Film Music Resources: Books

Unlike sources for traditional music, those for film and television music are often difficult to locate and do not follow the patterns that researchers are trained to identify. Although there have been several self-described introductions to the field and articles that summarize the problems and state of this research, no resource gathers all the basic information. In this volume, Jeannie Gayle Pool and H. Stephen Wright address the difficulties that scholars encounter when conducting research on film and television music.

Hollywood film music is often mocked as a disreputably 'applied' branch of the art of composition that lacks both the seriousness and the quality of the classical or late-romantic concert and operatic music from which it derives. Its composers in the 1930s and '40s were themselves often scornful of it and aspired to produce more 'serious' works that would enhance their artistic reputation. This book seeks to level the critical playing field between film music and 'serious music', reflecting upon gender-related ideas about music and modernism as much as about film. Peter Franklin broaches the possibility of a history of twentieth-century music that would include, rather than marginalize, film music - and, indeed, the scores of a number of the major Hollywood movies discussed here, like The Bride of Frankenstein, King Kong, Rebecca, Gone With The Wind, Citizen Kane, and Psycho. In doing so, he brings more detailed music-historical knowledge to bear upon cinema music, often discussed as a unique and special product of film, and also offers conclusions about the problematic aspects of musical modernism and some arguably liberating aspects of 'late-romanticism'.

Commissioned and edited to appeal to a crossover Film and Music Studies readership, Terror Tracks is an anthology that analyses the use of music and sound in the popular genre of Horror cinema. Focusing on the post-War period, contributors analyse the role of music and sound in establishing and enhancing the senses of unease, suspense and shock crucial to the genre. The anthology shows the various patterns of use an inflection in a range of scores - orchestral, popular, rock and electronic - and how these relate to non-musical sound. Lively and accessible, Terror Tracks is an important contribution to study of Horror cinema.

From the silver screen to the Great White Way, small community theatres to television sets, the musical has long held a special place in America's heart and history. Now, inThe Oxford Companion to the American Musical, readers who flocked to the movies to seeAn American in Paris or Chicago, lined up for tickets toWest Side Story or Rent, or crowded around their TVs to watchCinderellaorHigh School Musicalcan finally turn to a single book for details about them all. For the first time, this popular subject has an engaging and authoritative book as thrilling as the performances themselves. With more than two thousand entries, this illustrated guide offers a wealth of information on musicals, performers, composers, lyricists, producers, choreographers, and much more. Biographical entries range from early stars Fred Astaire, Bing Crosby, Mary Martin, and Mae West to contemporary show-stoppers Nathan Lane, Savion Glover, and Kristin Chenoweth, while composers Irving Berlin, George Gershwin, Richard Rodgers, and Andrew Lloyd Webber all have articles, and the choreography of Bob Fosse, Tommy Tune, and Debbie Allen receives due examination. The plays and films covered range from modern hits likeMamma Mia!andMoulin Rouge!to timeless classics such asYankee Doodle DandyandShow Boat. Also, numerous musicals written specifically for television appear throughout, and many entries follow a work-Babes in Toylandfor example-as it moves across genres, from stage, to film, to television. TheCompanionalso includes cross references, a comprehensive listing of recommended recordings and further reading, a useful chronology of all the musicals described in the book, plus a complete index of Tony Award and Academy Award winners. Whether you are curious aboutSingin' in the RainorSpamalot, or simply adoreThe Wizard of OzorGrease, this well-researched and entertaining resource is the first place to turn for reliable information on virtually every aspect of the American musical.

From Chaplin's brilliant use of Wagner in The Gold Rush to the Bach chorale closing Scorsese's Casino, classical music has played a fascinating role in movies. Dean Duncan provides a fresh critical survey of the aesthetics of classical music in film. Exploring tensions between high art and commercial culture, Duncan examines how directors quote themes and classical passages in genres ranging from the Soviet avant garde to Hollywood romances. Drawing on film theory, musicology, and cultural criticism, he clarifies the connections between two very different art forms.

The growing presence of popular music in film is one of the most exciting areas of contemporary research in film studies. The changing roles and functions that such music performs, the variety of ways in which it provides narrative, aesthetic and commercial opportunities, and the consequences of its increasing displacement of the traditional film score are among the most significant developments in recent cinema practice. Written by an international group of academics and researchers, the new essays in this volume seek to explore these issues and to locate them within their appropriate creative and organizational contexts. Individually, the chapter-by- chapter focus on specific topics allows for close examination of particular debates; collectively, the book's overall analysis points to important changes in the production and consumption of both film and music.

The Sounds of Commerce is the first book to present a detailed historical analysis of popular music in American film, from the era of sheet music sales, to that of orchestrated pop records by Henry Mancini and Ennio Morricone in the 1960s to the MTV-ready pop songs that occupy soundtrack CDs of today. Jeff Smith's landmark exploration of film and music cross-promotion investigates the combination of historical, economic, and aesthetic factors that brought about the rise of popular music in the movies. Smith employs a sophisticated yet accessible fusion of musicology, film theory, and social history. Throughout the text, Smith persuasively argues that the popular film score has been as successful as its classical predecessor at enhancing emotions and moods, cueing characters and settings, and signifying psychological states and points of view.

The first of three volumes investigating film music, this innovative book shows that there was much more to silent film music than generally recognized--it often was planned from the start as an integral part of the film. This volume covers the music of such films as L'Assassinat du Duc de Guise (1908), D.W. Griffith's The Birth of a Nation (1915), and René Clair's Entr'acte (1924).

Through interviews with many of the leading lyricists, aided by years of research, the authors provide a survey of the leading popular and theme songs written exclusively for Hollywood.

This compilation of film and television productions and the composers of their musical scores has become the handiest reference source in the film field.