Author: Ben Model

  • Jonathan Law High School visit & flyer

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    Ben Model

    Visited Jonathan Law High School yesterday, attending a morning rehearsal of the school’s chamber ensemble – 20-25 piece concert band – as well as the two AP History classes who are studying the silent film era and making presentations at the concert on June 13. Was impressed with the shape the band was in with…

  • Harry Weiss, new altscores, band premiere

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    Ben Model

    Had a nice long chat with 91-year-old silent film accompanist Harry Weiss the other day. When I began accompanying silent films at the Cinema Arts Center (formerly known as the New Community Cinema) in Huntington, NY, Vic Skolnick spoke fondly of their first accompanist, Harry Weiss. Harry played piano for their silent film shows for…

  • Radio City Music Hall

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    Ben Model
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    I made my Radio City Music Hall debut yesterday, playing for the graduation ceremony of the School of Visual Arts. I improvised 90+mins of music while the graduates came up and received their diplomas…17 groups in all. I used the RCMH’s 9-foot Steinway grand, which was placed extreme downstage right, where I had a clear…

  • undercranking clip: Keaton

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    Ben Model

    Don’t know if I’ve mentioned this here before, but I’ve been making a study of silent comedy filmmaking and how undercranking was utilized. I’ve discovered the comedians not only knew the film they shot would be shown faster, but they used this to their advantage, making many of their gags dependent on the increased speed…

  • 7 shows in 6 days

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    Ben Model

    Played for seven shows in the last six days. Performing every day for a stretch like this happens every once in a while. A little traveling involved, but not way far out of town. Sunday afternoon was the final program for The Silent Clowns Film Series, and we had a real nice turnout…around 80 people.…

  • altscore.com plugged on Bioscope blog

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    Ben Model

    There’s a nice write-up on my altscore.com site at the Bioscope blog, run by Luke McKernan. Click here to read it!

  • sharing the bill with Bernstein, Barber and Williams

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    Ben Model

    Here’s a review of a concert by the Green Bay Civic Symphony from yesterday. The orchestra’s final concert of the season was comprised of movie music by Leonard Bernstein, Samuel Barber, and John Williams. Oh yeah, and me. They performed my orchestral score to Charlie Chaplin’s The Adventurer (score was originally commissioned in 2000 by…

  • April update part 1

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    Ben Model

    Well…a month has flown by since my last posting, and much has happened. no way to catch up but to do it in pieces. Here’s an initial stab at catching up… Last week I spent three days recording scores for ten comedy shorts for the upcoming American Slapstick 2 DVD set from AllDay Entertainment. Five…

  • altscore.com site launched!

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    Ben Model

    This week I launched www.altscore.com, finally. I’ve had this idea for several months but have finally had the down time to build the site and record scores for it. The site is a place where people can purchase and download MP3’s of piano or organ scores by me for silent films they have on DVD.…

  • Silent Clowns Keaton show in NY Times!

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    Ben Model