Everyone and their pet tauntaun has written something about the new Star Wars The Force Awakens trailer, so here I’ll be regurgitating some thoughts about the musical score used for it:
Incom T-70 X-Wing Space Superiority Fighter
BUT FIRST, here’s the trailer, released earlier today.
There are two familiar cues in the trailer, the Han Solo and the Princess cue and the Force theme.
BUT SECOND, a disclaimer: The Han Solo and the Princess theme is my favourite theme ever in Star Wars, and why I think Rebel Fleet – End Titles in The Empire Strikes Back is the best of all Star Wars end titles score, surpassing even Caravan of Courage.
Before the music go on to the full-blown new orchestration of the Han Solo and the Princess cue in the trailer, they play a four-note melody thrice. The first iteration was played on piano – the first notes being the one we hear when we see Rey’s masked face during her Star Destroyer dungeon crawl. The second iteration is still on piano, but at a lower octave with some chord variations. The third iteration is played by strings.
These four notes are I believe variations of the basic four chords of Han Solo and the Princess itself, which is why it feels not just like a fantastic transition to the scene below, but an emotional one as well.
That – as well as Nien Nunb – was what gave me goosebumps. Well done, John Williams and the scoring team! I hope I will able to play this trailer music on the piano someday.
Not Nien Nunb
