John Powell’s How to Train Your Dragon

On August 29, we took our first look at the music of composer John Powell, and tackled his 2010 score for the fantasy film How to Train Your Dragon. John’s action score sensibilities shine through every page of this score and there’s much to learn as we deconstruct the score with our unique mockups and learn how he blended the “Scandinavian Scotland” flavors of the original books into the movie. We learn how he incorporated bagpipes, dulcimers, and whistles to portray Viking protagonists. Our special guest is Tim Rodier of Omni Music Publishing, who has called this project “one of the finest scores Powell has ever produced.”

John Powell has an excellent course at Mix with the Masters which may be of further interest.

Due to a request from the copyright holders, we are unable to include excerpts from the published score in the videos presented below. You can still hear the complete audio discussion and follow along with the printed score, which we highly recommend you purchase at https://omnimusicpublishing.com/product/john-powells-how-to-train-your-dragon-full-orchestral-score/