Category: silent film accompaniment
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New Sounds For Silents
It took me at least a few years to find a way to re-tune my thoughts about what you might call non-traditional scoring for silent films. Attending and performing at the “Silent Film Days” festival in Tromsø, Norway for many years, hearing bands and music artists from Scandinavia do live scores for silents, helped me…
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Before When Harry Met Charlie
Like many people who are into classic film, I only knew Harry Myers as the drunk millionaire in Charlie Chaplin’s City Lights (1931). I knew he didn’t just appear out of nowhere, hand-picked form obscurity the way Virginia Cherrill had been. So, when I spotted him as one of the two comedy relief cowboys in…
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Charles Hofmann – MoMA Film Accompanist, Briefly
When I began accompanying silent films in college, there was very little in the way of resources. I was, however, loaned a copy of a small monograph on the subject written by Charles Hofmann, who had been one of the Museum of Modern Art’s film pianists. Hofmann seems to be something of a blip on…
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From The Horse’s Mouth
The second time I play for a film is my first big chance to make improvements over what I did the first time. If my first bash at the picture was a show where I’d not been able to preview it, I can make more specific or bolder choices for the film’s beginning, to help…
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My Favorite Things
I never have a good answer for the question I am asked the most at show Q&A’s and in interviews and in social situations. I really should. I’ve certainly been asked it enough times. “What is your favorite film or type of film to play for?” I don’t have one. And I don’t know why. …
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A Breakfast Ballet with Buster and Joe
The Scarecrow (1920) has gradually become one of my alternate go-to Keaton shorts for audiences. In the event I’ve already shown them One Week, or am doing a general audience program for a newbie crowd, this one really lands. It’s also one of the few Keaton shorts with a set-piece that could be synched to…
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Song and Dance in Silent Movies
One of the challenges in scoring a silent film is dealing with the fact that occasionally, there are musical numbers performed or sung. Often, the song is sung or performed in its entirety. In most cases it’s impossible to synch up anything you’re playing. The exception, of course, is “The Prisoner’s Song” in Keaton’s Steamboat…
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Playing the Music On Screen When It’s Not a Match
There’s a pleasant little moment in Sunrise (1927), after the couple has rescued a runaway pig from an arcade game. The dance band strikes up a peasant tune and asks the couple to dance. There’s even a close-up of the music, to let us know that the big city band is playing a peasant tune.…
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The Sounds of the Silents — Theatre Organ on DVD
One of the reasons a majority of people associate the piano with silent film, as opposed to theatre organ or orchestra, is that it had been the type of accompaniment utilized the most on a majority of home video editions of silent films. I’d like to address a question that came in from my recent series…
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Is Accompanist a Five-Syllable Word?
On paper, when you look at it, the word “accompanist” is easy to read. And yet, half the time or maybe more, when I am introduced at a show, the word comes out with an extra syllable. It probably happens more with silent film accompaniment than with most other piano accompaniment. I accompany silent films,…