The Sounds of the Silents in Britain

Author:   Julie Brown (Reader in Music, Reader in Music, Royal Holloway, University of London, London, UK) ,  Annette Davison (Senior Lecturer in Music, Senior Lecturer in Music, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK)
Publisher:   Oxford University Press Inc
ISBN:  

9780199797615


Pages:   352
Publication Date:   20 December 2012
Format:   Hardback
Availability:   To order   Availability explained
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The Sounds of the Silents in Britain


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Overview

The Sounds of the Silents in Britain explores the sonic dimension of film exhibition in Britain from the emergence of cinema to the introduction of synchronized sound. Written by experts on British silent film and film music, the chapters provide an introduction to diverse aspects of early film sound: vocal performance, from lecturing and reciting to voicing the drama; music, from developments in accompanying techniques to the impact of legislation on musical practice overall; and performance in cinemas more generally, from dancing and singalong films to live stage prologues. The book also debunks some of the myths about the sonic dimension of film exhibition: it reveals that exhibition practices in London were arguably more sophisticated than those in New York before the onset of World War I, for instance, and that venue licensing decisions had a profound effect on whether music could even be performed with film in some theatres. Based on extensive archival research and musicological analysis, The Sounds of the Silents in Britain represents an important addition to early film and film music scholarship.

Full Product Details

Author:   Julie Brown (Reader in Music, Reader in Music, Royal Holloway, University of London, London, UK) ,  Annette Davison (Senior Lecturer in Music, Senior Lecturer in Music, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK)
Publisher:   Oxford University Press Inc
Imprint:   Oxford University Press Inc
Dimensions:   Width: 23.60cm , Height: 2.30cm , Length: 16.00cm
Weight:   0.638kg
ISBN:  

9780199797615


ISBN 10:   0199797617
Pages:   352
Publication Date:   20 December 2012
Audience:   College/higher education ,  Postgraduate, Research & Scholarly
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   To order   Availability explained
Stock availability from the supplier is unknown. We will order it for you and ship this item to you once it is received by us.

Table of Contents

"Introduction: The Sounds of the Silents in Britain Julie Brown and Annette Davison Speaking to Pictures 1. Professional Lecturing in Early British Film Shows Joe Kember 2. ""Now, where were we?"" Ideal and Actual Early Cinema Lecturing Practices in Britain, Germany and the US Judith Buchanan 3. Eric Williams: Speaking to Pictures Stephen Bottomore 4. Sounding Scottish: Sound Practices and Silent Cinema in Scotland Trevor Griffiths Accompanying pictures 5. ""Suitable music"": Accompaniment Practice in Early London Screen Exhibition from R. W. Paul to the Picture Palaces Ian Christie 6. The Art of Not Playing to Pictures in British Cinemas, 1906-1914 Jon Burrows 7. ""The efforts of the wretched pianist: Learning to Play to the Pictures in Britain, 1911-1913 Andrew Higson 8. The Reception of British Exhibition Practices in The Moving Picture World, 1907-1914 James Buhler Performance in cinemas 9. Selsior Dancing Films, 1912-1917 Stephen Bottomore 10. Song Performance in the Early Sound Shorts of British Pathé Derek B. Scott 11. Atmospheric Film Prologues and the British Film Trade Papers, 1919-1926 Julie Brown, Royal Holloway 12. Animating the Audience: Singalong Films in Britain in the 1920s Malcolm Cook Musicians, Companies and Institutions 13. Workers' Rights and Performing Rights: Cinema Music and Musicians Prior to Synchronized Sound Annette Davison 14. Sound at the Film Society John Riley 15. Edmund Meisel's ""visual sound"" in The Crimson Circle (1929): The Case of the Vanishing Part-Talkie Fiona Ford Bibliography Index"

Reviews

<br> A treasure trove of information from a group of scholars who approach the topic from a variety of angles and who collectively succeed in defining and elaborating for the first time the sound and music practices of an entire national cinema-Britain before the sound era. --David Neumeyer, The University of Texas at Austin<p><br> A tremendous contribution to the study of early film sound. The detail to which it reveals the enormous variation in practice that existed between national cinemas and within them on a local and regional level is unique. This book is a fantastic resource that will no doubt inspire and redirect the course of scholarship in early film sound. --Julie Hubbert, University of South Carolina, editor of Celluloid Symphonies: Texts and Contexts in Film Music History<p><br>


This collection fulfills a need for addressing the history of British cinema sound, in which music was hardly covered in the 1930s. Especially for students and faculty interested in British cinema music ... Highly recommended. M. Goldsmith, Choice


Author Information

Julie Brown is Reader in Music at Royal Holloway, University of London. Her publications include Bartok and the Grotesque: Studies in Modernity, The Body and Contradiction in Music, and Western Music and Race, which was awarded the American Musicological Society's Ruth A. Solie Award. Annette Davison is Senior Lecturer in Music at the University of Edinburgh. Her publications include Hollywood Theory, Non-Hollywood Practice: Cinema Soundtracks in the 1980s and 1990s, Alex North's A Streetcar Named Desire: A Film Score Guide, and, with Erica Sheen, American Dreams, Nightmare Visions: The Cinema of David Lynch.

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