Mad About Harry

Harry's Back!

There was quite a palpable buzz after the inaugural installment of the Harry Potter series movies with live orchestra this past October. (And I'm not talking about those low bassoon notes!) The story of Harry's second year at Hogwarts will be conveyed tomorrow night at 7:30 at the Knoxville Civic Auditorium, with a Sunday matinee at 1:30. Tickets via ticketmaster here.

Nearly as engaging as the Harry Potter series of books is the “rags-to-riches” story of their author, J. K. Rowling. She described her life in the midst of her work on the series to be “as poor as it is possible to be in modern Britain, without being homeless.” The creative process involved is also something to be celebrated. To think that the idea for a series of seven books averaging 585 pages each came fully formed to her while delayed (four hours on a 2-1/2-hour trip!) on a train platform in 1990 is every bit as fantastic as the novels' subject matter. Also notable is the fact that the ending of the entire series was one of the first things she wrote. Whether she knew just how many children she would be motivating to read is unknown, but her taking action on the inspiration and her persistent vision for the project in the face of obvious adversity can be held up as exemplary to young creative types.

John Williams' colorful score propels the movie with motivic content and magical orchestral effects. People that analyze such things have worn out many swivel chairs looking for parallels between Williams' scores and Richard Wagner's output, but the score, as usual, remains a marvel to anyone who appreciates effective use of music in movies.


Accompanying a film requires strict attention to syncing with on-screen action. In typical movie-score fashion, the individual parts are brimming with notes, so I had better get a move on to become familiar with mine. One cannot simply wave a wand at them and hope to assimilate them.

Hope to see you there!