In the November/December 2012 issue of Clavier Companion magazine, Penny Lazarus wrote a fascinating article called, “Silent Movie Music in the Piano Studio.” This was fresh on my mind when our family was invited to participate in a special talent-sharing night at a local church, so we decided to give the silent movie idea a try. Instead of just finding a silent movie, though, we opted to create our own. We wrote our script/storyboard (not sure you can call it a script if it’s for a silent movie!), gathered our costumes and props, filmed each scene over a weekend, and then showed the movie on an overhead screen while providing the music live at the event. It turned out to be a ton of fun and was a huge hit with the audience!

Here’s the original silent movie (I recommend turning the sound on this video all the way off and using the sound from the following video so you can hear the music selections from the live performance):

Also, anyone want to take a guess as to what part I play in the film? …

Here’s the video from the live performance (I recommend playing this simultaneously with the above video so you can listen to the music selections while watching the silent movie):

References and Resources:

• Silent Movie Music in the Piano Studio by Penny Lazarus
• Vintagio App
• Splice App
• Rhythm Band Instruments (I bought a set of rhythm instruments years ago, and it’s one of the best studio investments I’ve ever made!)

Music:

• The Entertainer by Scott Joplin
• The Pathetique Sonata, Op. 13 by Ludwig van Beethoven
• The Spinning Song by Albert Ellmenreich
• Capriccietta, Op. 192, No. 3 by Cornelius Gurlitt (from Essential Keyboard Trios)
• The Superman Theme by John Williams
• Theme from The Patriot (we opted to play an excerpt from the soundtrack rather than play a live version of this one)

The entire November/December 2012 issue of Clavier Companion is one of the most interesting magazines I’ve read! I highly recommend subscribing to and reading it. Here’s one other practical, imaginative idea from an article by Donald Sosin called, “Sound and Silents” that I want to try with my students at our next group class:

“…ask for two volunteers from the audience and have them walk in a neutral way towards each other onstage a few times, exchanging a letter as they pass. The pianists take turns creating different moods. I caution the actors never to alter what they are doing. The only thing that changes is the music, which informs the audience as to what is going on. Depending upon what is played, the scene might look like a teenage romance, a spy film, a horror flick, or an announcement of a tragic death. I often have to keep reminding the actors to ignore the music, so strong is their impulse to react to what they’re hearing.”