Q 01/05

John Williams calls himself 'a dinosaur' partly because he writes every film score how?

A) At a church organ

B) By humming to an assistant

C) On a vintage synthesiser

D) With pencil and paper

Answer · why

D) With pencil and paper

With pencil and paper, the old-fashioned way: unlike younger colleagues he uses no software and records no keyboard demos for his directors to hear.

Q 02/05

Bernard Herrmann said John Williams's father 'isn't afraid to break the head' of what?

A) Banjo

B) Drums

C) Guitar

D) Double bass

Answer · why

B) Drums

Drums: his father was a jazz drummer in the Raymond Scott Quintette who later played timpani for Herrmann, and the young Williams sometimes joined him...

Q 03/05

Williams earned Oscar nominations for the score and the carol-like song 'Somewhere in My Memory' from which Christmas comedy?

A) Scrooged

B) The Santa Clause

C) Home Alone

D) Elf

Answer · why

C) Home Alone

Home Alone let the composer of Jaws swap menace for joyful carols; the score and its song, with words by Leslie Bricusse, were each nominated for an A...

Q 04/05

Which fellow student, a future Tchaikovsky Competition winner, made Williams think he'd 'better be a composer'?

A) Glenn Gould

B) Vladimir Ashkenazy

C) André Previn

D) Van Cliburn

Answer · why

D) Van Cliburn

Van Cliburn and John Browning shared his New York teacher, Rosina Lhévinne; hearing them around the place, he thought, 'If that's the competition, I t...

Q 05/05

Williams played the piano riff in Henry Mancini's famous title theme for which television detective series?

A) Mr. Lucky

B) Hawaiian Eye

C) Peter Gunn

D) 77 Sunset Strip

Answer · why

C) Peter Gunn

Peter Gunn's driving riff was played by a jobbing studio pianist named Williams, who was also at the keyboard on the soundtrack of the film West Side ...