# Stop what your doing and buy this book now !



## ed buller

*Hollywood Harmony*
*Musical Wonder and the Sound of Cinema*
*Frank Lehman*


This is a book I have waited twenty years to read. When I started buying books on the music of cinema it was slim pickings. Mostly biographies , with the odd one out like "Know the Score" but the detail was thin on the ground.

Like a lot of other people I was frustrated by the sound of Hollywood featuring a Harmony that wasn't really taught. The actual note choices seem to be allusive and had no real fixed point in the pop world I lived in. Indeed it was only through late romantic and early twentieth century music ( the stuff hollywood stole from ) that i started to get a grip on where the sound originated. Even then i could only map specific pieces ( Antarctica Vaughn Williams= Star Trek TMP Jerry Goldsmith....... The Rite of Spring Stravinsky= Dune Sea ,Star Wars John Williams ) which wasn't much of a help. Slowly but surely through books and a lot of help with people on the interwebs I got a grip on where it all comes from. Frank Lehman IS one of those people and this is HIS book.

It's a very very thorough recipe book for writing Hollywood music. It has a lot of detail but it's not what you are used to. It's painstakingly put together and will guide you through how the harmony works and is used. How chords are connected and what the system is to connect them. How the sound we all have grown up with from Korngold through to Zimmer is really just the web woven through parallel and vertical pitch choices and how storytelling is related to those choices.......

BUY THIS BOOK !

best

e


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## Jimmy Hellfire

For all the other Adblock users etc.: It's "_Hollywood Harmony: Musical Wonder and the Sound of Cinema_", 40 bucks on Amazon.


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## Paul T McGraw

Aha, I wondered why I could not see the book. Thanks @Jimmy Hellfire for that.


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## ed buller

opps...Thank you ' I'll edit the post

e


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## gsilbers

thats some pretty deep academia stuff. hopefully someone could make some cool explorer videos of the case examples. 
Im always fascinated by film scoring harmony.


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## Naoki Ohmori

ed buller said:


> *Hollywood Harmony*
> *Musical Wonder and the Sound of Cinema*
> *Frank Lehman*
> 
> 
> This is a book I have waited twenty years to read. When I started buying books on the music of cinema it was slim pickings. Mostly biographies , with the odd one out like "Know the Score" but the detail was thin on the ground.
> 
> Like a lot of other people I was frustrated by the sound of Hollywood featuring a Harmony that wasn't really taught. The actual note choices seem to be allusive and had no real fixed point in the pop world I lived in. Indeed it was only through late romantic and early twentieth century music ( the stuff hollywood stole from ) that i started to get a grip on where the sound originated. Even then i could only map specific pieces ( Antarctica Vaughn Williams= Star Trek TMP Jerry Goldsmith....... The Rite of Spring Stravinsky= Dune Sea ,Star Wars John Williams ) which wasn't much of a help. Slowly but surely through books and a lot of help with people on the interwebs I got a grip on where it all comes from. Frank Lehman IS one of those people and this is HIS book.
> 
> It's a very very thorough recipe book for writing Hollywood music. It has a lot of detail but it's not what you are used to. It's painstakingly put together and will guide you through how the harmony works and is used. How chords are connected and what the system is to connect them. How the sound we all have grown up with from Korngold through to Zimmer is really just the web woven through parallel and vertical pitch choices and how storytelling is related to those choices.......
> 
> BUY THIS BOOK !
> 
> best
> 
> e




Thanks for the info, ed. 

There seems to be the companion website of the book where the audio examples are available but I can't find it. 

The buyers only can access the website?


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## ed buller

no I think anyone can.... try here:

http://global.oup.com/us/companion.websites/9780190606404/resources/resources/23/


best ed


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## Naoki Ohmori

ed buller said:


> no I think anyone can.... try here:
> 
> http://global.oup.com/us/companion.websites/9780190606404/resources/resources/23/
> 
> 
> best ed



Thanks,

Now I can access the website.
Before I purchased the book, I wanted to make sure what the companion website was like.


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## brek

If anyone uses Google Play Books, it's on sale there for $15.


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## Daniel James

Looks cool, im in 

-DJ


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## Giscard Rasquin

Me too


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## Kent

Frank is a brilliant musicologist, talented wildlife photographer, and a good guy. I'd say this book is worth anybody's time.


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## Henu

brek said:


> If anyone uses Google Play Books, it's on sale there for $15.



€ 23, 49. :(


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## Henu

Ah, fuck it. Bought it anyway after checking out the free preview. :D Thanks for the tip, looks really interesting!


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## fixxer49

i'm in. reading the intro led me to search for the history of the Universal Pictures logo. 
FFW to 30 sec. That theme sound... familiar?


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## Will Blackburn

fixxer49 said:


> i'm in. reading the intro led me to search for the history of the Universal Pictures logo.
> FFW to 30 sec. That theme sound... familiar?


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## stonzthro

ordered - should make a nice Summer read.

Thanks for the tip Ed.


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## Alexey

I’m so glad I’m here with you guys. Bought it. Thanks, Ed!


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## ed buller

ace....you wont be sorry

best

e


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## JohnG

I'm ordering from Amazon -- thanks for the suggestion Ed.


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## wst3

still love physical books, but in this case I may have to make an exception... does anyone have either the Kindle or Google Books version, and can you tell me if they have the audio examples linked?

Thanks!


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## D Halgren

Ed's review convinced me to purchase as well. Looks like a great addition to my library. Thanks!


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## wbacer

Got the Kindle version just didn't want to wait two weeks for delivery, thanks Ed.
The URL to the companion website doesn't work, it takes you to Oxford University Press but it says page not found so thanks Ed for providing a working link.
Within the body of the text, the audio icons are just there for reference. They don't link to the companion website. Too bad, that would have been a great feature.


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## ed buller

wbacer said:


> Got the Kindle version just didn't want to wait two weeks for delivery, thanks Ed.
> The URL to the companion website doesn't work, it takes you to Oxford University Press but it says page not found so thanks Ed for providing a working link.
> Within the body of the text, the audio icons are just there for reference. They don't link to the companion website. Too bad, that would have been a great feature.



yeah that would...not sure how that would work in Kindle

e


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## tav.one

I'll have to buy the Kindle version as well. It is $10 as compared to Hardcover which is $125 in my country


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## Alexey

I just got through the first pages and finally understood what John Williams does in E.T. flying theme (I always thought there was some kind of modulation, not just going to a lydian chord), though the topic isn't about it.

btw I used the first example as an orchestration exercise


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## bvaughn0402

It looks like the iBooks and Kindle versions are the same price for this.


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## rudi

Great stuff. It looks fantastic. Amazon UK was sold out!


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## dimtsak

Thanks for the suggestion.
I put it in my wishlist.

For those that find it difficult to buy it from their country, it is also available at bookdepository.com with free shipping worldwide.


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## JeffvR

What's the best place to buy this as a hard copy in Europe? Amazon germany = €90 for hard copy.


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## Stevie

What? Just checked, it's around 36€ @Amazon


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## Markus Kohlprath

wst3 said:


> still love physical books, but in this case I may have to make an exception... does anyone have either the Kindle or Google Books version, and can you tell me if they have the audio examples linked?
> 
> Thanks!


In case you didn’t find out till now. I have the kindle version. There are no direct links to the audio examples at least they do not work but the clips are all on the website where you have to search them yourself. I hope I didn’t miss something about that. Anyway very, very good book as far as I can tell after a short visit.


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## gyprock

The book is excellent but very verbose and academic in prose. Reading it is a bit like eating a steak with no teeth. The end result is good but the effort to get there could have been simpler.


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## shomynik

Great! Bought!

Thank you!


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## Garlu

Got it on amazon (for kindle). The printed version was expensive shipped to Spain! 

Thanks a lot for the recommendation, Ed!


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## jonathanparham

This is why I love this forum. Thanks for the suggestion Ed


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## JeffvR

Stevie said:


> What? Just checked, it's around 36€ @Amazon


You're in Europe? I can order from amazon.com, it's $37 but it will take 1 - 2 months before it gets here + I don't know if there are any customs fees.


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## N.Caffrey

has anybody read it?


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## ed buller

yup

best

e


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## wbacer

I have a whole library full of music books but this one covers aspects of film music that the others do not.
The best part of the book is that it is full of score reduction excerpts and accompanying audio clips from composers like Williams, Shore, Silverstri, Newman, Davis, Elfman, Zimmer, J N Howard, Horner, Herrmann, Goldsmith and more.

Yes, the reading is a little steep. The author does take a very academic theoretical approach but the score reductions and audio clips put theory into practice and that's where the rubber hits the road. I don't know if the composers mentioned were well versed in neo-Riemannian pantriadic theory, who knows, but the author does give one explanation as to why the referenced music excerpts sound the way they do. After analyzing each musical example, I said to myself, ahhhh that's how that works, I would have never thought of that, this is a great idea...mine now.

Thanks again Ed, this has opened up a whole new world.


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## brek

For those curious, this is a good introduction to Frank Lehman's style of work:

http://www.mtosmt.org/issues/mto.13.19.4/mto.13.19.4.lehman.html


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## ed buller

wbacer said:


> After analyzing each musical example, I said to myself, ahhhh that's how that works, I would have never thought of that, this is a great idea...mine now.
> 
> Thanks again Ed, this has opened up a whole new world.



yes the same thing happened to me a few years ago. Who knows if the composers thought this way......but the music certainly hints at that tonal approach and by applying these disciplines i was suddenly able to write music that sounded "Hollywood" 

best

e


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## ed buller

brek said:


> For those curious, this is a good introduction to Frank Lehman's style of work:
> 
> http://www.mtosmt.org/issues/mto.13.19.4/mto.13.19.4.lehman.html




This is a very useful Link. Here is the basic idea as a four voice piano part. I had my voice leading checked by Frank !

Basically it's his breakdown of how abrupt modulations seem to happen in Hollywood. An essential trick I think and very well researched . Tis a good world with Frank in it !


best

ed


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## Dewdman42

I have some academic papers laying around here somewhere that were written by Frank Lehman. Browsing through this book, it seems that some of it is expounding upon the earlier work. I agree its quite academic in nature...but worth a read if you're into that sort of thing.


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## alexd

Purchased! Thank YOU!!!!


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## Dewdman42

here is one of his published papers: http://www.oxfordhandbooks.com/view...9935321.001.0001/oxfordhb-9780199935321-e-002

Again, I am just glancing through the book at this point, but some of it definitely gets into the same Neo-Riemannian theory.


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## Stevie

JeffvR said:


> You're in Europe? I can order from amazon.com, it's $37 but it will take 1 - 2 months before it gets here + I don't know if there are any customs fees.



I'm in Germany, that's why I was wondering:
Mine will arrive end of June.


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## fretti

Stevie said:


> I'm in Germany, that's why I was wondering:
> Mine will arrive end of June.


Yeah, for me it shows release date 15th of June and then ~14 days of shipping (Germany), but only when I search for the book on the german Amazon site (then also no shipping fees). Through the link on page 1 it would also be 1-2 months

Anyways: bought the ebook. making myself ready to dig in in a few weeks, thanks for the suggestion @ed buller


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## bryla

Ordered mine from .co.uk
Delivery before June 15th.

I'm a _little bit _ skeptic to this book as the text seems very academic, but have a summer to read it


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## ed buller

bryla said:


> I'm a _little bit _ skeptic to this book as the text seems very academic, but have a summer to read it




It is rather, but well worth getting to grips with. It's very complete so there is a lot of supporting DATA to look at . But the patterns and musical choices become very obvious after a while and you'll really see the synatx and grammer of the Hollywood language .........

if not you know where I live


best

ed


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## jfino

Seems like an interesting read!


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## all ears

I'm also waiting for my paper version which is due to arrive at the end of the month. 
But the comments about its theoretical bias are getting me a bit concerned (Riemann? - I only know Riemann integrals). Any hints on how to fill the knowledge gaps for someone having knowledge only in more basic theory of harmony? 
And maybe we could have a Q&A thread here for those struggling with specific questions when working through the book?


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## ed buller

Ok


don't be scared.....

watch this :



then this :



this:



grab a beer ...then this :



and this:



finally this :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OdVhA19P4-4&t=13s

all these videos deal with connecting chords without using what is called Harmonic Function. So these chords don't have a sense of direction in them like these chords do .....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eurOGIiArHI

the reason this is soooooo useful in "HOLLYWOOD MUSIC" is that we don't want to add music that is distracting and has a built in sense of direction. In fact quite the opposite. We want music to tread water sometimes or have a specific color like AWE.....C Maj to F# Maj ....

this book is a pretty complete explanation of how and why composers for the last 80 years have relied so heavily on "non-functional Harmony" . It is very dense in places but it's all in the book. There really is nothing else you need....and if you can digest it you'll understand why this :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gFDM7JGHGYo

is sooooooo fantastic.

If your Functional Harmony needs a brush up. this IS the best book. Short and and to the point :


Rimsky Korsakov Harmony, a Practical Guide 
https://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/082585699X/ref=tmm_other_meta_binding_used_olp_sr?ie=UTF8&condition=used&qid=1529025643&sr=8-1




best

ed


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## Dewdman42

I would just like to say one thing though, what does "functional" mean according to how you expressed it above? Mainly in film music we tend to need to avoid "cadences", which generally come from tritone resolution or implied by close association; and has an emotional impact that something is being "resolved". Aside from that, anything goes. In classical and pop music, cadences are all over the place and we're very used to hearing it. There is a time and place in a film cue for a cadence, for the express purpose of creating a feeling of "ending" to something, small or large. But often we have to make music go on and on, without actually resolving, yet still bringing the emotional tone that is desired. 

Neo-Reimannian theory just provides a way to connect chords you wouldn't otherwise think of connecting, and creating patterns also, which are neither diatonic, nor cadential. Yet they have structure... is that "functional"?

There are some similar approaches out there which don't fit easily on the tonnetz graph also, and still work, so I personally found the Neo-Riemann thought process at first quite interesting but ultimately I decided it was also a bit limiting by being restricted to such a tonnetz graph. I spent quite a bit of time trying lots of repeating patterns on the tonnetz and found a few, but once you know the ones that generally work, then you don't really need to mess around with such academics IMHO. most of what I found on a tonnetz chart can also be analyzed using modal interchange, which I find a more musical approach.


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## ed buller

Functional as I used it, is chords falling into three categories. Tonic, Pre-Dominant and Dominant . This includes Chromatic chords such as Neapolitan's and Augmented Sixes . It is the driving force behind music from the 17th Century to the mid 19th. Then things got weird.......Neo-Riemannian Theory has many faults . Chords using more than 3 notes being the most obvious but as explanations go in the pursuit behind a clearer idea of chord choices it's pretty useful. It has been expanded upon recently and two excellent books spring to mind. "THE GEOMETRY OF MUSIC" and "AUDACIOUS HARMONY" are well worth having .

as to whether music having structure is "functional " in the examples you give I would say not. "Functional" to me means traditional harmony. Basically Diatonic. Even Chromatic harmony is functional and still has a distinct sense of key and Cadential activity.

as to using modal interchange ...that's fine...but to be honest I suspect when you come up with patterns you like it's no longer what I would call functional harmony...........

None of this maters of course....do what you want...it's really quite tiresome when theory gets involved but I did find learning the hollywood style of music very hard from normal textbooks . And that includes Modal Interchange !. This is the first book I've read that lays it all out and go's to great lengths to explain what we are hearing.

Of course it should be said that there are other techniques that Hollywood has used that are distinct from this. Pitch Set theory springs to mind. As well as some basic Twelve tone and various Aleatoric sounds. Close Encounters is a good example of a buffet of tricks from Strauss to Ligeti . This book doesn't really deal with those but Hexatonic, Octotonic collections and smaller cells are there. And again the chords that make up so many great Jerry Goldsmith Ostinatos are cataloged .

best

ed


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## Dewdman42

staying within the realm of what most people would consider "tonal" is what I think this book deals with more so then pitch sets and stuff like that. its just some methods for straying outside the realm of what you are describing above as "functional", outside of simple diatonic, yet not that far from the tonal tree.

From post-romantic period on, most universities do not have a good basis for analyzing a lot of music that came out after that, they just say "oh well its chromatic now", with very little way to interpret it analytically in terms of structure. Eventually it led later to truly post tonal material with pitch sets and all that stuff, but the period in between is what the lionshare of film music is mimicking and what Neo-Riemann attempts to analyze in a structural way.

I have some white papers I got off the net that get into this stuff with or without Neo-Riemmannian analysis, analyzing John Williams, Star Trek and other classic movies that use these kinds of harmonic movements, but I can't find them right now. If I can find them and/or the links I will post here later.

Lehman's book does not appear to be strictly about Neo-Riemannian theory, by the way. But its definitely major portion of it.


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## Dewdman42

here's one of them, about all the Star Trek movies, which by the way uses Neo-Riemannian analysis: https://www.academia.edu/13616260/T...sical_Syntax_in_Science_Fiction?auto=download

There is another one I had which breaks down a bunch of other films and shows some very commonly used patterns..well...maybe its Lehman's white paper I'm thinking of hahah. Looking forward to reading it again.


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## brek

Tbh, I had just been glossing over any mentions of NRT, waiting for an explanation that hasn't come. So those links were super helpful, Ed. 
It's a much simpler concept than the name would lead you to believe, and intuitively familiar to almost anyone who has ever broken down a film cue.


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## Dewdman42

Here's the paper about John Williams stuff that presented it more in terms of modal interchange. I actually got the reference to this paper from you Ed a couple years ago on this forum. 

https://www.academia.edu/9865115/Modal_Interchange_and_Semantic_Resonance_in_Themes_by_John_Williams


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## ed buller

Dewdman42 said:


> Here's the paper about John Williams stuff that presented it more in terms of modal interchange. I actually got the reference to this paper from you Ed a couple years ago on this forum.
> 
> https://www.academia.edu/9865115/Modal_Interchange_and_Semantic_Resonance_in_Themes_by_John_Williams



Oh I remember this. The cowboy Cadence is classic Modal Interchange . Defiantly not NRT. In fact ( and we are now wandering above my pay-grade ) i'd say JW uses Modal interchange more frequently than NRT like say Goldsmith . He seems to wrap it up in his jazz chops . An again my knowledge of functional Harmony let's me down here but quite often a JW piece is much better explained using that term . Jurassic Park springs to mind.

best

e


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## Dewdman42

Its just different ways of explaining essentially the same stuff. If you read Lehman's work, the star trek paper i posted earlier and the JW Williams one just now..its all related and all kind of the same stuff, just a different way to explain it analytically. With the tonnetz, you get some interesting smooth and easy voice leading, but I personally found some of the more interesting chord progressions on the tonnetz involve two voices changing rather then just one. But anyway, the main idea of it is that the chords are closely related due to voice leading. If you get some interesting chords to use and then bring that back to modal interchange you can fill in the blanks, including more than 3 voices, etc..


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## synergy543

I'm not sure if this was cited yet, but here is Frank Lehman's Dissertation to Harvard titled "Reading Tonaly Through Film - Transformational Hermeneutics and the Music of Hollywood". Inside, aside from big words, there are lots of musical examples.
https://www.academia.edu/4309608/Re...eory_and_the_Music_of_Hollywood_Dissertation_


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## ed buller

Dewdman42 said:


> here's one of them, about all the Star Trek movies, which by the way uses Neo-Riemannian analysis: https://www.academia.edu/13616260/T...sical_Syntax_in_Science_Fiction?auto=download
> 
> There is another one I had which breaks down a bunch of other films and shows some very commonly used patterns..well...maybe its Lehman's white paper I'm thinking of hahah. Looking forward to reading it again.






the most complete analysis of ST TMP i have seen is this : https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=10&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwjarK228tXbAhVfCTQIHcjZAT8QFjAJegQIARBU&url=http://www.filmscoremonthly.com/features/STTMPThesis.pdf&usg=AOvVaw1wA-3T4VlhxbFcXZksqE7v

Fabulously in depth.


best


ed


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## all ears

Thank you very much for the pointers, Ed! This material should keep me busy until the book arrives. I'm really looking forward to studying it.


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## bryla

So got the book... but the website is not up??


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## synergy543

bryla said:


> So got the book... but the website is not up??


Bryla, its working here. Its a bit slow and took a second before it appeared but its up.

[EDIT] - Actually, its not really responding very well - its extremely sluggish. Looks like there's a problem.


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## bryla

synergy543 said:


> Bryla, its working here. Its a bit slow and took a second before it appeared but its up.
> 
> [EDIT] - Actually, its not really responding now. Looks like there's a problem.


Gives me a 404 every time... :/


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## synergy543

bryla said:


> Gives me a 404 every time... :/



This works for me:
http://global.oup.com/us/companion.websites/9780190606404/resources/resources/23/

The above link was posted by Ed on the first page of this thread. Its different from the link in the book which you posted above. And yes, I'm also getting a 404 on the book link so try the link I posted above.


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## Daniel James

Great book so far. Although the main thing I have learned from this book is that even though I am a native English speaker....there are a cubic fuckton of English words I don't know the meaning of. Thank god for dictonary.com

-DJ


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## Daniel James

Also I feel somewhat like this at times : 



-DJ


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## The Darris

Daniel James said:


> Great book so far. Although the main thing I have learned from this book is that even though I am a native English speaker....there are a cubic fuckton of English words I don't know the meaning of. Thank god for dictonary.com
> 
> -DJ


I'm glad I'm not the only one.


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## Divico

Daniel James said:


> Great book so far. Although the main thing I have learned from this book is that even though I am a native English speaker....there are a cubic fuckton of English words I don't know the meaning of. Thank god for dictonary.com


Gonna be hard for me than :D
18 bucks on kindle. You got me.


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## patrick76

Daniel James said:


> Great book so far. Although the main thing I have learned from this book is that even though I am a native English speaker....there are a cubic fuckton of English words I don't know the meaning of. Thank god for dictonary.com
> 
> -DJ



Sometimes academics can really get carried away. It's kind of a built it requirement for them at a lot of places. A friend of mine just applied for a job at a university recently (as a music professor) and had me look at his letter of interest or whatever the hell they call it. It was hilariously wordy. But, I guess, give them what they want...


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## Kevin Fortin

Divico said:


> Gonna be hard for me than :D
> 18 bucks on kindle. You got me.


I'm glad you mentioned that! It was $27 on Kindle last time I looked.

I'll be reading this on the desktop's screen, so I can have a browser on the side to look stuff up.

@ed buller -- Thanks for all the additional info you provided and linked in!


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## thesteelydane

Bought the Kindle version, looking forward to digging in. I wish there was an easy way to convert Kindle to PDF, as I like to do all my studying in Liquid Text on the iPad.


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## Henu

Daniel James said:


> there are a cubic fuckton of English words I don't know the meaning of. Thank god for dictonary.com



As a Finnish person, don't even get me started. Lucky for me, the Google Play Books version has the opportunity to use dictionary on most more peculiar words. Let's just say that I haven't ever used it with _any_ other book to this extent, haha!


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## wst3

It is an interesting read! I picked it up yesterday and I've been skimming it today. It won't be an easy read, but I think I will learn a lot!

Thank for the tip!


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## Daniel James

Henu said:


> As a Finnish person, don't even get me started. Lucky for me, the Google Play Books version has the opportunity to use dictionary on most more peculiar words. Let's just say that I haven't ever used it with _any_ other book to this extent, haha!



Haha my wife is a Finnish citizen and she knows more of the words than me XD Suomi Finland Perkele!!

-DJ


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## gyprock

For those that want to write their own theory text here's a link to a previous thread:



Nick Batzdorf said:


> http://www.dominicirving.com/cccbsg/
> 
> I just found this today. It's excellent.


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## NoamL

Daniel James said:


> Great book so far. Although the main thing I have learned from this book is that even though I am a native English speaker....there are a cubic fuckton of English words I don't know the meaning of. Thank god for dictonary.com
> 
> -DJ



Yep, I'm still only on page 40 after two days of reading.... it's some very dense writing! Luckily the Google Play version lets me highlight notes for things to come back to later, or just to jot down anything I find particularly insightful.

As I said, I'm not even close to the middle of the book, but I found it interesting that he divided film music historically into the two periods of "Classic Hollywood" with its strong Romantic influence and "New Hollywood" which is most of the composers _we_ think of as the golden age like JW and Jerry Goldsmith. He seems to identify film as the one area of music that continued developing the legacy of tonality past the late Romantics (pg 6 first paragraph). But then later (pg 9, 2nd and 3rd paragraphs) he seems to launch a sideways diss at composers from the 90s onwards, especially the new generation of composers "with pop/rock backgrounds", saying that while their scores display "a greater inventiveness of timbre & instrumentation, especially where electronics are involved" there is simultaneously "a greater tolerance for repetition & thematic inactivity." So I'm hoping he eventually gets into explaining how composers like Howard Shore, Hans Zimmer, etc. carry on the legacy of film music in their own ways. He seems to view harmony as the most powerful aspect of writing for film and those composers have their own cool harmonic approaches.

The book seems unique, at least, in even acknowledging 80s and onwards Hollywood as worthy of studying... most of the film music scholarship I'm aware of is OBSESSED with the black and white era of film & composers like Korngold, Steiner and Hermann. And before those studies, film music wasn't considered worth academic attention at all. Of course, from a working composer perspective, the 1980s is practically where music/film marriages that remain relevant to modern writing *start*...


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## ed buller

NoamL said:


> Of course, from a working composer perspective, the 1980s is practically where music/film marriages that remain relevant to modern writing *start*...



hmm.....are you saying music before this period is irrelevant to a modern film composer?

best

e


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## NoamL

ed buller said:


> hmm.....are you saying music before this period is irrelevant to a modern film composer?
> 
> best
> 
> e



Yes, I mostly think so. I think there were many musical geniuses writing in this period. But the way in which music and film were joined is simply something nobody can get away with anymore. When I was studying music in college I did an analysis of Korngold's "The Sea Hawk." Musically it is a fantastic score by one of the greatest composers of the black and white era. But the music is so totally Mickey-Moused even in serious dramatic scenes.... every shot, every action is hit musically.


----------



## ed buller

NoamL said:


> Yes, I mostly think so. I think there were many musical geniuses writing in this period. But the way in which music and film were joined is simply something nobody can get away with anymore. When I was studying music in college I did an analysis of Korngold's "The Sea Hawk." Musically it is a fantastic score by one of the greatest composers of the black and white era. But the music is so totally Mickey-Moused even in serious dramatic scenes.... every shot, every action is hit musically.



Yes that is an extreme example...and from 1940......but you say from the eighties....Yes music from that era was Corney but there's much to learn from it......Hence Frank's book. You certainly can't be as on the nose as this but I still hope that there is a use for aspects of this era in modern film scoring.....

best

e


----------



## Henu

Daniel James said:


> Haha my wife is a Finnish citizen and she knows more of the words than me XD



This probably sounds way more creepier than it actually is, but I actually know that as I know your wife. :D
(Just say greetings from me to her and she can tell more!)


----------



## Daniel James

Henu said:


> This probably sounds way more creepier than it actually is, but I actually know that as I know your wife. :D
> (Just say greetings from me to her and she can tell more!)


Thats ominous! 

-DJ


----------



## Dominic Stein

Daniel James said:


> Great book so far. Although the main thing I have learned from this book is that even though I am a native English speaker....there are a cubic fuckton of English words I don't know the meaning of. Thank god for dictonary.com
> 
> -DJ



Seems like a lot of work for me! 

Thank you Ed.


----------



## pablodelcampo

Just bought. Thanks ed. I can't wait to receive it.


----------



## Dewdman42

All film score composers should be studying Bernard Herrmann and some others from the golden years of cinema as if their life depended on it. These people invented the art form.

Yes there was a tendency in the past to Mickey Mouse some action scenes more so then today. In some ways that was more necessary back then because cinematography was more limited. There can still be a use for it today in comedies and other material, probably not on a dramatic action scene.

But meanwhile there was incredibly great thematic material and emotional content that supports the details of the scene; that is often missing from today’s minimalism


----------



## ed buller

Dewdman42 said:


> All film score composers should be studying Bernard Herrmann and some others from the golden years of cinema as if their life depended on it. These people invented the art form.
> 
> Yes there was a tendency in the past to Mickey Mouse some action scenes more so then today. In some ways that was more necessary back then because cinematography was more limited. There can still be a use for it today in comedies and other material, probably not on a dramatic action scene.
> 
> But meanwhile there was incredibly great thematic material and emotional content that supports the details of the scene; that is often missing from today’s minimalism




what he said !


best

ed


----------



## wbacer

I've attached another recent Frank Lehman article, "Film as Concert Music and the Formal Implications of 'Cinematic Listening'" Looks like an interesting read that's related to all of the above.


----------



## YaniDee

ed buller said:


> I still hope that there is a use for aspects of this era in modern film scoring.....


Er..like melody, harmony, rhythm, thematic development, orchestration?..how old fashioned!


----------



## ed buller

YaniDee said:


> Er..like melody, harmony, rhythm, thematic development, orchestration?..how old fashioned!



indeed

best

ed


----------



## joebaggan

For those that have it, how's the companion website as far as the audio examples being useful in relation to the text? I've found the Adler Orchestration site to be great to listen to along while reading that text.


----------



## wbacer

joebaggan said:


> For those that have it, how's the companion website as far as the audio examples being useful in relation to the text? I've found the Adler Orchestration site to be great to listen to along while reading that text.


The audio examples really bring the text to life, excellent!!!
You can also download them so that you can listen off line.


----------



## ed buller

wbacer said:


> The audio examples really bring the text to life, excellent!!!
> You can also download them so that you can listen off line.



You can ?

E


----------



## wbacer

ed buller said:


> You can ?
> 
> E


I'm on a Mac so I just right click on each audio file link and select, "Download Linked File"


----------



## ed buller

wbacer said:


> I'm on a Mac so I just right click on each audio file link and select, "Download Linked File"


awesome...thanks

e


----------



## joebaggan

Looks like the hard copy on Amazon says it won't ship for 1-2 months but the release date says 6/1. Is this available anywhere else or has the book version not been released yet?


----------



## Dewdman42

I bought the soft cover from amazon and it came right away. Can’t say about hard cover


----------



## tmhuud

fwiw, i have the hard cover so i know its out.


----------



## WindcryMusic

I had wanted to get a physical copy from Amazon, but wasn’t willing to wait for months to get it. Then I checked the Kindle version again. When I looked at it a few days ago it was around $26 or so. Now: under $15!?! Well, that made it pretty easy for me to give in and buy it as an e-book, so I can at least start absorbing the information. Maybe someday I’ll still get a physical copy, if the book is as good as has been implied.


----------



## Michael Antrum

I'd just finished looking at this thread when my daughter texted me asking me what I would like for my birthday next weekend...

Talk about great timing


----------



## rudi

Great book. I just got the paperback version today.
Plenty of material to go over.
My only issue with the book is the size of the score excerpts... small!


----------



## synergy543

rudi said:


> My only issue with the book is the size of the score excerpts... small!


Many score exerpts are also posted in the download link and you can increase the size on your monitor or print larger.
http://global.oup.com/us/companion.websites/9780190606404/resources/resources/23/


----------



## wbacer

synergy543 said:


> Many score exerpts are also posted in the download link and you can increase the size on your monitor or print larger.
> http://global.oup.com/us/companion.websites/9780190606404/resources/resources/23/


I downloaded all of the score excerpts, printed them out, three-hole punched them and put them all in a notebook, great off line resource. Now as I study the scores, I can write on them and make notes to myself. (No pun intended)


----------



## rudi

Thanks for the tip but when I load the link:

http://global.oup.com/us/companion.websites/9780190606404/resources/resources/23/

it only comes up with the audio-clip not the score.
Am I missing something?


----------



## wbacer

rudi said:


> Thanks for the tip but when I load the link:
> 
> http://global.oup.com/us/companion.websites/9780190606404/resources/resources/23/
> 
> it only comes up with the audio-clip not the score.
> Am I missing something?


If you scroll down past the audio files, there is a folder called Additional Musical Examples. Some of the scores are in there. I also purchased the Kindle version so I took screen shots of the scores that weren't in that folder and printed those out as well.


----------



## rudi

Fantastic! Thanks for that


----------



## synergy543

rudi said:


> it only comes up with the audio-clip not the score.
> Am I missing something?


Oh I guess I was thinking of this in which he uses some of the same material I believe.
http://www.mtosmt.org/issues/mto.13.19.4/mto.13.19.4.lehman.html

And here are the pdf examples.
http://www.mtosmt.org/issues/mto.13.19.4/lehman_examples.pdf


----------



## Joshua Campbell

just bought the kindle version... Looking forward to diving in...


----------



## Leandro Z

Just received these!
Any advice in which one should I grab first?


----------



## jononotbono

Just bought it. Thanks for sharing about it! Looks great!


----------



## Joshua Campbell

Maybe start with the Harmony Book...


----------



## DANIELE

So this book it is a mixture of history and theory/analysis, am I right?

I'm always looking for books or courses from I could learn.


----------



## Parsifal666

Leandro Z said:


> Just received these!
> Any advice in which one should I grab first?



They're both good books, but...

if you bought those books before Adler's Study of Orchestration you might want to rectify that. Though there's good stuff in both of those books, I'd give away 100 copies apiece for the Adler (the Forsythe, Rimsky-Korsakov are very good as well). Of course, those books are for the orchestral instruments, so I imagine it wouldn't be what one would want for synths.

This one is indispensable, too imo:


----------



## ed buller

Well they are about very different things . Those books are about the music and how it sounds cinematic . Adler is ok , but I feel there are many better books on Orchestration I’d buy first .

Best Ed


----------



## Fry777

ed buller said:


> Adler is ok , but I feel there are many better books on Orchestration I’d buy first .



@ed buller would you have one in mind ?


----------



## JohnG

I like Adler because it has all the examples in audio. I have a few other orchestration resources but it's my favourite.


----------



## Parsifal666

JohnG said:


> I like Adler because it has all the examples in audio. I have a few other orchestration resources but it's my favourite.



You can't go wrong with the Adler, there isn't a paid composer I know whom hasn't used it...not to mention kept it around as a reference.

That said, the book by Forsythe is very good, the Rimsky-Korsokov.


----------



## CT

Henry Brant's is a great resource as well. I also hear that Charles Koechlin's is excellent, but I don't think there are any translations from the original French available.


----------



## Zoot_Rollo

popular companion


----------



## ed buller

Fry777 said:


> @ed buller would you have one in mind ?




Hi Sorry missed this.


My fav Orchestration books:


The art of orchestration Rogers

Thinking For Orchestra Leibowitz/Maguire

The Technique of Orchestration Kennan

Project Lessons In Orchestration Heacox

Orchestration Wagner

The elements of Orchestral Arrangement Lovelock

Orchestral Technique Jacob

Principles of Orchestration Nikolai Andreyevich Rimsky-Korsakov

Style and Orchestration Gardner Read

Textures and Timbres Henry Brant





i'm also fond of Neslon Riddle and Henry Mancini's books too


best


ed
_
_


----------



## ThomasS

Absolutely brilliant book, even if a little long-winded and pedantic in some parts (for non-academic composers who just want to use it to learn new approaches to harmony.) But he makes a lot of great points and observations, and it is well worth the read. The musical examples are so good that even if you don't like to read it all, you can just copy the sheet music snippets and download the musical examples and study them alone, and it is well worth the price. That is why I like the Google Play Version for 15 bucks, because I can screen grab just the sheet music examples for further study. Thanks for letting me know about this!!


----------



## ed buller

ThomasS said:


> Absolutely brilliant book, even if a little long-winded and pedantic in some parts (for non-academic composers who just want to use it to learn new approaches to harmony.) But he makes a lot of great points and observations, and it is well worth the read. The musical examples are so good that even if you don't like to read it all, you can just copy the sheet music snippets and download the musical examples and study them alone, and it is well worth the price. That is why I like the Google Play Version for 15 bucks, because I can screen grab just the sheet music examples for further study. Thanks for letting me know about this!!



Most welcome. This book five years ago would have saved me so much grief !


If you like this i'd recommend " the Geometry of music " and "Audacious Euphony " 

best

e


----------



## ThomasS

ed buller said:


> If you like this i'd recommend " the Geometry of music " and "Audacious Euphony "



You are costing me a lot of money and time! I checked your other two books , and bought both of them too. 

I'm a few chapters into Hollywood Harmony. I converted my book to PDF with all the sound files embedded on the page where the examples are printed, so when I read it on the iPad I just push the music and the sounds play. That makes the reading so much more enjoyable, and I let them loop while I keep reading, so I really absorb the ideas.


----------



## Dewdman42

I wish I had electronic version like that! Oh well I am old school I like printed books too


----------



## YaniDee

ThomasS said:


> I converted my book to PDF with all the sound files embedded on the page


I have the Amazon kindle version and also downloaded the samples..Do you need Adobe Acrobat to do this?


----------



## ThomasS

YaniDee said:


> I have the Amazon kindle version and also downloaded the samples..Do you need Adobe Acrobat to do this?


You can embed audio (or video) clips with Acrobat if you first make it a PDF, or you can do it with Calibre or Sigil (both free) if it is in an E-Book format. I don't know what the Amazon kindle version is like, but if it is E-Book you can embed it with Calibre, or Calibre can convert it to PDF. Once you have a PDF, just go to the website (see below) and download the mp3 clips, and put them exactly in the right spot in the book. It took me about half an hour. I did this with a few other books that have audio examples, and they make really great reading on an iPad to both read and hear at the same time. 

The clips are at:
http://global.oup.com/us/companion.websites/9780190606404/


----------



## ThomasS

YaniDee said:


> I have the Amazon kindle version and also downloaded the samples..Do you need Adobe Acrobat to do this?


I did it with Acrobat, but if you have a Kindle version I think the instructions are here:

https://www.print2eforms.com/how-to-add-audio-in-kindle-ebooks-and-other-formats/

or perhaps here:

http://www.paulsalvette.com/2012/02/embedding-audio-and-video-in-ebooks-on.html


----------



## YaniDee

Thanks for replying..


----------



## Scott Moran

This book is not for the faint of heart. I have a master's degree in a liberal arts field, have read hundreds of books and found this a tough read because my music theory is pretty weak.


----------



## bcarwell

I am unclear. I want to put it on my iPad Air 2 with the embedded MP3 examples. Do I first purchase the Kindle version and convert it to pdf ? Or the "E-book" - does that mean the Kindle version or is there another "E-book" version distinct from the Kindle version, and where do I purchase it ?


----------



## ThomasS

I don't know about the Kindle Version. Perhaps it is easier to embed music with that than the book I purchased. I bought my copy on Google Play.

Normally if I have an E-Book I embed music clips using the free program Calibre. If I have a PDF I embed the music using Adobe Acrobat.

But I could not find out a way to do anything with my Google Play version except read the book. You can read it on any device as long as you have the password and an internet connection, but not convert it to a file that you can add music to and save to the iPad. So what I did was this:

1) open the book on Google Play and hit screen capture for each page (using Snag-it). I set each screen to have two pages, so the number of images was half the number of pages in the book. I set Snag-it to capture tightly around the text of the book, so the words were maximized in each image.

2) save the pages in one folder in order.

3) in the folder select all the images and right click (Win) and take the option "combine files in Acrobat." (Of course this will only work if you have Adobe Acrobat on your computer, but I am sure other programs can also combine image files into one PDF.)

4) now you have a PDF version of the book which you can put on your iPad. If you want you can go to tools in the upper right of Acrobat - then "text recognition" and let Acrobat read the whole book (takes about 5 minutes) and then save it, and from then on you can search for any word in the book to find things quickly. 

5) download all the clips at http://global.oup.com/us/companion.websites/9780190606404/

6) Start reading the book in Acrobat and each spot where there is an example, select Tools - Interactive Objects - Sound File (in the upper right) and draw a little music fader next to the example. Select the appropriate file from your directory of clips and it will be there. To do this fast, use the search function on the word "Figure" and it will take you the the next spot in the book with an example, and repeat the process until all the clips are embeded.

This sounds like a lot of work, but once you get the hang of it, it doesn't take more than 30 minutes to an hour if you do it quickly, and well worth the time because reading the book is a pleasure when you have a version that you can hear the examples playing while you are reading. With this book I read the book a lot while doing it, and as I embeded the music I listened to them once each, so if you want to take more than an hour but combine making the PDF along with studying it is even more rewarding. 

Once you do this, I don't recommend sharing your PDF with anyone, and definitely don't post it on the net, because it is not only a violation of copyright, but also the author and publisher did a lot of great work writing the book and if a bootleg copy of such a great book got out it would be copied everywhere. But you are free for your own use to adjust the format of a book you purchased.

As I said, to do this you need Adobe Acrobat or another program that makes PDF's from multiple images, and a screen capture utility like Snag-it. But there are links above about how to convert Kindle Books directly, and if you can do that it will save time, and then you can use Calibre to embed the music.

Good luck, and if you like this book, I am now reading "Audacious Euphony" and "The Geometry of Music" which Ed (who started this thread) recommended, and they are related to "Hollywood Harmony" and helpful if you like the subject.


----------



## ism

ThomasS said:


> I don't know about the Kindle Version. Perhaps it is easier to embed music with that than the book I purchased. I bought my copy on Google Play.
> 
> Normally if I have an E-Book I embed music clips using the free program Calibre. If I have a PDF I embed the music using Adobe Acrobat.
> 
> But I could not find out a way to do anything with my Google Play version except read the book. You can read it on any device as long as you have the password and an internet connection, but not convert it to a file that you can add music to and save to the iPad. So what I did was this:
> 
> 1) open the book on Google Play and hit screen capture for each page (using Snag-it). I set each screen to have two pages, so the number of images was half the number of pages in the book. I set Snag-it to capture tightly around the text of the book, so the words were maximized in each image.
> 
> 2) save the pages in one folder in order.
> 
> 3) in the folder select all the images and right click (Win) and take the option "combine files in Acrobat." (Of course this will only work if you have Adobe Acrobat on your computer, but I am sure other programs can also combine image files into one PDF.)
> 
> 4) now you have a PDF version of the book which you can put on your iPad. If you want you can go to tools in the upper right of Acrobat - then "text recognition" and let Acrobat read the whole book (takes about 5 minutes) and then save it, and from then on you can search for any word in the book to find things quickly.
> 
> 5) download all the clips at http://global.oup.com/us/companion.websites/9780190606404/
> 
> 6) Start reading the book in Acrobat and each spot where there is an example, select Tools - Interactive Objects - Sound File (in the upper right) and draw a little music fader next to the example. Select the appropriate file from your directory of clips and it will be there. To do this fast, use the search function on the word "Figure" and it will take you the the next spot in the book with an example, and repeat the process until all the clips are embeded.
> 
> This sounds like a lot of work, but once you get the hang of it, it doesn't take more than 30 minutes to an hour if you do it quickly, and well worth the time because reading the book is a pleasure when you have a version that you can hear the examples playing while you are reading. With this book I read the book a lot while doing it, and as I embeded the music I listened to them once each, so if you want to take more than an hour but combine making the PDF along with studying it is even more rewarding.
> 
> Once you do this, I don't recommend sharing your PDF with anyone, and definitely don't post it on the net, because it is not only a violation of copyright, but also the author and publisher did a lot of great work writing the book and if a bootleg copy of such a great book got out it would be copied everywhere. But you are free for your own use to adjust the format of a book you purchased.
> 
> As I said, to do this you need Adobe Acrobat or another program that makes PDF's from multiple images, and a screen capture utility like Snag-it. But there are links above about how to convert Kindle Books directly, and if you can do that it will save time, and then you can use Calibre to embed the music.
> 
> Good luck, and if you like this book, I am now reading "Audacious Euphony" and "The Geometry of Music" which Ed (who started this thread) recommended, and they are related to "Hollywood Harmony" and helpful if you like the subject.





How are you finding "The geometry of music"? I hear it uses orbinfolds, which can be useful in quantum field theory for sure, but the introduction promise it will be helpful for actual composition.


----------



## bdr

I’m only just catching up on this book. I must say the flowery and verbose language is making it a pretty hard slog, and I teach at college level. I’d love to read a 50 page summary of this book.
Great concepts btw.


----------



## Ilko Birov

bdr said:


> I’m only just catching up on this book. I must say the flowery and verbose language is making it a pretty hard slog, and I teach at college level. I’d love to read a 50 page summary of this book.
> Great concepts btw.


Larry David ftw!


----------



## Kent

bdr said:


> I’m only just catching up on this book. I must say the flowery and verbose language is making it a pretty hard slog, and I teach at college level. I’d love to read a 50 page summary of this book.
> Great concepts btw.


What’s flowery and verbose about it? Is there a passage that comes to mind?

I usually find Lehman’s writing style to be relatively compact and succinct.


----------



## R10k

kmaster said:


> What’s flowery and verbose about it? Is there a passage that comes to mind?
> 
> I usually find Lehman’s writing style to be relatively compact and succinct.


From one of the reviews…

“First is the insistance of music theorists to write using a needlessly uncommon and difficult vocabulary.
Why use the word desideratum when the word desire would suffice?
The subject is difficult enough without having to negotiate the authors whim for showing off his Latin.”


----------



## Kent

R10k said:


> Why use the word desideratum when the word desire would suffice?


That is an interesting example they gave, because _desideratum_ and _desire_ have two different (though related) meanings:

*desideratum* - something desired as essential
*desire *- a longing or craving

Maybe I think differently from you (and that reviewer) on the matter, because using one word in the place of (at least) four—to me—seems to be the opposite of verbose and a clear example of compact/succinct writing. 

_d̶e̶ ̶g̶u̶s̶t̶i̶b̶u̶s̶ ̶n̶o̶n̶ ̶d̶i̶s̶p̶u̶t̶a̶n̶d̶u̶m̶ ̶e̶s̶t̶_ there is no accounting for taste 🤷🏻‍♂️ 🙂


----------



## R10k

kmaster said:


> That is an interesting example they gave, because _desideratum_ and _desire_ have two different (though related) meanings:
> 
> *desideratum* - something desired as essential
> *desire *- a longing or craving
> 
> Maybe I think differently from you (and that reviewer) on the matter, because using one word in the place of (at least) four—to me—seems to be the opposite of verbose and a clear example of compact/succinct writing.
> 
> _d̶e̶ ̶g̶u̶s̶t̶i̶b̶u̶s̶ ̶n̶o̶n̶ ̶d̶i̶s̶p̶u̶t̶a̶n̶d̶u̶m̶ ̶e̶s̶t̶_ there is no accounting for taste 🤷🏻‍♂️ 🙂


"Something desirable" is two words, and instantly understandable by the vast majority of people. So, it doesn't need to be four or more words. Anyway, the point is that, as bdr put it, 'flowery' language (ie: uncommon terms), while potentially more compact/succinct, are more difficult to understand if you're not familiar with them. And, that's what makes things a slog. If you're writing a book for everyone, it's best to use terms common to the majority.


----------



## Kent

R10k said:


> "Something desirable" is two words, and instantly understandable by the vast majority of people. So, it doesn't need to be four or more words.


Well, _here_ the point is that it's a _necessary_ or _essential_ thing, not just a nice-to-have. Those two words you've given are still not sufficient to convey that particular meaning.

But beyond that—


R10k said:


> If you're writing a book for everyone, it's best to use terms common to the majority.


—you're right. This is _not_ a pop-film-musicology book (in fact, I'm not sure I know of anything that deals with, say, Neo-Riemannian transforms in film music that _is_ geared toward a broad popular audience in anything more than an over-simplified, pseudo-intellectual, prescriptivist way), and should not be judged as one.


----------



## ism

R10k said:


> Why use the word desideratum when the word desire would suffice?



Desideratum is an English word, and it has significant connotation beyond more prosaic alternatives, which it conveys concisely. The essential nature of the things desired is a part of it.

ie "the desideratum of the great powers in WWI was the colonial posessions of the Levant". They didn't just casually desire to get their grubby colonialist paws on other people's countries, they were willing to sacrifice millions of lives to do so.


----------



## R10k

kmaster said:


> Well, _here_ the point is that it's a _necessary_ or _essential_ thing, not just a nice-to-have. Those two words you've given are still not sufficient to convey that particular meaning.
> 
> But beyond that—
> 
> —you're right. This is _not_ a pop-film-musicology book (in fact, I'm not sure I know of anything that deals with, say, Neo-Riemannian transforms in film music that _is_ geared toward a broad popular audience in anything more than an over-simplified, pseudo-intellectual, prescriptivist way), and should not be judged as one.


Well about the words - I won't debate what terms would satisfy you in this case, but I will say that whatever the point of the original sentence, it could've been rephrased so that it can be both succinct and formed with common terms.


----------



## R10k

ism said:


> Desideratum is an English word, and it has significant connotation beyond more prosaic alternatives, which it conveys concisely. The essential nature of the things desired is a part of it.
> 
> ie "the desideratum of the great powers in WWI was the colonial posessions of the Levant". They didn't just casually desire to get their grubby colonialist paws on other people's countries, they were willing to sacrifice millions of lives to do so.


Desideratum is definitely the most concise word to use when someone wants to describe something that desideratum describes!

The point is obviously that people come to a book like this to learn about the subject, most likely not to increase their English vocab. I read the book for five minutes and noticed 20 words I'd never seen before. I appreciate conciseness. But, to a point.

I realise you were just commenting on the word. I just had to add that last bit


----------



## ism

R10k said:


> Desideratum is definitely the most concise word to use when someone wants to describe something that desideratum describes!


So long as we agree that desideratum is a great word, then I'm good.


----------



## R10k

ism said:


> So long as we agree that desideratum is a great word, then I'm good.


Haha, we are in agreement.


----------



## RSK

I've had this book for over a year now, and agree that the author's excessively academic writing style makes it a difficult read.


----------



## Studio E

I had forgotten that I had this. I read it a bit, but admittedly, it was pretty difficult for me. That said, I totally used a bit of it in a piece I was commissioned for, within a month of reading it, and it was completely awesome and nothing I would have come up with on my own. I owe it to myself to continue with it, for sure.


----------



## jbuhler

The book’s primary audience is other music theorists and secondarily academics interested in film music. Its word choices reflect that. You may as well complain about the use of acronyms on VI-C. 

That said the book is very approachable compared to most other music theory, and especially other music theory focused on Neo-Riemannian Theory. (Professional music theorist here.)


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## Al Maurice

You may find this resource handy too, it covers much of similar ground -- also by Frank Lehman:








Film Music and Neo-Riemannian Theory


"Film Music and Neo-Riemannian Theory" published on by Oxford University Press.




www.oxfordhandbooks.com


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## cmillar

I'll sell my copy to someone in the USA.

Bought it a year or more ago, it's like brand-new condition.

Great music excerpts to play through, but the whole Neo-Reimannian just isn't that interesting to me.

Will sell for $22 (shipping included, USA only sorry)


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## quickbrownf0x

Nice. Bought it. Reading it now. 
I noticed some are having second thoughts because of the cost, but is 20, 30 bucks really worth getting up in arms over, or is that just me sounding like a privileged arse?

If it can help you become a better composer 30 bucks or whatever sounds like a reasonable investment, right? That's like a few cheese sandwiches or ehr... say, half an 8dio Misfit Fiddle. 

Plus, writing a book like this is tough. I'm happy to support something like that.


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## Syncopator

Kent said:


> What’s flowery and verbose about it? Is there a passage that comes to mind?
> 
> I usually find Lehman’s writing style to be relatively compact and succinct.


Apologies for being so late to this thread. I suspect instead of _verbose,_ @bdr perhaps meant _sesquipedalian. _

(I feel the need to "apologize" for using that word in a discussion and critique of an author who uses too many big words. But that's the correct word.) 😂

I, too, find that Lehman frequently and gratuitously opts for obscure or rarely-used words. For example, he writes "fin-de-siècle Europe" instead of "turn-of-the century Europe." Why? Does "fin-de-siècle" convey a particular nuance that "turn-of-the-century" doesn't? No.

What's the point of using obscure terms that have perfectly equivalent common terms? There's none, in my opinion, beyond pretentiousness. Especially when employed in paragraph after paragraph. It seems Lehman is trying hard to _impress._

I'm greatly looking forward to getting to the "meat" of this book—*the harmonic analysis.* But as I work my way through the book methodically, I agree that Lehman's word choices are repeatedly, and annoyingly, superfluous.


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## proxima

Oh how I wanted to like this book. Usually academic prose doesn't get to me (it's part of my day job), but this book is unnecessarily over the top. You'd also benefit from either having good sight reading skills or sitting in front of a piano/keyboard.

With _that_ endorsement, I'd be happy to mail my copy to anyone with a mailing address in the continental U.S. I'd be happy knowing it's going to better use (and appreciate if you don't, that you give it to someone else still).

EDIT: Claimed!


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## ism

Syncopator said:


> I, too, find that Lehman frequently and gratuitously opts for obscure or rarely-used words. For example, he writes "fin-de-siècle Europe" instead of "turn-of-the century Europe." Why? Does "fin-de-siècle" convey a particular nuance that "turn-of-the-century" doesn't? No.



My sense is that the former phrasing evokes a particular sense of the the time - the zeitgeist, I suppose. While turn-of-the-century evokes a more neutral sense of a time period.


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## gyprock

Many years ago, before the days of the internet and mobile phones, I spent a year travelling in Europe. I had a lot of time on my hands and I bought a vocabulary building book along the lines of "1000 words you absolutely need to know to impress royalty and influential people". I devoured this book memorising big and rarely used words that I had never heard of. I became an obnoxious little turd because I would drop these words into normal conversation and people started avoiding me like the plague. Since that time I’ve reverted back to a mono syllabic world and have regained my popularity - and yes, I too, have found the Lehman book a dirge.


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## jbuhler

Syncopator said:


> Apologies for being so late to this thread. I suspect instead of _verbose,_ @bdr perhaps meant _sesquipedalian. _
> 
> (I feel the need to "apologize" for using that word in a discussion and critique of an author who uses too many big words. But that's the correct word.) 😂
> 
> I, too, find that Lehman frequently and gratuitously opts for obscure or rarely-used words. For example, he writes "fin-de-siècle Europe" instead of "turn-of-the century Europe." Why? Does "fin-de-siècle" convey a particular nuance that "turn-of-the-century" doesn't? No.
> 
> What's the point of using obscure terms that have perfectly equivalent common terms? There's none, in my opinion, beyond pretentiousness. Especially when employed in paragraph after paragraph. It seems Lehman is trying hard to _impress._
> 
> I'm greatly looking forward to getting to the "meat" of this book—*the harmonic analysis.* But as I work my way through the book methodically, I agree that Lehman's word choices are repeatedly, and annoyingly, superfluous.


"fin-de-siècle" is the usual term used to describe the period around 1900 in music history—it is utterly ordinary usage—so it is a poorly chosen example to illustrate gratuitous vocabulary. Lehman also likes word play. And his expansive vocabulary in the book rather mirrors the feel of the expansive harmony that the book theorizes. So I would say even there the vocabulary is not really superfluous.


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## Rob

Found it full of interesting concepts, well worth having to read sentences more times to grasp the meaning... but English is not my language


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## GtrString

I'll see if I can make a royalty free cue to fund it, Rachnim.. Rachmalli.. Rachcerin.. the style they r talking about!

Im all for serious books that isn't just about creating some random sounds to picture, having a college dude discover it, and turning it into some posh universal theory for everyone to replicate


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## HorNet505

ed buller said:


> *Hollywood Harmony*
> *Musical Wonder and the Sound of Cinema*
> *Frank Lehman*
> 
> 
> This is a book I have waited twenty years to read. When I started buying books on the music of cinema it was slim pickings. Mostly biographies , with the odd one out like "Know the Score" but the detail was thin on the ground.
> 
> Like a lot of other people I was frustrated by the sound of Hollywood featuring a Harmony that wasn't really taught. The actual note choices seem to be allusive and had no real fixed point in the pop world I lived in. Indeed it was only through late romantic and early twentieth century music ( the stuff hollywood stole from ) that i started to get a grip on where the sound originated. Even then i could only map specific pieces ( Antarctica Vaughn Williams= Star Trek TMP Jerry Goldsmith....... The Rite of Spring Stravinsky= Dune Sea ,Star Wars John Williams ) which wasn't much of a help. Slowly but surely through books and a lot of help with people on the interwebs I got a grip on where it all comes from. Frank Lehman IS one of those people and this is HIS book.
> 
> It's a very very thorough recipe book for writing Hollywood music. It has a lot of detail but it's not what you are used to. It's painstakingly put together and will guide you through how the harmony works and is used. How chords are connected and what the system is to connect them. How the sound we all have grown up with from Korngold through to Zimmer is really just the web woven through parallel and vertical pitch choices and how storytelling is related to those choices.......
> 
> BUY THIS BOOK !
> 
> best
> 
> e



yes I got it now as well - did anyone already created audio files from the examples?


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## AEF

interesting concepts, terrible read. i also am certain that the great film composers of the 20th century werent consciously using this system. its really the harmonic language of wagner and mahler etc etc but made to fit with picture (so without traditional form or resolution).

This type of analysis is great for giving meaning to something after the fact.


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