10 FEB 2024
On the Birthday of Hero, Jerry Goldsmith
D-9 for Luxembourg
WARNING: Much here! Ready for the told and untold stories?
Chapter 3 (Grade 2-3) “The Search for Truefire!”
S T O R M Q U E S T (the complete work is 16 Chapters-Grades 1-3)
#822 at 4:33 by © Stephen Melillo IGNA 10 February 1997
Commissioned by Michele Frankl and Focus on Excellence
In Dedication to all those who Search for and Focus on Excellence in Music
From Score Notes: “The 10th of February is Jerry Goldsmith’s birthday. This work is purposefully and lovingly written into the form of a recent film theme by Mr. Jerry. Why? Because I love Jerry Goldsmith.
I think I was 11-12 when I first really experienced MUSIC in film. Who knows why we love certain things, but Jerry Goldsmith has been in my Heart for most of my Life. From that first moment of ‘recognition’ on, everything was Music. The moon, the stars, a car weaving in and out of traffic… all was Music. And this was because of him, a Man and Composer I cannot wait to meet in Heaven. Love you, Jerry!”
Now here is the UNTOLD part:
I had done an arrangement of FIRST KNIGHT by Jerry Goldsmith.
Sent it to a publisher.
Rejected.
Believing it really needed to be shared with young student Musicians, I wrote an “original” work completely as Jerry might have, AND then used my own Theme from “DAVID” written 3 years earlier in 1994 as part of the layered, coded meaning.
Since I had already purchased my own piece back from another publisher, now renamed “THE STORMQUEST”, I decided to do an interrelated series of works called STORMQUEST.
I placed THE SEARCH for TRUEFIRE… in other words, the Search for TRUTH, as the 3rd piece in a series that would span Grades 1 to 3 over a gradient of 15 pieces.
When the 15 pieces were completed in 1996-97, including a 16th compilation of the suite as an original field show, I made all of this Music available in PDF.
It was a first. (Not a “claimed” first, but an actual first). Having invented it in 1996, Adobe PDFs were employed, emailed, and disseminated on CD-ROM.
Here is the unsavory part now revealed for those who think that our Music world is unsoiled.
Let’s call this section: “Non è tutto oro quello che luccica.” All that glitters is not gold. (An ancient Roman proverb used by Shakespeare).
For now, I can reveal only part of the Story, the part that relates to Jerry, because there is much, and “the tell-all-novel” is still many years off.
1. Every aspect of stormQUEST… and stormWORKS have been, and still are, “imitated”, though not anything like the upfront tribute paid to Jerry. (Hence “The Parable of the Runner”). Many directors and composers know this, and if you listen from 30 years ago, and look at the © dates, you will arrive at the same revelations. (In teaching materials, “Why We Teach Music” from 1978, is a small example.)
2. The CD-ROM dissemination was lied about on Wikipedia. One of the STORMDirectors changed it to reflect the Truth. However, I haven’t checked it in a while. It would be a full-time job chasing down copyright infringements and “imitations”.
3. Einstein said, “Truth, unlike the great lie does not increase with repetition.” On my business card, almost as a prophetic warning since 1997, is written, “Habet Virtus Fine Coronum” - In the End Truth Wears the Crown.
See the circle?
The Search for TRUEFIRE? The Search for Truth? And that is just one of many layers embedded into this Music for young bands, and why its tagline is, “Childhood Used to be for Children™”. Ain’t that the … Truth.
This tip-of-the-shared-iceberg ALL starts in Jerry Goldsmith’s Music being rejected, and the Birth of STORM (not ——) QUEST. If you really want to go deeper, before the “the-tell-all”, that will require discussions over Pizza and cigars. I have always been open to Friendship.
Thousands of kids from 28 countries have played this Music and LOVE it!
That Truth… is what remains!
Godspeed! S
#music #musiceducation #stephenmelillo #stormworks #stormquest #JerryGoldsmith #TheSearchForTruefire
The Search for Truefire (Chapter 3 from STORMQUEST on YouTube)
https://youtu.be/IUjCU9Cwe58
You can find STORMQUEST under “Music by Chapter” on the STORMSite.
https://stormworld.com/stormquest
Why We Teach Music (1978)
https://stephenmelillo.com/blogs/stories-stormlog/posts/why-we-teach-music-posted-after-44-years