Interview with The Silent Orchestra on Eye Level
This Smithsonian Eye Level Blog post features an interview with the Silent Orchestra. The group accompanied, live, a recent screening of the silent film Salome at the Smithsonian American Art Museum. An excerpt:
“Silent Orchestra will be performing a live score for the classic silent film Salomé on Saturday, August 7, at 3:00 p.m. Free tickets will be distributed in the G Street Lobby thirty minutes before the program begins. Allison Jessing, public programs coordinator for American Art and the National Portrait Gallery, spoke with orchestra members Carlos Garza and Rich O’Meara about their work.
Eye Level: How do you choose the films that you work with, and what draws you to them?
Silent Orchestra: Often a museum or gallery chooses the films for a live performance. Our style lends itself well to genres that include drama, fantasy, suspense, or darker subject matter. Since we work mainly with silent film, we are drawn to those that have a strong sense of mood or atmosphere that suggests musical interpretation. Silent films that tell their story largely with visuals rather than title cards or written dialogue seem to inspire us more. Some examples are the films of F. W. Murnau, Germaine Dulac, and Marcel L’Herbier.
EL: What musical styles influence your compositions?
SO: We are inspired by many of today’s film composers. Some favorites are Thomas Newman, Danny Elfman, Jerry Goldsmith, Alberto Iglesias, Eric Serra, Ennio Morricone, Bernard Herrmann, and Hans Zimmer. We like to combine acoustic percussion with electronic sounds that range from symphonic to music concrete. Other influences of course tend to be artists that use these sounds in different ways or classical composers who have a sharp rhythmic sense and are innovative. Some that come to mind are Brian Eno, Stravinsky, Bartok, Steve Reich, Debussy, Harry Partch, Aphex Twin, Louis Sclavis, Happy the Man, and John Hollenbeck.
EL: How do you begin the process of collaboratively composing for a silent film?
SO: After watching the film a few times, we create a list of cues with timings. Then we discuss how the music can support the meaning in the film by highlighting a character’s mood, evoking the period or location, or connecting scenes or characters. For example, we sometimes compose a leit motif, or theme, for the main characters, so that the viewer can identify with the parts of the film in which that character is important.”
Click here to read the complete post. For more information on the Silent Orchestra, visit the group’s site here.
Image in the post is of Silent Orchestra performing, by Bruce Guthrie, from the Eye Level post.
