Howard Shore
By Nathan Lacy
Biography
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Born in Canada on October 18, 1946.
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First music director for 'Saturday Night Live'.
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Founding member of 'Lighthouse'.
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Studied at Berklee College of Music.
Biography
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Longtime collaborator with David Cronenberg.
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3 Academy Awards, 5 Golden Globes.
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Wrote the score for over 80 films, including The
Lord of the Rings, Silence of the Lambs, Mrs.
Doubtfire, Ed Wood, Gangs of New York, and
The Departed.
Shelob's Lair
From Lord of the Rings:
The Return of the King
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PtScfh0IHUs
For this piece, Director Peter Jackson
requested that Howard write the song for
Shelob's Lair like he would for a David
Cronenberg film.
One of the biggest movie budgets Howard has
worked with.
Shelob's Lair
Listening Guide
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00:00-00:07 Very Calm, Slow, Lots of Bass.
Horns.
00:07-00:38 Violins and other strings add
dissonance
00:38 00:49 Horns and violins crescendo and
then go silent.
00:49-1:03 Horns make a beat.
1:03-1:08 Violins violently create dissonance
again.
Shelob's Lair
Listening Guide
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1:08-1:13 Strings foreshadow the theme of the
rest of the song.
1:13-1:20 Strings and horns bring back balance.
1:20-1:36 Horns stop playing as strings play
main theme.
1:36-1:50 Horns join again.
1:50-2:07 Strings play quickly and create
dissonance and tension.
Shelob's Lair
Listening Guide
• 2:07-2:27 Horns play short, loud blasts, building
up to violins making shrill noises.
• 2:27-2:34 Strings and horns finally find a strong
melody, further building up to a climax.
• 2:34-2:48 Tension is broken. Large string pieces
blend with the horns.
• 2:48-3:01 Drums are added.
• 3:01-3:10 Strings and horns harmonize.
Shelob's Lair
Listening Guide
• 3:10-3:30 Tubas are added in the background
as violins play a disturbing melody, playing short
blasts that ascend in pitch slowly.
• 3:30-3:47 Horns play an epic score, as violins
play long, high notes that show the danger
hasn’t passed.
• 3:47-4:11 Violins slowly raise in pitch as the
horns slow and fade out.
Lector Escapes
From The Silence of the Lambs
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3a9QNV2qU
ks
For this film, Shore didn’t want the focus to be
on the music. He wrote all the music to be an
underscore, to simply add to the film.
Lector Escapes
Listening guide
• 0:00-0:10 A harp and violins play slowly.
• 0:10-0:18 The harp goes away, and horns add a
scary tone.
• 0:18-0:34 Violins play a melody while horns
drone in the background.
• 0:34-0:46 A French horn plays a melody while
strings play short, quiet noises in the
background.
• 0:46-0:58 Horns and drums return to build a
distressing sound.
Lector Escapes
Listening guide
• 0:58-1:20 A harp is strummed while horns and
strings make huge blasts of sound, until they
fade out and the music stops momentarily.
• 1:20-2:00 A gong is hit, and scratching noises
are made behind horns and violins making
dissonant sounds in a minor key.
• 2:00-2:19 The music begins to slow, and again
fades to silence.
• 2:19-2:50 Drums, low strings, the harp, and then
horns join the music again, slowly.
Lector Escapes
Listening guide
• 2:50-3:10 Low strings play a beat behind slow strings
and droning horns.
• 3:10-3:34 The beat of the low strings fades away, and
the harp plays a soft melody as strings play behind it.
• 3:34-3:46 The strings overpower the harp, which can
be faintly heard in the background for a time. Tension
in the music builds.
• 3:46-4:52 The horns and low strings play a soft beat,
with high strings playing a melody over it. Drums add
to the dynamics.
Lector Escapes
Listening guide
• 4:52-5:12 The strings and horns reach a climax,
and they hold out a long note while the music
fades.
Gollum's Song
From The Lord of the Rings:
The Two Towers
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UgFpHs5dGd
g
Howard Shore was ineligible to receive an
Academy Award for any of his work for The Two
Towers, due to a change in the entry rules,
which was later revoked in time for him to win
awards for Return of the King.
Gollum’s Song
Listening guide
• 0:00-0:37 Strings and voices play the main
melody for the verse of the song, while drums
add a sense of distress.
• 0:37-1:14Strings play the theme for the chorus
of the song, with lower strings holding out long
underlying notes.
• 1:14-1:51 Emiliana Torrini begins singing.
Strings play softly in the background, including a
harp.
Gollum’s Song
Listening guide
• 1:51-2:28 The chorus begins. Horns join the music,
and the strings play a sad melody.
• 2:28-3:05 The second verse starts. Woodwinds join the
music, which is similar to the first verse, creating an
almost peaceful setting.
• 3:05-3:42 The second chorus begins. Similar to the first
chorus, not much changes, except some words, and
her voice echoes.
• 3:42-3:55 Torrini sings her outro, repeating the last
words of the chorus. All instruments fade out for a
moment of silence.
Gollum’s Song
Listening guide
• 3:55-4:18 A theme from another song in the
movie begins to play, slowly and mournfully.
This transition implies that we still have another
movie to go to finish the quest.
• 4:18-5:52 The theme of Rohan plays, one of the
main themes of the film. This continues to the
end of the song, until the music fades away. The
instruments change, between horns and strings
playing the theme.
Bibliography
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0006290/
http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/contributor/18000
35734/bio
http://www.runmovies.eu/index.php?option=com_c
ontent&view=article&id=557:howard-shoreconfronts-the-lord-of-therings&catid=37:scoring-session