ESB 5: Weeds of the Reeds (Minutes 21-25 with Stephanie Manning)

2022-12-12

In minutes 21-25 of The Empire Strikes Back, Vader sets course for the Hoth system while the Rebels prepare to defend their base. Joining me today is Stephanie Manning, a bassoonist, writer, and 2022 Fellow of the Rubin Institute for Music Criticism. We talk about the Imperial March, the contrast between Rebel and Empire music, and the bassoon's role in the orchestra. Sidenote: Stephanie is the first bassoonist I've had on the show, so it was high time for a thorough introduction to this often-overlooked but very present instrument that's part of the...

In minutes 21-25 of The Empire Strikes Back, Vader sets course for the Hoth system while the Rebels prepare to defend their base. Joining me today is Stephanie Manning, a bassoonist, writer, and 2022 Fellow of the Rubin Institute for Music Criticism. We talk about the Imperial March, the contrast between Rebel and Empire music, and the bassoon's role in the orchestra.

Sidenote: Stephanie is the first bassoonist I've had on the show, so it was high time for a thorough introduction to this often-overlooked but very present instrument that's part of the Star Wars scores.

Check out the video version of this episode if you want to see the bassoon visuals. Once Disney accepts my copyright dispute, it will be right here on YouTube: https://youtu.be/2abkoRqBMwQ (Maddeningly, the video is currently blocked at the time of initial release. 😵‍💫)

Timestamps:

0:00 - Hello there!
8:20 - Quickie Lesson: Primer to the Instruments of the Orchestra
13:55 - Hard to imagine hearing the Imperial March for the first time.
17:26 - "Pay attention to me" melodies.
24:31 - Imperial March vs. Chopin's Funeral March.
30:52 - Imperial March vs. John Philip Sousa marches.
39:17 - Bassoon show and tell (range, embouchure, double reed, height comparison, how the keys work, how sound is produced)
48:03 - The part where I promised there would be a timestamp.
54:01 - Bassoon playing demonstration.
1:00:02 - How to mic a bassoon.
1:02:08 - Orchestrating bassoon.
1:08:48 - What made Stephanie choose to play the bassoon? (It's not a commonly chosen instrument.)
1:24:55 - Standout bassoon moments in orchestral literature.
1:29:10 - End of bassoon tangent (lol) and back to the buildup of strings to the Imperial March drop.
1:34:42 - Sweet, elongated string lines (Rebels) vs. short, sharp lines (Imperials).
1:42:17 - Beginning of the Battle of Hoth set piece.
1:50:00 - Obvious contrast between the past cue (which had lots of different moods, push-pull, rise-fall) and this cue (ramping up).
2:08:38 - SWMM Questionnaire

Things to Check Out:

David Bruce Composer's "history of the entire orchestra, i guess" - https://youtu.be/tNsZA6q8yH8
Dominic Sewell Music has done fantastic analysis on "2M4 The Imperial March - The Probe Scanner": https://youtu.be/UZaQDrN7YZU
Frédéric Chopin: Funeral March https://youtu.be/xt9SN7Y-z-A
Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov: Scheherazade - https://youtu.be/SQNymNaTr-Y
Igor Stravinsky: Rite of Spring - https://youtu.be/rP42C-4zL3w
Bassoon solo from Tchaikovsky's 6th Symphony (soloist is Julien Hardy) - https://youtu.be/tWsy5GCsGDI
Body mapping for musicians: https://www.bodymap.org/recommended-reading
Béla Bartók: Romanian Folk Dances (soloist is Henryk Szeryng) - https://youtube.com/watch?v=a9aZU35so9A&t=175 <-- queued up to the part we were talking about
ANH 19: Run, Luke! Run! (Minutes 91-95 with Father David and Trevor Mowry) https://youtu.be/9FZgc1x5slg <-- Oboist Trevor Mowry also got into the weeds of the reeds.
Complete Catalogue of the Musical Themes of Star Wars (by Frank Lehman): https://franklehman.com/starwars/.

Cues: