CinemaScore · Soundtrack · Archives

1. American Film Music: Major Composers, Techniques, Trends 1915-1990

Darby, an English professor, and Du Bois, a teacher and opera student, have compiled a well-researched and thoroughly documented treatise on the history and development of American movie music. They analyze, historically, dramatically and musically, major film scores from 1915’s BIRTH OF A NATION through 1986’s TOP GUN...

Tuesday, 06 January 2009 | 2301 hits | Print | PDF |  E-mail | Report

2. Charles Bernstein: Film Music and Everything Else

For many years, film composer Charles Bernstein (no relation to Elmer) has been writing a column about the film scoring process for THE SCORE, the quarterly newsletter of the Society of Composers and Lyricists. 30 of those columns have been collected into this slim but compelling volume. Bernstein’s expertise and history give him and edge, of course...

Sunday, 08 August 2010 | 502 hits | Print | PDF |  E-mail | Report

3. Christopher Palmer: The Composer in Hollywood

Christopher Palmer's book is very much a paean to the music from the Golden Age of Hollywood and, as such, is highly recommended. It is aimed at the general reader as well as the enthusiast and is mercifully free of technicalities. It covers similar ground to Tony Thomas' Music for the Movies, which remains the definitive book on the subject.

Friday, 28 March 2008 | 1774 hits | Print | PDF |  E-mail | Report

4. David Morgan: Knowing The Score

In a pleasing change to the traditional collection of interviews by composer, film journalist David Morgan has collected interviews with 16 film composers and one record producer (Robert Townson of Varese Sarabande) and presented them in a topical format. By addressing the topic this way, Morgan paints an intriguing picture of the art and business of motion picture scoring...

Saturday, 20 June 2009 | 870 hits | Print | PDF |  E-mail | Report

5. Fred Karlin: Listening to Movies

Like his earlier On the Track: A Guide to Contemporary Film Scoring, Fred Karlin’s new book Listening to Movies is one of the most important film music books to be published in recent years. Not a historical overview of film music development, not a collection of composer bio’s...

Friday, 28 March 2008 | 2427 hits | Print | PDF |  E-mail | Report

6. Jeff Rona: The Reel World - Scoring for Pictures

Composer Jeff Rona (WHITE SQUALL, television’s CHICAGO HOPE, PROFILER) has written a practical guide to the art, technology, and business of composing for film and television.

Sunday, 08 August 2010 | 808 hits | Print | PDF |  E-mail | Report

7. John Cacavas: The Art of Writing Music

Film composer John Cacavas, who has composed the music for 15 feature films, 70 TV-movies and more than 600 one-hour TV episodes, contributes a career’s worth of experience and knowledge in this excellent book on music writing.

Friday, 28 March 2008 | 1503 hits | Print | PDF |  E-mail | Report

8. Kathryn Kalinak: Settling the Score

The traditional Hollywood score, discussed by Kathryn Kalinak in her studious but readable book, as typified by Max Steiner, Erich Korngold, Alfred Newman, Miklos Rozsa and others, is arguably the perfect way to score a film. Regardless of the subject, any film made today could benefit from such a score. Kalinak praises the golden age of film scoring...

Friday, 28 March 2008 | 2307 hits | Print | PDF |  E-mail | Report

9. Steven C. Smith: The Film Composers Guide

A current and comprehensive reference book about film and composers has long been overdue, and Smith’s thorough guide will be a treasure trove for film music aficionados as well as movie makers or researchers seeking to contact film composers...

Tuesday, 06 January 2009 | 1406 hits | Print | PDF |  E-mail | Report