Memory (Star Wars Style) – First Orchestral Notes: Intro & Verse 1

This video shows the first orchestral notes I recorded for the intro and verse 1 of my Star Wars-style arrangement of "Memory" (from Cats), created for Whitney Avalon.

You can see the Pro Tools arrangement view with individual orchestral tracks — Violins, Violas, Celli (cellos), Contrabasses, Harp, and French Horns — all color-coded and layered in the timeline. This is where the orchestration comes to life visually.

The recording process for these first notes was very special. I began with just four soft notes on French horns — a subtle reference to the iconic Star Wars Force Theme. Then I introduced string lines emulating John Williams, with those rich bodies of sound built between violins, violas, cellos, and basses. I recorded it almost improvising over the chord progression, feeling my way through the harmonic landscape, and then broke the performance apart into individual string sections.

As my first project for Whitney, I was deeply insecure about whether she'd approve — but when her feedback came back positive, it felt like a new breath of air to continue.