Product Description

For courses in Film Music. Filling a void in the literature on film music appreciation, this volume provides a consolidation of relevant film music with information about film composers and their scores. The volume also features well-illustrated information about each film with a text that clearly illustrates a well-rounded and in-depth look at film music.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #627821 in Books
• Published on: 2002-08-04
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 346 pages

From the Back Cover

The Soul of Cinema is the first film music appreciation textbook ever written. This text explains the various functions of music in film and clearly describes the roles of producers, directors, and practically everyone else in cinema, and shows how they each relate to the composer and the musical score for a given film. The Soul of Cinema traces the evolution of film music from 1895 to the present, covering many of the representative film scores, film composers, and styles and trends along the journey. Some features include:

• each major composer is highlighted with a biography, a photo, a listing of the individual's recognizable compositional style, and other pertinent information
• interviews with film composers, music editors, orchestrators, film music agents, studio musicians, music copyists, music contractors, and others within the business
• an extensive section on women film composers and contractors
• rare Bernard Herrmann facsimiles of some of his greatest works

About the Author

Larry Timm is a veteran Hollywood studio musician, producer, and university professor who has been in the business for over 30 years. He is an active recording artist whose oboe and English horn solos can be heard on over 300 television and motion picture scores. He has performed as soloist in places such as Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center in New York City; the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C.; the Musikverein in Vienna, Austria; and the Mozarteum in Salzburg, Austria. As an educator, he teaches classes of over 700 students each semester at California State University in Fullerton, introducing them to the world of film music. He holds three advanced degrees from Yale University, including a doctorate, and is currently on the Editorial Board of the Film Music Journal. Dr. Timm is listed in the International Who's Who in Music, Who's Who in Entertainment, the Marquis Who's Who in America, and Who s Who in California.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

My intent in writing this book is to fill a voids for a much-needed text on film music appreciation. Although there are other fine books on film music and film composers, at the time of this writing this is the only book designed specifically as a film music appreciation text. Obviously not every person has this enthusiasm for film music that I do, but it is hoped that after traveling through this book, you will come away with an appreciation and understanding of what it takes to make the movies and how their music affects us the way it does. Because this book is meant to be used as a college level "appreciation of film music" text, it has to have limitations both in size and content. After a discussion of the functions of music in film and a general survey of the film music industry, we go back in time and show where it all started. The rest of the text becomes a chronological history of music in film from 1894 to the twenty-first century. Although foreign films and composers are mentioned and/or discussed, the major thrust of this book is centered on the Hollywood movie industry. This book also concentrates more on symphonic scores as opposed to jazz, pop, rock, or any other nonsymphonic idiom. Having taught this subject over the years, some of the well-known stories in this book are sometimes paraphrased, because the author hopes to put a fresh new slant on some well-worn tales of yore. Note to Teachers

Most of the films covered in this book are readily available on video for the convenience of teaching purposes. The author suggests preparing the film clips to be shown prior to the start of each class session.

Customer Reviews

pretty decent
Pretty decent book. Goes over the basic understandings of music in cinema and also gives you a crash course on what to understand in regards what notes are used for creating music, what styles there are of organization, etc. It was also an easy read.