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  • ♪ (GAME OF THRONES THEME SONG PLAYS ON GUITAR) ♪

  • My name's Ramin Djawadi,

  • and we're in my studio in Santa Monica

  • where I write all the music for Game of Thrones.

  • ♪ (THEME SONG CONTINUES) ♪

  • I started out on the organ when I was four years old,

  • and then when I was 13, I picked up the guitar,

  • and that's when I really got serious about music

  • and started practicing a lot.

  • And it was the movie The Magnificent Seven...

  • Elmer Bernstein's score triggered something in me,

  • and the recognizable themes that you could hum

  • when you turned off the film.

  • ♪ (GAME OF THRONES THEME PLAYS) ♪

  • I knew that that's what I wanted to be, a film composer.

  • The beauty about music in film is that

  • without any dialogue on the screen,

  • you are able to guide the audience.

  • And with Game of Thrones,

  • we are able to guide the audience

  • either in the right direction or the wrong direction.

  • And that's something that's been fun.

  • By moods or by playing a certain theme,

  • you are able to tell a story.

  • ♪ (GAME OF THRONES THEME CONTINUES ON GUITAR) ♪

  • The biggest challenge was just finding the right tone

  • for the show, that when you hear the score,

  • that you know this is Game of Thrones.

  • From the beginning, we knew we wanted themes,

  • but we also knew that we couldn't have too many themes

  • right away, because there's obviously a lot of characters.

  • There's a lot of different houses,

  • there's a lot of plots.

  • And if you convolute it too soon,

  • I think it actually would have been confusing for the audience,

  • so we actually, on purpose, held off with themes for certain characters.

  • For example, Theon, or the Greyjoy theme,

  • didn't exist until season two.

  • Arya, for example, we used the Stark theme for her,

  • but she also has her own theme

  • once she got on her own.

  • In Game of Thrones, we always laugh

  • because every season, we sit down and we say,

  • "Okay, which instrument haven't we used yet?"

  • (HORN BLOWING)

  • Most of the orchestral instruments I've used,

  • so strings, french horns, trombones, percussion,

  • the didgeridoo we've used for the Wildlings,

  • so that's kind of an interesting instrument that's different.

  • There's an Armenian duduk that we used

  • for the Dothrakis.

  • It's like an ethnic version of an oboe basically.

  • When I start working on a scene,

  • I just watch the scene without even playing.

  • I try to hear the tempo in my head,

  • and once I have that, I can play along.

  • I now proclaim Cersei of the House Lannister

  • protector of the Seven Kingdoms.

  • ♪ (VIOLINS PLAY) ♪

  • RAMIN DJAWADI: I usually start writing on one instrument first.

  • It can be piano, it can be string pad.

  • I sketch out the scene,

  • and then once I feel I have the right shape,

  • then I go back and then I start arranging and orchestrating the scene.

  • And then I add all the different layers of instrumentation.

  • ♪ (ORCHESTRAL MUSIC PLAYING) ♪

  • While the episode is still edited,

  • everything just stays in the computer,

  • and everything's just done digitally.

  • And once the picture is locked,

  • then I go in and actually record it

  • with real musicians.

  • And I feel that's the most rewarding thing.

  • I still get goosebumps when I hear them play the music.

  • I just get huge inspiration from just seeing the sets,

  • from just seeing how epic everything is,

  • and then meeting the actors,

  • that's inspirational for me as well.

  • Just standing on the side and just watching.

  • I wanna just go back to the studio right away and start writing.

  • ♪ (PIANO PLAYING) ♪

  • DJAWADI: This is the piece from episode 6-10.

  • This long build up of Cersei's trial.

  • The interesting thing about this piece is that

  • this is actually the first time in Game of Thrones history

  • that we used the piano. So the minute that plays...

  • ♪ (PIANO PLAYING) ♪

  • DJAWADI: The audience immediately is alerted, and they'll go,

  • "Wait, we have never heard this instrument before this.

  • Something is not right."

  • -So the piece plays on... -♪ (PIANO CONTINUES) ♪

  • It starts off very minimal, and it slowly builds over...

  • I think the piece is six and a half minutes,

  • seven minutes long.

  • The next element that comes in are two boys singing.

  • ♪ (CHOIR BOYS SINGING) ♪

  • When you see the kids with the knife in the hand,

  • and then Pycelle gets stabbed,

  • that's when it switches to the organ,

  • and that's when the choir comes in.

  • That's really the next step up of when you realize,

  • "Wow, this is all going wrong right now."

  • And now the piece is really starting to build.

  • More instruments come in, and the organ gets busier.

  • And then the orchestra actually doesn't come in

  • until the very end.

  • ♪ (ORCHESTRAL MUSIC PLAYING) ♪

  • This section's actually interesting

  • because I actually snuck in the main title theme,

  • so you can hear it right here.

  • ♪ (THEME SONG PLAYS) ♪

  • Every year I go, "Okay, now I really have to do something that I haven't done before."

  • The show definitely takes it up another notch every season.

  • Even though whenever I think it's not possible,

  • they still are able to elevate it yet another notch.

  • And so I gotta do the same with the music.

  • ♪ (ORCHESTRAL MUSIC INTENSIFIES) ♪

  • -(EXPLOSIVE BLAST) -♪ (MUSIC STOPS) ♪

♪ (GAME OF THRONES THEME SONG PLAYS ON GUITAR) ♪

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