A demonstration of how to transform a theme, in which I radically rework the Happy Birthday song in the style of themes from The Lord of the Rings (Howard Shore) and Rings of Power (Bear McCreary), imitating The Stranger, Fellowship, The History of the Rings, Sméagol, Sauron, and Valinor by combining scalar mapping, reharmonization, orchestration, ornamentation, and other techniques.

Happy sixtyeighteenth birthday to Howard Shore (October 18th) and thank you Zen Wu for singing on this!
  / zenwuzen  

This is only a short demonstration. You can find longform videos that discuss the techniques used here in more depth through the links below.

Transforming themes and scalar mapping
   • How to make a musical theme fit any c...  
   • How to practice transforming themes, ...  

Analysis of Middle Earth musical themes by Shore and McCreary
   • Musical continuity without quotation ...  
   • McCreary’s Rings of Power changes how...  
   • Sauron's musical disguises in Rings o...  

SUPPORT my vision to make music theory inspiring and accessible by joining the Patreon and get access to extra material free through the Patreon shop, such as a solo piano arrangement of the music in this video as a set of (Lord of the Rings style) variations on "Happy Birthday."
  / galendegraf  

RECOMMENDED/RELATED READING
Doug Adams, "The Music of the Lord of the Rings Films" https://amzn.to/4a59X6s
Dmitri Tymoczko, "A Geometry of Music" (see especially Ch. 4, "scales") https://amzn.to/3UkNXi0

CHAPTERS
0:00 Intro and explanation
2:49 Major (The Stranger)
3:35 Double harmonic (History of the Ring/Sméagol)
4:31 Dorian (Fellowship)
4:58 Octatonic (Sauron)
5:42 Melodic minor, 5th mode (Valinor)

Disclaimer: Some links found in the description of videos may be affiliate links, meaning I will make commission on sales you make through my link at no cost to you.

#musictheory #lordoftherings #composer