4. Watching films in the silent era

2020 ◽  
pp. 88-106
Author(s):  
Donna Kornhaber
Keyword(s):  
Social Stratification ◽  
Motion Pictures ◽  
Film Music ◽  
Distribution Patterns ◽  
Silent Film ◽  
Film Exhibition ◽  
Sound Effects ◽  
Or Groups ◽  
Silent Film Music ◽  
Silent Era

“Watching films in the silent era” explains how viewing habits changed with distribution patterns and the growth of nickelodeons and movie palaces. Social stratification affected access to both cinemas and films. Those who lived far from city centers or who were prevented from visiting luxury venues by poverty or segregation saw older films at cheaper prices. Studios tried to manage the exigencies of filmmaking by selling motion pictures in batches, while theater owners had to choose among thousands of available options in picking the films they would exhibit. Live sound effects, narration, and even dialogue were surprisingly common elements of silent film exhibition worldwide, and silent film music was a thriving industry, with organists or groups of musicians working from books of standard music rather than film-specific scores.

Performance Practices and Music In Early Cinema outside Hollywood

2013 ◽  
pp. 610-619
Author(s):  
Kathryn Kalinak
Keyword(s):  
Film Music ◽  
Silent Film ◽  
Early Cinema ◽  
Performance Practices ◽  
Moving Images ◽  
Cultural Interface ◽  
Silent Era

This chapterexamines the diversity of international practices in film music outside Hollywood during the silent film era. It describes performance practices around the globe and offers a broader context in which to consider American practices during this period. It suggests that music functioned as a cultural interface throughout the silent era in a way quite different from the sound era and that music in the silent era had an impressive power to interact with moving images in ways not controlled by films or their producers.

Sounds of Yesterday: Case Study Taxonomy of Topoi from Dutch Silent Film Music

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard Smiraglia
Keyword(s):  
Film Music ◽  
Music History ◽  
Silent Film ◽  
Etude De Cas ◽  
Taxonomic Research ◽  
Étude De Cas ◽  
Silent Film Music

Taxonomy is the rigorous act of distinguishingdifferentiated concepts by naming and defining themwith precision. A case of taxonomic research arisesfrom film music history with regard to musicalcues, topoi, used to accompany silent film. Thepresent case study uses the Eyl Collection of Dutchsilent film music.La taxonomie consiste à distinguer rigoureusementles concepts différenciés par la dénomination et à lesdéfinir avec précision. Un cas de recherchetaxonomique est illustré dans l’histoire de la musiquede film, en ce qui concerne les signaux d’entréemusicaux, les topoï, utilisés pour accompagner lesfilms muets. La présente étude de cas utilise laCollection Eyl de musique de films muets néerlandais.

Film Music Cues: Visualizing Social Reality Through Music and Film

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard P. Smiraglia ◽  
Joshua A. Henry
Keyword(s):  
Film Music ◽  
Social Reality ◽  
Silent Film ◽  
Musical Performance ◽  
The Social ◽  
Musical Cues ◽  
Silent Film Music

Taxonomies may contain functional vocabulary and display relationships among concepts to facilitate the work of a domain. Silent film music is a work-based genre of musical performance. Musicians worked from cue-sheets of musical terms. This paper describes the conversion of a working list of musical cues into a taxonomy. Results show the taxonomical differences that arise from a work-based vocabulary. Also, the social realities of the time are reflected in this vocabulary of music for silent film from the 1920s. Les taxonomies peuvent contenir du vocabulaire fonctionnel et mettre en évidence des relations entre les concepts et ainsi faciliter le travail d'un domaine. La musique de films muets est un genre de performance musicale basé sur l’expérience. Les musiciens travaillent à partir de repères («cue-sheet») de termes musicaux. Cet article décrit la conversion d'une liste de repères musicaux en une taxonomie. Les résultats montrent les différences taxonomiques qui émergent d'un vocabulaire basé sur l’expérience. En outre, les réalités sociales de l'époque sont reflétées dans ce vocabulaire musical pour le cinéma muet des années 1920.

A highly creative endeavour: Interview with musicologist and silent film pianist Martin Marks

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 61-77 ◽  
Author(s):  
Claus Tieber ◽  
Anna K. Windisch
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Film Music ◽  
Silent Film ◽  
Practical Work ◽  
Decision Making Process ◽  
Silent Cinema ◽  
Silent Films ◽  
Musical Intelligence ◽  
History Of ◽  
Silent Film Music

Martin Marks holds an almost unique position to talk about silent film music: he is a scholarly musician and musical scholar. Besides his canonical book on the history of silent film music (1997), he has been playing piano accompaniments for silent films regularly for nearly four decades. In this interview we asked Martin about the challenges and complexities of choosing and creating music to accompany musical numbers in silent cinema. Martin relates how he detects musical numbers and he expounds his decision-making process on how to treat them. His explanations are interspersed with engaging examples from his practical work and based on both his scholarly knowledge and on his musical intelligence. He talks about the use of pre-existing music as well as about anachronisms in choosing music written many decades after a film was first released. In sum, this interview delivers detailed and informed insights into the difficulties and pleasures of accompanying musical numbers or other types of diegetic music in silent cinema.

scholarly journals Using Resources for Silent Film Music

2016 ◽  
Vol 63 (4) ◽  
pp. 259-276
Author(s):  
Kendra Preston Leonard
Keyword(s):  
Film Music ◽  
Silent Film ◽  
Silent Film Music

Facets Among the Topoi: An Emerging Taxonomy of Silent Film Music

2016 ◽  
pp. 156-163
Author(s):  
Richard P. Smiraglia ◽  
Joshua A. Henry
Keyword(s):  
Film Music ◽  
Silent Film ◽  
Silent Film Music
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