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While I was watching the Oppenheimer movie in theaters, I was completely transfixed by the score during several parts of the film. When I returned home, I immediately searched for the soundtrack and found “Can you hear the music?” by Ludwig Göransson, a name I had somehow never heard until then. For the next few days and weeks I was listening to it on repeat, addicted to the feelings of inspiration, euphoria, and energy which the song incites. I kept thinking back to how brilliant of a score it truly was when put in context of the film it was written for as well, and I felt inspired to learn more about film scoring so that I could eventually do the same. To be given a theme, context and a perceived sonic environment to work with is a dream come true for me as a sound designer, and I would love to be able to see how I can improve one’s experience with the media.
Until then, however, I could have my fun with the song while it’s fresh and fun for me, and give my best shot at transcribing it. I knew it wouldn’t be an easy project considering the rhythmic complexity of the piece, and especially its unique blend of acoustic and electronic textures. Of course, I wouldn’t be able to do much to mimic electronic textures on the piano, but I’m certainly experienced in breaking down confusing rhythmic structures after all my time studying contemporary piano! I started where anyone transcribing this piece sensibly would: with the repeating melodic pattern carried by the strings in the original score. I listened to it a few times and figured out all the inversions and which scale degrees each measure started on, and was able to create a shell outline for the rest of the piece centered around the foundational melodic line. From then, I spent some time listening along to the original soundtrack with a metronome and gave tempo markings to each different downwards and upwards repetition of the melodic line. It already started to sound much more like the score, and now I had to start filling in the upper and lower melodies in a suitable way for 2 hands and 5 fingers.
I started by creating another outline for the lower voice, given to the left hand, and adding in the sparse upper voice section. From here on, the easy work was out of the way, and it was time to break down the exact rhythms and harmonies. After lots of listening over and over, sometimes at half speed, I was able to count everything accurately, and notate all rhythm changes between 3/4, 4/4, and 6/8 in a way which sounds seamless to the original.