John Williams – Olympic Fanfare

John Williams – Olympic Fanfare (Tab)


MIDI

How fantastic were those drummers at the start of the Opening Ceremony? It certainly topped a bunch of flag girls strolling around at the LA opening ceremony in 1984 (although no change in the commentators blabbering all over the music). But the LA opening ceremony did have the first performance of the Olympic Fanfare written by John Williams for the games.

Jeff had requested tab for the Olympic Anthem/Hymn and I gave it a go but couldn’t really get it to work on the uke. I don’t think it really has a strong enough tune. Which is something you certainly couldn’t say about the Olympic Fanfare. By the time of the games, Williams had plenty of practice making grand, instantly memorable tunes for films like Star Wars, Superman and Indiana Jones.

I’ve written up the first, and most recognizable, part of the tune. The trickiest part is the triplet notes. I started out trying a few triplet strums while blocking the other strings but couldn’t get it to work. I ended up picking with my index, middle and ring fingers in succession.

I was going to record an mp3 of this, but I’m far too busy watching the batmitten, so you’ll have to put up with a midi.

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