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 A personal note from Sylvia
This newsletter is all about movies. But first, here are some random updates for you.
#1. My broken leg is pretty much healed, so life is back to normal. Hooray!
#2. Catriona Rowsome's Complete Carolan Songs and Airs book and CDs set is finally back in stock again, after being on back-order for about six months. Order your copy now, before it disappears again!
#3. I've made a new page on my website listing all of the Useful Music Apps that were submitted and featured in previous newsletters. It is in the Fun Stuff section of my site.
#4. Another new page in Fun Stuff is a compilation of all the newsletter articles this past year about Living on Kauai.
You'll find a lot of other "fun stuff" in the Fun Stuff section. Be sure to check it out!
Aloha,
Sylvia
If you want to contact me, please don't reply directly to this newsletter.
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Maurice Jarre (1924 - 2009) was an award-winning French composer who wrote music sound tracks for over 150 motion pictures. He is best-know for his collaborations with film director David Lean. He was nominated for nine Academy Awards, and he won Best Original Score Oscars for Lawrence of Arabia (1962), Doctor Zhivago (1965), and A Passage to India (1984). His other scores include The Longest Day, Is Paris Burning?, Ryan's Daughter, The Man Who Would be King, Jesus of Nazareth, The Year of Living Dangerously, A Passage to India, Gorillas in the Mist, Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome, Witness, Ghost, and A Walk in the Clouds.
I was very fortunate to work with Maurice Jarre on several projects. It started back in the late 1980s when he wanted a wire-strung harp for his Dead Poets Society score. At that time, none of the harpists who normally played on movie and TV scores played a wire-strung harp. The parents of one of my students were good friends with Maurice, and they recommended me. (Thanks Suzanne!)
The majority of the Dead Poets Society soundtrack was performed by two synthesizer players and me. You can listen to a soundtrack sample here, and hear my harp in the World's First Unmanned Flying Deskset scene.
At the end of the movie, as Robin Williams is leaving the classroom, the boys stand up on their desks and say "Oh Captain, My Captain." The music for this scene and the closing credits is called "Keating's Triumph." They hired a full orchestra for this piece, including two pedal harps and bagpipes! You can listen to it on YouTube. You'll hear me at the beginning. Be sure to listen to the whole piece, because I get the final say at the very, very end of the movie!
I was honored that Maurice allowed me to arrange the Theme from Dead Poets Society for solo harp. You can listen to a synthesized version of my arrangement here. The sheet music and PDF are part of this month's sale.
As I was writing this article, I remembered something funny about this movie. The character named Neil plays Puck in a high school production of "A Midsummer's Night Dream." You see the orchestra briefly in one scene, and there is a girl playing a harp BACKWARDS! I guarantee that I had nothing to do with this. But watch for it the next time you see the movie.
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Even though there were only three musicians for a majority of the Dead Poets Society soundtrack, we didn't get our names in the closing credits. Composer Maurice Jarre called me after the movie's release to apologize, saying that we definitely should have been listed.
The next movie I worked on with Maurice was Prancer. Once again, the music was performed by two musicians on synthesizers, and me on my wire-strung harp. But, this time, we did get credit!
My husband and I went to a matinee at our local theater the day that Prancer opened. That evening I called my mother and told her that the entire audience stood up and cheered when my name showed up in the screen credits. She said: "You two were the only people in the theater, weren't you?" Well . . . yes . . . but that's beside the point! It is still a fact that my name got a unanimous standing ovation!
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1992 Coca-Cola Olympics Ad
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Maurice Jarre also hired me to play my wire-strung harp on a
Coca-Cola commercial that was shown during the 1992 Winter Olympics. You can watch it
here on YouTube. You'll notice that it has that iconic Maurice Jarre sound, and it will remind you of the
Dead Poets music you listened to earlier in this newsletter.
Here's the main thing I remember about the recording session for this commercial. As I arrived at the studio, they were in the process of firing the musician who was there before me. I'm not sure what he did wrong, but they were definitely not happy with his performance. So, the vibes in the studio were a bit strange, to say the least! I set up my harp, and we recorded my first "take." When I finished playing, I could see Maurice, the recording engineer, and other people in the sound booth having what seemed to be an argument. As the minutes ticked by, I got more and more nervous, wondering if I'd be fired, as well.
Finally, someone pushed the "talk button" and said: "Oh, sorry. We were just deciding what kind of pizza to order. Your playing was great, so we're done. But you're welcome to stick around and have pizza with us." WHEW! What a relief!
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Movies Filmed on Kauai
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This article is part of my ongoing series about living on Kauai.
Over 60 major films and numerous TV shows have been filmed on the beautiful island of Kauai. FilmKauai.com says: "For over 80 years, filmmakers have been using Kauai's diverse landscapes and natural beauty to stand in perfectly for Central and South America, Africa, Australia, Southeast Asia, and the South Pacific. It's even been used for worlds that don't even exist."
Here's a partial list of movies and TV shows filmed here.
White Heat (1934), South Pacific (1958), Blue Hawaii (1961), Donovan's Reef (1963), Gilligan's Island (1964), The Hawaiians (1970), King Kong (1976), Fantasy Island (1977), Raiders of the Lost Ark (1983), The Thorn Birds (1983), Uncommon Valor (1983), Lord of the Flies (1990), Flight of the Intruder (1990), Hook (1991), Honeymoon in Vegas (1992), Outbreak (1995) The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997), George of the Jungle (1997), Six Days, Seven Nights (1998), Jurassic Park III (2001), Dragonfly (2002), Tropic Thunder (2008), Avatar (2010), Soul Surfer (2011), The Descendants (2011), Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (2011), and Jurassic World (2015).
I remember hearing about the hundreds of men who showed up for the open casting call for Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides about ten years ago. The casting company was looking for "authentic-looking scavenger-types, ages 18-60s, all ethnicities, especially extreme character types: thin, tall, short, odd features, huge nose, eyes, ears, lazy eye, grizzled and wrinkled faces, odd body types, missing limbs, teeth, etc." The rumor going around Kauai was that if you were missing any body parts, you got to go to the front of the long line, and you'd definitely be in the movie!
Last year, several of my friends were cast as extras in Disney's upcoming Jungle Cruise movie, which is based on the Disney theme park attraction. The movie is scheduled for release in 2020 and stars Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson and Emily Blunt. Click here for the Jungle Cruise movie trailer. (The image at the top of this article is the Kauai set for this movie.)
Because so many movies have been made here, you can visit some of the filming locations on a variety of tours here on Kauai. I went on one of these "movie tours" about 20 years ago and really enjoyed learning about all the locations.
Elvis's Blue Hawaii was filmed at the Coco Palms Hotel in 1961. Unfortunately, this iconic hotel suffered great damage in Hurricane Iniki in 1992 and has been closed ever since. But during our "Movie Tour," we were allowed to go onto the grounds, and into the restaurant. The guide said: "Elvis' favorite table was right over there in the corner. Do you see that stain on the rug? That was where Elvis spilled ketchup." I couldn't believe that everyone took out their phones and took photos of the stain! I didn't take a photo, so I can't include it here. Sorry.
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This month's sale
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This month's sale features songs from movies. The code word is
Movies.
To get the 15% discount on the products below,
enter the code word Movies in the Promo Code box on your shopping cart page and click "Enter Code"
by June 3, 2019. For more information, see the
15% Off section at the bottom of this newsletter.
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by Christina Perri
and David Hodges
"The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 1"
arranged by Sylvia Woods
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by Claude-Michel
Schonberg
"Les Miserables"
arranged by Sylvia Woods
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Castle on a Cloud
by Claude-Michel
Schonberg
"Les Miserables"
arranged by Sylvia Woods
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by Maurice Jarre
"Dead Poets Society"
arranged by Sylvia Woods
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Hallelujah
by Leonard Cohen
"Shrek"
arranged by Sylvia Woods
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Happy
by Pharrell Williams
"Despicable Me 2"
arranged by Sylvia Woods
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by Howard Shore
and Fran Walsh
"The Lord of the Rings"
arranged by Sylvia Woods
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by Justin Hurwitz
"La La Land"
arranged by Sylvia Woods
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by Taylor Swift
"The Hunger Games"
arranged by Sylvia Woods
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by Alex North & Hy Zaret
"Ghost"
arranged by Sylvia Woods
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Unforgettable
by Irving Gordon
"Finding Dory"
arranged by Sylvia Woods
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15% off select sale items when you use the code word:
Movies
Our newsletter promo codes are only redeemable online and can only be used for the items featured in the
sale section of this newsletter. They are not valid for phone or e-mail orders. This month's code word is
Movies, and it is good for
15% off the select sheets and PDFs in the
sale section
above. Just because an item is mentioned somewhere in this newsletter doesn't mean that it is on sale. It must be listed in the
sale section
.
#1. Put the items you want to purchase in your cart.
#2. On the page where you view the items in your cart, type this month's code word
Movies in the "Promo Code" box, and click on "Enter Code."
The actual price of the featured sale products on this page will then automatically change to reflect the discount. You'll also see a note below the Promo Code box saying the name of the promo code you entered, and the percentage amount of the discount.
REMEMBER: you must enter this month's code word Movies in the Promo Code box
and click "Enter Code" on your shopping cart page by June 3 to get the discount!
If you forget, or if you have trouble adding it to your order,
email Sylvia immediately.
Offer expires at the end of the day on 6/3/2019.
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