Video Game Music

NPR's Morning Edition had a nice interview with Tommy Tallarico on music for video games. Among other things, he makes the point that, because video games do not use much dialogue, the music is generally much more foregrounded than is the case for narrative film or TV. Here's a link.

Music Library

Here is a column S. M. Berg wrote for Exhibitor's Trade Review urging theater managers to acquire music libraries for the theater rather than relying on the musical director, pianist or organist to provide one. In the course of his argument, Berg offers a number of observations that provide much insight into the conditions and challenges of musicians playing in smaller venues. The article dates from early in 1917.

Carefully Selected Library Is the True Solution of
Proper Music for the Picture Theatre

Mr. Manager, do you insist that your operator provide his own machines, carbons, films, your doorman his own ticket chopper and uniform, your ticket sellers their own tickets or your cleaner his own broom and pail? If you provide these essentials to some of your employes [sic], why do you force your orchestra leaders, piano players or organists to provide their own music? Do you pay such royal salaries to these hard working but frequently oppressed, necessary adjuncts to your theatre, that you can demand continual outlay from their meagre salary for new music? Let us get down to facts.

The leading motion picture theatres in any large city today change their program at least once and not more than twice a week, demanding at the same time an entire change of music. The majority of these theatres have an orchestra, the members of which are in most cases union. The leader receives double the salary of the other musicians, which is admitted by the union to be a recompense for the supply of music, but the requirements of musical interpretation of the film necessitate such an enormous library that it is becoming the custom for the manager to pay for and provide the music which then becomes the property of the theatre.

Small houses, owing to the competition and their limited clientele are forced to change their program daily, which requires a change of music daily. As an example the Strand Theatre of New York City plays but 52 overtures a years, and yet the small house having a change of program daily must use 365 overtures in the year. On the same pro ratio for music for the film the small theatre should have seven times as great a library as the large theatre, owing to their continual daily change, but the question is, have they it?

Theatres throughout the country seating anything from 300 to 600 patrons depend for their music upon a piano player or organist. The average salary paid to these earnest, hard working musicians, is from $12.00 to $25.00 a week, making the average salary about $18.50 per week. Before beginning their day’s work they have to get a line on the picture, and prepare and assemble their music. A large per cent of these players are women. To fit themselves for the position many years of study and concentration were necessary, and then for nearly 12 hours’ service per day, 7 days a week, they draw the enormous salary of $18.50 per week, out of which they have to continually expend a considerable amount for music in order to hold their positions.

Compare this with any other branch of skilled labor for women. A girl at the age of 15 or 16 years leaves school and goes to business college, where she learns in about three or four months a fair knowledge of stenography and shorthand. After completing her course she is able to procure a position at about $7.00 or $8.00 a week, and if she exhibits any small intelligence is capable of doubling her salary within a couple of years. Does she have to provide her own ribbons for her machine, her books or her pencils to keep her position? Her hours are usually from 9 to 5:30, with a fair intermission for lunch and Saturday afternoons off, at least during the summer months, and no docking of the money which she has honestly earned.

Here is the manager’s problem: Let any manager seek a piano player. One of his first questions would be: Have you a library? and the answer is: Plenty of music. He then asks the pianist to play something. If it meets with his approval he engages the player. The performer comes on the job with a package of music, and the first day or two passes off splendidly. Towards the end of the week the manager notices signs of repetition in the melodies. He begins to complain. The musician promises to procure some new music next week, possibly after she has received her first week’s salary. On the following Monday she arrives with a smiling face and a half-dozen new pieces of music. Again, at the latter part of the week, the same story of repetition occurs, and again the complaint and promises of further music. Ultimately, after three or four weeks, the player is discharged and the same performance continues with new faces. Again I repeat, is it a fair thing that these musicians should be forced to purchase music from their own salaries week by week to hold their jobs?

Here is the solution: Music for the pianist costs on an average of 20c. per number. There are hundreds of pieces of music that can be bought for 10c. per number. Especially composed incidental music costs, on the average, 20c. per copy, and it is in very few instances that any piano part costs more than 30c. per copy. An outlay of $10.00 as an initial expense would give the pianist fifty compositions and further expenditure of $2.00 per week, at the expiration of a year would make a library of 600 standard numbers which could be repeated, without becoming monotonous or distressing to the audience, at intervals of once a month. Such an outlay as this is within the limitations of any theatre devoted to films, besides which the music then becomes the property of the theatre, and in engaging a player you would immediately show that you are interested in your musical problem. There could be no complaint of unnecessary repetition because you would know what material there is in your library. If the music was not satisfactorily performed, you would realize that your player is not competent for the position.

One must realize the importance of music for the film. The true solution of proper music for the picture is the theatre library, and until the theatre manager realizes this the problem of correct musical interpretation by musicians will continue to be unsolved.

Musical Suggestion Cue Sheets which I invented have been copied throughout the industry, and are of great help to players of the film. With a small but carefully selected library of music they are invaluable and will solve the problem of “Musically Interpreting the Picture,” together with “Better Music for the Film.”

Source: S. M. Berg, “Music for the Photoplay,” Exhibitor's Trade Review 6 January 1917, 352.

Fresh faces from the concert music world

There are several instances of composers, primarily known for their concert works, being invited to write film scores throughout the 20th century; Copland, Prokofiev, Bernstein, Takemitsu, Glass and Corigliano come quickly to mind with plenty of others (including Herrmann, Rosza, Rota, Chihara and Goldenthal) who have effectively straddled the fence between the concert hall and the scoring stage. Until recently, the real (or imagined) stigma of writing for film seemed to keep most concert composers from even considering it, but there have been several promising signs that the stigma may be crumbling.

Later this year, Tetro, a film directed by Francis Ford Coppola, will hit the theatres with a score by Osvaldo Golijov. Golijov, with his many compositions and arrangements for the Kronos Quartet, his opera Ainadamar and his St. Mark's Passion, has been steadily becoming known as one of the major musical forces at the turn of the century. His ability to combine musical styles from around the globe as well as his unique voice make it hard to believe that he's only scored two other films to date: Coppola's 2007 film Youth without Youth and Sally Potter's 2000 film The Man Who Cried. This is a good example of a composer who admits that he is new to the idiom but is nonetheless effective in producing thoughtful scores.

Another composer who seems much more at home in the breakneck environment of film is 28-year-old Nico Muhly. A last-minute juggling of composers for Stephen Daldry's 2008 film, The Reader, dropped Muhly into the deep end with less time than usual to produce a score. His experience working as an assistant and conductor for Philip Glass helped considerably and the result was a score that was considered to be one of the best aspects of the controversial film. One can only imagine what affect composers like Muhly and Golijov will have on the overall medium of film music, though I'd like to think it can only improve things in the short and long run.

(Here's a clip of Muhly performing some of the music from The Reader in a public concert):

Market for Photoplay Music

An overabundance of photoplay music? That's what George Beynon claimed in 1918—though he is no fan of the genre, preferring, as he does, the "classics" whenever possible.

A reader writes to him:

I have composed some special music that I think could be cued in on most pictures, and would like to know where I can find a good arranger to make orchestrations. Do you know of any? Is there any demand for such music and would a publisher be interested in buying such compositions?

Beynon replies:

Already the market is flooded with such stuff, but if it be of exceptional merit and suitable for arranging in album form, it would have a chance of a publisher's acceptance. However, we would advise you that it is a hard row to hoe and, at the best, would bring but small remuneration for your creative ability and hard work.

I find particularly interesting in Beynon's reply the stress he places on the music conforming to the proper format.

In Refrigerated Comfort

Here is a nice shot of the exterior of the Warner's Theatre during the initial run of Don Juan. Notice how prominent the advertising for the air conditioning is. Air ventilation was an important selling point for theaters already in the teens and actual air conditioning ("refrigerated air"), which was also being installed in department stores, became increasingly common in the 1920s.

(The photo is available from the National Archive, here.)

As part of its celebration of 100 years of business, Carrier Corporation in 2002 produced a press kit and a weekly blog outlining the history of air conditioning, with considerable attention given to its use in film production (sound film in particular required hot lights and closed buildings) and exhibition. This blog entry, for instance, covers the installation of air conditioning in the Rivoli Theatre in New York City, this one deals with its use in production, and this one details its use at Radio City Music Hall. The press kit, with a number of high resolution photos including that of the Rivoli (above), is located here.

Musicians' Pay

In his column for 18 May 1918, George Beynon gives the following pay scales for musicians working in theaters in New York City:

The average salary given to the orchestra leaders of the large picture house is about $150 a week, while leaders of the less important theaters receive from $50 to $80 per week. The Union scale for players runs from $28 to $43.50 per week.

Source: George W. Beynon, "Music for the Picture," Moving Picture World 18 May 1918, 1002.

"Embalming" Sound, c. 1916

The Popular Science Monthly

Here is a nice little description of recording practice, c. 1916, including a discussion of the Stroh violin:

As a general rule the musicians are perched midway between floor and ceiling, with their instruments pointing toward the horn of the recording phonograph. Men who play the tuba and similar brass instruments turn their backs to the phonograph so that the mouths of the instruments may project their growls and blasts toward the horn. In order that the tuba players may see the conductor of the orchestra, mirrors are placed in front of them, which reflect the movements of his baton.

For violin solos, an ordinary violin is used, the artist usually playing directly in front of a horn projecting through a partition. This is true of chamber music and all records in which the violin tone can be heard with sufficient distinctness. In heavy orchestral pieces, however, a special instrument called, after its inventor, the Stroh violin, is used. It seems that the sounds of the ordinary violin are difficult to produce, especially at a distance. Stroh devised a violin which has no sounding-board. It comprises simply a bridge, over which the strings are stretched in the usual manner, and a horn which amplifies the sounds. This instrument is now used in all phonograph laboratories. On the finished phonograph record its sounds are hardly to be distinguished from those of an ordinary violin.

Source: "Singing for the Phonograph," The Popular Science Monthly, May 1916, 659-60. Click on image above to go to article in Google books.