One of the most overlooked aspects of motion pictures is their soundtracks. By "soundtrack" I don't mean the collection of hit songs that are packaged to help sell a movie, but the tracks of sound that accompany the images, from dialogue to door slams to wind in the trees. Bad sound can make the prettiest footage seem coarse, while clean sound can smooth over the muddiest of pictures. Rarely do you ever notice sound unless the director is making a point of it. That's why I recommend the upcoming run of Jean-Luc Godard's A Woman Is a Woman for any aspiring filmmaker and every aspiring film lover. He makes you notice. Sometimes the sound drops out entirely, other times music comes up for no reason, and every time he does something like that you learn something else about the nature of sound on film.
You will also notice the effect sound has in relation to images during a silent film. This is because silent films are rarely really silent. There's always music happening underneath, and music is a direct pipeline to your emotions. When things get exciting, like in a chase, the music runs faster; when things slow down, like during the mushy parts, the music slows down too; when the music runs counter to what's onscreen, then things start to get really interesting. You can see this for yourself when Silent Movie Mondays start up again at the Paramount with Dennis James on the Mighty Wurlitzer Organ. The three-week series begins on Monday the 13th with The Cat and the Canary (1927), a classic silent film about the ghost of a madman who wanders the halls of a rickety old house.
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Sometimes the music is the reason for the movie. My stoner friends will want to head down to the new Columbia City Cinema on Friday, October 10, for The Harder They Come. The movie features Jimmy Cliff as a poor Jamaican youth who lands a hit reggae record and plays a bunch of songs. There will be some overlap on the next night when my rocker friends who can't wait for the Tenacious D DVD (last I heard, it's scheduled to be released on October 21) will head down and see another screening of This Is Spinal Tap.
The EMP is continuing its season of the blues with a screening on Wednesday, October 15, of Wild Women Don't Have the Blues. It's a documentary on female blues vocalists from the '20s that incorporates rare performance films of the likes of Ma Rainey, Mamie Smith, and the only existing footage of Bessie Smith.
Finally, there's an event at the Rendezvous on Saturday, October 11, that may or may not have anything to do with soundtracks and sound manipulation, but I wanted to mention it anyway. Shortkutz is one of them DVD magazines devoted to short films, and it's having a DVD release party featuring, among others, a short film by Sue Corcoran and Angie Louise (Gory Gory Hallelujah).
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September 17, Cologne Philharmonie, Cologne, GERMANY
Debut silent film performance-:Filmharmonia Duo accompany Fritz Lang's DIE FRAU IM MONDE a new historically-based commissioned organ and electronics score
September 21, Stanford Theatre, Palo Alto, California
Friday Night Silents autumn series: Laura LaPlante in CAT & THE CANARY
September 30, Black-Eyed Susan Cafe, Angelica, New York
Musica Curiosa Salon with Dennis James featuring the Theremin plus solo piano
October 4, Winspear Center, Edmonton, CANADA
Dennis James, organ soloist, with Edmonton Symphony Orchestra presentation: Lon Chaney in PHANTOM OF THE OPERA featuring Dennis James' arrangement for organ and orchestra of the 1925 G. Hinrichs and M. Winkler orchestral score
October 5&6, Historic Coleman Theatre, Miami, Oklahoma
Silent film program: Douglas Fairbanks in THE MARK OF ZORRO with historical-recreation compilation score by Dennis James
October 12, Stanford Theatre, Palo Alto, California
Friday Night Silents autumn series: Erich von Stroheim's FOOLISH
WIVES with historical recreation styled improvised solo organ score by Dennis James
October 19, Scottish Rite Cathedral, New Castle, Pennsylvania
2nd Annual Halloween silent film performance: F. W. Murnau's NOSFERATU, A SYMPHONY OF TERROR with new solo organ compilation score by Dennis James incorporating surviving fragments of the Hans Erdmann original orchestra score
October 20, Embassy Theatre, Fort Wayne, Indiana
Annual Halloween silent film: Robert Weine's THE CABINET OF DR. CALIGARI with compilation score by Dennis James
October 24, Rockefeller Memorial Chapel, University of Chicago, Illinois
F. W. Murnau's FAUST accompanied by the Filmharmonia Duo
October 26, I. U. Auditorium, Bloomington, Indiana
Annual Halloween silent film event: F. W. Murnau's FAUST accompanied by the Filmharmonia Duo
October 28, Proctors Theatre, Schenectady, New York
Halloween silent film event: F. W. Murnau's FAUST accompanied by the Filmharmonia Duo
October 29, Missouri Theatre, Columbia, Missouri
Halloween silent film event: Lon Chaney in PHANTOM OF THE OPERA
October 31, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York
Annual Halloween program: F. W. Murnau's FAUST accompanied by the Filmharmonia Duo
November 2, Stanford Theatre, Palo Alto, California
Friday Night Silents autumn series: Lon Chaney in PHANTOM OF THE OPERA
November 24,25, C&C Hall, Austintown, Ohio
Saturday evening- private glass music and theremin Musica Curiosa plus organ and film program / Sunday afternoon: Annual holiday open house- Wurlitzer organ performances with glass music and theremin Musica Curiosa elements
December 31, Venango Museum, Oil City, Pennsylvania
Annual First Night festival - Musica Curiosa program featuring theatre pipe organ plus piano, glass armonica and theremin and silent film comedy
2013
January 20, Arlington Theatre, Santa Barbara, California
SBTOS silent film matinee (2pm) program: Buster Keaton in COPS plus Marion Davies in SHOW PEOPLE
January 30, USC, Columbia, South Carolina
International Wagner conference: Fritz Lang's SIEGFRIED with performance of original orchestral score by Otto Huppertz, transcribed for organ solo score by Dennis James
February 1, Center for the Arts, Wesleyan University, Middletown, CT.
"Music from Monticello" touring instrumental program featuring Dennis James performing Mozart with a concert replica of Benjamin Franklin's armonica
February 7, Washington Center, Olympia, Washington
7th annual Silent Film Concerts series: Louise Brooks in PANDORA'S BOX
February 9, Overture Center, Madison, Wisconsin
Annual 'Duck Soup Cinema' variety show appearances: Willis H. O'Brien's THE LOST WORLD
February 10, Al Ringling Theatre, Baraboo, Wisconsin
Theatre organ with silent film: Buster Keaton in THE CAMERAMAN
February 23, Trinity Hall, Spring Valley, California
Annual San Diego Theatre Organ Society silent film program: Ramon Novarro in A STUDENT PRINCE IN OLD HEIDELBERG
March 2&3, Historic Coleman Theatre, Miami, Oklahoma
Annual silent film series presentations: Harold Lloyd in SPEEDY
March 7, Washington Center, Olympia, Washington
7th annual Silent Film Concerts series: Douglas Fairbanks in THE MYSTERY OF THE LEAPING FISH plus the feature film WHEN THE CLOUDS ROLL BY
March 8. California Theatre, San Jose, California
Annual Cinequest film festival silent film screening: Buster Keaton in COPS and Harold Lloyd in SAFETY LAST
March 10, Segerstrom Concert Hall, Costa Mesa, California
Pacific Symphony presents organ solo accompanied silent film event: Lon Chaney in PHANTOM OF THE OPERA
March 16, Overture Center, Madison, Wisconsin
Silent Film Concerts screening: F. W. Murnau's FAUST with scoring by the Filmharmonia Duo
April 5&6, Kenyon Hall, West Seattle, Washington
Variety programs with silent films and vocalist Connie Corrick
April 7, City Museum, Wenatchee, Washington
Variety program with silent films and vocalist Connie Corrick
April 11, Washington Center, Olympia, Washington
7th annual Silent Film Concerts series: Cecil B. DeMille's THE GODLESS GIRL
April 16, Grosser Saal, Mozarteum, Salzburg, AUSTRIA
Third annual Silent Film Concert series: Karl Valentin in DER SONDERLING
May 18&19, Historic Coleman Theatre, Miami, Oklahoma
3rd annual Musica Curiosa program featuring the WurliTzer theatre pipe organ plus unusual musical instruments, exotic repertoire, a guest performer plus silent film
*June tba, Liberty Theatre, Sedalia, Missouri
Scott Joplin Ragtime Festival Silent Film Concerts debut: Buster Keaton in THE GENERAL with piano plus sound effects scoring
June 9, Missouri Theater, Columbia, Missouri
Blind Boone Festival Silent Film Concerts debut: title tba
June 12, Konzerthaus, Vienna, AUSTRIA
Debut performance and recording with Donald Sosin of a newly commissioned score for Piano and Concert Organ to the Austrian national archive restoration of Conrad Veidt's THE HANDS OF ORLAC
July 7, Nunda Historical Society, Nunda, NY
Glass music instruments: "Glass-ical Musick" illustrated informance featuring the Seraphim, Benjamin Franklin's armonica and the Beyer Glass-cord
August 5 to 13, Tanglewood Music Center, Boston, Massachusetts
Performing the glass armoniuca part in the US premiere of George Benjamin's new opera, WRITTEN ON SKIN presented as part of the Tanglewood Music Center's 2013 Festival of Contemporary Music
August 19, Balboa Park, San Diego, California
25th annual outdoor silent film program at the Spreckels Organ Pavilion: Rudolph Valentino in THE EAGLE
August 23, Lily Dale Assembly, Lily Dale, New York
Glass music instruments: "Glass-ical Musick" illustrated informance featuring the Seraphim, Benjamin Franklin's armonica and the Beyer Glass-cord
September 12, Lyceum Lecture Series at Kendal, Ithaca, New York
Glass music instruments: "Glass-ical Musick" illustrated informance featuring the Seraphim, Benjamin Franklin's armonica and the Beyer Glass-cord
BOOKING CONTACT:
DENNIS JAMES | DIRECTOR
SILENT FILM CONCERTS
LECTURER, MASON GROSS SCHOOL OF ARTS, RUTGERS UNIVERSITY
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