Eunike Tanzil, Composer, Pianist and Producer: On “Star Wars,” Composing and Finding Your Voice

Classical MusicLifestyle
Written By Christina Ezrahi

Eunike Tanzil. Photo by Zoe Yalden

Imagine you are rushing down a busy street and suddenly, a friendly stranger asks you: “Could you please hum me a melody?” Chances are you will respond with shocked surprise: “A melody?!?” But this is one of the many original things Eunike Tanzil has been doing: she takes those little snippets of randomly hummed melodies and turns them into symphonic creations. Just watch her iconic “Hum me a melody” series on Instagram. The LA-based Indonesian composer, pianist and producer writes music that tells stories, whether she is composing for film or for the concert hall. Her unique musical voice has attracted the attention of one of the most prestigious classical music record labels. On 26 April 2024, Eunike signed an exclusive agreement with Deutsche Grammophon, joining an illustrious list of composers. TWoA talked to her about composing and finding your own voice. In celebration of Star Wars Day on May 4th, we started our conversation by talking about her big inspiration John Williams.

John Williams holds a very special place in your own musical journey.

I came across his music when I was about twelve years old. My father came back from a trip to the US and brought me a CD: John Williams’s 80th birthday album. Before that, I had thought that I would be a classical pianist. My father sells pianos. I thought: I like playing music, maybe I’ll be a classical pianist one day. But then that album changed my life. It was the first time I heard the sound of the orchestra other than in movies. I thought to myself: “This is a fugue!” There is one track called: “The Shark Cage Fugue.” Before that, my whole life, I had only known a fugue played on the piano, for example by Bach. I thought: “This is super cool!” I decided: my goal is, one day, to be able to write for an orchestra and get it performed, somehow. I’m from Medan in Indonesia. We have no orchestras. I didn’t hear a real, live orchestra until I was about fifteen or sixteen when I was travelling in Japan.

John Williams’ music has a sense of storytelling. For me, it’s always either music or storytelling, but I’m way better in music than in storytelling. I wrote short stories when I was in elementary school. I thought film music is somewhere in between. Why don’t just marry the two of them? John Williams can do it – why don’t I try? So that’s how I came across his music.

What is your favourite moment in the Star Wars soundtrack?

There are so many good ones! My gosh! My favourite theme from Star Wars is the Princess Leia theme. I had the privilege to study it. I got the score and I just wanted to know how he developed the theme. It’s such a simple theme, but the way it modulates, the way it travels – it’s all very touching and very meaningful. To the character, too, not just for the listeners. I liked how he used that one simple theme and gave it to not just one instrument. I think it starts with the flute, then the harp, and then it goes to the horns. It goes to the cello line, and it grows from something very small to very, very large and grandiose. I like that overall ark of that sweep of a theme that he wrote.

The Star Wars soundtrack encompasses nine feature films. Its use of musical themes for the different characters reminds one of Richard Wagner’s cycle of operas The Ring. What do you admire most about the soundtrack?

I admire most how each theme connects with the characters. For example, in the main theme, there is a reason why it is in B-flat major. The instruments, especially the brass, don’t have to be in such an awkward position like in some other keys to play it. In B-major it might be more difficult, but in B-flat, it’s the perfect range for everyone to play that chord at the same time. It’s very powerful. And I thought it’s just a B-flat chord! That’s why John Williams is a genius. Some people write melodies, and they don’t care about the key because they don’t understand orchestration that much. But John Williams started as an orchestrator first, so he knows that B-flat is perfect for the theme of the movie and also for the players. I admire that about him.

What’s amazing about the score as a whole: each character has its own theme, and the themes are very flexible. In scenes where there’s Yoda, you can insert a little bit of the Yoda theme. The theme works as a snippet, just as a motive, but it also works as a whole. A lot of themes or melodies work as a whole, but when you cut them into just three or five notes, you can’t even distinguish whose theme it is.

What pieces would you recommend to someone who wants to explore John Williams’ repertoire further?

John Williams is a one-in-a-million composer. He is so versatile. Star Wars sounds nothing like his soundtrack for Catch Me If You Can, which sounds nothing like Memoirs of a Geisha. Pick something that connects with you the most. To be completely honest, my favourite score of his is Memoirs of a Geisha. Not a lot of people talk about it and it’s because I’m biased towards the cello. For me, that melody is very lyrical, and it touches me a lot. Pick a movie or score that connects with you the most. It might not be sci-fi; it might not be superhero. Maybe it’s something jazzier, like Tintin. My top three are: Memoirs of a Geisha, Catch Me If You Can, Close Encounters of the Third Kind. And Schindler’s List. You have to include Schindler’s List. I cry every time I listen to it. That’s what’s fun about exploring his music: it’s so versatile. It’s insane.

You are also very versatile! You also compose both for the cinema and the concert hall. How do your experiences as a film composer and as a composer for the concert hall feed into each other?

It’s similar, but very different. I first went to Berklee College of Music for my undergraduate program, and I did film scoring and composition. Once I was in both programs, I realised how different they are. For example, in concert music, you don’t need to know how to use software like Logic or those software sample libraries for film scores. It doesn’t matter. As long as you know how to orchestrate really, really well and how to really express yourself well, how to write for an instrument. In film music, it’s all about the story and the character. You can always hire an orchestrator. You don’t have to be a master orchestrator. I don’t think Hans Zimmer is a master orchestrator, but he has a great team. You have to be tech savvy; you have to be able to write under pressure. If they ask you to deliver in a week you have to deliver in a week.

In concert music you get commissions for two years from now. You have so much time. These are the biggest differences: the time, the tech aspect of it, and being your own boss. In concert music, no one tells you what to write. The only limitation might be the instrumentation in terms of what’s available. In film, the director’s vision is everything. You are basically hired to work on these projects. If you don’t do a good job, you get fired and replaced by someone else. I switch my mindset. In film, it’s not about me. If they ask me to rewrite something, it’s not that they don’t like me personally. It might not even be my music. It might just not be a match. It has to serve the story.

If you ask how film music influenced my concert music writing: it’s the story-telling element, having a theme and a narrative. Some people are against that. I have friends who are not into program notes, who say: just give them music, why do we have to give the frame of the program note? For me personally, with my music, I always start with: “Why? Why do I write this piece?” For instance, my clarinet concerto is about global warming. I asked myself, what instrument can project this sense of alarm: “Let’s save our planet! It’s getting worse and worse from our action!” I thought clarinet would be great because clarinet can project. I decided to write a clarinet concerto, it made more sense than a string quartet or a flute and piano piece because global warming is something urgent, so I needed an instrument that can evoke that kind of emotion. I think a lot about the narrative. I have a little notebook where I write down the adjectives of how I want people to feel. From there, it decides the instrumentation, the tonality, the tempo. The narrative has to be very clear. If I write a eulogy for my grandmother, I won’t write a clarinet concerto, I would write for the cello. What I write about is the most important element. Everything else will follow.

And like in film music, you have to know when you start and when you end. The duration and the architecture are very important. I studied with John Corigliano, who is the master of that. He is all about the architecture of the piece. You have to know when the climax is, you have to know about the arc, what’s happening in the middle of the piece, how you want people to feel. Because the last thing you want to do is to keep the listeners waiting. You have to lead them to a certain point. In film, it’s the same. What is the most important scene and how do we develop it.

Deutsche Grammophon just released your piece “Luna” as a digital single. Why did you write this piece?

With my pieces, I usually ask in the caption: how does this make you feel? I find that very interesting. Most of the time, everybody describes the same thing. Even before I explain what the piece is about. It’s insane. Even if you are not a musician, you can have that image in your head. You just communicate through music. That’s the goal. For me, it’s all about that: how it makes people feel, how it relates to people. A short background story to “Luna:” I actually wrote that piece a long time ago, in 2018. I was in my second year of college. As an international student you can only work on campus, and I needed to pay rent. My dream job was to work in the library because you sit there, do your homework, and get paid. But of course, the job got filled. I went through the job listings and saw one for piano tuning. I thought: “This is cool! You get paid for learning a new skill!” I went through training and then I started working. That’s when I realised why people don’t want to apply for this job: it’s so lonely. You are in a practice room, you hit a note a thousand times before moving on.

One day, I felt so lonely and homesick. It was my first year away from home, I missed my family so much. It felt very lonely at that time, living in a new country, away from people I love and being out of my comfort zone. So, I took a break from piano tuning, I put my tools on my piano and started playing and that tune came. It’s a sense of loneliness and isolation but it's also peaceful. You know that it’s going to be ok, you know it’s something you have to go through. For some reason, it reminded me of the moon. The moon is also very isolated, it’s very lonely and I just have an image of night-time. In the beginning, you hear the theme played by the piano. The cello is a surprise, you wouldn’t expect it to suddenly come in. I would put it into three separate pieces. It’s an A-B-A. In the B section, it’s a lot of modulations, and the modulation is pretty unexpected. That’s when I was trying to illustrate the struggle of trying to adapt to a new environment. A lot of emotion of not knowing what’s out there, but you know you have to go through it. A lot of uncertainty. I have an animated video that just came out on Friday. DG and I hired an illustrator, you should check it out!

Any tips for music students who might be interested in composing, but they don’t quite know where to start?

Just keep exploring. Really, really get to know yourself. Who are you? What kind of person are you? What do you like? What do you not like? That’s so important! What drew you to music in the first place? Let’s say, you like Chopin. What makes you like Chopin? Is it the mood? Is it because of the use of the piano? Keep on exploring that and learning about yourself. That’s the most important thing. I learned music from an early age, but in terms of composing, I didn’t have a mentor until I was about twenty-one. It was all self-exploration and that’s the best part, because no one will tell you: “This is bad! You should change this!”

I personally would avoid having a mentor that early because, at the end of the day: just explore! I know I love orchestra, more than electronics, more than pop, more than anything. I know I really like the sound. That’s why all my “Hum me a melody” is mostly orchestral. And I know that I’m drawn to storytelling, and I know that other than film scores I love classical and jazz. So sometimes, I also play jazz for fun.

I started composing. I started “Luna.” Nobody taught me Luna; I never showed it to any teacher. That’s the best thing, when you start exploring. Because when you show it to teachers, teachers can ask you to change this, to change that. I’ve had this experience where I brought my piece to my teacher, and he said: “This is too minimalistic. Look at your friend! He’s doing all these cool extended techniques. You should learn from him!” He asked me to change it, I changed it – and it didn’t feel like me! I hate that piece! Maybe it sounds like him, but it doesn’t sound like me! Be curious, know what you like and what kind of person you are. That’s very, very important. This should come first, before anything else, before finding a mentor.

Click here to watch an animated version of Eunike’s “Luna.”

Christina Ezrahi
Previous

​​Review: Carmen at the Metropolitan Opera: Out With the Old and In With the New?
Next

Will Social Media Shape the Future of Classical Music?