Jaws, as a thriller movie, needed a powerful soundtrack in consistent with the story it presents. Therefore, John Williams did his best in order to create a memorable melodic line.
John Williams is a well-known pianist, composer and conductor.
He became famous for writing the soundtrack of several renowned movies like Star Wars, Jurassic Park or Jaws.
In 1975, with the help of Music Corporation of America company, it was released the long play version of the soundtrack. Later, in 1992, it was released the CD version.
As I said, the main theme of the movie inspired Williams to create scores who are transmitting the feeling of danger and fear.
The artist himself told about the scores that they were created in such way they come to the auditor just like a shark comes towards his prey, which is a great analogy in my opinion, that emphasizes the great talent that the composer possesses.
Besides that, the composer stated that he wanted to depict the shark as an unstoppable force of mindless and instinctive attacks.
In his attempt of creating a melodic line that totally represents the state of fear, Williams succeeded to give birth to a masterpiece that is connected to the idea of the close danger by using the leading-tone method, as you can see in the piano sheet music offered below this article.
This leading-tone method represents the leap of a note to another note, the last one having a higher or a lower semitone.
The one who played this song was Tommy Johnson.
At first, Johnson was curious to find out why Williams decided to compose the piece in the leading-tone manner. Williams answered by saying that it’s his way of expressing the threat.
There were several people who paid special attention to this soundtrack. For example, Alexandre Tylski considered that the musical rhythm represents the way humans breathe. Also, Jospeh Cancellaro links the musical rhythm to the heartbeats of a shark, yet another strong feeling that we fortunately don't have to live in real life.
Eventually, the piece was a huge success and it was reinterpreted in multitudinous ways. Furthermore, Spielberg, the director of Jaws, admitted that without the John’s soundtrack, the movie wouldn’t have been so successful.
For having such an inspiration to create a such melodic line, John Williams was rewarded with an Academy Award and the American Film Institute offered him the standing number six.
Like the film's success worldwide, a great piano sheet that could measure up to the expectations followed. Expressing strong feelings like a shark's jaw, but beautiful and sensual in the same time, Jaws' piano notes are a great inspiration for any piano lover's ear out there.
