Film Music

This groundbreaking collection by the most distinguished musicologists and film scholars in their fields gives long overdue recognition to music as equal to the image in shaping the experience of film. Refuting the familiar idea that music serves as an unnoticed prop for narrative, these essays demonstrate that music is a fully imagined and active power in the worlds of film. Even where films do give it a supporting role--and many do much more--music makes an independent contribution. Drawing on recent advances in musicology and cinema studies, Beyond the Soundtrack interprets the cinematic representation of music with unprecedented richness. The authors cover a broad range of narrative films, from the "silent" era (not so silent) to the present. Once we think beyond the soundtrack, this volume shows, there is no unheard music in cinema.

This wide-ranging and thought-provoking collection of specially-commissioned essays provides a uniquely comprehensive overview of the many and various ways in which music functions in film soundtracks. Citing examples from a variety of historical periods, genres and film industries - including those of the USA, UK, France, Italy, India and Japan - the book's contributors are all leading scholars and practitioners in the field. They engage, sometimes provocatively, with numerous stimulating aspects of the history, theory and practice of film music in a series of lively discussions which will appeal as much to newcomers to this fascinating subject as to seasoned film music aficionados. Innovative research and fresh interpretative perspectives are offered alongside practice-based accounts of the film composer's distinctive art, with examples cited from genres as contrasting as animation, the screen musical, film noir, Hollywood melodrama, the pop music and jazz film, documentary, period drama, horror, science fiction and the Western.

This book offers an approach to film music in which music and visuals are seen as equal players in the game. The field of Film-Music Studies has been increasingly dominated by musicologists and this book brings the discipline back squarely into the domain of Film Studies. Blending Neoformalism with Gestalt Psychology and Leonard B. Meyer's musicology, this study treats music as a cinematic element and offers scholars and students of both music and film a set of tools to help them analyse the wide ranging impact that music has in films.

Music has been an integral part of film exhibition from its beginnings in the late nineteenth century. With the arrival of sound film in the late 1920s, music became part of a complex multimedia text. Although industry, fan-oriented, and scholarly literatures on film music have existed from early on, and music was frequently among the topics discussed and disputed, only in the past thirty years has sustained scholarly attention gone to music in visual media, beginning with the feature film. The Oxford Handbook of Film Music Studies charts that interdisciplinary activity in its primary areas of inquiry: history, genre and medium, analysis and criticism, and interpretation.The handbook provides an overview to the field on a large scale. Chapters in Part I range from the relations of music and the soundtrack to opera and film, textual representation of film sound, and film music as studied by cognitive scientists. Part II addresses genre and medium with chapters focusing on cartoons and animated films, the film musical, music in arcade and early video games, and the interplay of film, music, and recording over the past half century. The chapters in Part III offer case studies in interpretation along with extended critical surveys of theoretical models of gender, sexuality, and subjectivity as they impinge on music and sound. The three chapters on analysis in Part IV are diverse: one systematically models harmonies used in recent films, a second looks at issues of music and film temporality, and a third focuses on television. Chapters on history (Part V) cover topics including musical antecedents in nineteenth-century theater, the complex issues in sychronization of music in performance of early (silent) films, international practices in early film exhibition, and the symphony orchestra in film.

The Routledge Companion to Screen Music and Sound provides a detailed and comprehensive overview of screen music and sound studies, addressing the ways in which music and sound interact with forms of narrative media such as television, videogames, and film. The inclusive framework of "screen music and sound" allows readers to explore the intersections and connections between various types of media and music and sound, reflecting the current state of scholarship and the future of the field. A diverse range of international scholars have contributed an impressive set of forty-six chapters that move from foundational knowledge to cutting edge topics that highlight new key areas. The companion is thematically organized into five cohesive areas of study: Issues in the Study of Screen Music and Sound--discusses the essential topics of the discipline Historical Approaches--examines periods of historical change or transition Production and Process--focuses on issues of collaboration, institutional politics, and the impact of technology and industrial practices Cultural and Aesthetic Perspectives--contextualizes an aesthetic approach within a wider framework of cultural knowledge Analyses and Methodologies--explores potential methodologies for interrogating screen music and sound Covering a wide range of topic areas drawn from musicology, sound studies, and media studies, The Routledge Companion to Screen Music and Sound provides researchers and students with an effective overview of music's role in narrative media, as well as new methodological and aesthetic insights.

Almost since films were first shown to the public, music has played a critical component in their success. Film and Television Music: A Guide to Books, Articles, and Composer Interviews compiles over 100 years of writings devoted to the subject of film and television music and its practitioners, offering an awareness of the vast literature on film and television music to a larger audience. This indispensable resource tool includes bibliographic citations and supplementary information on books, academic dissertations, composer and songwriter biographies, music for the accompaniment of silent films, and a wide range of film, music, and general interest periodicals. Providing context, background, accuracy, and breadth of coverage, the entries in this book assist researchers with thoughtful and succinct synopses of the contents of books and articles from the silent era to the digital age. The material is organized in 11 sections: books on film and television music; academic dissertations and theses; composer, songwriter, and lyricist biographies; books with material on film and television music; music for the accompaniment of silent films; film music periodicals; composer society journals and newsletters; film and media periodicals; music periodicals; and general interest and other periodicals. This authoritative reference is for anyone interested in the history of film music.

The first volume focusing on film music as a worldwide phenomenon This stimulating collection of essays analyzes the music of films ranging from mainstream and subcultural American films through case studies of those from China, India, Indonesia, Egypt, Nigeria, Latin American, and the Caribbean, and includes a variety of key films, periods, and studio practices. The focus of the essays is the social and cultural meanings of film music, not just composers' careers and the musical support of storyline and psychology that are the center of most film music studies. Global Soundtracks is the first anthology to suggest methods for understanding how the conventions of standard film music became localized and expanded around the world in many different periods and cinema systems, and to suggest comparative approaches of analysis. Contributors include: ABDALLA UBA ADAMU, B. BALASUBRAHMANIYAN, BRENDA BERRIAN, GREG BOOTH, ERIC A. GALM, JOSEPH GETTER, MARILYN MILLER, MARTIN STOKES, SUMARSAM, and SUE M.C. TUOHY. Hardcover is un-jacketed.

This book provides a comprehensive and lively introduction to the major trends in film scoring from the silent era to the present day, focussing not only on dominant Hollywood practices but also offering an international perspective by including case studies of the national cinemas of the UK, France, India, Italy, Japan and the early Soviet Union. The book balances wide-ranging overviews of film genres, modes of production and critical reception with detailed non-technical descriptions of the interaction between image track and soundtrack in representative individual films. In addition to the central focus on narrative cinema, separate sections are also devoted to music in documentary and animated films, film musicals and the uses of popular and classical music in the cinema. The author analyses the varying technological and aesthetic issues that have shaped the history of film music, and concludes with an account of the modern film composer's working practices.

This collection of interviews with Hollywood composers offers the most intimate look ever at the process of writing music for the movies.  From getting started in the business to recording the soundtrack, from choosing a musical style to collaborating with directors, including Martin Scorsese, Stanley Kubrick, the Coen brothers, Terry Gilliam, Kenneth Branagh, and Ken Russell, from learning to deal with editing to writing with time-sensitive precision, the leading practitioners in the field share their views on one of the most important  -- and least understood -- aspects of filmmaking: the motion picture art that's heard but not seen.

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.

Music in Film: Soundtracks and Synergy discusses a broad range of films - from classical Hollywood through to American independents and European art films - and offers a brief history of the development of music in film from the silent era to the present day. In particular, this book explores how music operates as a narrative device, and also emotionally and culturally. By focusing on the increasing synergy between film and music texts, it includes an extended case study of Magnolia as a film script which developed from a pop song. Emphasis is also placed on the divide between the `high culture' of the orchestral score and the `low culture' of the pop song.

Unlike sources for traditional music, those for film and television music are often difficult to locate and do not follow the patterns that researchers are trained to identify. Although there have been several self-described introductions to the field and articles that summarize the problems and state of this research, no resource gathers all the basic information. In this volume, Jeannie Gayle Pool and H. Stephen Wright address the difficulties that scholars encounter when conducting research on film and television music. Intended as a guide for those navigating the complex world of film and television music research, this book presents a detailed description of primary sources and explains how to find and interpret them. The authors tackle the problems of determining film-score authorship and working with recordings of film music. A bibliography summarizes the major works and trends in film music research and identifies the most important resources in the field. Up-to-date information about prominent collections of film music sources and other research materials is also included. Designed to clarify the nature of source materials and how they are generated, A Research Guide to Film and Television Music in the United States provides clear signposts for scholars and highlights opportunities for further investigation. Book jacket.

The Routledge Film Music Source Book is an annotated, thematically organized collection of approximately eighty source readings pertaining to film music dating from its beginnings to the present, from the US and other select countries around the globe. The documents represent a wide variety of music-related issues that were heatedly debated during cinema's early decades and which by and large remain of concern today. Each document is prefaced by a brief introduction that gives details on both the author and the particular issue at hand. Also, each group of documents is prefaced by a longer introduction that puts into historical context the collective information and opinions that follow. The organizational scheme is at the same time chronological and thematic in a pattern that alternates between aestehetic and practical considerations.