A Harry Potter super-fan uses every woodwind instrument at his disposal in a John Williams anthem for the ages

18 September 2020, 14:56 | Updated: 18 September 2020, 15:21

Harry Potter theme recreated using only woodwinds and keyboard

By Rosie Pentreath

You don’t need a full symphony orchestra when you can just play ‘Hedwig’s Theme’ yourself – on every woodwind instrument known to humankind.

This Harry Potter super-fan has dug out every woodwind instrument you’ve heard of to give us a John Williams anthem for the ages (watch above).

Under the moniker JDWinds, this chap – proficient in keyboard as well as B-flat clarinet, bass clarinet, piccolo, C flute, alto flute, alto saxophone, tenor saxophone, baritone saxophone and jingle bells – gives us a multi-tracked rendition of ‘Hedwig’s Theme’, ‘Diagon Alley’, and other John Williams Harry Potter favourites.

“As [a] franchise that I grew up both reading and watching as a kid, I knew I just had to pay homage to Harry Potter,” the woodwind aficionado writes on YouTube. “There's just no one that does film scoring like John Williams does for this soundtrack!”

Read more: Cellist creates brilliant multitrack of the Mario Kart theme, with three cellos and an egg shaker >

JDWinds is Joe Di Fiore, a multi-instrumentalist, composer and arranger who’s just released a self-published album, Out of the Woods. See more of Joe’s work above.

Witch’s hat off to you, JDWinds. Nice arrangement. Nice performance. And nice scar. You’ve done John Williams proud.