 Spielberg and Williams both watched a rough cut of the film to determine what scenes would have music . The two decided to leave music out of the fighting sequences , in favor of playing it over long sequences of eight to nine minutes that lack action . The playing of music between fighting sequences gives a moment of reflection for what happened . Tom Hanks came to a portion of the recording session and read the Bixby letter – which appears in the movie – to the orchestra at the behest of Williams . This caused the musicians to shuffle their feet in appreciation . 
