Category: MoMA
-
40 Years At MoMA
Had it not been for the fact that I was on vacation for about two weeks in June and my seeing a slew of LinkedIn messages congratulating me when I got home, a big anniversary of mine would not have occurred to me. It has been 40 years since my first performance at MoMA, accompanying…
-
An Ozu Scoring Clue from Joan Jonas
Last week, I had another one of those film accompanist experiences where a spoken introduction helped shape the way I played for the film. There is currently a major gallery exhibition at the MoMA honoring the work of artist Joan Jonas. In conjunction with this exhibition, the film department has organized one of their “Carte…
-
Arthur Kleiner – Mid-Century Silent Film Pianist
On Wednesday, Nov 20 at 7pm, there will be a presentation at MoMA about Arthur Kleiner, silent film accompanist. It’s a name classic film fans aren’t familiar with, but he was “the sound of the silents” at the museum for the first three decades of its movie showings. In 1939, four years after the founding…
-
A 1950s Baby Grand for 1910s-1920s Films
“It was Blanchette Rockefeller’s piano,” I was told when I was introduced to the instrument in 2003. This was at the Gramercy Theatre on West 23rd Street, and when I arrived was greeted in the auditorium by Ethel Shein. And by the Steinway baby grand. This was during the last round of renovations for the…
-
MoMA’s Arthur Kleiner – Moods on Vinyl
When I was in college, I played for a silent film course taught by MoMA’s Charles Silver. Charles loaned me a few LPs to listen to, since I was new to this. One of the records was Musical Moods from the Silent Films, by Arthur Kleiner. When I gave the album a spin, I realized…
-
Improvising A Silent Film Score: Now, and Then
There was no one way all film was accompanied musically during the silent film era. There was a range. A wide range. Everything from a solo upright to a full symphony. Everything from fully written-out composed scores published, disseminated, rehearsed and performed meticulously…to a blind person with a friend or spouse seated beside them on…
-
Scoring Something Good
Every once in a while, I’ll hear or be told about some new amazing silent film discovery being shown at some festivals I don’t get to play at. It happens, I would imagine, with some of my colleagues, as well as with fans who don’t live near those festivals. I’ve learned to tell myself, “That’s…
-
“Let’s Go In to a Picture Show” – popular songs about silent movies
I first heard about this CD project during the Arbuckle retrospective I co-curated for MoMA in 2006 with Ron Magliozzi, Curator in MoMA’s Department of Film and with Steve Massa. Ron had spent a number of years acquiring dozens and dozens (hundreds, maybe?) of pieces of sheet music from the 1910’s and 1920’s for MoMA…