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Watch: How The Music Of Lord Of The Rings Secretly Tells Its Own Story


Nerdwriter has got to be one of my favorite Youtubers right now, since he can do some great analysis on anything from music to movies. One particularly favorite video of mine is his analysis of Howard Shore’s score for Lord of the Rings and how he masterfully uses music to tell its own story in the background.

In the video posted above, it’s explored how Shore plays with the instruments and changes the leitmotifs based on what’s happening to the characters at the time. The “Fellowship” theme recurs repeatedly throughout the movie, but depending on which scene, instruments are taken in and out of a sequence. For example, when the theme plays with just Frodo and Sam, only minimal instruments are used; when Aragorn enters the party, and extra horn can be heard in the theme, including drums; when the Fellowship fully forms, we have a full orchestra backing the theme now.

I can’t explain everything as well as the video does, but I really love these details that I missed even after years of viewing the movie. Just goes to show that quality work stands the test of time — pretty much like Star Wars.

See Also: Sean Bean Shares His Favorite Death On Screen

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