William Ross: Crafting the Music for Harry Potter

By: Ford A. Thaxton and Randall D. Larson
Date: Thursday, November 28, 2002

The magical, adventurous world of Harry Potter was well defined by composer John Williams in HARRY POTTER AND THE SORCERER'S STONE. With his characteristic flair for melody, effervescent action scoring, and musical depictions of fantasy and suspense, John Williams' music was as much an integral part of Chris Columbus' take on J.K. Rowling as were the set designs, make-ups, and performances of the cast.

When the second film, HARRY POTTER AND THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS, came around, John Williams was naturally brought in to compose it as well. However, the production schedule soon conflicted with another assignment Williams had committed to, Steven Spielberg's CATCH ME IF YOU CAN. So, in order to complete the assignment in time, Williams brought in an associate composer who would be able to take his themes those from the original film and those composed specifically for CHAMBER OF SECRETS and craft them into a final score.

The process

would be quite different from that on, say, SUPERMAN II or SUPERMAN III, in which Ken Thorne was brought in by the production company to compose a new score, mostly based on Williams' themes from the first SUPERMAN movie. Or with JAWS 3D, composed by Alan Parker, or JAWS: THE REVENGE, composed by Michael Small, using Williams' original themes. Or with JURASSIC PARK III, scored by Don Davis, using Williams' original themes. Williams had nothing to do with any of those latter-day sequels himself. With HARRY POTTER AND THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS, he remained closely involved in all aspects of the score's creation, delegating responsibility for finalizing the process to a trusted associate.

That trusted associate was William Ross.

Ross had gotten his start in television, scoring episodes of shows like MACGYVER, BEAUTY AND THE BEAST, and TINY TOON ADVENTURES, for which he won an Emmy while also gaining notice as an orchestrator for composers such as Michael Kamen and Alan Silvestri. But it's his own scores for nearly two dozen feature films that have given Ross his place in the film music community, pictures like ONE GOOD COP, LOOK WHO'S TALKING NOW, Don Bluth's musicalization of THUMBELINA, THE AMAZING PANDA ADVENTURE and the IMAX film T-REX: BACK TO THE CRETACEOUS. Recent endeavors like TIN CUP, THE EVENING STAR, MY DOG SKIP, and this year's charming 19th Century fantasy from Disney, TUCK EVERLASTING, have shown Ross to be a capable composer with a gift for melody and rich musical feeling.

His involvement with HARRY POTTER AND THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS began with a phone call from John Williams. "John requested a meeting," Ross recalls. "At that meeting he shared with me his intention to compose the score for the new HARRY POTTER film. John communicated how important it was for him to establish musical continuity between the first and second installments of the series. He also explained that he might have a scheduling conflict that would in some way affect his participation on the second film. Although he planned to write the new themes and new musical material for CHAMBER OF SECRETS, there would be areas of the new film in which he intended to utilize and adapt themes from the first POTTER score."

Williams asked

Ross if he would be interested in adapting that original material and making it work within the context of the new film. "John had no way of knowing how much work that would entail since he hadn't yet spotted the movie and didn't know at the time the extent to which the scheduling conflict would be a factor," Ross says. "Because of his deep commitment to the POTTER films, I got the feeling that he wanted to have a plan in place to accommodate the uncertainties in his schedule."

Ross accompanied John Williams to London in May of 2002 where he met with director Chris Columbus. Williams spotted the film there with Columbus, determining where in the film the music should appear. After returning to Los Angeles, Williams and Ross met to discuss areas where Ross might begin to work on the film's music. "John was very specific about what material and themes would be played where," Ross says. "By this time he had begun writing new themes and material. There were a few instances where he suggested I use some of the new musical ideas to elaborate and expand the music from the original score that I was working with."

Despite his commitment to the Spielberg film, Williams did manage to write a large amount of music for the new POTTER film. This included an elegant and stately march for Fawkes the Phoenix, a jaunty and fanciful cue full of hidden mischief for the flying car, a quasi-comic melody associated with the pompous Gilderoy Lockhart, a somewhat idiosyncratic tune for Dobby, plus the vastly action-esque music associated with the Chamber of Secrets itself.

In addition

to that new material, Williams took several themes and expanded them into more developed pieces for the soundtrack album. "I was stunned by the amount of music he wrote," says Ross. "We were on the 12th day of a 13-day recording schedule and I received a package with new cues to record. That night I actually called John and told him I was sending the music police to confiscate his pencil! I think he just couldn't stop writing."

Ross is quick to give all credit for the CHAMBER OF SECRETS music to John Williams. Ross did not compose any new material himself; everything he wrote was based on John's material. "I believe I was there to take some of the workload off of John due to his schedule," Ross says. "In those areas where he would be using material from the original film, I think he felt it would be expedient to have someone else adapt the music to the new film, etc. That, in addition to conducting the score, was my job."

Williams insisted, though, that Ross receive a "Music Adapted by" credit onscreen. That, in turn, has confused some people into thinking Williams himself had no participation in the new POTTER score. "That credit was something that John insisted on from our first meeting," says Ross. "The reality, however, is that CHAMBER OF SECRETS is a John Williams score beginning to end."

Conducting the London Symphony Orchestra for the first time, directing the huge ensemble's performance of John Williams' magical music, was a daunting task, and would have been intimidating for any conductor. But Ross found the experience highly rewarding. "I've always found that if you show up prepared, ready to treat the musicians with respect, and go about your work with a certain degree of humility, the musicians will treat you with respect," Ross says. "I really enjoyed my time in London with the LSO. They truly made me feel at home and comfortable."

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