Music for Silent Film
Music for Silent Film

Author: Kendra Preston Leonard

Publisher: A-R Editions, Inc.

Published: 2016-01-01

Total Pages: 297

ISBN-13: 0895798352

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Between 1895 and 1929, more than 15,000 motion pictures were made in the United States. We call these works “silent films,” but they were accompanied by an enormous body of music, including works adapted or arranged from pre-existing works, as well as newly composed pieces for theater orchestras, organists, or pianists. While many films and pieces are lost, a considerable amount of material remains extant and available for use in research and performance. Music for Silent Film: A Guide to North American Resources is a unique resource on North American archives and English-language materials available in for those interested in this repertoire. Part I contains information about archives of primary source materials including full and compiled scores, sheet music, published anthologies of music, interviews with cinema musicians, periodicals, and instruction books. Part II surveys the English-language scholarship on silent film music in articles, book chapters, essay collections, and monographs through 2015. The book is fully indexed for ease of access to these important sources on film music.

Silent Film Sound
Silent Film Sound

Author: Rick Altman

Publisher: Columbia University Press

Published: 2004

Total Pages: 510

ISBN-13: 9780231116626

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Based on extensive original research and filled with gorgeous illustrations, Silent Film Sound reconsiders all aspects of sound practices during the silent film period in America. Beginning with sound accompaniment and continuing through to the more familiar sound practices of the 1920s, renowned film historian Rick Altman discusses the variety of sound strategies cinema exhibitors used to differentiate their products. During the nickelodeon period prior to 1910, this variety reached its zenith with carnival-like music, automatic pianos, small orchestras, lecturers, synchronized sound systems, and voices behind the screen. In the 1910s, musical accompaniment began to support a film's narrative and emotional content, with large theaters and blockbuster productions driving the development of new instruments, new music-publication projects, and a new style of film music. A monumental achievement, Silent Film Sound challenges common assumptions about this period and reveals the complex and swiftly changing nature of silent American cinema.

Essentials for Composers
Essentials for Composers

Author: Jonathan Middleton

Publisher: Waveland Press

Published: 2017-03-03

Total Pages: 179

ISBN-13: 1478635207

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Mastering the technical skills needed for fruitful music composition is relatively straightforward compared to the development of crucial creative-thinking strategies. While most introductory texts emphasize techniques, this affordable guide goes far beyond the initial stage of methods instruction to engage readers at a profound level. The author believes composers, as a first priority, must know what they are doing creatively and why they are doing it before segueing to learning the basic tools for the task. Unique yet practical, concise yet comprehensive, Essentials for Composers guides novice composers through a set of basic steps, examples, and concepts to help them work through stages of the creative process in manageable and stimulating ways. Middleton explains how to approach each topic (harmony, melody, counterpoint, orchestration, variation) and explore the creative process through experimentation by completing related exercises. Such direction, which prompts efforts toward defining, developing, discovering, and shaping one’s own creative process, unseals the essence of music composition. Relevant for students with interests ranging from film scoring to preparing music for digital games, Essentials for Composers is suitable for those who compose with or without the aid of technology. Bibliographies, score summaries, interviews with two composers, and analytical interludes prompt further investigation of topics.

Choral-Orchestral Repertoire
Choral-Orchestral Repertoire

Author: Jonathan D. Green

Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield

Published: 2019-12-05

Total Pages: 747

ISBN-13: 1442244674

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Choral-Orchestral Repertoire: A Conductor’s Guide, Omnibus Edition offers an expansive compilation of choral-orchestral works from 1600 to the present. Synthesizing Jonathan D. Green’s earlier six volumes on this repertoire, this edition updates and adds to the over 750 oratorios, cantatas, choral symphonies, masses, secular works for large and small ensembles, and numerous settings of liturgical and biblical texts for a wide variety of vocal and instrumental combinations. Each entry includes a brief biographical sketch of the composer, approximate duration, text sources, performing forces, available editions, and locations of manuscript materials, as well as descriptive commentary, a discography, and a bibliography. Unique to this edition are practitioner’s evaluations of the performance issues presented in each score. These include the range, tessitura, and nature of each solo role and a determination of the difficulty of the choral and orchestral portions of each composition. There is also a description of the specific challenges, staffing, and rehearsal expectations related to the performance of each work. Choral-Orchestral Repertoire is an essential resource for conductors and students of conducting as they search for repertoire appropriate to their needs and the abilities of their ensembles.