To all friends and followers of Film Music Notes,
I must apologize to you as it has been well over a year and a half since my last post here, and some of you have asked whether I would return to the blog and why there has been such a long break. This blog is something I intend to always continue, though I hope to keep posts much more regular from now on. As for the break, a lot has been going on over the last two years.
Back in 2015, I obtained a new position as Assistant Professor of Music Theory at Florida State University in Tallahassee. Coming from Canada, there was a tremendous amount of work not just to immigrate but to “plug in” to the new city and get everything set up. I’ve also been adjusting to the position itself, which has many more responsibilities than I had before due to the school’s large graduate program. I also prepared many new courses from scratch and have been producing as much academic research as I can, as one must when on the track towards tenure.
Just before I began this new position, my wife and I had our second child while still in Canada. In fact, I left for Tallahassee two days after he was born to start the new job! As I said, there’s been a lot going on. I did manage to get the six Star Wars posts out after all this craziness had begun, but things got considerably busier after that with the courses I was teaching, the research I was doing, and with finding a new place to live, and I simply could not get the time to devote to the blog.
Now, however, life has settled down just enough for me to return to the blog and, with any luck, keep it going more regularly. First, I must fulfill my promise to write about Star Wars VII: The Force Awakens. Hopefully there’s still a new thing or two I can say about it. After that, I would like to go back to Classical Hollywood and visit Max Steiner’s great score for Mildred Pierce.
In short, many thanks to you all for returning here and continuing to support my analyses and writings. May you enjoy what future offerings the site will have!
Warmest regards,
Mark (aka the Film Score Junkie)
Nice to hear from you again, I really missed your analysis, but family time is more important I unterstand that 🙂 I am glad to read your posts.
Greetings from Germany!!
please do more on John Barry bond films, and the Book thief please
Love all those scores. Barry’s Bond scores I especially feel could use more discussion. While it was great to do six posts on them, there were so many I still had to leave out. Such good music!
Brilliant news Mark, look forward to your forthcoming analysis, your blog has been much missed.
I’d highly recommend some of these free books by lecturer and musician Brian Morrell who teaches at Leeds College of Music. His film analysis is excellent.
http://brianmorrell.co.uk/filmbooks.html
Thanks, Ed. Yes, I have the first two of these and see he’s now completed a third book. I agree they are excellent analyses. Useful for both my blog and academic writing alike!
Great you’re back. Funnily enough, I just watched Dunkirk at the weekend and had to think of your previous Zimmer reviews/analyses – maybe one for the future? 😉
Oh, and congrats on the birth of your child! I gave birth to a daughter since we last wrote in one of the Zimmer posts, and my own blog was pretty much dormant for a year (between lecturing, teaching and being a mum, I still can’t devote the time to it I’d like, and she’s now 2.5), so I totally get your dilemma.
Best wishes to you and your family.
Glad to have you back!
Mark, very best wishes regarding family and the new job. Great to read anything you have to say.
welcome back!
Out of all the wealth of information on the internet about orchestration, composing, and musical theory, I have to say that this site is one of my favorites. The in-depth analysis, insights, and techniques combined with examples has been something I really look forward to. I’m very glad you’ve returned to this platform and I look forward to future posts.
Congratulations on the birth of your child and new position at Florida State.
thank you for your brilliant pieces on SW’ music themes;
I fell in love with classical music by endlessly re-listening and re-watching the Empire Strikes Back and am now an avid fan of classical music, with special interest in Wagner (leitmotifs), Bach (the things you can do with a single motif) and Beethoven.
Although reading written music is not easy for me (I never learnt to play an instrument, sadly), the combination of your explanation and the clips shown, made me discover some new things about the music I love;
Thank you!
Hope you’ll cover The Last Jedi soon; I think I heard tons of references to the previous movies; John Williams has delivered another master piece with his latest Star Wars score.
Good to read you again 🙂