SKU: HL.194637
The Secret Language of
Film Music. Music Pro
Guides. Composition,
Musicals Reference,
Songwriting. Softcover.
424 pages. Published by
Hal Leonard (HL.194637).
ISBN 9781495073731.
UPC: 888680641528.
7.0x10.0x1.071 inches.
Andy Hill Music Pro
Guides.
Today,
musical composition for
films is more popular
than ever. In
professional and academic
spheres, media music
study and practice are
growing; undergraduate
and postgraduate programs
in media scoring are
offered by dozens of
major colleges and
universities. And
increasingly, pop and
contemporary classical
composers are expanding
their reach into cinema
and other forms of screen
entertainment. Yet a
search on Amazon reveals
at least 50 titles under
the category of film
music, and, remarkably,
only a meager few
actually allow readers to
see the music itself,
while none of them
examine landmark scores
like Vertigo, To Kill a
Mockingbird, Patton, The
Untouchables, or The
Matrix in the detail
provided by Scoring the
Screen: The Secret
Language of Film Music.
This is the first book
since Roy M.
Prendergast's 1977
benchmark, Film Music: A
Neglected Art, to treat
music for motion pictures
as a compositional style
worthy of serious study.
Through extensive and
unprecedented analyses of
the original concert
scores, it is the first
to offer both aspiring
composers and music
educators with a view
from the inside of the
actual process of
scoring-to-picture. The
core thesis of Scoring
the Screen is that music
for motion pictures is
indeed a language,
developed by the masters
of the craft out of a
dramatic and commercial
necessity to communicate
ideas and emotions
instantaneously to an
audience. Like all
languages, it exists
primarily to convey
meaning. To quote
renowned orchestrator
Conrad Pope (who has
worked with John
Williams, Howard Shore,
and Alexandre Desplat,
among others): “If
you have any interest in
what music 'means' in
film, get this book. Andy
Hill is among the handful
of penetrating minds and
ears engaged in film
music today.â€.
