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2010 |
2010 |
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8/14/10
FOTR Credit Music
- I did an
analysis of the FOTR credit music a while
ago but somehow forgot to provide a link to that
page from the
index page for the Cue by Cues Analyses.
Part of the Fan Club Scroll music for FOTR
includes an
alternate version of the Breaking of the
Fellowship by the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra
and I did a side by side comparison of this
version to the versions heard in the credit
music sections of the
OST and the
CR-FOTR.
Doug Adams' book:
The
Music of the LOTR Films:
The
track list for the Rarities Archive CD has been
released.
6/21/10
HAPPY SOLSTICE!
- I regret to say I do not have a greeting
prepared special for this year. Perhaps some of
the updates listed below can be considered a
solstice gift. :-)
Doug Adams' book,
The
Music of the LOTR Films: The cover of the
book has been revealed.
Go here to read more.
Tolkien Computer
Monitor Calendars: New ones available. In
the Shiny Things
section. Because the "More
Shiny Stuff" section is not directly related
to the LOTR soundtrack, I don't, as a rule, post
updates for that material on this "What's New"
page. You just have to check into what's there
on an occasional basis if you're interested.
TTT Lyrics as
Sung - print pdf: Before I got sidetracked
by working on the ROTK lyrics update, I had
started creating a printable version of the TTT
Lyrics. That is now done and can be downloaded
by right clicking on
this link and saving it to your harddrive. A
printable version of the FOTR Lyrics has been
available for some time and can be had using
this link.
ROTK LYRICS AS
SUNG: The Seduction of Frodo - I was not
able to hear any voices in this scene (as heard
on the CR-ROTK) even though the ROTK Live choir
lyrics indicate the sopranos were singing (in
the concert). Tom wrote me saying he could hear
voices singing. Attributing this to his having a
better sound system and/or better ears,
I
deleted my doubting remarks and added his
comment.
Dead Marshes
Music: I kind of ignored this music because
I needed some help sorting out exactly what was
happening musically. I finally asked for that
help and thanks to Ethel Duath, Elizabeth, and
Annael, I've successfully updated the lyrics as
sung entries for the
CR and
OST as well as the notes for the
Source Text.
5/13/10
If you aren't
keeping abreast of the progress of the upcoming
book by Doug Adams, "The Music of the Lord of
the Rings Films", be sure to catch this recent
blog entry of his:
Book Update May 2010
ROTK LYRICS AS SUNG
- we now have the choirs' lyrics from the ROTK
Live concerts. These often serve to confirm what
we already supposed but it's wise to keep in
mind two things. One: The concert covers the
theatrical version of the movie so any singing
heard during extended scenes are not included in
the choirs' lyrics. Two: the lyrics are provided
phonetically so it can be hard, in some
circumstances, to know exactly which source text
is being referenced and/or exactly which words
from any text are being sung. That said, here's
what's changed or new on the site:
CHANGE:
Arwen's vision of Eldarion -
CR &
OST : These lyrics have always been
problematic and with lots of conflicting
information and opinions, I've chosen to go
with what I thought I could best agree with
and declare the issue closed - not to be
revisited. I'm not sure the phonetic lyrics
cleared any mystery up other than what
sounds people are singing. If you wish to
try to match the phonetic lyrics up to the
source text,
The Evening Star, have at it.
CHANGE: The
life blood of the Eldar leaves Arwen -
CR &
OST : ditto for above. It's essentially
an extension of the singing heard earlier in
Arwen's vision of Eldarion.
NEW: Rohan
answers Gondor's call for aid : This
singing is not on either the
CR or
OST but
was included in the ROTK Live concert. Since
my lyrics info is categorized by type of CD
release, I've put it on its source text
page,
Entmoot.
(cont'd in
right column - jump) |
5/13/10 (cont'd from left
column)
ROTK LYRICS AS SUNG (cont'd)
NEW: That
mountain is evil : Although we'd had
discussions about what was sung in this
scene, I was unsure enough not to offer
anything on this website. Now we know what
is sung on the
CR.
NEW: Traveling on the
Dimholt Road - couldn't make out lyrics
before this.
CR only
NEW: Minas Tirith is
overrun - couldn't make out lyrics
before this.
CR
&
OST
NEW:
Drive them to the river!
- couldn't make out lyrics before this.
CR only
MINOR CHANGE: Éowyn vs. the Witch King - one
syllable, speculated to be sung but confirmed now not to
be, was dropped.
CR only
CHANGE: The Death of
Théoden - replaced old, speculated lyrics.
CR only
CHANGE: On the side of
the mountain - corrected lyrics for
CR &
OST. Fine tuned where the OST is the same or
divergent from the movie.
CHANGE: For Frodo; the
final battle - 2-2:35, we were very unsure of the
lyrics. It turns out, we were trying to use the wrong
source song. Part way through this scene, the source
text switches from "For
Frodo" to "The
Eagles".
CR only
NEW: The Moth and the
Eagles Arrive - couldn't make out lyrics with high
certainty before this.
CR only
NEW: The Seduction of
Frodo - this music was not in the theatrical release
of the movies but is heard on the CR and in the ROTK
Live Symphony. For more info, read the notes after the
CR lyrics information.
CHANGE: The Destruction of
the Ring - we tweaked a few syllables and their
timing and determined
that the final portion, heard on the CR but not in the
movie, is from
The
Argument, not
The Destruction of the Ring.
CHANGE: The Destruction
of Barad-dûr - the choir lyrics aren't helping us a
whole lot here. The phonetical syllables match some
words from
Don't Let Go but not all. And there doesn't
seem to be a better source text to draw from. I've
simply provided the syllables the choir sings and left
it at that.
CR only
CHANGE: The Destruction
of the Black Gates - I extended a note on how the
movie's lyrics differ from the
CR.
ADDITION: The Eagles
- choir lyrics added -
CR &
OST
3/27/10
I added an entry on the
alternate version of Aníron in the
CD
Editions section.
2/21/10
Helloooo... Still here.
I kind of took the holidays off and then picked up a
few other projects with the new year. I decided to
dip back in with a small addition to the site.
LYRICS: Enya
released a new album, "The Very Best of Enya".
On there is an alternate version of
Aníron.
It's the same tune and the first 'verse' is the
same. But the next three are not. I've placed
the timestamps for this version in with the
CR-FOTR lyrics. The good news is, the song
is available for individual download at
Amazon and probably iTunes.
Besides updating the website, I've also updated
the
pdf printable version of the lyrics from FOTR.
LINKS: I removed the button
links to the House of Eorl site on the theme
pages. That site was lost when Google Pages was
shut down and it hasn't been put back on line.
|
|
2009 |
2009 |
|
11/07/09
LINKS: I added a
link to an old Doug Adams podcast:
FSMROTKQ&A - Nov 2007 (FilmScoreMonthly ROTK
Question & Answer). I should have added it back
in 2007 but I was probably busy.
11/03/09
FIVE
BEAT PATTERN: As I sat in the FOTR Live to
Projection concert at Radio City Music Hall, I
noticed an instance of the Five Beat Pattern
that I hadn't noticed before. Then I forgot
about it. While I was working on recent updates
since then, I remembered it... but couldn't
remember what scene it had been in. Hmm... I
thought... if I listen to the CR-FOTR, will I
notice it again? Or will I get caught up in the
music and not catch it? But then... my mind
moved back to the task at hand (updating the
Ents Instrument page) and forgot about it. But
someone else had noticed it too. Days after the
memory had popped into and out of my head,
Gkgyver posted a question about the use of the 5
Beat Pattern at Weathertop and I realized that
was the scene! I came right to my website to add
this instance to the theme's page only to find
it was already there. I had, apparently, noticed
it long ago. And forgot. What can I say. There's
a reason I write so much stuff down. So why is
it making the 'What's New' page? Well, Doug
added some info I thought was interesting. So I
added a link to one comment within the
conversational string at his blog:
DA Comment
11/01/09
INSTRUMENTS: finally got around to
adding a page for the
Ents. I had a photo of the orchestra taken
by Sabsi Fronek showing the
log drums used by the
21st Century Orchestra. That page also
includes the
marimba and sound samples of each.
HOUSE OF EORL: On my
themes pages,
you can find a link to Earl Carvalho's site,
"House of Eorl". Earl's site was on Google Pages
which is no more. I believe he's finding a new
home for it. Once he does, I'll get the links
working again. I'm hoping that will be soon so
I'm leaving the link buttons in place for the
moment but please know... they're dead, Jim.
10/20/09
Yep. I was at the
FOTR Live concert at RCMH in NYC. Between the
concert, meeting many online friends from Doug's
blog and TheOneRing.net's message boards, seeing
NYC for the first time (well, at least a small
section of Manhattan), and getting to meet Doug
and Howard (albeit it briefly)... the weekend
was magical and wonderful and truly memorable. I
wrote a bit of 'my thoughts' on the concert at
Doug's blog and a more personal recap at
TORn's message board.
TTT : UNUSED SCENES
- We made a lot of early speculations about
music heard in the TTT-OST that was not in the
movie. Then the liner notes for the CR-TTT
confirmed what a lot of that music was intended
for and TheTennisBallKid created an extensive
document that examined that music. But, I never
properly went back to pages created before the
CR-TTT (notably the TTT-OST Cue by Cues and
Reconstructing the Movies pages) and updated
some of that early text. A conversation with Gary Hardegree led me to realize that I had
identified some music heard in "The
Passage of the Marshes" as not in the movie
when, in fact, it was. I also realized that I
needed to restate what we knew about the unused
music - changing words like 'possibly' to more
definitive language. Thanks to Gary for sparking
this round of information update.
Changes (some rather
small) were made to the Cue by Cue and to the
Reconstructing the Movies pages for the
following scenes:
Gollum remembers his
name :
The Passage of the Marshes
Treebeard introduces
himself (under some lingering fear and tension)
to Merry & Pippin :
Treebeard
Gollum's
interrogation by Faramir's Men :
Forbidden Pool
Elrond's attempt to
persuade Arwen to stay :
Breath of Life
Links : Some of my
Links were to material so old
they were of
questionable usefulness. I've put them on a page
called "Older Links". I can't keep up on links
to interviews with Shore. However, Doug Adams is
doing a good job of keeping up with current
media articles on Shore and his music. If that
sort of thing interests you, I suggest you
follow his
blog.
7/04/09
Magpie has lots
of Shiny Things
- I've always had more on my server than
just the soundtrack site. Some of it is stuff
readers of my site might be interested in. So
now... there's an index page and a new link in
the navigation frame for :
MORE SHINY THINGS
CD EDITIONS
- In the process of moving items from my
harddrive to Picasa and in creating links here
to my Picasa Web Albums, I expanded the
information on the Online Content of the
soundtrack CD editions. It's not earth shaking
additions. But they are a little more
comprehensive than they were before. I
discovered that the FOTR online content had
already disappeared from official view. I was
able to find a few things left behind by
guessing at url addresses and I found some stuff
at the Wayback Machine. But it was a good lesson
that all information on the web should be
considered ephemeral. And, unlike an out of
print book that might be found in a used book
store, once a web page/site is taken down
or changed radically, there may be no record of
it anymore (or only an incomplete record).
6/6/09
A
MAGPIE'S NEST HAS A NEW DOMAIN : www.amagpiesnest.com
RADIO CITY MUSIC HALL or
Magpie's Big Adventure - On Oct 9 and 10, 2009,
the FOTR Live Symphony will be performed live to
picture in NYC's Radio City Music Hall. Maestro
Ludwig Wicki will conduct but Howard Shore and
Doug Adams will give a pre-concert lecture.
Additionally, the release of
new soundtrack recordings and
Doug Adams' book will take place at this
event and a book release party and perhaps more
festivities are being planned. It was a scary
and exhilarating thought to contemplate going
but it looks like I will be there. If you will
be too, you can watch
TheOneRing.net and
Doug Adams' blog for updates on our own Long
Expected Party. Members of TORn's message boards
also have a
thread started to coordinate meet-ups, etc.
I am an active member at both sites so you can
find me at either place along with lots of other
wonderful soundtrack fans. See you there!
TRAILERS - I had been collecting info on the
music of the trailers for a long time but never
felt they belonged on this site. But, when I was
motivated to organize it all, I realized html
was the best way to do that. And while
researching release dates, I kept running across
all sorts of interesting information. The result
is something much deeper than music and far
beyond the score. I could see the information I
present slowly growing beyond the boundaries of
'simply soundtrack'. A magpie doesn't limit her
attraction to one sort of shiny thing. Check
these entries out and see if they interest you
at all.
STATE OF THE SITE - I guess getting a new
domain name warrants an update on the State of
the Site. I was able to cross off quite a few
'to do' items but there's nothing terribly new
here.
Okay, people. Either
no one follows the links on my site or they
don't tell me when they find a broken link. I
found old, defunct links to pages in the site
from my very first website at an address it
hasn't been at for years! Well, they're fixed
now.
INSTRUMENTS - In the process of updating the
information (boy, this has been on my to-do list
for forever!), I pretty much revamped it. More
info was available, both from the Annotated
Scores and just generally on the internet. I've
added a few instruments, gotten more accurate
images, and added more audio samples.
I added the minor
bit of info that the source text,
The Prophecy, had an earlier name, The
Battle of Dagorlad.
I've created a page
for the
FOTR Closing Credits.
(cont'd in
right column - jump)
|
6/6/09 (cont'd from left
column)
LYRICS - I've
completed an update of the TT lyrics
using the choral sheet music from the TT Live
symphony. Thanks to Sabsi Fronek for reviewing
the music and determining what timestamps needed
to be corrected or amended... and to Danijel Legin
for once again lending a keen ear for help in
determining timestamps. Both these people have
been a persistent and tremendous help in terms
of determining lyrics for the soundtrack. Many
fine tweaks were made but more substantial
changes were made to these CR timestamps:
The Battle of the Maiar - corrections made to Neo-Khuzdûl
lyrics (&
OST)
Pippin tears off his Elven
Brooch (not in movie) (The
AS-TTT says the source
text is
The
Missing. Phonetic lyrics suggest it may be
Namárië)
Burning of the Westfold - minor corrections made to
the lyrics
The Three Hunters chase the Uruk-hai - additions and
correction made to the lyrics
The Dead Marshes -
I hope to have an update coming
Wraiths on Wings over the
Dead Marshes (tweaks made to the precise Adûnaic
syllables sung)
The White Wizard revealed
(definitively determined that lyrics from The Fight were
used here)
Zirak Zigal: Smiting the
Balrog (AS-TTT says the source text is
The Fight.
Phonetic lyrics confirm Sabsi's conviction that it is
The Abyss.)
Shadowfax's Arrival at Fangorn - corrections made to
end of this piece
Gandalf Farewells Théodred - one speculative
syllable confirmed (&
OST)
Let Her Go - minor change made to the lyrics
The Warg attack, pt 2 - corrections made
The Elves leave Rivendell - we didn't have lyrics
for this section, partly because we were trying to make
Hymn to Elbereth fit. It turns out
The
Grace of the Valar is used for the last part of this
section. (&
OST)
Galadriel talks with Elrond
- some slight adjustments made to the lyrics (&
OST)
Faramir's Seduction - minor corrections made
to the lyrics (and to the same piece in the
credit
music) (&
OST)
The Elves arrive at Helm's Deep - minor corrections
made to lyrics
March of the Ents - minor corrections made to lyrics
(&
OST)
The White Rider arrives at
Helm's Deep - a short choral burst that had
been thought to be "Sceadufæx"
is probably, instead, from
The Abyss.
The Ents attack Isengard - major corrections made to
lyrics (&
OST)
3/18/09
CD
EDITIONS - Thanks to Kungfuyu, I was
able to add scans of the
ROTK
and (better scans of)
FOTR
Collectible Character Cards. He also gave me the
information I needed to finish the
LOTR
Motion Picture Trilogy Soundtrack page. Earl Carvalho
also provided a lot of preliminary info on the
Trilogy Set page. Additionally, Earl had
provided me a start on some soundtrack promo
discs information. I don't think I would have
considered adding this on my own but I figured
'what the heck' and spent a few days digging
around the net for images and information. I can
guarantee you the promo disc information is not
comprehensive.
FOTR
promo discs --
TTT
promo discs --
ROTK
promo discs
PICASA WEB ALBUMS - When I was working
on the CD EDITIONS section, I would often find
images larger than I cared to use here. In those
cases, I would use a smaller one but link to the
larger one. For some of the images I was finding
recently, I didn't entirely trust the larger
ones to be there long term. So I created some
albums in my Picasa account for them. I've
placed a link to pertinent albums on the
pertinent pages here. But I thought I'd provide
a link to my entire gallery. I, as a good and
true magpie, collect lots of shiny information
and images. I would pull out bits and pieces
when needed but I'm making a more concerted
effort to get it out on the web in a more
permanent manner. At some point, I should
probably have a page of links to various
information I've collected that is Tolkien but
non-soundtrack related.
2/18/09
SIMILARITIES TO OTHER MUSIC
- I did some
reorganizing of this information. I also:
zipped all audio clips
Wagner's
Götterdämmerung & the finale of ROTK -
added audio samples
added a few entries
on the
Misc page. One comparison by Alex Perez of
the Gondor Reborn Theme and the "Middle Age
Suite" by Alexander Glazunov is pretty exciting
to listen to. (see last entry on the list)
1/11/09 -
Happy New Year.
Unused and Alternate Music - JimJWare had
prepared a number of YouTube videos that synced
unused and alternate music with videos from the
movies and I had them embedded on my site.
Warner Brothers is having YouTube remove videos
containing music from Warner Brothers releases
which includes all LOTR score music. The videos
are disappearing in batches so I'm removing the
now useless links from my site in batches.
SMME - which
stood for Shore's Musical Middle-earth - was a
forum opened by four soundtrack fans who found
each other on the net:
Jelle Vanooteghem,
Michael
McLennan (Franz Conrad),
Kurt Milano (Ridan), and myself.
René Puls (Kianga Jaguar) also became a valued member of the staff
as did many others... some still hanging around
and some gone off to other pursuits. The forum
was created on MSN groups and that set up was
never very useable. Over time, conversation
dropped off and the site became more unwieldy to
access. (It did not like Firefox) I essentially
closed it down some years ago as we had no
meaningful conversation or traffic on it and it
was frustrating for me to access as a manager.
Then I got word that MSN was closing up shop
altogether.
Now, as a Magpie I
love to collect stuff but I'm pretty good at
sorting through and discarding (or repurposing)
old material that is no longer useful. Because
the conversations weren't current, the majority
of the threads contained information that was
incomplete, out of date, and inaccurate compared
to the newer material being released in various
formats (CRs, Annotated Scores, etc). I could
not see any reason to move this faulty
information to a new set up when there were no
active members. Instead, I dug through those old
conversations one by one and any material I
thought was worth archiving, I did so as a page
on this site. None of it is so profound as to
provide direct links to them here. But I created
links to them in places where the conversations
are relevant. It was a great time and a great
group of people. Thanks for the memories, guys.
FUN - Easter
is months away but more
easter eggs
have been added to the site. Happy
Hunting. |
|
2008
(Sept / Nov) |
2008
(Jan / Sept) |
|
11/23/08
A Noble End: This
theme has been tricky for me since the
information regarding it has been a bit sketchy.
Using the musical notation provided in the
CR-FOTR & CR-ROTK liner notes and the 'first
heard' times stamps provided in the CR-ROTK
liner notes (none were given in the CR-FOTR
liner notes), I was able to identify two
instances in FOTR and two in ROTK. I was less
sure about music heard during Denethor's
hallucination of Boromir but Laerasëa was able
to get a confirmation from Doug Adams that this
was considered A Noble End. And then she was
able to find the corresponding music in FOTR
(similar but not exactly the same). So... I
added that scene... which is really not an
additional scene but just an extension of a
previously identified one. But I can compare
music more easily by keeping descriptions of the
two portions distinct so I will. Thanks to
Laerasëa for helping me out with this. Changes
were made to:
A
Noble End theme page
TTT OST
Amon Hen cue by cue page
11/15/08
I fixed the faulty
links for the source text,
Lament for Gandalf, Chorus. I
hope. If you find any lingering problems with
this (or any other link), please let me know.
Thanks to Shaun Gunner for alerting me to the
problem.
11/07/08
HobbitLove and
OrdinaryHobbit are starting a series of
discussions at TORn's forums about the the
lyrics of the soundtrack.
"We would like these
discussions to be about the words themselves,
written for Howard Shore's score; the thoughts
and feelings these words invoke, the passages
from the books that these lyrics often, and, to
my mind, brilliantly honor, and to discuss what
may or may not have been the intent (if we can
discern it) behind the words that were chosen to
enhance the music and to tell the story. We are
approaching Howard Shore's much loved music from
a new direction - through the lyrics created for
the score."
Their first
discussion on, "In Dreams", pointed out a
connection to the writing of J.R.R.T that had
completely escaped me so I've
updated the page for the source text. Go
HERE to read or participate in the
discussion.
11/03/08 - A
Magpie's Nest website's 5th birthday!
5 years ago today A
Magpie's Nest went live. It was at a different
geocities address and it looked very different.
But there are parts of this website that are
essentially the same as what was in that
website. I wanted to do a little celebration
giftie and decided to expand the printable pdf
of the FOTR lyrics I had started. This pdf has
the master list found on this page as well as
all the lyrics from the CR and OST with time
stamps. You can print it out or view in a pdf
reader. If you use Adobe Reader, you can find
bookmarks that will let you jump to a particular
song. Find the pdf
HERE.
Additionally, I
started a thread at TheOneRing.net where I hope
people will share how Tolkien's writings and
it's associated works of art have influenced or
mattered in their life. If you'd like to
participate, go
HERE.
Enjoy.
10/20/08
I was reminded by
rereading my entry of Sept 25, that I wanted to
update my State of the Site page.
So I did.
10/19/08
LYRICS - Although
this process was started awhile ago, it took
awhile to finish an update of the FOTR lyrics
using the choral sheet music from the FOTR Live
symphony. Thanks to Sabsi Fronek for reviewing
the music and determining timestamps what needed
to be corrected or added and to Danijel Legin
for once again lending a keen ear for help in
determining timestamps. Both these people have
been a persistent and tremendous help in terms
of determining lyrics for the soundtrack. Many
fine tweaks were made but more substantial
changes (some awhile back) were made to:
Prologue - Battle of the Last
Alliance: Sauron attacks
Ringwraith chases the Hobbits
Ringwraiths chase Arwen and
Frodo
The Moth returns
Welcome to Rivendell
The Door of Moria
The long, dark of Moria
Dwarrowdelf
The
Balrog
Galadriel's Mirror
The Gift of Elven Cloaks
- I've got suggestions but nothing we're 100% sure of
Leaving Lórien - Extended
Version
When necessary, corrections
were made to the OST versions of the songs. Check cue by
cue pages for newest versions.
Both of these people
are very precise in their work and having the
phonetic syllables is a great asset. For those
pieces that are sung in the FOTR Live concert, I
can say we are as close as we're going to get to
right unless the actual sheet music (or other
precise lyric resource) is officially published.
But the FOTR Live
only covers the theatrical edition so, at the
moment, there are still some extended edition
scenes with singing that we are less sure about.
For many, however, we're pretty sure.
It's become more
clear to me just how hard it is to determine
what's sung when we're only matching what we
hear with an assortment of possible source
texts. For that reason, I probably won't revisit
any lyrics unless we can get the phonetic lyrics
from the TTT Live and, later, the ROTK Live
concerts.
9/25/08
SECOND: I'm trying to
get this update in place before leaving on vacation.
I really need to make a new 'State of the Site'
address but I think it's best to wait until I can
focus on it. But the most FAQ these days is: will
you continue to update. The answer is YES. But only
in certain areas. Check back in a few weeks for more
information.
THIRD: because I'm
leaving on vacation in a few days, I have only
checked and rechecked things. I usually check way
more than twice, though. So if you find missing
images or broken/misdirected links, please let me
know. I don't get annoyed... I get grateful. It's
hard to proof yourself and the mistake you correct
benefits every reader. And now... on to the update.
THEMES - This update is
all about themes. I've gone through the CR-ROTK info
to rename themes (from my name to 'official' name),
add instances heard (mostly in ROTK), and tweak some
comments.
Wagner and the end of ROTK. I updated the Wagner
info with what we know definitively now about the
homage Shore made in his ROTK finale music. I also
made some observations and comments about how we all
think about and discuss what is 'true' or 'right'
about something. I'm reluctant to 'throw' old
discussions away. I thought those concerning Wagner
and ROTK/Shore were interesting enough to archive.
Those are on their
own page. I don't have any soundclips yet but I
hope to get to them soon.
I added and reorganized
links of the LINKS page.
Thanks to slflew for providing some links to older
interviews on various public radio programs. I can't
provide you with a list of what all is new. Just
browse the page.
|
9/1/08
LOTR Hardanger
Fiddles... An Untold Story
I was contacted by
Andrew King, son of Mr J E King, an English
luthier asking if I was interesting in hearing a
little more about two
Hardanger Fiddles involved with the LOTR
score. I was and Andrew wrote up a short account
of the fiddles, Martha and Bellflower, and an
impromptu concert in a car park that "charmed
the homebound commuters into 'slow-step' from
'hurry home'". Go
HERE
to read it.
She has a blog
I thought creating a
blog would allow interested readers a way to
receive notification of updates to this site
since you can subscribe to RSS feeds of blog
updates. I post news of an update (or a
forthcoming update) and you get notification in
your RSS reader.
I'm not
looking to hang out, chat or converse much at
the blog. For the moment, I've got comments
enabled (I think) but I have zero patience for
spam posts so if the comments become a problem,
I'll disable them. Until then, you are welcome
to post a comment and I'll do my best to keep
up, but for a question you wish an answer on,
email is probably better. And for general
chitchat and conversation, I would steer you to
either TheOneRing.net's
message board (specifically the
LOTR movie discussion forum where most score
conversations take place) or
Doug Adams' blog (look for each month's
ongoing discussion). I can be found at either
but so can lots of other fans who can join in
the conversation.
Okay, then... here's the
newest update:
What's
happening? Well, I have been very slowly
making my way through the ROTK theme update.
I actually reached a milestone today so the
light at the tunnel is now showing faintly
in the distance. I tend to approach large
updates by sweeping through all the material
doing one task... then sweeping through it
all again doing the next. It's easier to
focus on a smaller number of tasks, making
sure each gets done, by repeating those same
tasks over and over and over again.
Once the ROTK update is completed, I'll jump
back into lyrics. I will be able to revisit
the FOTR lyrics with new information that, I
hope, will get us as close as we'll ever get
to accurate 'as sung' lyrics. I suspect I'll
be able to do the same with TTT and ROTK
down the road.
Doug Adams' book, The Music of the Lord of
the Rings Films, comes out in late fall of
2008. The only changes I would make to my
site in reference to that is to remove or
correct inaccurate information. I will not
'add' information to my site from Doug's
book. My journey, as it relates to themes on
my website, will be over with the next
update. I will continue my journey as a fan
in the fan communities but the website's
theme work will be pretty much 'locked'.
I'll probably write more about that when the
update is ready to be loaded.
2/24/08
Source Song:
Death of a King - I had attributed two lines
of the English text to Tolkien's own writing but
there was a latter entry that held all the lines
of the English Translation. Thanks to Mikko/Incanus
for pointing this out.
Source Song: The
Prophecy - Mikko/Incanus was able to provide
Tolkien attribution to a bit more source text in
this song
LINKS - Here's another 'what's new the
web' entry.
This site is translating the official
Annotated Scores into German. Andy writes, "This
project has officially been authorized by Doug
Adams and linked on this blog. Is still a work
in progress."
1/29/08
Before I get to what's new on my site, how
about what's new on the web:
Doug Adam's blog - the official “author’s blog” for the upcoming
book The Music of the Lord of the Rings Films.
The
House of Eorl - Earl Carvalho is doing something similar with
his website to mine, but from a different approach/perspective. It
definitely enriches the body of resources and information we have
for the LOTR Soundtrack for him to publish this extensive site. As I
update my theme pages, I'll be linking to his site more extensively
in addition to the
LOTR Score
Analysis Project.
Jim Ware has compared the music as heard
on the ROTK-OST to the CR-ROTK. Find his pdf file
HERE
And of course, at the moment, most of the
news regarding the upcoming films of The Hobbit in regards to soundtrack
are all rumor and suggestion. But I've already been asked if (or it has
been assumed) I will be covering the music of the new films. The answer
is easy. No. Not even tempted. I never regretted taking on the task that
developed into the website. I've met wonderful people, developed loads
of new skills, and developed a relationship to the soundtracks and
movies that would never have existed if I were only a casual listener.
But my obsessive/compulsive tendencies drive me as much as my love of
the music and I can't stop until it's done. I won't be setting
myself up for another journey down that path. That quest will belong to
another.
Now to what's new on the site. This has been
a large and slightly chaotic update. I most likely have failed to
completely document all my changes. But here's what I can tell you:
CR-ROTK - added images to the editions section
Unused and
Alternate Music - new master page. There are also new videos
embedded on the ROTK
page and one on the FOTR page (page removed 1-09)
I've tweaked the information on these
two 'master' pages
Source Songs,
Poems and Text
Lyrics
ROTK Cue by Cues - as
I get more information on the ROTK lyrics, I can either correct or
add to information in the ROTK OST cue by cues. I'm not going to
list all those tweaks here.
Musical
Similarities - Timdalf has has updated his thinking on the
Wagnerian homage at the end of ROTK.
ROTK Master Lyrics
List and time stamps for singing heard on the CR-ROTK added :
Disc 1 --
Disc 2 --
Disc 3 --
Disc 4
SOURCE SONGS - updates, edits, and
additions:
FOTR:
The Prophecy - I have a version that is
not found elsewhere on the web. I've been a bit quiet about it but
I've had some inquiries into why mine is different and what my
thinking was on it. So, I've expanded the info on
that page and
created a
new page with the steps Danijel Legin and I followed to reach
the conclusion we did.
ROTK:
The Call - it was
speculated that this was the source for the Death of Théoden.
That is not true.
The
Seduction of the Ring - a page added for ROTK. On the CR-ROTK but
unused in the
film
The Green
Dragon - named changed (previously called Green Dragon Beer) and
a comment added on a discrepancy in one word between movie's closed
captions and the AS-ROTK.
Last Son -
corrected some minor mistakes in the Sindarin translation
The Dimholt Road
- added to the site.
The Blade
That Was Broken - added to the site
The Way is Shut
- added to the site
On
the Fields of the Pelennor - added to the site
Death of a
King - added to site
The Grace of
the Valar - updated info on page slightly (mirrored in TTT
section)
For Frodo - added to site
The Nazgul -
incorrectly identified as being used in Ash and Smoke (On the
Fields of the Pelennor is the correct Source Text)
The Grey Havens
- I thought that was sung at the Grey Havens scene but I
no
longer believe that. It also appears to have an alternate
title of 'Frodo's Song'. |
|
2007
(Oct / Nov) |
2007
(Apr / Sept) |
|
11/05/07
I've added some comments on the Shire
Theme by FarFromHome that I really liked. I've placed all her
comments from one conversation (she's made tons of comments I love
besides these) on the Shire/Hobbit Theme overview page. I've also requoted sections in
other pertinent pages.
11/02/07
SIMILARITIES:
added a link to Doug Adam's podcast
about the Dies Irae
added more musical similarities as
observed by fans
INSIDE A SONG: A
new entry
from Loresilme
FOTR LYRICS:
The Three Hunters chase the Uruk-hai : I've had to recant our
previous suggestion of lyrics but can offer a portion of the correct
lyrics
The Death of Boromir : progress made
TTT LYRICS
The
Balrog : some progress made
Zirak Zigal - Smiting of the Balrog : lyrics determined
10/27/07
NEW
VIDEO: Added another JimJWare video (from YouTube) mixing video
from the movie with unused/alternate music. This scene covers the 3
Hunters entry into Fangorn, their encounter with the White Wizard,
the revealing of Gandalf the White, the recounting of Zirak Zigal,
and the arrival of Shadowfax. (removed from YouTube at request of
Warner Brothers)
10/26/07
In December of '02, I led a discussion
over 6 days at TheOneRing.net of the TT Appendices material, "Music
for Middle-earth". For that discussion, I created web pages (since I
could format them more easily than a forum post). I've now reworked
those pages a little and offer them up
HERE. This appendices material now exists in three formats:
HS Comments
Page: transcription in the same format as other HS
Comments pages
Discussion Guide: my heavily formatted pages (6 in all) that
contain
same comments as on HS Comments Page
Magpie tidbits (interesting info),
comments, and conversation prompts
additional resources in the form of
images, links or audio files
TORn discussion threads: these are
transcripts of the actual discussions. The first post of each day's
discussion is a copy of the pertinent Discussion Guide page but
without all the formatting and images. The link to each section's
TORn thread is in the intro box at the top of the Discussion Guide
page.
10/22/07
Years back, I developed a theory that
the Rivendell Theme contained musical elements representing both
Elves and Men. As part of my work, I researched every instance of
the Rivendell Theme in the movies and documented that research on a
soundtrack Wiki site where it sat for years. That site is not active
and, in fear of it being lost should it be taken down, I set out to
reproduce that information on my site. I intended to only copy and
paste but, in the end, I reworked and updated it just a bit. Thanks
to Chenresi for her collaboration on this venture. The page is
HERE.
I have to say, I'm still quite enamored
with this theory and am secretly convinced that I will be vindicated
by new information available in Doug's book. That's my fantasy,
anyhow. Even if I'm not, I'll trot out my oft used comment: even if
HS didn't intend it and wouldn't agree with it, I maintain he
should have because it works.
Chenresi hears some similarities between
the Rivendell Theme, especially its first lush version, and the
Panis Angelicus. She also ties this into the my of Men theory above.
Find the entry on the
Similarities
page.
10/18/07
Happy Birthday, Howard Shore. In
celebration, I present the debut of a new section of the site:
Howard Shore and His All Nurse
Band
I'm not as old as Howard, but old
enough to remember the heady days of Saturday Night Live back when
it was funny. I had vague memories of the "All Nurse Band" but only
vague. And I could never find images on the web (large enough) to
refresh my memory. It suddenly dawned on me that, if I could figure
out what episode it was, I could rent it from Netflix. And so I did.
And, being a magpie, I have to 'collect'
Enjoy
10/11/07
You might notice that a feather appeared
at the bottom of pages in the last update of the site. I created the
feather with the intention of creating a Favicon. But I don't have
the software at the moment. So I just put a larger version at the
bottom of the pages.
Well, with this update, you might find
an egg in place of the feather on some pages. This is a corvid
egg... not an
easter egg. Nonetheless, clicking on an egg one
stumbles across might prove interesting.
I've created a new section examining the different
soundtrack editions:
Standard Jewel Case, Limited Editions, and Complete Recordings. I
also looked briefly at non-official soundtrack recordings and non-movie Tolkien music.
I'm hosting a
ROTK movie soundtrack
analysis by Thomas Rouiller.
new link to a
children's choir version of "Into the West" on youtube.
I've updated the Shire/Hobbit music.
OVERVIEW
SETTINGS:
PENSIVE SETTING
RURAL SETTING
HYMN SETTING
A HOBBIT'S
UNDERSTANDING
PLAYFUL SETTING
LULLABY SETTING
ACCOMPANIMENTS
OUTLINE
TWO STEP
SKIP BEAT
END CAP
HOBBITS' ANTICS
|
9/09/07
To pass the time while we wait for news
and release of the CR-ROTK, fans have been busy combining unused
music from the score (found on the CRs or the OSTs) with video from
the movie. I've embedded these within the appropriate pages. I've
credited each and the name is a link to their page at YouTube.
(removed from YouTube at request of Warner Brothers)
The Seduction
of Sméagol : The Sméagol/Déagol confrontation at the beginning
of ROTK.
Music from FOTR :
Gandalf contemplates the Ring, A Knife in the Dark, treachery on
Amon Hen
Music from TTT
: Raid on Orc Night Camp, Tracking Footsteps of Hobbits, Treebeard
meets Merry & Pippin
More music
from TTT : A Brace of Coneys, Faramir's Dream, Ride out to meet
them.
Four more
from TTT - Dead Marshes, Shadowfax's arrival at Fangorn, Arwen's
Fate, Nazgul at Osgiliath, Elven Archers.
9/03/07
Well... I was trying hard to keep track
of all the new things I've added as I worked on them over the last 5
months. But it appears I somehow deleted them. So, here's my attempt
at recreating them. Just keep an eye out for updates unlooked for.
THEMES - the major focus of this update
was themes. All official themes on this site now use the official
name (mostly) and are organized by the official categories. Almost
every theme is mentioned on this site. For any theme I didn't have
previously, there's only a brief comment and a list of scenes that
employ the theme. For more info, you'll have to go buy the CRs and
read the liner notes. An overview of the Complete Recordings is
HERE.
The Theme pages have been redesigned
slightly but, more significantly, For each theme I've included a
link to a zipped
audio example of each theme and a link to that theme's page at the
LOTR Score
Analysis Project. All the themes have been updated except the
Shire/Hobbit material. I left that till last and decided not to hold
up the update to finish it.
I've also included image files for many
of the theme pages. It help breaks up all that grey text and
provides a visual clue for what you're looking at. Let me know if
it's bothersome to load the pages with the images.
Instead of linking to every new theme
page, I'll just have you go HERE.
This should get you started.
OTHER CHANGES - The other changes are
mostly cosmetic or organizational. I doubt even the most devoted
reader will notice much of it. I started this site with an old,
outdated web design program and a rudimentary knowledge of typing.
Since then, my web design program is a little better but, more
importantly, I've had some graphic design training (although no web
training). Now it makes me cringe to see clumsy design but updating
the content of the site has always been more important than
cosmetics and learning more up to date web coding. But I treated
myself to a little design fest the last few weeks.
STATE OF THE SITE - update the info on
where I'm at. I got most of the stuff on my old list done. Yay! Now
there's a new list.
THANKS - I'm betting I added
something to the site over the last five months and then provided
thanks (on the page that was lost) to the person who provided the
help or information. There is almost no chance I can retrieve any of
that from my brain. If you deserved thanks then please accept my
best intentions and wishes here in my giving thanks. If it helps
any, I have learned a hard lesson on how to handle updates in the
future and hopefully this won't happen again.
4/14/07
UNUSED MUSIC IN TTT
- TheTennisBallKid created a wonderful document detailing all the
unused music associated with The Two Towers. Some of it is heard on
the OST, some on the CR, and some in the closing credits. I got
obsessive and mixed some of this unused music with the soundtrack
(as in dialog, sound effects, etc) of the movie.
LINKS - updated links which mostly means
deleting dead ones. But I did add a 'Fan
Covers' section. I have collected a handful of fan covers of the
music (cause I'm a magpie) and I thought some might interest you.
ROTK
Added:
Howard Shore's
ROTK Audio Commentary. Thanks to TheTennisBallKid for his
transcription. I found this comment by HS very interesting:
Peter is a great storyteller, and by
allowing me to express the story in music you connect it to people
in the way that music can. And I'm seeing that, and it's fascinating
to me actually -- to see the reaction to it, and the knowledge of
the music in the films. That people know all the moments, and they
know how the music relates to every frame of the movie. I mean, they
know everything about it.
uh... I think Howard's visited my site!
;^)
Added:
Arwen's Song -
from the Houses of Healing. Comments added that pertain to
The Grace of the
Valar, Sissel's Song, and
Arwen's Prayer.
Updated lyrics for
Sissel's
Songw
TTT - Lyrics update - besides minor
tweaks here and there, the following is new:
The Dead Marshes,
The Road to
Mordor, Entmoot
- source text added
Lament for Théodred now called
Funeral
of Théodred - additional lines for source text now
available
Aragorn now called
The Grace of the
Valar known as Breath of Life - additional lines for source text now
available
The Mearas - additional lines for source
text now available
Evenstar - previous lyrics and
translations by fans replaced by official version
Death of Boromir, part 1,
Lament
for Gandalf chorus, The Prophecy,
Revelation of the Ringwraiths - source texts were known to
have been used in FOTR. Now known to have been used in TTT
I have adopted the Old English spelling
used in the AS-TTT. That means ð has become th, for example
added a
Closing Credits page.
There is music in the closing credits that's not on the OST or CR
or, sometimes, in the movie itself. This music needs to be addressed
and I decided to just create a page for the closing credits. For TTT
it includes the regular, theatrical credits and the extended edition
Fan Club credits. FOTR does not have a comparable page but I intend
to create one. ROTK has one for the
Fan Credits only. I
will probably redo that to mimic the TT page when I do the lyrics
update for ROTK. (after the CR -ROTK is released)
|
|
2006
(June / Sept) |
2006
(Feb / June) |
|
9/08/06
Major update... please let
me know if there are any broken links.
New Look: In an attempt to
make a minor formatting tweak, I kind of blew up my site
- that is, my harddrive copy. Luckily, I had done a very
recent upload onto my server so I just downloaded all
those pages to use. Meanwhile, I used it as an
opportunity to change how a few things look. The light
background and lighter text (no bold) are the biggest
changes. You probably won't notice the others.
New Navigation Tree: I
originally used a collapsible outline style to create a
navigation tree. In Internet Explorer, only the main
headings of outline level were visible until one clicked
on them. Then all the items in the list within that
heading became visible. This did not work in Firefox, my
current browser. Without the collapsible feature, the
list was getting really, really long. I decided to go
against my nature and provide a bare bones, sparse
navigation list of links. For a more detailed one, go to
the site map, which has been radically redone. And feel
free to let me know if you like the new navigation
system or hate it. I kept the old one 'just in case'.
(April, 2007: gone now...)
New Content:
I've completely redone the
Shire/Hobbit Thematic material.
Hobbit Pizzicato - now
called
Hobbit Two Step
Shire A Ostinato - now
Hobbit
Outline Figure
Shire B+ - now
A Hobbit's
Understanding
Added:
Hobbit
Skip Beat and
Hobbit
End Cap
Added: soundclips for the
Hobbit
Accompaniments, the
Pensive
Setting and the
Hymn Setting.
I've removed the Wisdom of
Gandalf Theme page. I think this material was a
combination of the Hymn chords for the Shire Theme and
other music. The Hymn chords belonged with the
Hymn Setting
of the Shire/Hobbit Theme. The other material was not
discussed in the CR-FOTR so either it will be later, or
it isn't being given any official attention. If it gets
addressed later, I'll resurrect the page. If not, I'm
willing to let it go.
I've gone ahead and made
room for the Complete Recording information on all
Source Song pages. At the top, under the title of
the song, one can find the area, "Featured In". In the
left column, are the instances found on the Original
Soundtrack or the Special Edition Soundtrack. In the
right column, are the instances found in the Complete
Recordings. In the case of TTT and ROTK, this column is
either blank, or details the scene as found on the DVD.
It is possible that some
updates I made in the few weeks between my last upload
and the kabloom event were lost. Let me know if you find
anything that looks wrong. I've also changed a small
amount of content like changing a few of my theme names
to match the official theme names. Since those changes
are fairly minor and they took place in the midst of a
week long reformatting binge, I haven't kept track of
them and can't document them here. Sometimes... finished
is better than perfect.
I've added a page:
Inside a
Song. Go read it to find out more.
I've updated information of
the
choirs and
vocal artists of the soundtrack. Information on the
instrumental artists and symphonies can be found in the
Instruments
page.
7/25/06
Using information from the
Annotated Score for the Complete Recordings of the Fellowship of
the Ring, I've updated the Instruments of the LOTR Soundtrack page. Mostly I just added instruments, more specific information about where
things are heard, and artist info. But in one case, I had to make a
correction: a musette can refer to a small bag pipe (which is what I
said it did here) but it also refers to small accordion. It's the
accordion instrument that was used in the score.
7/15/06
You might note a change in my
contact email address. It's now a.magpies.nest (at) gmail (dot) com
I am no longer a student. I'm now
just an unemployed shlub looking for work. Since looking for work is
a full time job in itself, this doesn't mean more time for me. I'm
trying to peck away at this site but, in all honesty, much of the
work that could be done will take more effort and time than I may
ever be able to give. I have quite a few people expressing interest
in contributing work but so far, nothing has materialized. Although
I hope to update the site with each new Complete Recordings sets,
those updates are really pretty minimal. Hopefully I can keep up
with tweaks, corrections and minimal updates. More than that will
have to come from other fans. If you're doing something you'd like
me to link to, let me know. If you need a site to park your LOTR
soundtrack work, we can negotiate.
I've updated the
LINKS page. A few links had gone dead (one
is showing as not available but I'm going to leave it for the moment
hoping that it's just a temporary problem). If you find an article
or interview you like, I suggest you save it. We take for granted
that information we find will be available for ever and it just
isn't.
Thanks to Timothy for his
proofreading. Some minor corrections were made on various pages.
Bregalad's Song
& The Song
of the Entwives - excerpts from each of these were sung/recited
by Treebeard in a TTT Extended scene. Radu Bogdan questioned why I
hadn't included them. In my mind, there weren't properly sung...
what with having no melody or such. But I can see including them so
I have. Thanks to Turesse for transcribing the excerpts.
The Call - TheTennisBallKid believes the singing heard as the
Rohirrim
battle the Mumakil is from The Call. I can't hear well enough to
agree or disagree but I'll put it here for now.
The Prophecy - the
prologue music from the regular issue FOTR cd was thought not have
appeared in the movie at all. In fact, a very short phrase was heard
in the prologue (and on the
CR-FOTR) as we see the Misty Mountain and Galadriel tells
that Gollum took the Ring there. Thanks to TheTennisBallKid
Zirak Zigal
(from TTT EE Fan Credits) - added lyrics (from
The Fight) and
timestamps. Thanks to Michael and TheTennisBallKid.
6/11/06
Death of
Théoden - added lyrics (from
The Call) and
timestamps.
Thanks to
TheTennisBallKid.
The Leave Taking - added lyrics (from
Hymn to
Elbereth) and
timestamps.
Thanks to
Turesse.
Burning
of the Westfold - added lyrics (from
The Missing) and timestamps. Thanks to
TheTennisBallKid.
Added a
pronunciation guide
for Old English, the language use for the Rohirric lyrics. This
information was gleaned from the
University of Calgary's Old English site
as constructed by Murray McGillivray.
|
6/03/06
Added
timestamps for the martial version of the
Lothlórien Theme
used at Helm's Deep.
Éowyn's Fight with the Witch King -
lyrics from Angmar
- thanks to
Incanus for determining the
time
stamps for this singing.
5/07/06
I've gotten the first step in
updating theme information completed. To get more
information on that, follow the link above. I would
appreciate hearing about any broken links.
I think most of the FOTR lyric
work that's going to get done is done. The remaining
uncertainties are posted at the
forum.
There has been mild interest in getting going
on TTT and ROTK lyrics, but I think most of the lyrics
cadre is as busy as I am and there isn't much activity
of late.
Thanks to TheTennisBallKid for
helping me place some music from the beginning of
The Forbidden
Pool that I had labeled as unused. He also has some
new thoughts on music I labeled
Haradrim Motif.
3/22/06
Sabsi has provided more time
stamps for the Ringwraith Theme's singing: The scenes in
the Prologue and while the
Ringwraiths chase Arwen and Frodo.
Isildur's Account of the Ring - Incanus
provided
the information that these lyrics were from
the
Seduction of the Ring even though the melody is not
the Seduction
Theme. Apparently the information was verified by
Doug Adams and I can easily agree by listening. Thanks
to Mikko Ojala, 'Incanus'.
3/09/06
The forum is slow, but I didn't expect any different. I've created a thread for every song for which I can't determine time stamps. Links to those threads are with their respective entry (see links below for Discs 1, 2, and 3) or go
HERE.
I have completed some lyric work regarding the Complete Recordings of the FOTR (CR-FOTR). Thanks to Gwen, Sabsi, Aty,
Tyrhael and Turesse for their help.
A
Master List of all songs sung in the FOTR
Time Stamps (as far as we know) for all songs sung in the FOTR
Disc 1
Disc 2
Disc 3
2/28/06
Jeff Barnes sent me information about my
Musical Similarities page. There, I had noted the
similarity between the Shire Theme and the hymn, This is My Father's World. Jeff suggested an even closer similarity with the hymn, How Can We Name a Love. Even though both hymns use the same tune, How Can We Name a Love is numbered 111 (Eleventy-one) in the Methodist Hymnal. Pretty cool, hun?
With the help of my Lyrics Ladies, I'm making slow progress on compiling a list of all the songs in the FOTR with time stamps for the iterations heard in the Complete Recordings of the FOTR. Look for that update soon.
2/18/06
I found myself talking by email to three different people who are helping is small to big ways with lyric time stamps--Gwen Lloyd, Sabsi Fronek and Angela "Aty" Ferreira. It started to get confusing so I opened a forum to provide a place for group conversations. For the moment, it's a minimalist as it can get. There's a section for "Lyrics"... boards for FOTR, TTT and ROTK... and six threads in the FOTR board. I don't know that there's a need for much more -- only a few people are actively helping with lyrics and I don't know if there's any interest in other discussions. And I don't have a lot of time to fuss with it. But if you'd like to check it out, go HERE. Email me if you have any suggestions for other uses besides discussing lyrics. At the moment, you don't even have to register to post but that could change quickly if I get trolls. I belong to and co-moderate the forum
SMME: Shore's Musical Middle-earth. That forum, at MSN groups, has a cumbersome format and is mostly dead. And I thought having a place to focus on the specifics of my website might be useful, even if in a very minimal way. But I don't wish to actively compete with
SMME and would encourage any of you to check out that forum as well.
Gwen Lloyd was determined to figure out the lyrics to the final song heard during the ROTK DVD EE Fan Credits--so determined that she emailed David Salo. It was a productive tactic. We now have the lyrics for
Bilbo's Song. Thanks to Ms Lloyd and Mr. Salo.
I finished reconstructing the ROTK movie from the soundtrack CD. Go
HERE.
Running across an old note in my 'to do' list, I was reminded that Ainu Laire had cracked the
Nazgûl lyrics in ROTK, Track 13,
The Fields of the Pelennor. I don't think I ever properly attributed her and I'm really sorry for that oversight. I've added her name to the
Nazgûl Source Song page, and to my list of thanks on the main
Source Song
page.
Although I was using Danijel's analysis of the
lyrics in
Foundations of Stone, I had transcribed them incorrectly on my site. (I had Nurunna Nárendur). Thanks to Sam for pointing this out.
ARTISTS/CHOIRS: I've updated my information just a little on the voices of the soundtrack. You can find that information
HERE.
LYRICS: I've updated lyrics using information found in the
FOTR Annotated Score.
The accounting of that update was large enough that it earned its own page. Go
HERE to read more.
THEMES: I haven't been able to do any work on themes, whether it be completing the ROTK movie or reading and integrating Doug Adam's work from the
Complete Recordings - FOTR. Go
HERE to read more about a theme update..
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2005
(Aug / Dec) |
2005
(Feb / July) |
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12/29/05
I now have the
lyrics for the end of "Flight to the Ford". It turns out they are the same words that Arwen is speaking in that scene. Thanks to Sabsi Fronek who sent me the lyrics and time stamps for the CD version, and Lisa Graves who helped me figure out the extra line in the movie version.
ROTK -
Green Dragon Beer - SOURCE SONG ADDED
Diegetic Music from ROTK added
12/14/05
"What's New" is not anything on my site. It's the complete recordings of the FOTR released yesterday. I haven't had much time to listen, nor time to read Doug Adam's booklet but I've opened up the pdf file found on the official soundtrack website and found.... THE LYRICS. I have no idea how long it will be before I can integrate anything from this wealth of material into my website. I will not be writing any analysis on the complete recordings but I will make an attempt to reconcile my theme names with Doug Adams theme names. Since the lyrics are available on the web, I will most likely try to put them on my site as well (unless I hear differently from any particular set of lawyers first). But none of that will happen soon. If you have only a passing interest in the soundtrack, then $60 is probably a little pricey. But if you want more info... then either buying this, or waiting for Doug Adams' book to be published, is something you should consider.
Official Soundtrack Look for this link:
THE LORD OF THE RINGS: FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING
ANNOTATED SCORE
10/30/05 - Now that I've reached a milestone of sorts, read my
State of the Site Address.
ROTK Track 18 -
The Grey Havens - cue by cue added. Another (but shorter) personal note made at the end.
ROTK Track 19 -
Into the West
- cue by cue added.
I added information about music heard under the Shire A Theme. This music is occasionally heard by itself as well so I thought it deserved some attention. Go
HERE to read more about the
Shire A Ostinato.
10/10/05
I stumbled across another web site of soundtrack analysis. The webmaster, Eric Rawlins, has been working independently of the group I hang with. It is reassuring to see how often we agree and refreshing to see a new approach. AND... he has thematic sound clips. Go
HERE to find his site.
10/3/05
Georg/gkgyver - has written an analysis of the Shire music based on orchestration rather than melody. It was originally posted at
SMME but he's consented to have me host his essay on my site as well.
9/10/05
I have made some personal comments at the end of the cue by cue for Track 17,
The Return of the King regarding 'endings'. If you like to jump to those comments, go
HERE.
Although I don't list them here, every time a theme is identified in a new cue by cue, the information on that theme's page is also updated. So, for example, new scenes are listed for the themes:
Fellowship,
Gondor,
Gondor B,
Aragorn,
Arwen,
Shire A,
Shire B,
Hobbit A (Hobbiton),
Hobbit pizzicato and
Fragrance of Ithilien... as Track 17, The Return of the King is added.
The Fragrance of Ithilien - a sweet melody heard twice in ROTK - placed on small motifs page
Aragorn's Theme -
Gondor B phrase - added a few notes
Put the "Heartbeat of the Shire" on the small motifs page. I had previously made mention of it on the bodhrán section of instruments.
ROTK Track 16 -
The End of All Things - cue by cue added (it was added awhile ago, but I forgot to indicate it here.)
ROTK Track 17 -
The Return of the King - cue by cue added
9/2/05
Hirgon has some new clips up on his site. One is the Mumakil music from the
ROTK EE Fan Credits. I had mistakenly identified this as Legolas vs. Mumakil but Hirgon has confirmed that it's actually Éowyn vs. Mumakil although the pieces for both scenes are similar. Thanks for his confirmation on that.
8/15/05 - What a difference a few days make. I just got an internship and my homework is ramping up. I predict I will find it difficult to work on many extracurricular projects for awhile. *sigh of resignation* I had hoped to put my current work to bed in an orderly fashion but after a whirlwind weekend, I've already forgotten what I was working on. Hopefully I haven't left any strings hanging. If you find something that looks like an uncompleted thought, let me know.
I've added a new type of page, one that deals with the music in the Fan Credits for the movies. I had too much to say about a piece heard in the
ROTK Fan Credits and had no where else to put my comments. Right now, there's only a page for ROTK, but it'll be easy enough to add the others.
A song sung by Sissel in the
ROTK Fan Credits could be entitled "A Shadow Lies Between Us". I'm not sure, but if you're curious about "A Shadow Lies Between Us", check out what I've dug up.
(On second thought, Liv's song was heard during the body of the movie and Sissel's wasn't. Why would they credit Sissel's but not Liv's... and not another choral piece from the Fan Credits, "Bilbo's Song"?)
I've identified a song heard in the
ROTK Fan Credits as Bilbo's Song, but other than the title and some speculation about what scene it might have been intended for, there's no other information.
I discovered another musical similarity to LOTR soundtrack music. It's found in Blue Man Group's tribute to 9-11,
Exhibit 13.
8/12/05 - Summer homework is proving lighter than expected. I'm getting small dribs and drabs done.
If you see my note below, dated 2/4/05, you'll know that when I switched my browser to Firefox, I realized the formatting was messed up. Being a fledgling designer, this has vexed me to no end. Every once in a while I'll try something to fix it but usually make myself move on to other, higher priority tasks. I tried again today, and after a couple of methods that worked (and required me to write down 5 steps I would have to do to change every page on this website), I realized: "Or... I could do ____" with ____ being basically 'one' step. I've lost count of how many pages I have... how many I would have to update. But - small victories. The new Prophecy pages (keep reading a few bullet points) and this page have the new formatting. Ahhh, the quest for perfection inches forward.
I managed to bring a few pages up to date (to reflect recent uploads) and correct more than a few mistakes (due to hurried uploads). Thanks to Timdalf for sending me a great list to work from. He didn't feel his contribution warranted thanks, but lately, I like thanking everyone. It serves two purposes. First, I like spreading a professional level of attribution and everyday graciousness around the web - sometimes, those two things are sorely lacking. Second, I want to acknowledge and I want you all to understand that we all build from each other's contributions. Life isn't a competition. If I were working in a vacuum I would never have been able to put forth this website. So, no matter what one contributes, it has value. :-)
FOTR Track 1 -
The Prophecy & Source Song -
The Prophecy - In a wonderful feat of collaboration, Danijel Legin and I were able to figure out why we could never quite reconcile time stamps for the lyrics we all thought were heard from 0:36 - 1:12. Those were not the correct lyrics. The actual lyrics can be extrapolated from the English version of the poem as published in sheet music. Working with Danijel and arriving at this 'aha' moment proved to be one of the more enjoyable moments in my soundtrack work. If you've stayed awake nights vexed by this puzzle, go see what we've deduced.
ROTK Track 15 -
The Black Gate Opens - there was some music I thought wasn't used in the movie but it was used in a later scene. I've added that to the cue by cue. There is a link on that page to a comment made on the cue by cue for "The End of All Things" but "The End of All Things" isn't up yet so it will be a dead link for a while.
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7/7/05 - Two weeks off from school and I managed to get a little done. It seems to be harder as the site grows. For every new page I must add information to numerous other pages. Then I must remember to upload them. I hope I've gotten everything up that I managed to finish. Now I think I'll take the last weekend of vacation to read and laze around. Ta, everyone.
I started
reconstructing the ROTK movie from the soundtrack much like I did for TTT.
Added a new theme:
Theme for the West, also referred to as the Grey Havens Theme.
Corrected information on the Source Poem:
The Argument. It is not used on the track, The Fields of the Pelennor.
Added a new 'small motif'... the
Morgul Host Motif (now known as Witch
King/Orcs of Mordor)
Made a minor correction to the lyrics of "In Dreams". I had used the liner notes for my transcription and it's clear that what's sung is not what's written there. Thanks to Kelsey Green for pointing that out.
Added a few instances of
Faramir's Theme.
New ROTK Cue by Cues
ROTK Track 9 -
Cirith Ungol - CUE BY CUE ADDED
ROTK Track 10 -
Andúril - CUE BY CUE ADDED
ROTK Track 11 -
Shelob's Lair - CUE BY CUE ADDED
ROTK Track 12 -
Ash and Smoke - CUE BY CUE ADDED
ROTK Track 13 -
The Fields of the Pelennor - CUE BY CUE ADDED
ROTK Track 14 -
Hope Fails - CUE BY CUE ADDED (Thanks to Kurt for his help here)
ROTK Track 15 -
The Black Gate Opens - CUE BY CUE ADDED
6/13/05
School break is almost here. Although I only have two weeks off, I hope to get something new up. Today, I'm just commenting that I apparently didn't have the motif, "The Wisdom of Gandalf" in my navigation frame. It was difficult to decide where to put it so I put it in a couple of places. If you haven't stumbled across it yet and would like to read more, go
here. (removed from site 9/2006)
While I'm putzing, I'm adding a comment that theharmonyguy made about the
Nature Theme. It wasn't new information, but it was well stated and I thought it improved on my attempt to describe one of the Nature Theme variants. Another great contribution to the scholarship of the themes.
4/7/05
Many thanks to Georg Kröner (gkgyver) who has sent me quite a bit of information on the soundtrack. I haven't had enough free time to deal with most of it, but I was able to make some corrections to my ROTK cue by cue. There were sections of music to which I couldn't put a scene and he was able to help me out. You can find his contributions in
Hope and Memory
Minas Tirith
The White Tree
I've added a
new page, complete with audio samples, comparing music heard in the LOTR soundtracks with other traditional and classical pieces. There's quite a few people to thank and I hope I included them all on the page.
2/4/05
Most of you browsing this site are using Internet Explorer. Due to
security issues, I have changed my personal browser from Internet Explorer to
Mozilla's Firefox. Sadly, the site does not view the same in Firefox as in Internet Explorer. There are a few things I could do to tidy up the change in appearance, but I can't justify putzing over aesthetics when the content isn't finished. Those of us with Firefox will just have to overlook it, I guess.
ROTK - Track 9 -
Cirith Ungol - CUE BY CUE ADDED
Changed my thinking about the two
Journey Themes. I once agreed with Michael that one could be a Fellowship Journey Theme and the other a Hobbit Journey Theme. I no longer ascribe 'Fellowship' or 'Hobbit' to either but think one (the
Journey B Theme) is associated with heights and/or climbing.
(now know as Dangerous Passes)
1/1-9/05 - I had a right flurry of updating going on the last few weeks. But now I'm moving on to other things. I won't get a break from school for quite a while so I don't know when the next update will occur. Happy New Year.
ROTK - added
timestamps for Sissel's singing of the song "Aragorn" in the ROTK EE Fan Credits
ROTK -
The Destruction of the Ring - SOURCE SONG ADDED
ROTK -
The Argument - SOURCE SONG ADDED
ROTK -
Don't Let Go - SOURCE SONG ADDED
ROTK -
The Mountain of Fire - SOURCE SONG ADDED
ROTK -
The Eagles - SOURCE SONG ADDED
ROTK - Track 7 -
The Ride of the Rohirrim - CUE BY CUE ADDED
ROTK - Track 8 -
Twilight and Shadow - CUE BY CUE ADDED
ROTK -
The Evening Star - SOURCE POEM ADDED
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2004
(Aug / Dec) |
2004
(August) |
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12/24-27/04
ROTK - Track 1 -
A Storm is Coming - CUE BY CUE ADDED
ROTK - Track 2 -
Hope and Memory - CUE BY CUE ADDED
ROTK - Track 3 -
Minas Tirith - CUE BY CUE ADDED
ROTK - Track 4 -
The White Tree - CUE BY CUE ADDED
ROTK - Track 5 -
The Steward of Gondor - CUE BY CUE ADDED
ROTK - Track 6 -
Minas Morgul - CUE BY CUE ADDED
ROTK -
The Retreat from Osgiliath - SOURCE POEM ADDED
ROTK -
The White Rider - SOURCE POEM ADDED
ROTK
Andúril - SOURCE POEM ADDED
ROTK
Angmar - SOURCE POEM ADDED
ROTK
The Last Son - SOURCE POEM ADDED
ROTK
The Nazgûl - SOURCE POEM ADDED
ROTK
The Grey Havens - SOURCE POEM ADDED
ROTK
The Edge of Night - SOURCE POEM ADDED
THEMES
5/4 Rhythm -SOUND CLIP ADDED - troll drummers
THEMES
Silver Trumpets Theme SOUND CLIP ADDED - Boromir in Lothlórien.
THEMES
Hobbit Themes - SOUND CLIP ADDED - fishing and gardening music comparison (Déagol-Sméagol/Maggot's cornfield)
THEMES
Faramir's Theme THEME ADDED - SOUND CLIP PROVIDED
THEMES - as I work through the ROTK cue by cues, I am also slowly adding scenes on the themes pages. I would not consider these done and final till I not only finish all the cue by cues... but also go through the movie scene by scene. That's a long ways off.
12/22/04
I added two soundclips for the
5/4 Rhythm. Thanks to René Puls for these.
10/01/04
Added some
pictures of unusual instruments.
Corrected the time stamps for the arrival of Shadowfax at Helm's Deep in TTT Track 16,
Forth Eorlingas. I hadn't provided all the syllables for the choir part. They continue on into the White Rider Theme which is heard after Shadowfax's arrival.
9/18/04
Corrected the lyrics from
The King sung on TTT Track 9,
The White Rider.
Almost every time I look at a page, I find a mistake I must correct. Many are just spelling or grammar mistakes, but some are minor content mistakes. I'll only list significant corrections here, but please be aware that small tweaks are happening all over the site.
8/30/04
Updated the lyrics of
Snow White
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note - on August 24, 2004 the
site was moved from www.geocities.com/a_magpies_nest/ to
www.geocities.com/magpie930
The design was also changed
from the one you see
below to the one you see today.
08/04
This is the debut of my new and improved website format.
Some of the new things that you might find include:
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2003 |
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After working through the summer of 2003, the website,
"A Magpie's Nest" first went live November 3rd, 2003 at
the web address:
www.geocities.com/a_magpies_nest/ with 63
pages. It looked like this:
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