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News
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8/18/04
-New design!
-Belwin, Inc. library added
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What is Photoplay music?
In the late 1920s, when talking pictures arrived, the older films were
coined "silent films" because of their lack of audible dialogue, but they
were far from being silent. Originally in the Nickelodeons of Edison's
day, the most music that one would expect would come from a record player
or something similar. Silent Film music, or Photoplay music as it came
to be known, didn't really take off until around 1910. Several companies
issued folios of mood music to be played to scenes.
Eventually, the major companies and publishers, S.M. Berg, Sol P. Levy and
Max
Winkler joined forces and started BELWIN INC around 1918, a company that
produced the largest amount of Photoplay music of the era. Many composers
wrote music in the style of classical pieces, thinking that their art would
become legendary. Unfortunately, sound films put an end to all of
it and most of the sheet music was junked or used as scrap paper. Today,
Photoplay music has seen a revival, in the form of the Silent film revival.
Performers like Robert Israel, The Mont-Alto Ragtime and Tango Orchestra
and the Paragon Ragtime Orchestra use authentic Photoplay pieces.
When it comes to producing a score for a silent film, there are three types:
improvised, compiled, and original.
Improvised scores were generally scores
that were solely played out on organ or piano. The musical conductor found
it fit to just play whatever he felt necessary to set the mood for the scene.
The usual process for a compiled score would be for the studio to
hire a company (generally the Cameo Thematic Music Co.) to
produce a cue sheet; generally 3 to 4 pages of listings of Photoplay Music,
classical or popular standards from their library. The Cue Sheet would
list the Title and Author of a song, when to play it, and how long to play
it for. Usually further notes were given of sound effects, tempo, etc.
The musical director of your local theater would go through his stack of
music, generally listed by tempo and pick out the appropriate cue. If he
did not have that particular cue, he could replace it with another suitable
piece, or order it through the company that created the cue sheet.
Some conductors threw it out all together, and compiled their own scores;
some followed the cue sheet, but used their own choices of music; most followed
the cue sheet with what little time they had to produce the score. Much
of the time, musicians came in and sight-read the music, with little time
to rehearse or look over it beforehand.
Only a handful of original scores were ever written or used. Out
of the few, BIRTH OF A NATION, METROPOLIS, BEN-HUR, and INTOLERANCE had
original scores. Some cue sheets were compiled, but had original themes
that were used here and there. THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA and BEAU GESTER
are good examples.
A great resource for more information about the production of silent film
scores can be found at Rodney Sauer of the Mont Alto Orchestra's site:
http://www.mont-alto.com/photoplaymusic/aboutmusic.html
So, what is this site?
Some time ago, I realized a need for quality Photoplay music. There's
a good audience for silent films, but unfortunately, not enough of a supply
of music to meet the demands of that audience. Unfortunately, in some
cases, the "wrong" musicians get chosen to do these scores, and rather than
compliment the film, they add a soundtrack to show off their talents or try
to make it better by adding their own take on it, which ends up making the
experience miserable for the viewer.
I generally compile scores for silent films using Photoplay music, and
sometimes original themes. I've collected a great deal of some of
the best music, and my goal is to have an online resource for musicians,
both professional and amateur. The aim of this site is to give regular
updates, using MIDI and perhaps sometimes MP3 files to help you create your
own score for a silent film. I pick only the best composers and pieces,
so you can be guaranteed the best experience out of the film you happen to
be scoring.
To better custom-tailor your score, I suggest a good MIDI editor or something
like Finale or Melody Assistant, which has
the capability of transposing keys as well as tempo change and file export
to MP3.
What is a Photoplayer?
A photoplayer was a semi-common
instrument in early theaters. It was a conglomeration
of a player piano, a small organ, and a set of sound effect levers. An
operator would sit and either play on the piano or pump rolls through. In
either case, the operator was responsible for voicing the instrument, as
well as applying the sound effects.
I chose the name cause I felt it best described in another sense what
silent film musicians are.
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An actual Photoplayer. To learn more about this amazing
instrument, please visit the 