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  1. There is to be a free series of lectures on Film Music by one of Britain's leading academics, Professor Roger Parker, Gresham Professor of Music.
    These are to be taking place in Gresham College, in central London (EC1N 2HH)
    They will each be recorded and made available for free download as MP3, MP4 or text files after the event.


    An Introduction to Film Music
    Wednesday 17th September 2008
    Music has always been closely associated with film. From Saint-Saëns in 1908 to John Williams in the present day, the history of music and film is a long and interesting story intricately connected with the plight of art in the modern world. It raises a multitude of interesting questions: How is music created for film? What factors must it take into consideration? What should one look for in film music? How does it relate to the mainstream of ‘concert hall’ composition?

    Hitchcock’s Psycho
    Wednesday 15th October 2008
    Alfred Hitchcock’s 1960 masterpiece is inextricably tied up with its difficult, modernist score written by Bernard Herrmann. For example, it is almost impossible to imagine the famous ‘shower scene’ without Herrmann’s contribution even though the scene was initially imagined by Hitchcock to be without music. In this and other scenes, there are interesting ways in which the music poses questions about the film’s meaning: questions that may even go beyond Hitchcock’s famously all-encompassing intentions.

    The Western
    Wednesday 26th November 2008
    The Western is a genre closely associated with film from that medium’s earliest days, and in particular during the 1950s and 1960s some of the most innovative Westerns were made newly complex by their use of music. This lecture will concentrate in particular on Fred Zinnemann’s High Noon (music by Dmitri Tiomkin) and John Ford’s The Searchers (music by Max Steiner).

    Opera
    Wednesday 11th February 2008
    What happens when opera meets film? From its earliest days, film has flirted with opera: initially (and perhaps even to the present day) in periodic attempts to gain elite prestige for a medium that has always been associated with popular culture. This lecture will briefly consider some of the ways in which operatic events have been used in film narrative, but mostly it will look at various “classic” attempts to make opera films, including Ingmar Bergman’s The Magic Flute and Francesco Rosi’s Carmen.

    A Musical Interlude
    Wednesday 11th March 2009
    Jane Campion’s 1993 film The Piano, with music by Michael Nyman, was one of the most acclaimed films of the early 1990s, but it quickly became controversial because of its depiction of the mute heroine Ada (played by Holly Hunter). Ada is a pianist, and mostly expresses herself through music: Nyman’s score thus becomes a central feature of the film’s narrative, although perhaps not always in ways that Campion may have intended.

    A Certain Train Station
    Wednesday 6th May 2009
    David Lean’s 1945 film, Brief Encounter, is a classic example of the way film can use music to drive the emotions of the audience. The film repeatedly returns to Eileen Joyce’s recording of Rachmaninov’s Second Piano Concerto, each time further entwining the viewer’s emotions within the narrative. But how can this extravagant, extrovert music seem so perfectly adapted to the repression and guilt that surrounds the protagonists?


    Gresham College exists for the free and public dissemination of knowledge and learning. We hope that our lectures will be enjoyed by as many people as possible and that they will garner much interest and vivid engagement. If you have any comments or questions, then we would love to hear from you: enquiries@gresham.ac.uk
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      CommentAuthorMartijn
    • CommentTimeAug 14th 2008
    Ooh!
    Brilliant!

    I shall most definitely get me those recordings!
    'no passion nor excitement here, despite all the notes and musicians' ~ Falkirkbairn
    •  
      CommentAuthorSteven
    • CommentTimeAug 14th 2008
    Bookmarked. Thanks James!
    • CommentAuthorTimmer
    • CommentTimeAug 14th 2008
    I'll definitely lookforward to hearing these.
    On Friday I ate a lot of dust and appeared orange near the end of the day ~ Bregt
    •  
      CommentAuthorWilliam
    • CommentTimeAug 14th 2008
    Timmer wrote
    I'll definitely lookforward to hearing these.


    As will I! Sounds neat! smile
    •  
      CommentAuthorDemetris
    • CommentTimeAug 14th 2008
    Excellent! Thanks
    Love Maintitles. It's full of Wanders.
  2. Update:
    An Introduction to Film Music, a lecture by Professor Roger Parker, is now available for free download (text, MP3 and MP4):
    http://www.gresham.ac.uk/event.asp?Page … ventId=774
    Amongst other things, Professor Parker looks at the early and perhaps awkward use of sound and music in film, and the revolution brought in by the forward-looking King Kong in 1933.
    •  
      CommentAuthorMartijn
    • CommentTimeSep 25th 2008
    Well done, James!
    Thanks so much for that update.
    Downloading now, and will be intrigued to listen to this lecture as soon as I can!
    'no passion nor excitement here, despite all the notes and musicians' ~ Falkirkbairn
    •  
      CommentAuthorWilliam
    • CommentTimeSep 25th 2008
    JamesFranklin wrote
    Update:
    An Introduction to Film Music, a lecture by Professor Roger Parker, is now available for free download (text, MP3 and MP4):
    http://www.gresham.ac.uk/event.asp?Page … ventId=774


    Cool! Downloading now. Thanks for this! beer
    •  
      CommentAuthoromaha
    • CommentTimeOct 11th 2008
    Thanks for posting this stuff!
    •  
      CommentAuthorThor
    • CommentTimeApr 30th 2021 edited
    I've been holding a lot of film music lectures over the years. Probably beyond 100. Also lots of other, film-related lectures (I'm recording one next week, about coming-of-age movies, for 14-year-olds.)

    Have any of you ever held any film music lectures?
    I am extremely serious.
  3. Nope. Done plenty of lectures in my own area of (professional) expertise but no film music lectures.
    The views expressed in this post are entirely my own and do not reflect the opinions of maintitles.net, or for that matter, anyone else. http://www.racksandtags.com/falkirkbairn