1. Daniel Crawley Musical Links Investigation
The Throne Room – John Williams
A Message to you Rudy – The Specials

2. The Throne Room – John Williams

3. The Throne Room – John Williams
This piece is taken from the score of the 1977 film Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope. The film's score was written by the composer John Williams who is famous for many film scores such as is
widely regarded as one of the most memorable scores of modern film. Williams is a very significance figure in the field of film music and has written scores for many significant films such as Harry Potter, Indiana Jones, Jaws, E.T., Saving Private Ryan and in this case all six of the Star Wars movies. The Star Wars films are one of my favourite sagas of films because they incorporate the story telling style of a fantasy story but within the context of a science fiction setting. Undoubtedly without his work, the films he has written for would be a very different experience because of the brilliant talent he has put into these films to make them that much better with scores that are remembered and appreciated by many people, film novices or not.

4. The Throne Room – John Williams
There are many influences from other composers in William's works, one aspect of his pieces that is very noticeable is the use of leitmotif where small phrases or motifs are repeated throughout the pieces which represent themes and characters. An example of this is the use of Darth Vader's theme throughout the pieces in Episode V. This technique was most noticeably used by Wagner's operas where short motifs would represent characters or moods in the stories told.
The Throne Room – John Williams
The Imperial March (Darth Vader's Theme)

5. The second link I will be discussing is the use of melodic instruments as a rhythmic device. In both pieces we see how melodic instruments such as brass and strings can be used to perform a more rhythmic role within the piece. In The Throne Room we see the woodwind and string sections play with the percussion and in A Message to you Rudy we see the brass play off-beat stabs that are emulating the drum kit. Both these instances of the rhythmic use of melodic instruments create a more rhythmic and percussive feel that develops the pieces.
Links

6. The Throne Room – John Williams
This piece is in the style of a fanfare as the horns in the orchestra are featured heavenly and play they main melody and are the main focus of the piece. Another aspect of a fanfare that is in this piece is that is is very short at only 1 minute and 46 seconds long. A fanfare would typically be used as music for a ceremonial occasion such as representing an important person like a king, a fanfare is also used in a military ceremonial setting. This relates to the context of the piece as it plays at the end of the film after the protagonists have won a great battle and they are in a medal ceremony celebrating their victory. This is shown through the use of horns and a strong syncopated rhythmic backing of the string section, it's these elements that link this piece to the second piece.
The Throne Room – John Williams

7. A Message to you Rudy

8. A Message to you Rudy – The Specials
The next piece is A Message to You, Rudy which was originally written in 1967 by Dandy Livingstone, a Jamaican song writer and producer. The song was covered by the British 2-tone band The Specials. 2-tone was a genre of music that came from the UK in the late 1970s which blended Ska and Punk Rock, it is also known as the 'second wave' of the genre of Ska which came from Jamaica in the late 1950s.
A Message to you Rudy – The Specials

9. A Message to you Rudy – The Specials
Ska is an upbeat genre which is meant to be danced to, it typically features up-stroke guitar chords, brass instruments a walking bass line and up-beat lyrics. Ska can be seen to have had three generation or 'waves', the first being the original Jamaican Ska in the late 1950s with artists like Prince Buster and bands such as the Skatalites, the second wave or '2-tone' is widely regarded to have been born in the UK with bands like The Specials and Madness, this had a faster tempo than traditional Ska and mixed in elements of Punk. The third wave of Ska is a bit more vague with bands popping up around the USA, Japan, Germany and Australia and the tempos getting even faster as the theme of Rock became more prevalent.
A Message to you Rudy – The Specials .

10. A Message to you Rudy – The Specials
A Message to You, Rudy is a very simple song with a 1, 4, 5 chord structure that repeats throughout the whole song, these chords are played on an up-stroke guitar and a horn section which give it its main backing. The lyrics are also very simple with a call and response between the main singer and the rest of the band. The structure is also very simple with a verse, chorus, verse, chorus structure.
A Message to you Rudy – The Specials

11. The first link I will discuss is the use of syncopation, syncopation is the use of off-beat notes to disturb a regular flow, this is used to crate many affects. It has been used by many composers to create various feelings, it is common in music that is intended to be danced to such as Ska, it does pre date Ska by a long time as composers have used this aspect since the middle ages. We see the composers of the two pieces use syncopation, the same means, to produce very different feelings and moods within the pieces.
Links

12. In The Throne Room we see that syncopation is used towards the beginning of
the piece in the string, wood wind and percussion sections of the orchestra,
this creates a noble feeling that is acquainted to a militaristic or monarchic
ceremony as the short stabs are almost staccato in their length with rests
in between the notes.

13. This use of syncopation heavily influences the mood of the piece and defiantly makes the piece so striking and memorable, without a doubt the piece would be a lot less impacting if it did not feature these syncopated notes. The use of syncopated notes relates back the many of the other pieces in Star Wars' score of music, especially with the Main Title which is played at the beginning of every movie.

14. In A Message to you Rudy we see the use of syncopation in the horn section, this is a very common aspect of Ska music and when coupled with a syncopated up-stroke guitar chord progression, it almost defines the genre. Ska is a genre well known for it's availability to dance to and has even coined its own dance, the 'skank'. The use of syncopated chords are a big portion of why Ska is so popular to dance to.

15. The use of syncopation in both pieces is a very important part of the pieces, it gives them their character and makes them relate to the genres that they are being based off, on the one hand there is The Throne Room that takes its syncopation from the genre of the Fanfare and replicates the feeling that the genre is supposed to produce. On the other hand A Message to you Rudy is using the syncopation to produce the affect of other Ska songs, to make people dance. It's the fact that there are reasons that the pieces both use syncopation, that really links them by this aspect.

16. In The Throne Room we hear the use of melodic instruments in a rhythmic way at the towards the beginning of the piece where the trumpet is playing the main melody, the string and woodwind section are following the tympani with a very syncopated rhythm. This does the opposite of a piece that features strings and woodwind that flow with slow and methodical notes, this piece's string and woodwind sections are short and sharp which creates a feeling of strength and ceremonial importance, which is what the piece is trying, and succeeding to replicate as it is based off a fanfare.

17. We see a rhythmic use of melodic instruments in the verses, the brass section which is a trumpet and a trombone play short syncopated notes, they are following the percussion like The Throne Room but in this case they are following the high-hat of the drum kit. The percussive use of the melodic brass is related to the genre of ska where the use of syncopated beats are meant to be danced to, the use of brass instruments in a rhythmic way emphasizes the drum kit and gives the piece a more rhythmic feel, with wich it has the feeling of music that should be danced to.

18. Conclusion
Both these link although sharing the same fundamental meaning, are used to create different affects. In The Throne Room we see the use of syncopated notes to create the feeling of a militaristic or monarchic ceremony, the rhythmic use of melodic instruments backs up this feeling and adds a dramatic element. In A Message to you Rudy we see that the syncopated beats are used to create the feeling of a song to dance to, this relates to the next link of the rhythmic use of melodic instruments as this backs up the syncopated notes and makes the dance feeling more prominent.

19. Bibliography
London Symphony Orchestra, Throne Room/End Title. By John Williams. Star Wars Episode IV A New Hope Original Movie Soundtrack. 20th Century Records CD
The Specials. A Message to you Rudy. By Dandy Livingstone. The Specials.
2-tone CD