Creating a Score to a Classic Silent Comedy with the Wind Ensemble—WASBE 2022
Prof. Allen Feinstein Composer, Director of Bands, Northeastern University, Boston, Massachusetts, USA [email protected], larkfieldmusic.com One Week (Buster Keaton and Edward F. Cline, directors, 1920) Score by the Northeastern University Wind Ensemble, arranged and orchestrated by Allen Feinstein, Dio Kollia, and Jasmine Bryant: https://youtu.be/Dz5gcllfktk Movies to consider scoring in addition to One Week*: *I also encouraged students to watch silent movies that YouTube recommended when they reviewed the movies below. Note: any movie from 1926 or earlier is in the public domain. That said, some restorations of silent films are under copyright. And remember—students should watch the movies without the sound! A Trip To The Moon (Georges Méliès, director, 1902) https://youtu.be/ZNAHcMMOHE8 Suspense (Lois Weber and Phillips Smalley, directors, 1913) https://youtu.be/iy-apScA5mY The Great Train Robbery (Edwin S. Porter, director, 1903) https://youtu.be/y3jrB5ANUUY The Cameraman’s Revenge (Wladyslaw Starewicz, director, 1912) https://youtu.be/__5B3PGoBoI Link to google doc that includes sign-up sheet for composing themes and movie breakdown: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1yVW603Rd3cTgtD3Md-6aFg-YEDEqyryxIPhyvBMY23E/edit?usp=sharing Link to google doc that has final movie breakdown, ensemble assignments, and recording notes. This shows how certain cues were combined, and how ensemble assignments were determined to create a varied texture in the score: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1DZGjZCRNtUwbuEbLJN8fwsiTPJJm_ccBtfD5M-s_mDU/edit?usp=sharing
New Musical: FEARLESS FRANCINE AND THE DEVIL OF THE WEST
Allen Feinstein is writing a musical, FEARLESS FRANCINE AND THE DEVIL OF THE WEST, about the early days of silent movies: 1907, New York City—A prodigy concert pianist and her grandmother escape their torment in Russia, and find a home at a small vaudeville theater in New York as the silent film era begins and a new era in the entertainment business begins with it. Directors invent the language of film, vaudevillians become movie stars, and musicians bring the movies to life. A new musical, FEARLESS FRANCINE AND THE DEVIL OF THE WEST, explores the world of a community of artists and entrepreneurs that helped film evolve from a curiosity to a cultural force.