- - Please visit: Legacy Horn Experience - -
The Tony Randall Show theme.
On a regular basis, this blog gets visits from people looking for sheet music to “this movie” theme or that “TV show” jingle. A superior method for learning a melody where no sheet music is available is the old-fashioned way – by ear.
(Gasp!)
Back in the “old days” television shows had much longer themes than those today. Many times they were fully-developed ideas that lasted for up to one minute. Today, short of the occasional science fiction show, most TV show themes are brief riffs or loops whose sole purpose is to quickly establish a mood and nothing more.
The “motif-theme” to Law and Order epitomizes this trend, with its two-second sound effect that suggests both intense drama and the pounding of the judge’s gavel.
A short-lived series in the mid-70’s called “The Tony Randall Show” featured a very nice horn melody. This (and the “Princess Leia” theme from Star Wars) was one of the first things that I learned to play by ear. The show’s main character was a Philadelphia courtroom judge and the opening credits featured scenes from Philly as the judge was on his way to work.
This theme suggests a traditional British-style march. The Till Eulenspiegel-ish ending is a nice touch.
I have always wondered who the horn player was on this. I presume that it was an LA studio musician…perhaps Vince DeRosa?
