It is one that requires a very detailed process. I am probably missing some (or a lot maybe) of the information, myself.

The final result of course, you all know.