Silent film scores

[Sparkly]

Some of you might want to stop by the "Classic Films" DU forum now and then, and keep an eye out for the silents. (TCM has a "Sunday Silent" every Sunday at midnight, but they air them at other times, too.) Often, half the fun is in the music!

TCM sponsors a composers' contest each year for silents. The winner gets to work with pro's, developing and tweaking the composition and conducting an orchestra for the production. Some of the music, from the contest winners and others, is wonderfully inventive.

It's sometimes synthesized and it's often repetitive, but there are great ideas, character motifs, fun rhythms in the comedies. Buster Keaton's "Steamboat Bill Jr." was aired today, and it was a great example of music that makes you laugh even if you don't watch the film, and included an all percussion segment that was fantastic. An African American film I saw a few months ago had a modern jazz score. Last year's winner of the contest did a score to a Garbo movie ("The Temptress") and it was a lovely complement to the film.

Composing for silent films is clearly an art form of its own, but also prompts some really interesting writing! (Give it a few tries though, because there are some rather dull piano scores out there, too.)

[GoddessOfGuinness]

1. Sigh...I wish we had TCM...