Musical Accompaniment Of Moving Pictures A Practical Manual For Pianists And Organists And An Exposition Of The Principles Underlying The Musical Inte

By Edith Lang and George West

Book Overview

Reclaim the lost language of silent cinema. Music brings moving pictures alive. Edith Lang's manual is at once a silent film music guide and a hands-on pianist instruction manual, delivering practical direction and a lucid exposition of the principles behind music for moving pictures in the early twentieth century. Practical rather than polemical, Lang sets out organist performance techniques and accompanist strategy with economy and clarity, helping performers shape tempo, mood and dramatic contour without jargon. As a practical music reference it sits somewhere between pedagogy and theatre craft, useful to working accompanists, students of silent film era studies and anyone curious about the mechanics of early cinema accompaniment. Succinct and direct, it functions as a film accompanist handbook and a musicians resource book for those who wish to understand how music met images when films had no spoken word. Republished by Alpha Editions in a careful modern edition, this volume preserves the spirit of the original while making it effortless to enjoy today - a heritage title prepared for readers and collectors alike. More than a historical curiosity, Lang's work is a primary-era witness to 1920s film history and the techniques that underpinned silent era film scoring; it gives scholars grounded material and gives performers a vocabulary for interpreting period repertoire. Accessible enough for casual readers and film buffs, yet desirable for classic-literature collectors and museum-minded musicians, this edition belongs in libraries of early cinema accompaniment and among the shelves of anyone building a musicians resource book devoted to the vanished crafts of the cinema theatre. Beyond practical use, the manual captures an era's professional ethos: quick thinking, economical scoring and the nimble interplay between instrumentalist and screen. It speaks to musicologists and film historians as readily as to amateur pianists and organists seeking authentic practice rather than modern pastiche. Clear language and emphasis on craft make it both an accessible read for the curious and a handsome addition for collectors.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 9354217168
• ISBN13: 9789354217166
• Release Date: November 2020
• Publisher: Alpha Edition
• Length: 74 Pages
• Weight: 0.27 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.2" x 6.0" x 9.0"