Music for Stage and Screen
Music has long been a component of stage drama and, since the twentieth century, its usage has expanded into screen genres like film, television, and videogames. In each of these cases, music participates in something larger; sometimes it is the dominant partner while at other times it is subservient to the stage action or visual imagery. Music's role in videogames, especially, has attracted scholarly attention in recent years for the ways it reacts to player choices. Find resources on music for stage and screen below. For even more on musical theatre specifically, see the independent Musical Theatre Research Guide.
Recommended Books
The recommended books below include print reference sources and books on different topics within music for stage and screen. Many books on musical theatre can be found in ML 2054, while music for film is shelved in ML 2075 and music for television nearby in ML 2080. Books on videogame music and the related field of study, ludomusicology, meanwhile, are shelved in ML 3540.7. Recommended books are sorted by their call numbers for ease of browsing. Hover over the info icon to see a description.
The Oxford Companion to the American Musical: Theatre, Film, and Television by
With more than two thousand entries, this guide offers a wealth of information on musicals, performers, composers, lyricists, producers, choreographers, and much more. Biographical entries range from early stars Fred Astaire, Bing Crosby, Mary Martin, and Mae West to contemporary show-stoppers Nathan Lane, Savion Glover, and Kristin Chenoweth, while composers Irving Berlin, George Gershwin, Richard Rodgers, and Andrew Lloyd Webber all have articles, and the choreography of Bob Fosse, Tommy Tune, and Debbie Allen receives due examination. The plays and films covered range from modern hits like Mamma Mia! and Moulin Rouge! to timeless classics such as Yankee Doodle Dandy and Show Boat. Also, numerous musicals written specifically for television appear throughout, and many entries follow a work - Babes in Toyland for example - as it moves across genres, from stage, to film, to television. The Companion also includes cross references, a comprehensive listing of recommended recordings and further reading, a useful chronology of all the musicals described in the book, plus a complete index of Tony Award and Academy Award winners.
Call Number: ML102.M88 H593 2008 (Music Reference)Publication Date: 2008
Keeping Score: Interviews with Today's Top Film, Television, and Game Music Composers by
The movie, Jaws. The main character, a vicious shark coursing through the deep blue ocean taking victims along the way. Who among us can't hum the ominous musical accompaniment to this? Would Jaws be what it is today without its recognizable score? What about the theme to Star Wars? The Good, the Bad and the Ugly? Movies and music go hand in hand, neither can exist alone. Is the "shower scene" in Psycho made eerier with the musical score that plays hauntingly in the background? Absolutely! For some, simply hearing the music from movies such as The Exorcist is enough to evoke goose bumps and shivers. Music is powerful. Music is moving. "Keeping Score" features interviews with the top composers of Hollywood from the worlds of film, television, and games. The insightful conversations are both entertaining and informative, taking the reader behind the scenes of the film scoring industry like never before. As you read about what the composers have to say, you'll find that their words present a new manner in which the typical movie fans can access "behind-the-scenes" information about their favorite films. You'll also notice that these composers are as creative with their words as they are with their music.
Call Number: ML390 .H774 2010Publication Date: 2010
Stephen Sondheim and the Reinvention of the American Musical by
From West Side Story in 1957 to Road Show in 2008, the musicals of Stephen Sondheim and his collaborators have challenged the conventions of American musical theater and expanded the possibilities of what musical plays can do, how they work, and what they mean. Sondheim's brilliant array of work, including such musicals as Company, Follies, Sweeney Todd, Sunday in the Park with George, and Into the Woods, has established him as the preeminent composer/lyricist of his, if not all, time. Stephen Sondheim and the Reinvention of the American Musical places Sondheim's work in two contexts: the exhaustion of the musical play and the postmodernism that, by the 1960s, deeply influenced all the American arts. Sondheim's musicals are central to the transition from the Rodgers and Hammerstein-style musical that had dominated Broadway stages for twenty years to a new postmodern musical. This new style reclaimed many of the self-aware, performative techniques of the 1930s musical comedy to develop its themes of the breakdown of narrative knowledge and the fragmentation of identity. In his most recent work, Sondheim, who was famously mentored by Oscar Hammerstein II, stretches toward a twenty-first-century musical that seeks to break out of the self-referring web of language. Stephen Sondheim and the Reinvention of the American Musical offers close readings of all of Sondheim's musicals and finds in them critiques of the operation of power, questioning of conventional systems of knowledge, and explorations of contemporary identity.
Call Number: ML410.S6872 M36 2016Publication Date: 2016
John Williams's Film Music: Jaws, Star Wars, Raiders of the Lost Ark, and the Return of the Classical Hollywood Music Style by
John Williams is one of the most renowned film composers in history. He has penned unforgettable scores for Star Wars, the Indiana Jones series, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, Jaws, Superman, and countless other films. Fans flock to his many concerts, and with forty-nine Academy Award nominations as of 2014, he is the second-most Oscar-nominated person after Walt Disney. Yet despite such critical acclaim and prestige, this is the first book in English on Williams's work and career. Combining accessible writing with thorough scholarship, and rigorous historical accounts with insightful readings, John Williams's Film Music explores why Williams is so important to the history of film music. Beginning with an overview of music from Hollywood's Golden Age (1933-58), Emilio Audissino traces the turning points of Williams's career and articulates how he revived the classical Hollywood musical style. This book charts each landmark of this musical restoration, with special attention to the scores for Jaws and Star Wars, Williams's work as conductor of the Boston Pops Orchestra, and a full film/music analysis of Raiders of the Lost Ark. The result is a precise, enlightening definition of Williams's "neoclassicism" and a grounded demonstration of his lasting importance, for both his compositions and his historical role in restoring part of the Hollywood tradition.
Call Number: ML410.W71335 A83 2014Publication Date: 2014
The Cambridge Companion to Film Music by
This wide-ranging and thought-provoking collection of specially-commissioned essays provides a uniquely comprehensive overview of the many and various ways in which music functions in film soundtracks. Citing examples from a variety of historical periods, genres and film industries - including those of the USA, UK, France, Italy, India, and Japan - the book's contributors are all leading scholars and practitioners in the field. They engage, sometimes provocatively, with numerous stimulating aspects of the history, theory and practice of film music in a series of lively discussions which will appeal as much to newcomers to this fascinating subject as to seasoned film music aficionados. Innovative research and fresh interpretative perspectives are offered alongside practice-based accounts of the film composer's distinctive art, with examples cited from genres as contrasting as animation, the screen musical, film noir, Hollywood melodrama, the pop music and jazz film, documentary, period drama, horror, science fiction and the Western.
Call Number: ML2075 .C3545 2016Publication Date: 2016
The Invisible Art of Film Music: A Comprehensive History by
Beginning with the era of synchronized sound in the 1920s, music has been an integral part of motion pictures. Whether used to heighten the tension of a scene or evoke a subtle emotional response, scores have played a significant--if often unrealized--role in the viewer's enjoyment. In The Invisible Art of Film Music, Laurence MacDonald provides a comprehensive introduction for the general student, film historian, and aspiring cinematographer. Arranged chronologically from the silent era to the present day, this volume provides insight into the evolution of music in cinema and analyzes the vital contributions of scores to hundreds of films. MacDonald reviews key developments in film music and discusses many of the most important and influential scores of the last nine decades, including those from Modern Times, Gone with the Wind, Citizen Kane, Laura, A Streetcar Named Desire, Ben-Hur, Lawrence of Arabia, The Godfather, Jaws, Ragtime, The Mission, Titanic, Gladiator, The Lord of the Rings, Brokeback Mountain, and Slumdog Millionaire. MacDonald also provides biographical sketches of such great composers as Max Steiner, Alfred Newman, Franz Waxman, Bernard Herrmann, Elmer Bernstein, Henry Mancini, Maurice Jarre, John Barry, John Williams, Jerry Goldsmith, Dave Grusin, Ennio Morricone, Randy Newman, Hans Zimmer, and Danny Elfman. Updated and expanded to include scores produced well into the twenty-first century, this new edition of The Invisible Art of Film Music will appeal not only to scholars of cinema and musicologists but also any fan of film scores.
Call Number: ML2075 .M15 2013Publication Date: 2013
The Routledge Companion to Screen Music and Sound by
The Routledge Companion to Screen Music and Sound provides a detailed and comprehensive overview of screen music and sound studies, addressing the ways in which music and sound interact with forms of narrative media such as television, videogames, and film. The inclusive framework of "screen music and sound" allows readers to explore the intersections and connections between various types of media and music and sound, reflecting the current state of scholarship and the future of the field. A diverse range of international scholars have contributed an impressive set of forty-six chapters that move from foundational knowledge to cutting edge topics that highlight new key areas. The companion is thematically organized into five cohesive areas of study: Issues in the Study of Screen Music and Sound--discusses the essential topics of the discipline Historical Approaches--examines periods of historical change or transition Production and Process--focuses on issues of collaboration, institutional politics, and the impact of technology and industrial practices Cultural and Aesthetic Perspectives--contextualizes an aesthetic approach within a wider framework of cultural knowledge Analyses and Methodologies--explores potential methodologies for interrogating screen music and sound Covering a wide range of topic areas drawn from musicology, sound studies, and media studies, The Routledge Companion to Screen Music and Sound provides researchers and students with an effective overview of music's role in narrative media, as well as new methodological and aesthetic insights.
Call Number: ML2075 .R677 2017Publication Date: 2017
Hitchcock's Ear: Music and the Director's Art by
Music is an underexplored dimension in Hitchcock's works. Taking a different view from most works on Hitchcock, David Schroeder focuses on how an expanded definition of music influences Hitchcock's conception of cinema. The structure and rhythm of his films is an important addition to the critical literature on Hitchcock and our understanding of his films and approach to filmmaking. Alfred Hitchcock liked to describe his work as a director in musical terms; for some of his films, it appears that he started with an underlying musical conception, and transformed that sense of music into visual images. The director's favorite scenes lacked dialogue, and they made their impact through a combination of non-verbal actions and music. For example, the waltz and the piano are used as powerful images in silent films, and this approach carries over into sound films. Looking at such films as Vertigo, Rear Window, and Shadow of a Doubt, Schroeder provides a unique look at the way that Hitchcock thought about cinema in musical terms.
Call Number: ML2075 .S38 2012Publication Date: 2012
Buffy, Ballads, and Bad Guys Who Sing: Music in the Worlds of Joss Whedon by
When writer and director Joss Whedon created the character Buffy the Vampire Slayer, he could hardly have expected the resulting academic interest in his work. Yet almost six years after the end of Buffy on television, Buffy studies--and academic work on Whedon's expanding oeuvre--continue to grow. Now with three hugely popular television shows, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, and Firefly, and the film Serenity all available on DVD, scholars are evaluating countless aspects of the Whedon universe (or "Whedonverse"). Buffy, Ballads, and Bad Guys Who Sing: Music in the Worlds of Joss Whedon studies the significant role that music plays in these works, from Buffy the Vampire Slayer to the internet musical Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog. Kendra Preston Leonard has collected a varying selection of essays that explore music and sound in Joss Whedon's works. The essays investigate both diegetic and non-diegetic music, considering music from various sources, including the shows' original scores, music performed by the characters themselves, and music contributed by such artists as Michelle Branch, The Sex Pistols, and Sarah McLachlan, as well as classical composers like Camille Saint-Sa ns and Johannes Brahms. The approaches incorporate historical and theoretical musicology, feminist and queer musicology, media studies, cultural history, and interdisciplinary readings. The book also explores the compositions written by Whedon himself: the theme music for Firefly, and two fully integrated musicals, the Buffy episode "Once More, With Feeling" and Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog. With several musical examples, a table with a full breakdown of the Danse Macabre scene from the acclaimed Buffy episode "Hush," and an index, this volume will be fascinating to students and scholars of science-fiction, television, film, and popular culture.
Call Number: ML2080 .B84 2011Publication Date: 2011
Ludomusicology: Approaches to Video Game Music by
The last half-decade has seen the rapid and expansive development of video game music studies. As with any new area of study, this significant sub-discipline is still tackling fundamental questions concerning how video game music should be approached. In this volume, experts in game music provide their responses to these issues. This book suggests a variety of new approaches to the study of game music. In the course of developing ways of conceptualizing and analyzing game music it explicitly considers other critical issues including the distinction between game play and music play, how notions of diegesis are complicated by video game interactivity, the importance of cinema aesthetics in game music, the technicalities of game music production and the relationships between game music and art music traditions. This collection is accessible, yet theoretically substantial and complex. It draws upon a diverse array of perspectives and presents new research which will have a significant impact upon the way that game music is studied. The volume represents a major development in game musicology and will be indispensable for both academic researchers and students of game music
Call Number: ML3540.7 .L83 2016Publication Date: 2016
Nostalgia and Videogame Music: A Primer of Case Studies, Theories, and Analyses for the Player-Academic by
The first multi-disciplinary study of the connection between memory and music in video games. This book allows readers to understand the relationships and memories they often form around games, and music is central to this process. The quest into the past begins with this book, a map that leads to the intersection between nostalgia and videogame music. Informed by research on musicology, memory, and practices of gaming culture, this edited volume discusses different forms of nostalgia, considers how videogames display their relation to those forms, and explores the ways theoretically self-conscious positions can be found in games. An important scholarly addition to the burgeoning field of ludomusicology, this book will appeal to researchers, educators, practitioners, undergraduate and graduate students, and videogame fans and players alike.
Call Number: ML3540.7 .N67 2022Publication Date: 2022
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time: A Game Music Companion by
More than twenty years after its creation, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time is still held in high critical regard as one of the finest examples of the video game medium. The same is true of the game's music, whose superlative reception continues to be evident, whether in the context of the game or in orchestral concerts and recordings of the game's music. Given music's well-established significance for the video game form, it is no coincidence that music is placed at the forefront of this most lauded and loved of games. In Ocarina of Time, music connects and unifies all aspects of the game, from the narrative conceit to the interactive mechanics, from the characters to the virtual worlds, and even into the activity of legions of fans and gamers, who play, replay, and reconfigure the music in an enduring cultural site that has Ocarina of Time at its center. As video game music studies begins to mature into a coherent field, it is now possible to take the theoretical apparatus and critical approaches that have been developed in antecedent scholarship and put these into practice in the context of an extended concrete game example. The most extensive investigation into the music of a single game yet undertaken, this book serves three important primary purposes: first, it provides a historical-critical account of the music of an important video game text; second, it uses this investigation to explore wider issues in music and media studies (including interactivity, fan cultures, and music and technology); and third, it serves as a model for future in-depth studies of video game music.
Call Number: ML3540.7 .S86 2022Publication Date: 2022
Interlibrary Loan
Users are encouraged to search for items beyond University Libraries' catalog via RILM Abstracts of Music Literature and WorldCat. Materials not available in print or online may be requested through Interlibrary Loan. Please allow up to seven days for electronic delivery and up to fourteen days for delivery of physical items.