Silent Film Music By Ben Model

This is a re-posting "flashback" of episode 7, which originally posted on January 21, 2015. Welcome – News from the road – December 2014 recap: the Silent Clowns Film Series, Chaplin Mutuals, Library of Congress holiday party, the Powers kids in "The Skeleton" – Recording: live performance, accompaniment to "Peter Pan", Peter saves Tinkerbell –Using ragtime to accompany silent films, then and now, pros and cons – On accompanying the murder scene in "Blackmail" – Recording: live performance, from Hitchcock's "Blackmail" at Alden Theater – Silent film series at the Alden Theatre in McLean, VA – Upcoming performances, Egyptian Theatre in Boise, with Boise Philharmonic Chamber Ensemble, release of Marcel Perez DVD, off-Broadway show "Everybody Gets Cake" – Closing. Somewhere back in 2017 when I absorbed my blog and podcast into my website, episodes 1-8 of the podcast became unexplainably unavailable. Some listeners have inquired about getting to hear these early shows from 2012-2015 and the easiest thing for m

Ben relates the journey of playing piano as part of a full orchestra live accompanying Chaplin’s City Lights under the baton of the score’s restorer, Timothy Brock, during the Silent Film Days Festival in Tromsø, Norway. Ben explores how he experienced Chaplin’s score “from the inside” and what he learned about making music to support silent film as a result. He describes the technical difficulty of playing live accompaniment with a large group, and analyzes Chaplin’s choices of accompaniment, the structure of his melodies, matters of authentic technique and style in a 1931 score for a 1931 film, and Chaplin’s innovations in scoring at the dawn of synchronized sound. Episode 44 Show Notes: IntroductionHow Ben was invited to play piano and celeste with the Arctic Philharmonic playing the score of City Lights by Charles Chaplin live under the baton of Timothy Brock, music restorer and consultant to the Chaplin estate.Timothy Brock on restoring the score of City LightsLearning to play the piano

This is a re-posting "flashback" of episode 6, which originally posted on January 7, 2015. Welcome — Mea culpa, and welcome to the podcast reboot — The Silent Film Sound and Music Archive — My new DVD label Undercrank Productions and the LoC — Live performance: "My Best Girl" at St. Francis College — Using pre-existing music in film accompaniment — The Herb Graff show: silent comedies on public TV in the 1970s — Recording: Arthur Kleiner playing "The Philanderer" — Arthur Kleiner, MoMA's first silent film pianist — Composing silent film scores for concert band — Recording: the Palisades Virtuosi playing my "Spice of the Program" — Upcoming performances, release of Marcel Perez DVD, off-Broadway show "Everybody Gets Cake" from Parallel Exit — Closing. Somewhere back in 2017 when I absorbed my blog and podcast into my website, episodes 1-8 of the podcast became unexplainably unavailable. Some listeners have inquired about getting to hear these early shows from 2012-2015 and the easiest thing for me to do (te

This is a re-posting "flashback" of episode 5, originally posted on March 18, 2013. Welcome – A whirlwind week of performances and travel - 7 shows in 8 days Live performance: "The Mark of Zorro" at Central Baptist Church – Preparing for a performance: music prep, bench height, piano light, etc – Live performance: "My Best Girl" at Port Washington library – Upcoming performances, including a week of Mary Pickford in April – Closing Somewhere back in 2017 when I absorbed my blog and podcast into my website, episodes 1-8 of the podcast became unexplainably unavailable. Some listeners have inquired about getting to hear these early shows from 2012-2015 and the easiest thing for me to do (tech-wise) was to re-post them. Here's episode 5!

This is a re-posting "flashback" of episode 4, originally posted on January 14, 2013. Welcome – Playing the organ at the Library of Congress theater – My Kickstarter project to release rare/lost silents on DVD and YouTube – Live performance: Raymond Griffith in "You'd Be Surprised" at Silent Clowns – Listening to a film's spoken intro can give clues for a score – Thoughts on scoring "Oliver Twist", W.C. Fields in "It's the Old Army Game" and Larry Semon in "The Wizard of Oz" – Live performance: "Oliver Twist" at MoMA – Upcoming performances and orchestral scores in Boise – Closing Somewhere back in 2017 when I absorbed my blog and podcast into my website, episodes 1-8 of the podcast became unexplainably unavailable. Some listeners have inquired about getting to hear these early shows from 2012-2015 and the easiest thing for me to do (tech-wise) was to re-post them. Here's episode 4!

This is a re-posting "flashback" of episode 3, originally posted on July 12, 2012. Welcome – Playing for "The Avenging Conscience" and "Paths to Paradise" – Live performance: "Paths to Paradise" at Silent Clowns – Thoughts on scoring "The Saphead" and "The Devil's Needle & Other Tales of Vice and Redemption" on DVD from Kino Lorber – Downloadable mp3 scores – Live performance: "Cat and the Canary" on Steere & Sons orchestral organ – Upcoming performances, and preparing to work with funeral organists in Oslo – Closing Somewhere back in 2017 when I absorbed my blog and podcast into my website, episodes 1-8 of the podcast became unexplainably unavailable. Some listeners have inquired about getting to hear these early shows from 2012-2016 and the easiest thing for me to do (tech-wise) was to re-post them. Here's episode 3!

This is a re-posting "flashback" of episode 2, originally posted on June 29, 2012. Welcome – report on what was the first “Mostly Lost” film identification workshop – live performance recording "Ten Commandments" on Steere & Sons organ in Brooklyn – an ethical issue on uploading silents to YouTube from DVDs – on quoting popular songs of the day in silents – a record "heard" in Vidor's "The Crowd" – upcoming performances: films by both silent Griffiths – closing. Somewhere back in 2017 when I absorbed my blog and podcast into my website, episodes 1-8 of the podcast became unexplainably unavailable. Some listeners have inquired about getting to hear these early shows from 2012-2016 and the easiest thing for me to do was re-post them. Here's episode 2!

This is a re-posting "flashback" of the very first episode of The Silent Film Music Podcast, originally posted on June 9, 2012. Welcome - score for "The Eagle" - new web series - Mabel Normand - Raymond Griffith at The Silent Clowns - score for "The Night Club" - playing for Ernie Kovacs - unidentified silents at Library of Congress - King Vidor's "The Crowd" - score for "Chicago" - underscoring cross-cutting - closing Somewhere back in 2017 when I absorbed my blog and podcast into my website, episodes 1-8 of the podcast became unexplainably unavailable. Some listeners have inquired about getting to hear these early shows from 2012-2016 and the easiest thing for me to do was re-post them. Here's episode 1!

In the second half of this 2-parter, Ben Model recaps the past pandemic year: producing and releasing the Edward Everett Horton DVD set, a handful of DVD release projects in development, remembering MoMA's Eileen Bowser, and looking toward the future of silent film live-streaming in 2022. Episode 43 Show Notes: Announcement: Episodes 1 through 8 of the Silent Film Music Podcast will be reissued in the podcast feed.Discussion of the development of the Edward Everett Horton short comedy project; filming locations and thanks to Richard Simonton in connection with the films; getting to hear audience reaction to the filmsMusical Interlude: excerpt of Ben’s performance of The Kid Brother at The Linda, WAMC’s Performing Arts Studio on November 4, 2021. Ben’s blog series about The Language of Silent FIlm begins here. Will it become a book? Underwriting Announcement:Beauty’s Worth starring Marion Davies, on DVD by Undercrank Productions/Library of Congress in association with Ed Lorusso Upcoming release fro

"End of the Year 2021 Recap" – in the first half of this 2-parter, Ben Model recaps the past pandemic year of silent film live-streaming, rediscovering the meaning of providing entertainment for fans, the return to in-person accompaniments, and ponders the future of the silent movie virtual cinema. Episode 42 Show Notes: Live shows return in early summer; re-adjustment to in-person performance; getting to leave the house; no longer having to be “the booth” as with the Silent Comedy Watch Party; variations among keyboard instruments - need for flexibility; meeting fans of the SCWP - Wearing the MerchandiseMusic Interlude - Metropolis on the Estey pipe organ at Episilon Spires in Brattleboro, VT, August 30, 2021What the Silent Comedy Watch Party means to its viewers: a respite, some laughter, and an anchor to the week; comparison to Bob Hope entertaining the troops; no longer just another film show; with all the difficulty in pulling the SCWP off, the audience counts on the show; that appointment is

"Live-Scoring for the Virtual Cinema" – in part two of this conversation, Ben Model discusses what it's been like to accompany silent films throughout 2021 via live-streams he's produced and presented out of his home. Ben and co-host Kerr Lockhart discuss: the differences for Ben between the creative mindsets of scoring a silent film while performing in a theater, when recording a score and when hosting a live-stream; the reasons Ben prefers live-scoring a stream to pre-recording the music; thinking of the home viewer as the audience, and more. Episode 41 Show Notes: To preview or not to preview films before accompanying themview The Eagle with synthesized orchestral score based on cue sheetsEyewitness account of accompanist in the silent era preparing by looking at the poster and lobby picturesWhy authentic compiled scores are often not suitable; often repetitiveSilent Film Sound and Music Archive (sfsma.org)Score materials for The Birth Of A NationThe Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra, Rodney Sa

"Live-Scoring for the Virtual Cinema" – in part one of this conversation, Ben Model discusses what it's been like to accompany silent films throughout 2021 via live-streams he's produced and presented out of his home. Ben and co-host Kerr Lockhart discuss: the differences for Ben between the creative mindsets of scoring a silent film while performing in a theater, when recording a score and when hosting a live-stream; the reasons Ben prefers live-scoring a stream to pre-recording the music; accompanying Keystone comedies so they work and entertain better; playing the audience into the film, in the virtual realm, and more. Part two of this conversation will be posted next month.

"Adventures In Sound!" - Ben tracks his own journey to find the digital devices that best re-create or at least evoke the classic theater pipe organ experience under modern screening conditions. Topics Ben discusses the “temporary” theme for the podcast, “Those Keystone Comedy Cops” Ben’s instrumental evolution  Learning to play the organLee Erwin, theater organist, as a mentorDifference in technique between piano and organExpanding colors and instrumentationDeveloping the Synth-Org (Sample sounds included)Synth(esized) sounds vs. Digital samplesLimited availability of real theater organsDeploying the Kurzweil PC-2 system with a MIDI pedal unitExamples from two scores for Edison: Invention of the Movies Underwriting announcement: The Alice Howell Collection on DVD from Undercrank Productions Ben’s musical journey continued Jim Henry introduces Ben to the MiditzerAn excerpt from a Miditzer score Ben created for The PenaltyThe difficulty of recording and reproducing a real theater organ

On this episode Ben talks about meeting an audience's expectations of a score when a certain piece of music or style is indicated onscreen, and in a rare case of a non-narrative film made after the silent era. Also covered are silent era mood cues and cue sheets, Marion Davies in "When Knighthood Was in Flower", techniques in performance to match music to action, this episode's FAQ, and more. Live performance clips include Valentino's tango dance in "Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse", Keaton's pantomime to "The Prisoner's Song", and Ben's new score for Helen Levitt's "In the Street" (1948). episode 38: Existing Music, Mood Cues and Cue Sheets Historically authentic accompaniment vs. modern scores for silent filmsTango, dancing on-screen and staying in synch with the dancersBen’s score for Four Horsemen as played at MOMA in November 2019Improvising so that it sounds like a piece that had already been writtenListener Erik Andersson talks about The Silent Comedy Watch Party from Salem, OregonAccompanyi

On this episode Ben talks about: the annual Mostly Lost film identification workshop at the Library of Congress, currently postponed until 2021; underscoring a key scene in Keaton's "The Cameraman" and noticing a parallel with "Singin' In The Rain", playing for "Spite Marriage", the challenge of introducing and presenting "The General" at a college show; playing for Laurel & Hardy on a 1980s electric theatre organ, and using that console's MIDI function to bring the sound of the Wurlitzer to a cinema; how Ben chooses and utilizes piano or organ for score recordings, and much more. episode 37: "Comedy Today! – Buster Keaton and Laurel & Hardy" Missing the Mostly Lost workshop, cancelled this year due to the pandemicMaking an alternate accompaniment for The CameramanThe Cameraman’s kiss in the rain and Singin’ In The Rain: Copy, homage or coincidence?Spite Marriage comes to life with an audienceMark Fuller, member of Southwest Silents in Bristol, England talks about The Silent Comedy Watch PartyPuttin

On this episode Ben talks about: using music an audience may or may not expect to hear during a film in preparing scores for shows of Fairbanks' "Robin Hood" and Raoul Walsh's "Loves of Carmen"; using underscore to help smooth over missing footage; playing the theatre organ like it's an orchestra and sparingly using its "toy counter"; expanding his live-streamed silent film shows beyond his weekly "Silent Comedy Watch Party", and more. episode 36: "Famous Players and Famous Melodies" Silent Comedy Watch Party updateAccompanying Westerns - Art Acord in The Showdown and William S. Hart in Three Word BrandFairbanks’s Robin Hood; incorporating songs written for the film by Victor SchertzingerProgramming Douglas Fairbanks films for performance todayKelly Kitchens from Dallas talks about The Silent Comedy Watch PartyThe Loves of Carmen versus the melodies of BizetImprovising in the style of traditional folk music formsCreating musical bridges for missing frames and scenesExpanding live streaming accompani

On this episode, Ben Model talks with co-host Kerr Lockhart talk about a cancelled gig at the Metropolitan Museum of Art turning into an online one, Gage County Nebraska and Hollywood, accompanying Russian silent films, scoring a French film for an audience with live-translated intertitles. Plus: using leitmotifs, finding a lost reel of a Baby Peggy comedy, piano tuning and this week's silent film book recommendation. You'll hear excerpts from Ben's last show before the pandemic shutdown, a screening in Brooklyn and one with theater organ on Long Island. Episode 35 Show Notes Ben talks about accompanying two short documentaries for  the Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Pottery Maker(1926) directed by Robert Flaherty (Nanook of the North); and A Visit to the Home of Childe Hasam. Ben discusses accompanying Behind The Door, a film with Nebraska roots at a screening in Beatrice, NE on March 7, 2020 hosted by the Gage County Historical Society and Film Institute. He talks about making an effort to play m

On this episode of the podcast, Ben Model discusses the creation of the Silent Comedy Watch Party and the response so far; talks about teaching his silent film course at Wesleyan using Zoom; shares an excerpt from his score for Alfred Hitchcock’s Champagne for the Hitchcock British International Pictures Collection for Kino Lorber; talks about the annual show at the Idaho State Museum and his collaboration with the Boise Philharmonic, and shares an excerpt from his score for the Nell Shipman film Light On Lookout; discusses the rediscovery of Julia Crawford Ivers during the development of the Kino Lorber box set: Pioneers: First Women Filmmakers; and shares an excerpt from his score for The Intrigue; Kerr Lockhart joins the podcast and begins the new segment: Frequently Asked Questions.  This Week: Do you really make it all up as you go along? (Look for an FAQ transcript page coming to this website soon.) Finally, Kerr and Ben exchange self-quarantine recommendations. Kerr recommends Hollywood: A Celebration

On this episode of the podcast -- I use a song-title-pun during Mostly Lost, play for the same Chaplin shorts three days in a row to work on an orchestral score, play a Möller in Rome like it's an orchestra, bring silent comedies to the Adirondacks, score two Marion Davies films in a recording session and at the Library of Congress, and make the sun rise a little faster in Pennsylvania. Plus news about Douglas MacLean, upcoming shows and more. Subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Google Play Music, Spotify or Overcast; please consider supporting the podcast at Patreon.  And, if you want to say "thanks!", why not buy me a cup of coffee? Links from the episode: My blog post about the historic 1911 Park Theater is here.Read all the backer updates about the Douglas MacLean DVD project on the Kickstarter site's page.The Silent Clowns Film Series has monthly screenings, for free, at the NYPL at Lincoln Center.My orchestral scores are available for performance here.If you're interes

On this episode of the podcast, I discuss meeting an audience's expectations while staying true to the film's original culture, choosing a comedy short to show newbies, and playing for a show where someone else's music credit is onscreen; also, Arthur Kleiner accompanies a Harold Lloyd short with an iPhone, 700 kids in Boise laugh at Buster Keaton, I play a MoMA premiere of a newly-discovered film from 1898; plus – news about recent and upcoming shows. Subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Google Play Music, Spotify or Overcast; please consider supporting the podcast at Patreon.  And, if you want to say "thanks!", why not buy me a cup of coffee? Links from the episode: You can view Something Good – Negro Kiss (1898) at the USC Hugh M. Hefner Moving Image Archive's Vimeo page. My mini-doc about USC archive director Dino Everett and 28mm film is on YouTube.Mostly Lost 8 will be held June 12-15, 2019.The Silent Clowns Film Series has monthly screenings, for free, at the NYPL at L