Category: Podcast
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Episode 53 show notes: The Silent Film Music Podcast
Episode 53 Show Notes: Playing For The Talkies Reflection on Episodes 51–52, Interview with William Perry, the impact and the quality of his accompaniments to silent films William Perry’s Trobriand Music Use of main themes and leitmotivs, especially for his new piano score for Sky High (1922) starring Tom Mix “How To Accompany a Silent…
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ep. 53: underscoring “Frankenstein” (1931), leitmotifs and how often to use them, listener questions, and more.
In this episode: Ben reflects on his conversation with William Perry heard in the previous two episodes of the podcast; discusses how considering a show’s intended audience is part of his programming process; covers the different film options for Halloween shows; talks at length about his recent live-underscoring of the 1931 “Frankenstein” at the Library…
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Episode 52 show notes: The Silent Film Music Podcast
Episode 52 Show Notes: William Perry interview (part 2) Interview with William Perry, composer, pianist, orchestrator, and silent film accompanist. From William Perry’s score for The Gold Rush (transition from piano to orchestra) Ben’s introduction WP: In the early 1970s, the curators at MoMA were discovering silent film, its history and its language Pre-screening films…
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ep. 52: William Perry interview (part 2) – MoMA, Lillian Gish, composing orchestrally for piano, and more.
In this episode: Ben interviews composer, silent film pianist and television producer William Perry. Perry is probably best-remembered for his scores for the now-legendary television series “The Silent Years”, produced by Paul Killiam, that ran for two seasons on public television, in 1971 and 1975. For twelve years Perry was the music director and composer-in-residence…
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ep. 51: William Perry interview (part 1) – “The Silent Years”, MoMA, and more.
In this episode: Ben interviews composer, silent film pianist and television producer William Perry. Perry is probably best-remembered for his scores for the now-legendary television series “The Silent Years”, produced by Paul Killiam, that ran for two seasons on public television, in 1971 and 1975. For twelve years Perry was the music director and composer-in-residence…
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Episode 51 show notes: The Silent Film Music Podcast
Episode 51 Show Notes: William Perry interview (part 1) Interview with William Perry, composer, pianist, orchestrator, and silent film accompanist. William Perry’s compositions William Perry’s piano music from “The Silent Years” available on CD “The Beloved Rogue And other Scores from The Silent Years” from Trobriand Music William Perry’s YouTube Channel An episode of THE…
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ep. 50: Serial Queens, Kovacs Music Videos, and the Charming Raymond Griffith
In this episode: Ben accompanies a bunch of shows of silent serials during June, and talks about the musical challenges of accompanying serials and in scoring an entire program of them; Kerr and Ben continue their conversation about Ernie Kovacs’s use of music, and discuss Kovacs’ “Street Scene” video of Bartok’s “Concerto For Orchestra”, and…
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Episode 50 show notes: The Silent Film Music Podcast
Episode 50 Show Notes: Serial Queens, Kovacs Music Videos, and the Charming Raymond Griffith Live shows continue Women And The Silent Screen Conference XI at MOMA and at Columbia University June 2022 Few complete pre-1917 serials survive with all chapters Analogous to today’s serialized stories in streaming television Accompaniment focuses on tension and release –…
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ep. 49: Rudolph Valentino, Ernie Kovacs, Buster Keaton, and the Craft of Supporting Subtleties
In this episode: Ben plays with holding back musically to help an audience of art deco fans connect with Valentino and Nazimova during a show of “Camille” (1921); he and Kerr Lockhart dig in to details about “Oriental Blues”, the theme song Ernie Kovacs used for all of his shows from 1951-1962; and Ben discusses…
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Episode 49 show notes: The Silent Film Music Podcast
Episode 49 Show Notes: Rudolph Valentino, Ernie Kovacs, Buster Keaton, and the Craft of Supporting Subtleties Summer exhibitions of silent films with Ben accompanying are picking up Camille starring Alla Nazimova and Rudolph Valentino at AFI Silver co-sponsored by the Art Deco Society of Washington DC (Music excerpt on an Allen organ) Ernie Kovacs segment: Ernie…