Anybody who has heard the soundtrack for How To Train Your Dragon will admit that it just a lot of fun to listen to. Part of that lies in the Celtic nature of the music both instrument wise as well as the imitation of the melodies and rhythmic structure. This episode focuses on the sounds and music of Berk that helps to set the world as a Viking clan - both the fun and adventurous side as well as the warrior side. At times, it also reflects the various leaders such as Hiccup, Stoick, Astrid who embody the good and the bad at times but overall have a fierce love of their people and eventually the dragons that they protect. This also includes "The Village Hymn" from the third movie which is a newer theme for Berk and its leaders, covering a range of emotions especially for Hiccup and Astrid's relationship as the leaders of Berk.

Welcome to the episode that took the longest journey to get finished. I began writing this back in January but between two interviews, a trip to England, creating the Soundtrack class curriculum on top of work, this took a back seat for a while. This episode focuses on themes specifically for Hiccup's journey over the three animated movies often related to his fate, his destiny, dreams, losing and finding those closest to him. In many ways, they come down to his relationship with dragons and the village of Berk, seen most closely through Toothless and his parents. He dreams big and leads by his example. Ironically, the theme in the first film was mostly taken out of the live-action version since it didn't quite fit. But that's a discussion for another time...
Enjoy!

Happy New Year! I'm excited to be starting a new series focusing on the trilogy of animated movies: How to Train Your Dragon. A few years ago, I gave a few Zoom classes on three animated movies/series including HTTYD so it was lovely to revisit the series and all the great themes by John Powell. It's also fun to visit these movies with a live-action version coming out in June.
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This episode is about the main themes of friendship: One for Hiccup which is actually made of two different parts and a motif for Toothless. As their relationships form from animosity to best friends, the music changes and evolves over the series. I do cover everything chronologically so if have only seen the first movie, you can stop part-way through to avoid spoilers!

One new thing I have tried with this episode is speaking over some of the music because some of the music cues are really long, such as Forbidden Friendship. I am very curious to know whether you like that or not, so feel free to let me know!