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Course
Schedule
(subject to change)
Week 1 Origins of the music-drama relationship and the story
of cinema
- Reading: (no readings assigned)
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August 27 |
How has music made stories meaningful in history? Some origins |
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August 29 |
The development of the modern Western musical-dramatic palette
in the Romantic and post-Romantic eras (the mid-19th to
the early 20th century): Opera, Symphonic Poem,
program music, musical comedy, ballet |
Week 2 Photography and the invention of the cinema
- Reading: Read Timm, Chapter Three (pp. 57-72); Read Thomas,
pp. 37 - 40.
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September 3 |
Cinema and music, ca. 1890s - 1910s; the unfortunate term, "silent
movies" |
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September 5 |
Cue sheets; Breil’s compilation score for Griffith’s Birth
of a Nation
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Week 3 The rise of synchronized sound, 1925 - 1933
- Reading: Read Timm, Chapter Four (pp. 73-88)
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September 10 |
Quiz; Further experiments in sound cinema in the 1920s |
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September 12 |
The early "talkies," 1927 - 1933
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Week 4 The Sound Stage, Music Directors, Click tracks, and Color,
in the Golden Era of the Hollywood Studios: 1930s- 1940s
- Reading: Read Timm, Chapter Five (pp. 89-113); and pp.
42-46 (click track); Read Thomas, pp. 16 - 26
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September 17 |
Quiz; Some leading composers and their approaches film
scoring: Max Steiner, Alfred Newman, and Erich Wolfgang Korngold |
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September 19 |
Dmitri Tiomkin, Hugo Friedhofer
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Week 5 Mid-term Exam I; The music of (film) noir
- Reading: Read Timm, Chapter Six (pp. 114-149); and Chapter
One (pp. 1 - 11); Read Thomas, pp. 41- 220, parts on Newman,
Tiomkin, Waxman, Rozsa, Steiner, Korngold and Friedhofer
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September 24 |
Mid-term Exam I (40 minutes) and Class discussion |
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September 26 |
Film noir: A perfect marriage of music and cinema? Bernard
Herrmann: Citizen Kane; David Raksin: Laura;
Miklos Rosza: Double Indemnity; Roy Webb: Murder,
My Sweet; Max Steiner: The Big Sleep
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Week 6 Alternative approaches to film scoring
Reading: Read Timm, Chapter Two (pp. 12-56); Read Thomas,
pp. 185-220, parts on Herrmann and Raksin, and pp. 221-238 (Antheil,
Thomson, Copland)
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October 1 |
The avant-garde and the art-cinema from the 1920s to the 1950s Reminder: Deadline
for film approvals |
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October 3 |
Other genres: Cartoons, Horror, and the Western
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Week 7 Song and Dance: The Musical
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October 8 |
Fall Break (no classes) |
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October 10 |
Busby Berkeley, Fred & Ginger, Josephine Baker, Carmen
Miranda
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Week 8 Musicals, cont.; Cinemascope and the Twilight
of the Studio Systems
- Reading: Read Timm, Chapter Seven (pp. 150-182); Read Thomas,
pp. 221 – 266, parts on North and Bernstein
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October 15 |
Classic musicals: The Wizard of Oz (1939), On the
Town (1949) |
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October 17 |
The grand color epic and its scores in the 1950s and 1960s:
Alfred Newman: The Robe (1953); Malcolm Arnold: Bridge
on the River Kwai (1957); A. North: Spartacus (1960);
M. Jarre: Laurence of Arabia (1962), Dr. Zhivago (1965) |
Week 9 Leading film composers of the 1950s and 1960s
- Reading: Read Timm, Chapter Eight (pp. 183-226); Read Thomas,
pp. 267 – 300
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October 22 |
Bernard Herrmann and his Hitchcock scores; Reminder: Film
Music Paper 1 due date |
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October 24 |
Elmer Bernstein: Sweet Smell of Success; The Magnificent
Seven (1960); Leonard Rosenman: Rebel without a Cause (1955); Fantastic
Voyage (1966)
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Week 10 The
coming of the new youth market; Mid-term Exam II
- Reading:
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October 29 |
Martians, werewolfs, surfers, rockers, teenagers |
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October 31 |
Mid-term Exam II (40 minutes) and Class discussion
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Week 11 Topics in film music from the 1960s to the present I
- Reading: Read Timm, Chapter Nine (pp. 227-249)
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November 5 |
Pop and Youth movies from A Hard Day’s Night to the
present; Reminder: Deadline for film approvals |
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November 7 |
Composer profiles: John Barry; Ennio Morricone; John Williams
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Week 12 Alternative approaches to film scoring II
- Reading:
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November 12 |
La nouvelle vague; cinema verité, and
the contemporary avant garde |
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November 14 |
East Asian and South Asian cinema
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Week 13 Topics in film music from the 1960s to the present
II
- Reading: Read Timm, Chapter Ten (pp. 250-274)
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November 19 |
Composer profile: Jerry Goldsmith |
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November 21 |
Women in film scoring: Does gender matter? Wendy Carlos; Rachel
Portman |
Week 14 Your favorite films
- Reading: Read Timm, Chapter Eleven (pp. 275-327); Read Thomas,
pp. 301 – 330
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November 26 |
Student’s choice: Discussion of 4 favorite movies and their
scores; Due Date: Film Music Paper no. 2 |
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November 28 |
Thanksgiving (No classes) |
Week 15 The past 10 years and the future
- Reading:
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December 3 |
James Horner and the Titanic phenomenon |
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December 5 |
The Matrix and the model for future film sound
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Week 16- - Final Exam week (Date of Final TBA)
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