32-6631 The Film Score: A Survey of the Craft

This course is an exhaustive review of the development of film scoring art and craft, from the generic cues written to accompany silent film and the defining work of Max Steiner and Erich Korngold to Golden Age auteurs such as Herrmann and Bernstein and contemporary composers/producers like Hans Zimmer, Danny Elfman and Thomas Newman. The emphasis is on the unique musical vocabulary of the film score and on learning to recognize the signatures of benchmark composers. Students will conduct detailed analyses of both written and recorded examples, with a concentration on contemporary harmony and voicing and the study of dramatic construction.

3 Credits
Requisites CONCURRENT: 32-6630 History of Cinema