It’s Star Wars Month!

Way back in the olden days, 1977, to be specific, in the month of May, the world was changed. No, not just the world. The entire galaxy!! Star Wars was released! And over the course of this month, here on the blog, on the Harmanny Music Facebook and Instagram pages and YouTube channel, we’re going to have a month of fun, diving into why Star Wars and most specifically, the music of Star Wars matters.

The Star Wars Themes

We all know the themes. From the Imperial March, known as Darth Vader’s music….which was not in the original Star Wars movie (Episode 4), to Duel of the Fates to the Force Theme and so many others, John Williams, the composer of the music of Star Wars, took the idea of a leitmotif (we’ll get into that this month) to a whole new level. We’ll walk through a bunch of these themes this month and understand how the actual music you hear in the Star Wars movies help you to connect deeper to what you see on screen. 

The Star Wars Story

I tell my students regularly that music tells a story. When we create or play music, what we do with those notes and how they are sounded help to tell that story. Is it a love song? A battle theme? A victorious celebration? The music for the villain? In the movies, we hear all of those beautifully crafted and executed magnificently to craft music that works with or without the visuals…but they’re much better with the visuals (in my humble opinion)! 

How to Play It?

Since I primarily teach piano, one of the focuses of the month will be learning how to play some of the music from Star Wars. Maybe you don’t know much about music, but you have found yourself near a piano and you try to plunk out the Imperial March. It may take a few tries, but then you find it! That’s actually a very important skill when it comes to music, as most of the music we consume is not visually looking at the music, but hearing the sounds. The way I equate it, is to think of it like language. We read books, but most of the language we consume and participate in is through speaking and listening. Music is a language, and you can read the language written on the page, but most of the time, you’re consuming it without it.

We’ll Have Fun!

One of the primary things that I try to do in lessons for my students is to help them have fun and enjoy making music. The music of Star Wars helps to make it fun, give quick and easy wins and builds confidence. Over this month, we’re going to have a lot of fun as we go through the music, have some fun quizzes, give you and opportunity to give your thoughts and feedback. Hopefully in the process, you’ll learn new facts you’ve never known, maybe some new terms, and play music you always wanted to!

Stay Tuned!

Stay tuned this month here to the blog (you can subscribe to get emails when posts go live), the Facebook and Instagram pages, as well as the YouTube channel. 

Lessons

Harmanny Music Education offers private piano, voice, trumpet, beginning guitar and ukulele lessons in the Spring/Klein community of Northwest Houston. There are times available for summer lessons, starting in June. You can find out more here.