[78-L] OT Musical genres^

[Julian Vein]

Michael Biel wrote:
> From: "Malcolm Rockwell" <malcolm at 78data.com>
> 
>>> What I'm interested in is what musical devices are used to evoke 
>>> particular cinematic themes. For instance, we all recognise what music 
>>> is used to accompany an Indian pow-wow, but what particular devices are 
>>> used, and from where do they derive?
>>>
>>>     
> 
> Steven C. Barr wrote:
> 
>> Well, the "musical device" in most pre-talkie movie houses was a piano!
>>   
> 
> Of course that was not what he meant, but was a nifty pun.  However, 
> many of these pianos were special instruments with built in sound 
> effects.  I've seen several on display and demonstrated.
> 
>> A very few high-class establishments had a pipe organ (Jesse Crawford
>> was the official Paramount (film, NOT record label!) organist; the labels
>> of his first recordings proudly promoted that fact. 
> 
> These were not as rare as you think.  Theatre organs were VERY common in 
> almost ever city of medium size by the late teens or early 20s. 
>  
>> AFAIK, NO theatres had "house bands" to provide the musical accompaniment to their film
>> offerings...?!  Steven C. Barr
>>   
> 
> Of course that is not true.  While most of the time it was necessary to 
> have the music provided by a single human because it was ad-lib, by the 
> mid-teens some of the major movies came with a written musical score, 
> and these were played by bands and full orchestras in the larger 
> theaters.  This was covered in a chapter and LP in the LC's "Wonderful 
> Invention", and there have been several other books and CD with this music.
> 
> Mike Biel  mbiel at mbiel.com 
> _______________________________________________
I still haven't had a answer to my question. When I said "musical 
devices", I didn't mean "instruments". I meant what goes into a musical 
composition that one instantly recognises as being of a particular 
genre? How do I recognise "Seafaring" or "Red Indian" music. I note 
Sousa incorporated the latter into his 1896 march "New Mexico".

       Julian Vein


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