YouTube uploads for S6

Phillip Menzies

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After a long break I have finally got back in the saddle, picking up on a theme I fleshed out some time ago in the Harad Suite, Ulmo Lord of Waters. I aim to complete all the Valar themes in the near future before I move on to the complicated music for Luthien for season 6.
I have tried to get across the full range of Ulmo’s influence from the morning dew to the deep oceans. The music echoes the horns of Ulmo the Ulumúri created by the maiar Salmar and revolves around four notes that are held for a long sustain and moves from the small and delicate to the raging sea stirred up by Ossë. I have included the season 1 story of Ossë and Uinen with long glissando harp to represent her long hair which flows throughout the seas and loud percussion for Ossë’s chaos. It finished with the majestic sound of Ulmo’s theme bringing in all the instruments at the end for a powerful finish. I have used some sound effects and instruments such as the waterphone, musical saw, musical glasses and the glass harmonica to evoke the idea of sun reflecting and refracting through the water.

 
This was surprising and wonderful. I’m not sure what I was expecting initially but the discord at the beginning caught me off guard, then the instrumentation that followed kept me unsure. The strings in particular seemed delightfully Wagnerian. Then when the horns came in I knew we had arrived. I think you captured the variety of the different forms of waters under Ulmo’s government quite well, especially the storm and his personal horns. Beautifully done.
 
That discord you heard at the beginning was from a waterphone. I added some interesting instruments that are related to water and reflections. There is also a glass harmonica and musical saw.
 
I suspected there was more going on instrumentation-wise than I could pick out by ear. I'm impressed that you were able to employ so many water-related instruments and still have it come together so well. To be clear, my comment about "discord" was intended as a description, not criticism. The seas are observably chaotic and the text hints at Morgoth's failed attempts to dominate that force of nature (sea/ocean) which is ultimately un-governable. I think you nailed it quite well!
 
Now that Ozmoot is over I can work on other things. I will upload my Ozmoot presentation The Ainulindalë Part 1 soon.
In the meantime I had almost finished my latest Valar theme for Vana the Ever-young. The Youtube notes are as follows:
Vana is often overlooked as she has no active role in the legendarium other than Arien the Maiar who was chosen to steer the sun “had tended the golden flowers in the gardens of Vana,” so little is known of her outside of the Valaquenta. Slow strings herald her coming and are joined by harp and celesta as her footsteps, with an occasional bird song and the addition of majestic horns. Clarinets and bassoon add to her company, building slowly. The melody is light and skipping with staccato/plucked violins and violas, harp and celesta with the full orchestra joining the second time through. The melody is passed from one instrument to another and counter melodies added, piccolo and flutes to oboes, to horns and trumpets as birds join the chorus as she strolls past. The final chord is a gentle suspended second chord that fits Vana’s nature.

 
I have another tune which was mostly ready and waiting until after Ozmoot. This is technically the first piece for Season 6 called Finrod's Dilemma and will be in Ep 5 when Beren is at Nargothrond and Finrod is weighing up the two oaths, the Oath of Fëanor and his Oath to Barahir. I had posted the vocals but now I have uploaded the video to YouTube and there is greater context. This more rightfully belongs to Evan Langford, also known as Icon5235 on the forums. Evan wrote the poem and Dillon Rodriguez-Currie kanji_d helped to shape it into the final version. Evan composed and sang the tune for the poem and I have orchestrated it adding elements of the Oath of Fëanor as this is a central element of Finrod's dilemma, and added backing vocals for the Oath and in the bridge.

This is a very intimate piece led with cello for the Oath leitmotif, with the piece primarily played by a stringed quartet (2 x violins, viola and cello) with harp and six vocal lines for the Oath of Fëanor (one part for each living son), before the lead vocals delivered by Evan Langford are sung with feeling. The cello plays a counter melody. The bridge has the full orchestra joining, beginning at very soft volume with a slow crescendo. Vocal ahs build in number and intensity as Finrod’s internal conflict comes to a climax. The music has The Oath of Fëanor played on trumpet and the song about the Silmarils representing his oath to Barahir playing alternately as the music intensifies. The building intensity is assisted by the strings starting with contrabasses, followed by cellos, violas, 2nd and finally 1st violins playing Morgoth’s Triad. The string quartet takes up the final verse again and Finrod’s resolve is shown with the final unaccompanied word with reverb. He will not let the world drown.

 
After a another long delay, I have a new song. Finrod's Orc Disguise Spell. I had to take the original down due to a copyright breach. Here are my YouTube notes:
This video takes place in SilmFilm Season 6 Episode 6.

After Finrod honoured his Oath to Barahir and his descendants, he set out with Beren and a group of elves to reclaim a silmarils from Morgoth’s crown. As they moved northwards into enemy territory it became more difficult to stay hidden. After killing a group of orcs, they dressed themselves in the orcs’ gear and Finrod sang a spell of disguise. This is my interpretation of this spell/song.

The music is in the vey high and low frequencies, the higher strings playing harmonics, cello and basses very low and the harp rocking back and forth on two notes, with lots of reverb giving it an unearthly feel. The instruments are part of the magic that Finrod is conjuring. A ghostly English Horn plays the musical theme of the valar Irmo. Finrod is not just casting a spell, he is invoking the power of Irmo, keeper of the Gardens of Lorien, the master of visions. He is casting a spell over the minds of people who will see them, not over their own appearance. The orcs they will pass are seeing and hearing a vision of something that isn’t there. The first verse describes this. The second part describes how it is just external and their true selves are still there. The final part after a key change is where the power for the spell comes from, their confidence to walk without fear among the enemy and Finrod is joined by his companions. Instruments joining at this point reinforcing the high frequencies are glockenspiel, celesta with the timpani and cymbal proclaiming this powerful stage and we move from the original Bm key to C# major, a more positive and upbeat key.

Vocals are by Evan Langford who also sang the Silmaril poem in Finrod’s Dilemma. Once again he has done a great job bringing Finrod to life.
 
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After a another long delay, I have a new song. Finrod's Orc Disguise Spell. Here are my YouTube notes:
This video takes place in SilmFilm Season 6 Episode 6.

After Finrod honoured his Oath to Barahir and his descendants, he set out with Beren and a group of elves to reclaim a silmarils from Morgoth’s crown. As they moved northwards into enemy territory it became more difficult to stay hidden. After killing a group of orcs, they dressed themselves in the orcs’ gear and Finrod sang a spell of disguise. This is my interpretation of this spell/song.

The music is in the vey high and low frequencies, the higher strings playing harmonics, cello and basses very low and the harp rocking back and forth on two notes, with lots of reverb giving it an unearthly feel. The instruments are part of the magic that Finrod is conjuring. A ghostly English Horn plays the musical theme of the valar Irmo. Finrod is not just casting a spell, he is invoking the power of Irmo, keeper of the Gardens of Lorien, the master of visions. He is casting a spell over the minds of people who will see them, not over their own appearance. The orcs they will pass are seeing and hearing a vision of something that isn’t there. The first verse describes this. The second part describes how it is just external and their true selves are still there. The final part after a key change is where the power for the spell comes from, their confidence to walk without fear among the enemy and Finrod is joined by his companions. Instruments joining at this point reinforcing the high frequencies are glockenspiel, celesta with the timpani and cymbal proclaiming this powerful stage and we move from the original Bm key to C# major, a more positive and upbeat key.

Vocals are by Evan Langford who also sang the Silmaril poem in Finrod’s Dilemma. Once again he has done a great job bringing Finrod to life.
My apologies everyone. I have taken the video down as I have a permission issue that I need to resolve. I will get it back up with a new image as soon as I can.
 
As we get closer to the Music session for season 6 I have few more pieces up my sleeve. I am really happy about how this one turned out with the instrumentation as I had to do a few tweaks to certain instruments to get them sounding how I wanted.


My YouTube notes follow:

In The Hobbit, the White Council attacked the shadowy figure “The Necromancer” and drove him out of the stronghold of Dol Guldur (offstage). In Morgoth’s Ring Tolkien talks about the fates of elvish fea. Those that reject the summons to Mandos are known as the Houseless and remain in Middle-Earth. Necromancers are ones who attempt to master the Houseless and make them serve their will.

SilmFilm has written this concept into Season 6 linking it to the fall of Tol Sirion and the “dark cloud of fear that fell upon those that defended it.” It is also Sauron’s first foray into imposing his will upon others through means other than manipulation and the first use of runes of power that surround the “Well of Souls.”

This piece shows how a theme is born and the opening scene of Episode 1 is the perfect vehicle for that. The scene begins showing the ruins of Dorthonian after the Dagor Bragollach (Battle of Sudden Flame) opening with a sad rendition of the Noldor theme played with a lone horn. As the scene shifts to showing us the ever-increasing numbers of elven dead the Sorrow of the Eldar plays, changing to the Grief of Men when the camera focuses on a dying human scout from the House of Beor. As he passes, the audience get their first glimpse of the spirit realm and we hear the long absent tubular bell tolling and we are reminded of its association with Doom. There is a confusion of instruments as the scout has to deal with no longer being a scout and he becomes aware of other spirits around him, the spirits of the dead elves. Underneath this is low brass slowly playing three rising notes, heralding the dead elvish spirits. The scout’s spirit is summoned to Mandos and is silently blown away accompanied by the Gift of Iluvatar theme played by bassoon and viola. The spirits (fea) of the dead elves remain with the tubular bells and low brass returning. Mandos himself appears on the battlefield to summon the fea of the slain elves. As he speaks his theme plays, a continuous run of three rising low notes on the low brass with horns and trumpets blasting to emphasise the importance of his words. When the issue of refusing the summons is voiced the music changes back to the dead elvish spirits rising low brass bass line which we now realise is the same rising notes of Mandos’ theme. When the consequences of rejecting the summons is stated, a new theme emerges over the dead elvish spirits bass line played by a solo viola. This is the Necromancy theme. As it progresses, the viola makes it more complex, adding more runs of notes with each repetition. The second time through woodwind and brass slowly join from the beginning and follow the viola in the increasing complexity. When Sauron decides to harness the power of the elvish fea in the bowels of the captured Tol Sirion in the Well of Souls, the instruments switch to the strings taking up the Necromancy melody and its increasing complexity. This time there is a feeling of the Sorcerer’s Apprentice with the strings playing emphasising each note with no smooth transitions from note to note. The final part focuses on Sauron, playing the first few notes of his theme (famous as the theme music from Exploring the Lord of the Rings) and the violins playing the semitone rise which has not been heard in SilmFilm outside of Frame music as this is the first time that Sauron has imposed his will on others through the use of power.
Acknowledgement of the artwork is in the YouTube notes.
 
I'm rolling out my last few tracks before the Music session on 27th of July. I finally got some vocals back. This one with vocals from Megan DeCenzo, SilmFilm's very own Luthien.

I know that this is going to be controversial as I have departed from the script. This is our first dive into grief and sorrow that I spoke about in the music commissioning session.
You tube notes on the piece follow:
This scene takes place in S6 E5 of SilmFilm when Luthien has been imprisoned by her father in the tree house atop of a huorn type tree Hirilorn. This scene shows her in a state of despair that she will not experience again until E13. Hirilorn is under orders from Luthien’s father, the King to keep her captive and Hirilorn knows how to follow orders. In this situation there is no escape for Luthien and she succumbs to despair. She sings at first about her meeting with Beren, how they fell in love and that their meeting appeared to be orchestrated by higher beings. She compares their love to other well-known couples in the legendarium, but then the reality hits home. Beren has now left Doriath to regain a silmaril which can only lead to one thing, his death. Effectively he is dead already and her inability to be released from bondage to assist him leads her to a state of grief and to the brink of death. This is a foreshadowing of her laying down her life in E13 after Beren dies of his wolf wounds and she dies to follow him to the Halls of Mandos and shows that elves dying of grief is possible.

This song has simple orchestration with one lute and one flute. This is real in world music and she enlists the help of her friend Daeron to play and she is able to sing impromptu to his accompaniment. We know from the Mereth Aderthad (Hurdy Gurdy Goblin Feet) that Luthien can take control of instruments with magic. This she does again part way through and Daeron is forced to pick up his flute to continue to accompany her. By this time the song has taken a darker turn becoming enmeshed in grief and Daeron’s accompaniment is Nienna’s theme as he subconsciously reflects Luthien’s mood. Daeron can hear Luthien singing and can tell that she is sad, but cannot make out the words.
 
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Another Luthien song which has been waiting in the wings until the vocals could be added. This is Luthien's Magic Hair Grow Spell, the third song for Episode 5. Big credit goes to Megan DeCenzo for being our Luthien again and doing this challenging song.

YouTube notes below:
After Luthien’s brush with death while being held captive by the huorn type tree Hirilorn, she needs to work out the logistics of getting past the guards and out of Doriath, now with Hirilorn as an accomplice. To do this she requests the delivery of some ingredients, individually innocent, and magically induces her hair to grow to an extreme length. She then weaves it into a magic cloak and a rope which makes people and creatures fall asleep when it touches them.

The music for this song is entirely magical and is part of Luthien’s spell. I have tried to get this across by using instruments in the higher registers such as the intricate plucking of a lute (the stringed instrument was highlighted earlier in the scene with Daeron leaving it leaning against the wall), glockenspiel, celeste, harp, cymbal, timpani and strings and string harmonics, with the lower strings, cello and contrabasses for the depth of power that is being used. Many instruments are played quickly indicating the intricacy of the spell. The tune is reminiscent of Finrod’s disguise spell and effectively they are doing similar things. Finrod is calling on the power of the valar Irmo (Lorien) to cloud the senses of the people they pass and show them what is not there, while Luthien is calling on the power of Este (the giver of sleep and rest) to send people and creatures to sleep. The la la’s in Luthien’s song is Este’s theme.
 
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I have polished up this one, Beren and Luthien Meet. At the music session I had completed the main score and just exported with the default instruments with no effects. I have remedied this with this new version with much improved instruments and video, giving it my usual treatment.
I have reposted this one on 9/09/2023 due to an artist request not to use one piece of artwork and it is up again with a substitute from a different artist.
My YouTube notes follow:
This music tells a story. If you want to get the whole story, please watch to the end. This is one of the most well known scenes in Tolkien’s legendarium, Luthien dancing in the Forest of Neldoreth and Beren watching her dancing while hidden, immortalised by the poem that Strider tells to the hobbits at Weathertop to buoy their spirits. This takes place in SilmFilm S6 E4 across a number of scenes and this piece acts as the soundtrack for these scenes. As there is no script for this episode, I have based it entirely on the text from nearly every source that we have for the story, and deviates from the SilmFilm script outline, but I have tried to keep its broad form. It begins at the beginning of the episode when Beren wakes after his dash to escape Nan Dungortheb and to cross the confusion of the Girdle and ends when Beren and Luthien have bound themselves to each other.

It starts with a human lost in Faery. Musically, it has the same pattern for elves that I established in The Light in the West and Athrabeth Finrod Ah Andreth by using lots of notes by different instruments with no set patterns, in Lydian mode which is a major chord followed by the next highest major chord. This pattern repeats lending the music a dream like quality with high woodwind and instruments such as glockenspiel, celeste, and high strings. As Beren explores the forest we hear fragments of the Teleri theme who have become the Sindar. The dreamlike quality continues as a piccolo comes to the fore, playing a jaunty tune, which is a major version of the Words of Mockery song from Season 3. When Luthien and Beren’s eyes meet, the music fades and we hear the Athrabeth theme, the combination of latter parts of the Human and Elf themes meshing in harmony as their doom is set, sung by female voices for the Elf part and male voices for the Human part, imitating Luthien and Beren’s own voices.

The music shifts suddenly to a lively and playful piece which is a variation of Evanescent Lightsomeness. This is the first time we have heard this theme which symbolises the concept of “laughter and joy which fades all too soon.” This section is introduced by the french horns and plucked strings with the melody carried by flute and celeste, as we are still in Faery. Second time through the melody shifts to the French horns with supporting trumpets.

Following this is a piece signifying doubtfulness. The text illustrates Beren’s internal struggle, while in the SilmFilm Episode Outline, the doubt is from Luthien and Daeron as Beren is in the process of healing from his wounds. The strings carry this in the high registers with lots of second and fourth sustained chords. Flute and oboe join on the repeat symbolising Luthien’s voice as she joins in Beren’s doom.

We return at the end to the Athrabeth theme, this time following through to its ending with voices taking on Beren and Luthien’s Human and Elvish roles. Timpani is introduced with light rolls giving this repetition more gravity. The two fall in love and commit to each other and accept the doom of their two kindreds joining and the challenges this will bring. The final chord is unresolved, staying on the fourth chord, denying the resolution of the tonic until much later in the story (in another video yet to come).
 
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The majestic finale with Ulmo's theme bringing all the instruments together must be a truly powerful and memorable experience. It's evident that you've put a lot of thought and creativity into this composition. I'm really looking forward to listening to it.

By the way, have you considered sharing your work on a platform like youtube automation channel? It could be a great way to reach a wider audience and get more people to appreciate your fantastic music. If you're interested in exploring this, there's a helpful resource on YouTube automation that you might find useful.
 
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The majestic finale with Ulmo's theme bringing all the instruments together must be a truly powerful and memorable experience. It's evident that you've put a lot of thought and creativity into this composition. I'm really looking forward to listening to it.
I hope you have listened to it now, and I hope it lived up to the expectations.
 
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