Current Issue Volume 3.2. Click here to view Contents Current Issue Information COVER:When the 1959 English Decca recording of Also Sprach Zarathustra with Herbert Von Karajan conducting the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra was reissued on the London Stereo Treasury Series in 1968 following its immense popularity in 2001: A Space Odyssey, the album cover boasted that it was “the original Von Karajan recording” featured in the film. That could not be more ironic as it was the only work used in the film for which no conductor and orchestra received screen credit, because Decca had stipulated to Kubrick and M-G-M that it did not want it known that their recording had been used. At the time many record labels issued recordings of the work and sought to capitalize on the music being used in 2001 by having astronomical art on the covers, which is no doubt why London Records specified that theirs was “the original” recording used in the film.

Editors
William H.Rosar

Reviews Editor
Please send books for review to:
Melissa Goldsmith
P.O. 2028, Ellender Memorial Library
Nicholls State University
Thibodaux, Louisiana 70310, USA

The Journal of Film Music is a forum for the musicological study of film from the standpoint of dramatic musical art. The analytical tools and methodologies of historical, systematic, cognitive, and ethnomusicology all are relevant and essential to this study, which seeks to both document and illuminate film practice through source studies, analysis, theory, and criticism.

Film, though a product of late 19th century technological innovation, viewed historically as a dramatic art form, only emerged as such after the turn of the 20th century, with a musical practice that underwent almost continual development and changes throughout that time to the present day: The advent of sound in theatrical motion pictures precipitated an adaptation in silent film accompaniment, such that techniques were developed to combine it with onscreen music performance, dialog, and sound effects, while also placing increased value on original composition over the use or adaptation of existing music. The tradition and techniques of this practice carried over into radio, television, computer, and other communications media. In a historical framework, This journal examines film and its allied media not only in terms of its own shared tradition, but in terms of its roots, precursors, and parallels throughout music of the theater and other fields of music, both “classical” and popular, from which it has borrowed: incidental music for plays, 19th century stage melodrama, Vaudeville, opera and operetta, musical comedy, melodeclamation, ballet, dance and music hall, as well as forms of dramatic concert music such as oratorios, cantatas, and tone poems. The juxtaposition and clash of musical idioms from the traditions of Western theater and art music with those of popular music partly accounts for the eclecticism that has always characterized film since the silent days. Hybrid styles were born, for example, that which came to be widely known as the “Hollywood style,” in which jazz was combined with European art music (“classical” music). The wide ranging and multifarious background that has contributed to the development of music for Western cinema also influenced non-Western cinema as well, particularly because of the prevalent use of European- and American-published “photoplay music” throughout the world during the silent era which, in effect, produced a veritable international film practice, if one with regional variations, that persisted into the sound era. Systematic, cognitive, and ethnomusicological research endeavors to document and analyze these cultural differences as well as commonalities across cultures and time periods are all welcome topics for this journal.

Indexing and Abstracting
FIAF International Index to Film Periodicals Plus
International Index to Music Periodicals
The Music Index
ProQuest Central
RILM Abstracts of Music Literature

Published twice a year: April and September
ISSN: 1087-7142(print)
ISSN: 1758-860X (online)

Editorial Address: Send all queries to William H. Rosar
Department of Psychology
University of California, San Diego
Mandler Hall - Room 2541
University of California, San Diego
La Jolla, CA 92093-0109

Announcements

John Barry Special Issue --Call for Papers
A special issue devoted to the late John Barry is being planned.
Posted: 2011-02-08	More...
JFM article wins ASCAP Deems Taylor Award
Paul Merkley's article "'Stanley Hates This But I Like It!': North vs. Kubrick on the Music for 2001: A Space Odyssey" published in volume 2.1 (2007) of Journal of Film Music has been chosen for an ASCAP Deems Taylor Award.
Posted: 2008-11-15	More...

More Announcements...