The Olympic Theme, a.k.a. Bugler's Dream by Leo Arnaud
The theme that opens the Olympic television broadcasts has more complicated history than you might think. John Williams arranged a Leo Arnaud composition based off a Joseph-David Buhl piece written during Napoleonic times. Simple, right? Leo Arnaud gets credit as the composer of this theme, but John Williams, possibly the greatest film score composer of all time, took the piece and elevated it to new heights with a suite of other music to compliment it.
Composers write new music, and arrangers take music already written and shuffle it around to suit their needs or improve on it. Good musicians can do either and both. Here's a famous example of this: Otis Redding wrote the song Respect, and Aretha Franklin has the most famous arrangement of that song. They're both amazing musicians who wrote their own material and also played other people's songs.
John Williams has composed an incredible amount of the most famous movie themes of all time, including the themes from Star Wars, E.T., Jaws, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Indiana Jones, Home Alone, Jurassic Park, Schindler's List, and Harry Potter. The NBC Olympic theme, written in 1984, starts with his arrangement of Arnaud's work, but once that timpani goes away it's all Williams' original work.
Olympic Theme
Audio Recordings:
Right Hand
Right Hand slow
Both Hands
Both Hands slow
Tips:
-This melody begins with the right hand in C 5 finger scale, and the first note is 3rd finger on E.
-The form is Horse - Donkey - Horse - Donkow (almost the same as donkey except for the very end)
-Try playing by memory first, then use the recording as a reminder if needed
-If you have trouble with some notes, use the slow version and stop and start the recording at the trouble spots to focus on specific notes. Sometimes that means being quick with the play/pause button.
-Once you are able to play the full melody confidently, try playing along with the recording
-The recording has a metronome (click) in the background to help show the rhythm
-This melody is transposed from the actual theme, which means it won't match the pitch of what you hear on TV. For any students wanting to try, the original theme is in E-flat five finger scale. (many of you will be assigned to transpose this anyway, so give it a try!)
Composers write new music, and arrangers take music already written and shuffle it around to suit their needs or improve on it. Good musicians can do either and both. Here's a famous example of this: Otis Redding wrote the song Respect, and Aretha Franklin has the most famous arrangement of that song. They're both amazing musicians who wrote their own material and also played other people's songs.
John Williams has composed an incredible amount of the most famous movie themes of all time, including the themes from Star Wars, E.T., Jaws, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Indiana Jones, Home Alone, Jurassic Park, Schindler's List, and Harry Potter. The NBC Olympic theme, written in 1984, starts with his arrangement of Arnaud's work, but once that timpani goes away it's all Williams' original work.
Olympic Theme
Audio Recordings:
Right Hand
Right Hand slow
Both Hands
Both Hands slow
Tips:
-This melody begins with the right hand in C 5 finger scale, and the first note is 3rd finger on E.
-The form is Horse - Donkey - Horse - Donkow (almost the same as donkey except for the very end)
-Try playing by memory first, then use the recording as a reminder if needed
-If you have trouble with some notes, use the slow version and stop and start the recording at the trouble spots to focus on specific notes. Sometimes that means being quick with the play/pause button.
-Once you are able to play the full melody confidently, try playing along with the recording
-The recording has a metronome (click) in the background to help show the rhythm
-This melody is transposed from the actual theme, which means it won't match the pitch of what you hear on TV. For any students wanting to try, the original theme is in E-flat five finger scale. (many of you will be assigned to transpose this anyway, so give it a try!)
