How Thomas Newman makes use of Modes
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- Äas pĆidĂĄn 15. 07. 2024
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Thomas Newman has one of the most unique musical voices in the Hollywood film music of today. In this video, I show you musical examples from films including American Beauty and Finding Dory, detailing how he uses Modes to help achieve his sound.
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Timestamps:
00:00 - Intro
00:12 - Dorian Mode
02:17 - Lydian Mode
04:26 - What is a Mode?
05:18 - Mixolydian Mode
07:13 - Outro
Links to pieces:
Dorian Mode
American Beauty
âą American Beauty Soundt...
Finding Dory (Main Titles)
âą Disney Pixar's Finding...
Lydian Mode
Wall-E (Eve)
âą WALLâąE Original Soundt...
Lemony Snicket's: A Series of Unfortunate Events (The Bad Beginning)
âą The Bad Beginning
Six Feet Under (Main Title Theme)
âą Six Feet Under: Main T...
Mixolydian Mode
Finding Dory (Hide and Seek)
âą Hide and Seek
American Beauty (Lunch with the King)
âą Lunch With The King
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Nobody is going to joke about the Dory-an mode?
haha yes, I'm sure its not a coincidence on Newman's part!
I'm sure it was done on purpose ! Finding Dory in F Dorian
I'm more disturbed by noticing how much he looks like Tom Cruise.
Scrolled to comments just to do that.
For some reason, Thomas Newman's music always makes me cry.
Am I the only one thinking it's hilarious that he used F Dorian in Finding Dory!!
I almost spit out my coffee when reading that.
Thomas Newman is perhaps my top favorite movie composer. It's also interesting how much I'm naturally drawn to the Dorian mode because most of my favorite music is in that mode or I come up with something ends up being in that. It makes sense that my favorite piece from his is the Plastic Bag scene.
Thomas Newman is my number one favorite film composer, so I'm glad you taught us how to play his music. đŒ
I appreciate all the work and time you put into your presentations.
My pleasure! They do take a while, but I'm enjoying the process and especially with this one, diving into some of my favourite composer's music!
Finding Dory is in F Dorian, coincidence I think not!
I just recently found his work, and his American Beauty score is absoloutly otherworldly and beautiful, plus he just seems like a super fascinating guy in general. Iâve been diving deep in to Thomasâ work!
Yes its amazing! I've always wanted to study his work more and by the process of making the video, I got to do just that!
Check out "Road to Perdition" & Spectre.
Nemoâs Egg is my favorite score by Newman.
I love his work, this one appeals to me because it is absolutely soothing.
My favourite TN soundtrack is Road to Perdition, a beautiful not-so-well-remembered film, also directed by Sam Mendes (the next one to American Beauty). There you have the tracks "Rock Island 1931"; "Road to Chicago" (great); "Road to Perdition"; and my favorite: "Ghosts". And there's also the main theme of Revolutionary Road, that feels so emotionally strong.
All of his scores are great. He is my all time favorite composer but if I had to pick one I would say that it would be from In the Bedroom. Thereâs just something off about the main title in the best way possible. The film itself is heavily underrated. My second would be Road to Perdition followed by 1917. All three of these are also my top 3 films of all time.
Musical Joke: Finding Dory -> Finding Dorian Mode đđ”
Yes I do wonder if that was a conscious decision when he composed it!
Indeed, Simon. My favourite film composer. I would liken his approach to the delicate and deft strokes of a water colour artist, unlike some other celebrated composers with, shall we say, a heavier hand. Wonderfully understated and enticing technique with just enough notes to keep the audience interested :).
My absolute favourite Thomas Newman score is 1917, but I started listening to more of him cause he has such a variety of compositions that always evoke some kind of emotion whether mild or strong.
I really must thank you for this presentation as I am trying to get into film scoring myself and this is delivered in such a way that my autistic mind can actually understand, Thank You!
when did you start listen 2 him?
The 1917 score is absolutely stunning.
This was a wonderful video, thank you! I've been writing some stuff recently where the minor scale was feeling a bit too dark so excited to play with Dorian and open it up a bit!
Great video, as always. Succinct, yet well explained and paced. Excellent didactic skills!
Hi Jan, thank you so much for your kind words!
The bars at the bottom are really nice, removes the pretense of that any of this is that complicated.
It's so disgustingly simple but made complicated because people are bad at explaining things.
If you can't explain something so a 10 year old can understand it. Don't bother.
Really nice video.
I wish you had 100s of these videos, I would binge them over and over. Amazing quality and pacing!!
Thanks, there are more on their way!
Great video! I've always loved Thomas Newman's work and feel like his work doesn't get the attention it deserves. I first heard of him when I watched the movie The Horse Whisperer..the music was so beautiful and I had to find out who composed it. The Horse Whisperer is one of my favorite soundtracks of his as well as Meet Joe Black and 1917.
So clear and easy to understand! Finding you was a big boost to my composing progress, very thankful for that!
I also see a lot of open and stacked fifths in the examples you showed; those also contribute to that ambiguous feeling you mentioned
(nice video--just wanted to comment something to help the ol' algorithm)
Thank you for making these vidoes that analyze film music in detail đ
It continually surprises me, that when someone does an expose on Thomas Newman's movie soundtracks, and how he composes. They never mention Road to perdition. I haven't seen any. Like it didn't exist. And it has some of his most emotionally stirring music.
I agree, great soundtrack! One I need to dive into more for sure.
Wow, his tunes resonate with me so much. Need to check out more
this is amazing! Love your teaching!
Great presentation, thanks !
Excellent presentation! Thank you!
LOVE THIS! Thank you so much! I have been wanting some examples of using modes in popular cues for a long time. I have only written a few compositions with modes so far as I have not taken the time to familiarize myself with the feel of each one so I can fit them into my workflow. This gets me excited to try again and add it back into my toolkit! Thank you!! â„ïž
Thanks so much!
Your channel and your willingness to share your knowlage with us is blessing. I hope to see more new videos :)
Thanks so much for your kind words! It's my pleasure!
We need more like this !!
AMERICAN BEAUTY drew me into Thomas Newmanâs works - trying to determine at the moment if ROAD TO PERDITION or THE GOOD GERMAN was his best (these preferences change often). Even his open to BOSTON PUBLIC is excellent.
Very clear and useful for cinematic compositions ! thank you !
My pleasure - I'm glad it was useful!
Really love this channel, been looking for a channel like this for a while now
I have always liked Newman music, it is really easy to identify. This video is superb
Yes a lot of his music is instantly recognisable isn't it. Definitely a goal as composer! Thanks for watching!
Thank you very much for the great information
Really great video! Love it.
amazing, learned a key idea for composing in the first 2 min - thanks !
I am so pleased you have found it useful and thank you for watching!
Really appreciate your videos. Thank you.
Divine your work Dear. Many thanks for to share this
Very good, thank you
I'm glad you explained that, it was quite helpful because I knew absolutely nothing about the use of modes before I watched this.
I'm glad it was useful - thanks for watching!
Excellent!
You are a great communicator sir!
Thank you so much!
Excellent stuff! On my wishlist for future videos: An analysis of some of the masterpieces from Alexandre Desplat. Keep up the good work! Greetings from Norway.
This explains why I love this songs. And why when eve arrives in wall-e it has a strong emotion on it :')
Thank you for recognizing my favorite movie score composer - his music is beautiful. My wedding song was "Resilience" from Lemony Snicket (turned out - we didn't have any lol... but still a beautiful song!). Nemo score is amazingly moving too.
Another top class video, huge thanks :)
Thank you - I'm glad you enjoyed it!
A terrific video regarding a terrific composer. Consider yourself subscribed đđŒ
Just found you. Great vid! Keep it up :)
I can guarantee Iâll watch any video like this one and the Hans Zimmer video all the way through multiple times. Please keep making videos like these.
Might be an odd request but I would love one on Ennio Morricone
Favourite score - American Beauty đđ„°
Whisper of A Thrill from 'Meet Joe Black'. Again, never fully resolves in either direction reflecting the pull of both life and death. Top work here!
Really good video.
Great channel.
Thank you †Love Thomas Newman, and I really enjoyed this insight into his compositions. Hope you do more video analysis of his music. Will be checking out your manual on composing like him.
I also love Rachel Portman, if you're inclined to analyse her music as well đ
I have been composing about a 1 minute piece in dorian, a piece that reflects loss of hope towards end of conversation that has begun on a happy tone, not too dark and not too bright, but somewhere in between the major and the minor towards end, which is good with dorian. American beauty piece comes to me as a wonder, how he has used sus 2 kinda tone in the composition. Its beautiful. how insanely beautiful is the finding dory theme too. just amazes me.
Natural minor sounds more somber and muted, but not sad here. The raised 6th is brighter. We should definitely describe notes and modes in terms of color and light, rather than emotions, sometimes.
Love your content bro love from India đźđł đđ»đđ»â€ïž
Loved this video! Thank you! At the end of the video you asked what our favorite Thomas Newman score is as well as if thereâs anything you havenât covered. My favorite score of Thomas Newsmanâs is so underrated and almost never talked about and itâs really quite a gem. Iâd love your thoughts on the 1991 film âDeceivedâ. So brilliant I love it! Any incite on this would be lovely! Thanks again!
Will definitely take a listen and add it to my film list to watch. Thank you for the tip!
Subbed for content and explanation
Don't have a favorite Thomas Newman score. Couldn't choose if a gun was put to my head. But I do love the main theme to Finding Dory.
Really enjoying your videos.
Thank you so much, really appreciate the comment!
@@composingacademy8270 : D
I have been searching for this kind of video for so longâŠthank you!! âLittle Womenâ is my absolute favorite score of his. I also love âFried Green Tomatoesâ and âAmerican Beautyâ. Could you please, please, PLEASE provide explanations/examples from LW and FGT?? đđŒ
What an underrated film music composer!
Hi! This was very informative and Thomas Newmanâa score for WALL-E never fails to leave me in awe. Some composers you could look at that I love are
Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross who use a lot of piano over synth ostinatos
Jonny Greenwood (Phantom Thread and Power of the Dog)
Jon Brion (Eterna Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and Punch Drunk Loce)
Alexandre Desplat (lots of Wes Anderson movies)
Lastly, Atonement and The Theory of Everything have beautiful scores as well
Thanks, looking forward to more composer analysis with a central theme! :)
I really liked your last two videos on zimmer and newman I wouid love more videos alike !
This is brilliant. I have been using the dorian scale all my life but never made the connection with TN's music. - wow
The Finding Dory theme sounds like something that would be in the Ori video games
My favourite Thomas Newman scores are "Less than Zero" and "Road to Perdition?
Finding Dorian!
I love Thomas Newman Music
He is amazing isn't he, some really great soundtracks out there with his name on!
His soundtrack for Wall-E was the first album I ever bought on iTunes myself, at all of 11 years old, and it still remains one of my favorite scores to date
It captures outer space the best, imo.
A great film I agree! Thank you for watching!
Great video on one of my favourite composers! Any change youâll do a video on Joe Hisaishi?
Zimmer is my fav, because of his sound design. Newman is my fav for melody and beauty. Zimmer has said Newman should have beat him out for Oscar in 1995 (Zimmer: Lion King, Newman: The Shawshank Redemption).
He likes the Dory-an mode
Haha yes!
Two movies that would have been greatly diminished without the following composers. Shawshank Redemption with Thomas Newman. And Patton with Jerry Goldsmith.
Agreed! Thank you for watching and the comment!
Elemental, Feb 7, 2023, Thomas Newman Was Confirmed to Compose and Conduct for Movie after Finding Nemo (2003), Wall.E (2008), & Finding Dory (2016)
That video helped a lot, to get fresh input. Got a question left, because I saw, that you're using Ableton: Do you have an advice for a beginner Orchestra-Set or at least strings for Ableton? What would you recommending?
I like the Meet Joe Black sound track, some lovely melodies.....BUT there is a thing in his music where he brings in what sounds like dissonance but then moves away.....he does it quite a lot, its one of his motifs.
My favorite Thomas Newman score is "Spring", as well as its variation "Harvest Time", from Little Women 1994. I'd love to see you break them down
The BEST movie score of all timeđ
Is it possible to analyze or break down a song called Impossible by two steps from hell?
Especially the arrangement, how do they transition between completely different sounding sections smoothly?
That's a great idea - I had planned to do a video on Two Steps from Hell when I return soon - I love the suggestion about looking at how the pieces transition though. Thank you!
Hi, you're missing a key signature at 5:58.
Hey Simon, how is your course progressing? I'm really interested to know more information about it (content, price, expected release date, etc.) =)
Hi, thanks for reaching out. I'm just putting the finishing touches to the first iteration of the course. Make sure you sign up to the Composing Academy Newsletter if you haven't already done so, where I will be posting the info re the course very soon. Thanks for watching!
Favorite score: Shawshank Redemption
Well that Finding Dory theme is technically not F Dorian as there is no presence of the minor 3rd (Ab) in the mix. It's ambiguous. We could as easily made the claim that it is F Mixolydian.
Looking forward to you doing Morricone
Great idea - I'll put it on the list! Thanks for the suggestion
I wonder if Tom used F Dorian in Finding Dory because of the similarity in the name, haha
Haha yes, I did wonder if that was a conscious decision on Newman's part!
Favorite Newman score: Passengers.
The American beauty music sounds a bit like one of the Shawshank Redemption theme music, as it turns out it the composer is also Thomas Newman.
Basics or rule to make harmony and accompaniment between instrument
How make note like orchestra or arrange muisc
Please reply and make videos explain that
Hi Saef, thanks for the video suggestions - I'll add them to the list. Thanks for watching!
I'm curious if is possible to compose without this theoretical background. I mean playing something what fits your emotions then define it by certain category afterwards.
Anyway, great video. Thank you.
Yes, absolutely. Theory helps the understanding somewhat but composing using emotion is always the best way to start.
Sound like a chord progression I recognize from Fi's theme in Legend of Zelda.
Hi Simon, It's been a while you haven"t uploaded any video and I love your tutorials, are you ok? :/
Thanks for reaching out - yes all good - I've been developing a composing course, so had to put CZcams on hold for the last few months. I will be back soon though!
I was watching Jonny Depp trial how did I get here? Still good video
One of the hardest parts for me in modal composition is making the track feel resolved. Take F lydian for example. It has all the same notes as C major, so it has all the same chords, as a result I have a really hard time making the F chord sound resolved, finished, like it is supposed to end there. Some tricks I do are a lot of slash chords with F in the bass. I will also take a chord like C and make it a Csus4, so it is C F G instead, both of those help, but I still could use help in making my modes feel and sound more resolved. Any advice? Any reading I should check out?
Yeah great point. I think harmonic rhythm is also really important in this regard. Choosing the ârightâ bars to place primary chords of the mode of choice in a sequence can really help to anchor the harmony. Using the root of the scale as a pedal tone or drone can also be very useful.
also helps to occasionally use a Bb note from F major, since to our ears F lydian sounds like F major but modified. but honestly, i think its very cool to make music where the tonic is intentionally ambiguous (though admittedly, its probably more difficult)
Just look at the chords. F G/Gm Am C Dm Em/Emb5. No Bmb5/Bb. F-Am-Dm-G. F is the tonic and then a little 2-5-1 and repeat. It should sound like F even though itâs in C. Depending on how you accent it. The longer a note is held the more impact itâll have on the overall tonality.
How can you use the wrong explanation of modes after discussing it correctly first? The starting note of the scale doesnt matter for the mode.
Is that tom Cruise's pen name as a musician ?
âFinding Dorianâ
He looks like a mix between Edward Norton & Tom Cruise.
Aha, the âAmerican family providerâ or âHollywood suburbiaâ sound :)