This is a slide deck for a guest lecture at Tufts University for the ExCollege course “Star Wars: How Long Ago? How Far Away?” Here we explore the harmonic twists John Williams employs for the Imperial March, deviating from normative chord progressions in subtle yet effective ways to portray the corruption of Darth Vader and the Empire. Taught to students assuming no prior musical training.

1. IMPERIAL MARCH
ANALYSIS + REMIX
Nathan Bowen, PhD
Professor of Music Theory & Technology
Moorpark College
nbowen@vcccd.edu

2. The Imperial March is a leitmotiv for Darth Vader (and the Empire)

3. At this point in the story, Darth Vader is …. bad. “Twisted and Evil”

4. How do you create a
twisted and evil theme
song (leitmotiv)?
Start from a happy place, but then
make it sad?
Go from area of stability to an area of
instability?

5. Quick Vocab
Major scale &
Scale degrees

6. Quick Vocab
Triads &
Roman numerals

7. Quick Vocab
Tonic
Subdominant
Dominant

8. Example - “Aue Aue,” Moana
Tonic
Subdominant
Dominant

9. How do you create a
twisted and evil theme
song (leitmotiv)?
Start from a happy place, but then make
it sad?
Go from area of stability to an area of
instability?

10. Start from a happy place, but then make
it sad?
How do you create a
twisted and evil theme
song (leitmotiv)?
Go from area of stability to an area of
instability?

11. Going for twisted
and evil (not just
sad)

12. Minor scale as point of departure
Half steps
between:
2 & 3
5 & 6
Step 1:

13. Minor scale as point of departure
Half steps
between:
2 & 3
5 & 6
Step 1:

14. How do you create a
twisted and evil theme
song (leitmotiv)?
Start from a happy place, but then
make it sad?
Go from area of stability to an area of
instability?

15. i iv and V
Tonic,
subdominant, &
dominant are
‘stable’ chords,
even in minor
How are these
chords used in
Imperial March?
Step 2:

16. i iv and V - twisted
Tonic stays the
same, but
subdominant and
dominant are
changed
Step 2:
Tonic and
subdominant are a
tritone apart
Dominant could
also be expressed
as vi (Eb Gb Bb)

17. more vocab
Tendency tones:
Leading tone
‘wants’ to go up
Chordal 7th
‘wants’ to go down
Voice leading:
Smooth motion
from a note in one
chord to a note in
another chord

18. Voice leading - twistedStep 3:
Standard
approach:
Static motion and
Tendency tones
used another way:

19. Imperial March - Roman numerals
This video shows
the Roman
numerals
discussed synced
to the music

20. Imperial March - standard minorCompare:
This video shows
an adaptation of
the melody and
harmonies to stay
within the
framework of
harmonic minor

21. Republican March? - majorCompare:
This video shows a
remix of the melody
and harmonies, in a
major key.
Are we getting back
to the good old days
of the Republic?
Will Kylo Ren be
redeemed, humming
this tune? Perhaps
on a white horse?

22. Republican March? - majorCompare:
Here is the same march, but slowed down. Let’s not overlook the
impact of tempo.

23. Discussion time!