Movie Makers (Jan-Dec 1947)

SCORING ON THE SPOT 27 Providing musical accompaniment for club projections FUNDAMENTALLY, there is little difference in scoring one's own films or scoring the films of other movie makers for club meetings. The same procedure is followed in both cases. However, from a practical standpoint, the time element is the important factor. When you score for yourself, you can generally devote sufficient time to the process, to produce a gratifying result, but scoring for club showings must often be done hurriedly. Club films to be scored usually fall into two classes; those that the program committee places in your hands days or weeks in advance of the meeting and those that make their appearance on the night of the meeting itself. Very few films arrive with complete accompaniment. Some are partially scored, but most have no music whatever. Naturally, the treatment accorded to them is determined by the amount of scoring that has already been done. If you have plenty of time, you can proceed along the lines suggested in my article, Melodious Accompaniment, in April, 1946, Movie Makers. The film that challenges your capacity to make a suitable selection quickly and keeps you on your toes throughout, however, is the movie that is offered for showing at the club a few minutes before projection, without scoring of any kind. It may never result in a completely satisfying job, but it frequently does provide an exciting experience for the scorer and is always more pleasing to an audience than a film run in silence. When confronted with a last minute situation like this, I try to find out the nature of the film, whether scenic, factual, comic or dramatic, and, given that slight piece of information. I can, in many cases, provide an acceptable score on the basis of experience. If I am given no information as to the film's basicmood, I follow a procedure that I have found to be quite effective. I select a waltz with a strong beginning and put it on one turntable as a "feeler." I keep the second turntable free until a few scenes have run. By that time, I am usually able to make a quick appraisal, and I select the second record accordingly. If the film is a travel or factual movie and runs at a fair rate of speed, I shall probably continue with waltzes. If the subject matter is light, but inclined to drag, I switch to a faster tempo, such as a polka. If the action is definitely on the heavy dramatic side, I continue with Brahms's Tragic Overture (Columbia Set XMX214) or a similar piece. In this manner, I go from the waltz "feeler" into whatever mood is indicated, and, if the film has a fair ARCHIBALD MacGREGOR, ACL amount of unity of thought and action, I then continue in that mood. To be prepared for films which I must score, sight unseen, I usually fill my case with what might be known as a musical first aid kit, containing the following: ten waltzes; six polkas; two marches; two Hawaiian numbers; one wedding march and one Happy Birthday recording, as well as a few bright, instrumental pieces and some recordings of a dramatic nature. I vary the selections under each heading, from meeting to meeting, so that they will not become too hackneyed and wear out their welcome. If you derive pleasure from this business of scoring, and your club assigns you to this completely absorbing job, I offer you a few suggestions that I have found helpful, as I have prepared the scorings for our club, as well as for my friends and myself. Aside from symphonies, I find single records a better investment than albums, although in albums you do have a selection of similar records by the same artist or group of artists. You will find, however, that, in the long run, at least half of the selections included in albums are not suitable for scoring films. Of course there are exceptions. For example, take the new Columbian album release, Strauss Polkas, M1049, recorded by the Boston "Pops" Orchestra. Here you will find six selections in fast polka tempo, very suitable (with two possible exceptions) for accompanying scenes of racing, water skiing or other action sequences. In fact, one of its records, Fast Track, has a trumpet call and a galloping tempo that make it ideal for horse racing scenes. [Continued on page 36] © G. A. Douglas from Gendreau * For the perfectionist, last minute scoring is a chore which can be done with the aid of a few simple rules, but never with complete satisfaction.