Hans Zimmer Only Needed 4 Notes to Make Inception a MASTERPIECE

The level of enthusiasm this dude has for music theory is off the charts. Imagine loving music this much. It's admirable, and incredible to watch.

Hans Zimmer has a gift for making fundamentally simple concepts so deeply emotional to hear.

You asked about the minor vs. major chords. To me, it feels like the first two minor chords are the breath in. The second two major chords are the breath out. The pull between tension and release is incredible… with four chords. Incredible.

That scale part at 11:24 was unbelievably beautiful

I went to see a live orchestra playing Williams and Zimmer music and Time was played. Was a great show in which the conductor gave a good explanation of each piece. The conductor said it's actually quite tricky to maintain focus / pacing on it because it's exactly 60 bpm like a heartbeat. Said it can become quite hypnotic cos of its slow relentless pace.

Speaking of Hans, I would love to see you do a break down of the music of Prince of Egypt. It is masterful in a very different way. Love your work man!

I think one of the best things about Zimmer's work is that because he is self-taught he has no preconceived notion of what the music or soundtrack for a movie should be. Because of that, he is so flexible with what he can write for different movies. It allows him to capture the tone of the movie in a way someone else might not. In addition to this, he is incredibly willing to collaborate with other musicians, to the point where one soundtrack got DQ'ed at the academy awards because too many people got credited for the soundtrack. (The decision for overturned, fortunately.) The result of this is that he doesn't tend to do big, bombastic orchestral scores like Powell or Williams. They're simple, understated, using the subtle power of the orchestra rather than it's overt power. And then theming the music to the film like he did with Sherlock Holmes and Dune.

Time was the first song i learned with two hands three years ago. It was my first real sense of achievement in playing the piano and it motivated and inspired me to write my first own compositions. Nice, that you discuss this awesome piece.

I just saw Hans Zimmer and his band last week in Zürich, Switzerland. It ended with this music from "Inception". Alongside the "Interstellar" segment, it got me teary. Such a beautiful moment, and what a show.

Hans was thirdsty when he composed this one

Zimmer is an amazing sound designer. He works the most on the texture, the motion and he's incredible for that.

Yeah that change from major to minor definitely feels like a key characteristic. Almost makes it feel like waves coming in and retreating again.

Time is, IMO, one of the most brilliantly constructed pieces of music. You asked about the 2 minor stanzas followed by the major stanzas and yes, I believe that's by design, like everything else in this piece. Time is the measuring stick we all use to consider our lives, and all lives have both sadness and happiness. Zimmer represents this in nearly equal terms, edging toward happiness over sad, with the Cmaj7 representing hope, mystery and the moments of inexplicable awe we all experience. Glad I found your channel. I really enjoy listening to you speak about music.

It’s crazy how motivated I feel to go sit down at my piano and play after I watch one of Charles videos. It never fails

I remember studying this theme or motif in my Music in the Movies course in University and how it is used. Also, how it is beautifully matched and intertwined with "Non, je ne regrette rein" by Edith Piaf. Go listen to that piece by Piaf that is their "kick" signal and then go back to this piece. It's another mind-blowing 🤯 moment when you look analyze the two together. Zimmer and Philip Glass are two great minimalist composers that do this so well. For example in the film "The Hours", Glass does a similar skill to connect the characters through time, rather than using period style music of the age that the characters are in time. 🤩

I loved how you went through a very very complicated theory route (modes, note banks, what sounds right ...) to arrive back the very simple answer that he is just using the G Maj scale! It's a great way to explain what modes are :)

Time is actually one of my fav songs of ALL TIME hands down and the simplicity of it is lovely i love how you break it down

One of the reasons I like his composition - is that there's almost no theory. At least certainly no complicated theory. Some of his best scores are four chord progressions, - playable in the equivalent of a C major. He's writing pop music ballads, and then instead of putting a drum track and a bass line over it, he puts five cellists and the whole orchestra over it.

Maybe Zimmer's composition provides the solution to the unresolved question whether the totem is real and will fall at the end or not: it is real and it will fall. And the whole film is about layers, so Zimmer was so ingenious to transform the key aspects of the film into music.

Hans is a musical alchemist. He turns the most basic elements into pure gold.