HANS ZIMMER
By Crimson Elliott
BIOGRAPHY
Born September 12, 1957, in Frankfurt, Germany
His father passed away when he was six years old and it was at that time that he decided he wanted to become
a composer
His family moved to England when he was 14, where he proceeded to be kicked out of several schools, for
choosing to study music rather then the required curiculum
Began his composing career in 1971, while working with a Rock band called The Buggies
Started composing scores for films in 1982
Has won a total of 11 major awards for his pieces, including 1 Academy Award, 2 Golden Globes, and 4
Grammy’s, for his work in film
Moved to LA in 1988, and continues to reside there and compose scores for film
MUSICAL EDUCATION
Started his musical education with piano lessons at three years old, but
according to Zimmer, they only lasted about two weeks before he lost interest
and stopped
Other then that Zimmer says he has no formal musical education, that
everything else he knows was self taught, and had a tendency of getting him
kicked out of schools, as he chose to study music versus what was actually
being taught to him
After piano lessons, Zimmer became interested in synthesizers as a teenager
and young adult
MUSICAL CAREER
In 1979, Zimmer started writing jingles for TV commercials
In 1979, Zimmer co-founded the band The Buggies, the band’s biggest hit was
“Video Killed the Radio Star” and was the first movie to premiere on MTV ever
In 1982, Zimmer composed his first score for film, for a movie called, Moonlighting
The first real recognition for Zimmer’s work came, in 1989, when we wrote the
score for Driving Miss Daisy
To date, Zimmer has written over a hundred scores and pieces for film, TV, video
games and other pieces of work from scores for the movie Inception to music for
The Buggies
DISCOMBOBULATE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3zIzy3laQck
This piece is a piece that is very dark sounding, with a minor key and what
appears to not be to may instruments and also being very rhythm heavy, it
gives the appearance of being just dark feeling. Another aspect of this piece
is the changing tempo, it changes several times through out the piece, because
of where it is in the movie, it’s a piece that’s meant to be action heavy, and as
the action increases, so does the tempo
HOIST THE COLOURS
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ugx48uvvURc
This piece is also a very dark piece, with it being in a minor key, though a
slightly fuller group of instruments, giving the sound more dynamics, makes
the piece more haunting then just simply dark. The voices also add and
interesting and even more haunting contrast that wasn’t seen in the other
piece, making it much more dark and giving a more human connection,
something that needed to be done for the scene of the movie in which it
appears
MAESTRO
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SvtaNQw4sGA
This piece is a much lighter, more joyful sounding piece the first two examples
that are given. It’s fuller orchestra and major key are the main factors in
making this possible. Also the slower tempo, gives it a more dreamy, calming
sound then what was shown, though the piece may not sound totally cheerful
because of this as well
FALLEN RAIN
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=24Lm4ue3Fbc
This is similar to the piece of Maestro, with a the slower tempo, it’s a dreamier
sounding piece, though the guitar almost gives it a Spanish sound or feel, the
guitar is also the instrument that most gives the piece the sound of falling
rain.
HOMELAND
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z_5PUrquBtw
The tempo is what makes this piece, by starting with a slow tempo and the
music soft and quiet, it sets it up to be a triumphant piece, which is what I
sounds like in the end. Also the full orchestra and the use of the full
orchestra through out the piece gives it the most full sound out of any of the
examples that are used
WORKS CITED
YouTube, for generously providing the music used in the presentation for free
"Credits for Hans Zimmer on AllMusic." AllMusic. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Dec.
2012.
"Film Composer Hans Zimmer Scores Big with UAD Powered Plug-Ins Blog - Universal Audio." Film Composer Hans Zimmer Scores Big with UAD
Powered Plug-Ins - Blog - Universal Audio. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Dec. 2012.
"Zimmer, Hans." Enotes.com. Enotes.com, n.d. Web. 12 Dec. 2012.