Music improvisation for silent films has an old and a new “tradition”. Similar to the job of the church organist, at the beginning of the 20th century there were not only composed orchestral works but also film accompanists who brought the moving images to life in the style of the time, sometimes using books of motifs. For some time now, this genre has been enjoying renewed popularity in the contemporary music scene, as it allows a new artistic level to be added to film. Old black and white films (or monochrome colorized) with music of our time.
Questions that arise for improvising musicians are:
Do I want to put the music at the service of the movie? Or are music and film equal partners? Or can two parallel, largely independent levels be created that are only connected by the viewer?
In the workshop we will look at different ways of working with music:
Leitmotifs, atmospheric play to scenes, overall dramaturgy, types of interplay and instrumentation for larger ensembles, dealing with film cuts, transitions, etc.
The big challenge is to stay in the flow with improvised music, while the film offers a fixed, unchanging visual template.
