Carl Fischer Motion Picture Music Guide, Part 3

Another set of short articles from the Motion Picture Music Guide, this time covering topics such as the advantage of medleys, the use of well-known songs for accompanying film and the leitmotif. Part one of this series is located here. Part two is located here.

Serious Selections

It is customary when no special action is being carried on in the picture, to fill out in musical score with a selection in accordance with the dominating mood in the picture. It should be taken that those parts of the selection which are dramatic (agitatos, mysteriosos, etc.) are omitted. (p. 32).

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Medleys

Every library should contain a few old Medleys to be used in cases where the action in teh picture goes back one or more decades. The Medleys listed here cover a period of about the last thirty-five years and contain the popular Songs and Dances of that time. They can be used in whole, or in part. (p. 33)

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The Use of Well-Known Songs

Music should represent in sound the emotions of the characters on the screen and should also interpret the action. This function of the orchestra is well within its scope. After much experimentation, arrangers of music for the motion picture have come to the conclusion that standard published works are most satisfactory for this purpose. But occasionally, there are times and situations when a well known popular song may be employed with telling effect. For example, in a domestic life comedy, when the situation reveals a backsliding husband about to return home to an angry wife, it would be quite in order for the orchestra to strike up the dashing theme of "There'll Be a Hot Time in the Old Town Tonight." The significance of this particular song lies in its being universally known. It happens to be one of the few in which the melody is characteristic of the title. But the audience will not think of the melody so much as the words of the song. And when these interpret a situation, the effect of the picture is enhanced. What really happens is that the audience adds another title to whatever the screen may have flashed. That title in the instance cited, is "There'll Be a Hot Time," etc. It would be manifestly ludicrous for an orchestra to play this melody simply because it has a brisk rhythm. The audience would think of the words, and if these did not add to the action of the scenes they accompanied, the picture would appear ridiculous.

The nature of popular music is adaptable to farces and to light comedies, but the compositions selected should have more than a titular relationship with the photoplay they are chosen to accompany. If the composition has no great popular vogue, the music alone will carry the necessary significance, but if the music is fairly well known, orchestra leaders must take into consideration what effect the words of the song, if the composition be a song, will have on an audience. (p.33)

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Modern Orchestra Arrangements

The modern arrangements in the Carl Fischer Orchestra Catalogue are fully cued. This permits of any portion being played first by part of the orchestra, pianissimo and gradually (or instantaneously) being brought up to full orchestra, fortissimo or vice versa. Excellent effects can often be obtained by this method.

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Good motion picture music should blend unerringly with the picture, and should be made to appear to the audience as an inseparable part of the picture itself, and not a separate and distinct attraction. (p. 34)

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The Use of the Music Theme
The use of the "theme" in motion pictures is neither more nor less than applying to the film drama a principle Wagner introduced in opera. Wagner in his scores associates a certain theme, motive or air with the appearance of his leading characters. When they take the stage the melody with which they are identified is heard. This effective musical device has great possibilities in the picture drama, and is valuable in giving unity to music and dramatic action. The picture musician has wide freedom in the choice of his "theme" material. Most important to remember, however, is that the first requisite is a genuinely melodious theme, one which will bear repetition. A theme of pleasing outline, suave, graceful and pronouncedly melodic in type, is sufficient to establish clearly the identity of the character whose appearance it accompanies.

A theme such as that described may be varied in tempo and played either ff or pp, as the varying of the stage action may demand—the effect will be the same. It will make the role with which it is identified "stand out." The use of the "leading" theme is naturally best adapted for larger and more elaborate picture productions, in which the appearance and stage action of principals is broken up to some degree by minor incident. Yet the idea may, on occasion, if the picture conditions are favorable, be employed in smaller pictures as well. At all events the use of the theme is an idea on which the intelligent moving picture musician can ring his own variations. And in many cases he will find it of great value in "making the music fit the picture." (p. 36)

Source: Julius S. Seredy in collaboration with Chas. J. Roberts and M. Lester Lake, Motion Picture Music Guide to the Carl Fischer Modern Orchestra Catalog Indicating All the Themes and Motives Suitable for Motion Pictures and Showing their Practical Application to the Screen (New York: Carl Fischer, 1922).

Sound Effects and Accompanying with Popular Song

The bulk of this week's Music for the Picture column is taken up with a letter from Veola Thompson reporting on musical practice on the west coast. She confirms that the drummer in Albany, Oregon was indeed very adept at accompanying the pictures. She also has high praise for Sid Grauman's Imperial Theater in Los Angeles. She is distinctly less pleased with the growing use of mechanical instruments (probably Fotoplayers), which she notes saves on labor costs but at the expense of the music. A second letter makes a very peculiar argument for coding film genre by time signature.

Miss VEOLA THOMPSON who is lecturing on features in the Pacific States, contributes the following: “Some weeks ago Mr. ———, from Albany, Oregon, contributed an interesting article on effects as produced in the Peoples Theater, Portland, Oregon. Yes, this particular theater has unquestionably a most capable sound effect drummer. His general knowledge of various musical instruments contribute along with an elegant compressed air outfit. Besides these requirements he has a faculty of knowing when and how to produce an effect.

“With an unprejudiced mind I desire to give due credit to conscientious musical artists, forgetting, if possible, that I am a professional, and in so doing I have closely listened to the offering of Los Angeles, San Francisco and Oakland leaders this winter. In many instances, I am sorry to say, the picture music seems to show indifference and a lack of intelligence; a strong desire to use present-day compositions on plots one hundred years old. Perhaps they wanted to please the masses with popular music. However, I do not believe this method wins in the end. Many houses are confining themselves to the mechanical organ operated by a musician. This style of music is popular in San Francisco and Oakland; one man accomplishes the work of ten and this is “great”—financially. Mr Grauman’s Imperial is truly a palace from an architectural point of view. His par excellent orchestra consisting of piano, organ, violin, ‘cello, flute and drums, reaches the climaxes beautifully and makes the musical changes seemingly without effort or discord. They forget to accompany those “hairy pants” and “broncho” subjects with an asphalt paving effect during the wooly cayuse ride, and what a treat this is.

“A great number of theaters in California seem to feel justified in offering few sound effects. We know the audience loves to talk over the plot; to surmise in words the outcome of the scenario on the screen; to read the “leaders” aloud. Therefore why not permit this harmless habit and play soft music more or less throughout. Do let the people talk and make this possible by softening the drum whenever the situation will permit.” [Why not say, “eliminating” the drums in such situations? That would be better. Ed.] “Whatever progress we make in this field of art, let us endeavor to heed the suggestions of those who think and apply the compositions of the masters on all films of a dramatic and educational nature, for this alone, I believe, will elevate the musical atmosphere surrounding the picture.”

The writer of the above has contributed to this department before. She is a clever musician and character actress, and has been a successful manager. At present she is being featured in her portrayal of “Dante’s Inferno,” “A Day in the Alps,” and educational subjects, and her long experience in different phases of picture work makes her opinions worthy of consideration. Whatever progress made by picture-music is due largely to those who not only “think and apply,” but are willing to share the result of their experience. C. K. Aiken, H. R. Seeman, Maurice Komroff, C. B. Lagerquist, Chas. S. Offenberg, Maude Waters Dittmar and a host of other contributors are among those who “think and apply.”

* * *C. V. E. writes: “Why is it, I would like to ask, that most moving picture pianists will sacrifice the sentiment contained in a picture to a popular air, whether it fits the scene or not? I have played the pictures for over 14 years” [that is a long time. Ed.] “and have only been out of work for one month during that time. I say if a picture calls for Old Hundred, or Yankee Doodle don’t be afraid to play it. Use your brains as well as your fingers and learn to use them both at the same time, the brains a little in advance, in order to get the right affect, you must feel the sentiment and make the audience feel it, dramas should be played to three-four time. Westerns to two-four time, comedies to ragtime, if you like, but the time must fit the action of the picture. In short, build your music as carefully as you would for an opera.”

The writer of the above is evidently sincere, though his letter may appear a little out of focus. I don’t quite get that last, however. Why should dramas “be played to three-four time?” An opera is usually supposed to be dramatic; how can you build your picture music “as carefully as you would an opera” if you confine yourself to three-four time? When our best pictures have special music written for them (as they soon will), this music will, or should be adapted to the action of the picture as it is to the dramatic action in opera, and the composer will use whatever movements, figures or tempi that seem best adapted to the various scenes according to his judgment.

* * *A Kansas City correspondent, who signs no name submits the following suggestions for music to the Kalem release:

“The Wartime Siren.”

1. March. Begin very soft until soldiers are seen, then loud; continue until shooting begins, then:
2. Hurry ff. When shooting stops diminish till change of scene.
3. Bugle call and short hurry.
[NB: “4” is missing]
5. Yankee Doodle until Union forces behind breastworks.
6. Dixie until title: “Colonel Ashley and His Daughter, etc.”
7. “Miama” (Moret.) until she brigs Doctor W. into house.
8. Introduction to “Fra Diavolo” overture. I begun [sic] this after the drum solo and kept repeating softly giving a mysterioso character to the music until title: “Colonel Ashley Attacks the Union Forces.”
9. Short agitato until sick room. Then:
10. Pathetic to swell and diminish according to alternating scenes until battle scene.
11. Hurry until change.
12. Short pathetic until Dr. W. rides away.
13. Hurry until he runs with American flag.
14. Yankee Doodle very spirited until title: “Two Months After Appomattox.”
15. Waltz or novellette [sic] until end of picture.

Send in your name next time, Kansas City.

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Suggestions for accompanying music to:

“A Wise Old Elephant” (Selig).

Part First.

1. “Poppies” (Moret.) once through, then:
2. “In a Lotus Field” (Bratton), until two horsemen ride away from steps.
3. Light agitato until title: “Lieutenant Driscoll is Persistent.”
4. “Reign of the Roses” (Ellis Brooks), or some number with triplets in accompaniment, which can be given an agitato character when scene demands. Play until end of reel.

Part Second.

1. Light mysterious until man falls on porch.
2. Agitato p. and f. until title, “Three Years Later.”
3. “Twilight—A Reverie.” (by N. D. Ayer; pub. by Remick) until “A Wise Old Elephant.”
4. Light agitato (long) until title: “Toddles Forces a Reconciliation.”
5. Tchaikowsky’s “Chant Sans Paroles,” (play rather quickly), until elephant gives cradle to parents.
6. “Teddy Bears Picnic,” until end of reel.

Source: Clarence E. Sinn, “Music for the Picture,” Moving Picture World 12 April 1913, 169.