The Silent Film Music Podcast with Ben Model
It’s the podcast that takes you inside the mind of someone as they prepare for, perform, and reflect upon performances of live musical accompaniments to silent films. Hosted by renowned silent film accompanist and historian Ben Model, along with co-host Kerr Lockhart, each episode includes discussion on the silent film composer-musician’s process, approach toward the films, practice in performance, and on silent film history. Ben and Kerr cover a range of topics unique to the perspective of someone creating a live score to help an audience enter the world of the film, and include excerpts of live musical scores Ben has performed at shows on piano and theatre or pipe organ.
The Silent Film Music Podcast was launched in 2012 as an outgrowth of my blog. All episodes of the podcast are available on most podcast platforms and are also streamable from this site.
New podcast feature!
There is now an online episode index for The Silent Film Music Podcast! The podcast index allows you to browse all of its episodes by topic or to search them for a word or phrase. Each topic or search query result links you to the episode with the answer and display’s the episode’s time-stamp. The idea here is to make The Silent Film Music Podcast even more of a resource for anyone researching silent film accompaniment. To explore the podcast episode index, click or tap here.
- Ben and Kerr discuss accompaniment Ben’s accompaniment techniques for films he played for toward the end of 2025: Keaton’s “Steamboat Bill, Jr.” at the Barrymore Film Center, Mary Pickford in “Sparrows” at […]
- Ben and Kerr talk about Ben’s busy Halloween season, underscoring the unmasking scene in “The Phantom of the Opera” (1925) at Angel Nyack, and his encounters with theater ghosts; also covered are […]
- Ben and Kerr talk about Ben’s shows at MoMA’s “Silent Movie Week” of “Saxophon Susi” and “Berlin: Symphony of a Great City”, and at the Rubinstein Atrium at Lincoln Center for an […]
- Ben and Kerr talk about Ben’s recent shows in the Adirondacks and NYC, his in-progress recording of scores for a new Arbuckle Blu-ray set, the art and craft of a venue’s developing […]
- Ben and Kerr talk about Ben’s new book “The Silent Film Universe” on this mini-episode. Ben discusses the various aspects of silent film language covered in each chapter and how we as […]
- In this episode, Ben and Kerr talk about accompanying a rare Wallace Reid Film “The Valley of the Giants” and other films at the Kansas Silent Film Festival; playing for the newly […]
- In this episode, Ben and Kerr talk about: Ben’s accompanying a rare Reginald Denny feature, sight-unseen, at Capitolfest 21; the rediscovery of “The Gorilla” (1927) and accompanying it on both piano and […]
- In this episode: On this episode, Ben and Kerr talk about Ben’s process for scoring Roland West’s “The Bat” (1926) for a home video release. The new restoration was produced and released […]
- In this episode: Ben talks about accompanying Laurel & Hardy’s pie fight in “The Battle of the Century”, for a decisive moment for Keaton’s character in “Steamboat Bill, Jr.”, for Ozu’s “A […]
- In this episode: Ben recaps his month’s activities in March 2024, talks about the subtleties of underscoring dramatic moments when a main character thinks through an important decision, a creative way to […]
- In this episode: Ben accompanies Tom Mix in “Sky High” at the Library of Congress, adapting for organ some themes he originally composed for piano; Ben and Kerr discuss the importance of […]
- In this episode: Ben shares his experiences accompanying the silent era blockbuster “The Big Parade”, the rare Italian film “A’ Santanotte”, Laurel & Hardy shorts, and others; he and Kerr discuss the […]
- In this episode: accompanying several films at MoMA in August of new restorations and a series of early color process silents; audience response difference between San Francisco Silent Film Festival and MoMA […]
- In this episode: Ben talks about preparing for his performance at the San Francisco Silent Film Festival, his first time at the fest; his Undercrank Productions home video label celebrates its 10th […]