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MUSC 1645 - Seeing Through Sound: Music and Film in

Mainstream, Indie, and Experimental Cinema


Meeting Times: Thursdays 4:00-6:20pm Professor: Adeline Mueller
Meeting Room: Orwig 112 Office: Orwig 230
Office Hours: Wednesdays, 10:00am-12:00noon adeline_mueller@brown.edu
or by appointment 401.863.3660

Teaching Assistant: David Fossum (david_fossum@brown.edu)
Daves Office Hours: Thursdays, 2:00-4:00pm or by appointment

Course Summary: Film has long attracted artists working outside the mainstream. Yet
most surveys of music and film still tend to privilege Hollywood cinema and the
classical film underscore as the exemplar of cinematic multimedia. In this course, we
will set this important film-music tradition within a wider historical narrative that also
embraces avant-garde and underground genres, from absolute film and the city
symphony to Happenings, graphical sound, and found-footage films. And while the
focus will be on American cinema, we will also bring other significant national cinema
movements into the picture, including the Soviet montage school, French New Wave,
and Hong Kong art-house.
Each week, we will gather for a special evening screening before the class meets
on Thursday. Please feel free to bring a friend! This Featured Screening will usually be a
film set in the music industry, the movie industry, or both. Such self-reflexive films
offer some of the most potent statements on the music-image relationship in the history
of cinema. From the opera film (1915s Carmen), to the backstage musical (1952s Singin
in the Rain), to the mock rockumentary (1984s This is Spnal Tap), we will encounter
films that self-consciously thematize their own score/soundtrack, or in which music
itself becomes a character in the narrative. The Featured Screening, its accompanying
worksheet, and one or two short assigned readings will form the basis of our weekly
seminar-style discussion.
In addition, one or two students each week will lead a short in-class discussion of
a brief clip from one of the 3-5 films on the Curated Clips list. This will be an informal
presentation, a chance to walk the other students through your chosen clip, try out
some of the ideas and issues were encountering as a class, and suggest some questions
for group discussion. Students who are not curating a clip in a given week do not need
to watch any of the films on that list, but keep in mind this will constitute the film
corpus for final papers.
You do not need to be able to read music to take this class! Some music and film
terminology will be useful, for which Ill provide a list of key terms (and, if needed, a
separately-scheduled crash course for those interested). But we will be focusing on
how music and film work in practice, and for that we dont need to look at musical
scores, just the films themselves.
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Assignments: Students are expected to attend the Featured Screenings each week and
complete the accompanying worksheet and short assigned readings in advance of
Thursdays class sessions. The grade breakdown is as follows:

10% - attendance at Featured Screenings
10% - preparation for, and participation in, class discussion
20% - Curated Clips presentation
10% - Short (500-word) writing assignment #1 (due week 4)
10% - Short (500-word) writing assignment #2 (due week 8)
10% - 1-2 paragraph abstract for Final Project (due week 12)
30% - Final Project (due end of Reading Week)

The Final Project can be any of the following, depending on your background and
interests:
PAPER - a 2,500-3,000-word paper on a film or group of films. I will suggest
some prompts, but you may pursue any topic of your choice as long as it fits
with the themes and overall repertoire of the course
PODCAST/VIDEO ESSAY - a short (4-5 minute) interpretive podcast or video
essay on a film or group of films. Must include 600-800-word written description
and bibliography
SCORE/ACCOMPANIMENT - a short (3-4 minute) creative project scoring, or
providing live accompaniment to, an existing film or film clip. Must include 600-
800-word written description and bibliography
Note: If enough students are interested, we can arrange for these Final Projects to be
presented to the class, or to the Music Department at large, at a special semester-end
symposium event.

In-Class Electronics Policy
We will have plenty to look at together in class, so please leave laptops, tablets, and
smart phones at home or switched off and stored away. If you must use these items
during class time, please leave the classroom to do so and I will count you as absent for
the day.

Accessibility
Brown University is committed to full inclusion of all students. Please let me know if
you have a disability or other condition that might require accommodations or
modification of any of these course procedures. You may speak with me after class or
during office hours. For more information contact Student and Employee Accessibility
Services at 401-863-9588 or SEAS@brown.edu.

Course Materials: Films
DVD copies of all the films listed below are on reserve at the Orwig Music Library for
viewing in the library and presentations in class. In addition, the Featured Screening
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films have all been uploaded to Canvas/OCRA for streaming on your laptops. I can
request a limited number of additional films to be streamed, so if you know you will be
writing about a particular film or films for your Final Projects, let me know as soon as
possible.

Course Materials: Texts
The following two books will be the courses primary texts. Both are available at the
bookstore, and are available as eBooks through Josiah, although I recommend having a
hard-copy version for ease of reference and note-taking. I will supplement these two
texts with 1-2 short weekly readings pertinent to the Featured Screening, to be uploaded
to Canvas.
Kathryn Kalinak, Film Music: A Very Short Introduction (Oxford: Oxford
University Press, 2010) - $12 new, $9 used at Bookstore - ONLINE via Josiah
Julie Hubbert, ed., Celluloid Symphonies: Texts and Contexts in Film Music History
(Berkeley: University of California Press, 2011) - $39 new, $29 at Bookstore -
ONLINE via Josiah

Recommended supplemental reference texts:
The following two books are useful to those new to either film or music studies, and are
quite handy references even for those with some experience in these areas:
Annette Kuhn and Guy Westwell, Oxford Dictionary of Film Studies (New York:
Oxford University Press, 2012) ORWIG RESRV PN1993.45 .K75 2012
Michael and Joyce Kennedy and Tim Rutherford-Johnson, Oxford Dictionary of
Music, 6
th
edition (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013) ORWIG RESERV
ML100 .K35 2013



COURSE SCHEDULE

Week 1 Sept 4 - Introduction: Issues and Concepts
In-class excerpts from:
Vertigo (1958) ORWIG RESRV-DVD -- PN1997 .V4795 1998
and ORWIG RESRV-DVD -- PN1997 .A32333x 2005
Taxi Driver (1976) ORWIG RESRV-DVD -- PN1997.T349 T349 2007
Manhattan (1979) ORWIG RESRV-DVD -- PN1997 .M25825 2000
Decasia (2002) ORWIG RESRV-DVD -- PN1995.9.E96 D43x 2003
The Artist (2011) ORWIG RESRV-DVD -- PN1997 .A6785 2012


Week 2 Sept 11 Early Cinema Practices, 1895-1915
Featured Screening (A Night at the Nickelodeon):
Pauvre Pierrot (1892) YouTube - link on Canvas/OCRA
Dickson Experimental Sound Film
(1894)
YouTube - link on Canvas/OCRA
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Le Mlomane (1903) [streamed; physical reserve in process]
phonoscnes by Alice Guy-Blach
(1905)
YouTube - link on Canvas/OCRA
Carmen (1915) ORWIG RESRV-DVD -- M1500.B6 C2x 2006

Curated Clips - Presenter(s) choose one:
LAssassinat du duc de Guise (1908) YouTube - link on Canvas/OCRA
Richard Wagner (1913) YouTube - link on Canvas/OCRA
Birth of a Nation (1915) ORWIG RESRV-DVD -- PN1997 .B485x 2002 (and see
1930 re-release and documentary, online via Josiah)


Week 3 Sept 18 Silent Film Scores, 1915-29
Featured Screening:
Entracte (1924) [streamed; physical reserve in process]
Berlin: Sinfonie einer Grostadt (1927) [streamed; physical reserve in process]

Curated Clips - Presenter(s) choose one:
Ballet Mcanique (1924) ORWIG RESRV-DVD -- PN1997 .A935x 2005
The Phantom of the Opera (1925) ORWIG RESRV-DVD PN1997 .P46785 1997
Metropolis (1927) ORWIG RESRV-DVD -- PN1997 .M436x 2010


Week 4 Sept 25 The Age of Transition, 1926-30
**DUE: Short written assignment #1
Featured Screening:
The Jazz Singer (1927) ORWIG RESRV-DVD -- PN1997 .J399x 2005

Curated Clips - Presenter(s) choose one:
selected Vitaphone Shorts (1926-30) ORWIG RESRV-DVD -- PN1997 .J399x 2005 (= Jazz
Singer)
Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans (1927) ORWIG RESRV-DVD -- PN1997 .S85x 2009
M (1930) ORWIG RESRV-DVD -- PN1997 .M11x 2004
Arnold Schoenberg, Begleitmusik zu
einer Lichtspielszene (1930)
ORWIG RESRV-CD -- M3.1.S36 S45x 1993


Week 5 Oct 2 The Movie Musical, part 1, 1930s-40s
Featured Screening:
Shall We Dance? (1937) ORWIG RESRV-DVD -- PN1997.2 .A877 2005 v.1

Curated Clips - Presenter(s) choose one:
Der Kongress Tanzt (1931) YouTube - link on Canvas/OCRA
Gold Diggers of 1933 (1933) [in process]
drawn-sound experiments by Nikolai
Volkov, Evgeny Sholpo, and Oskar
Fischinger (1930s)
YouTube - link on Canvas/OCRA
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Meet Me in St. Louis (1944) ORWIG RESRV-DVD -- PN1997 .E7759 2007


Week 6 Oct 9 The First Golden Age of Narrative Film, 1930-50
Featured Screening:
King Kong (1933) ORWIG RESRV-DVD -- PN1997 .K5625 2006

Curated Clips - Presenter(s) choose one:
Alexander Nevsky (1938) ORWIG RESRV-DVD -- PN1997 .A32254x 1998
Now, Voyager (1942) ORWIG RESRV-DVD -- PN1997 .T7995 2011
Laura (1944) ORWIG RESRV-DVD -- PN1997 .L3895 2004
The Red Shoes (1948) ORWIG RESRV-DVD -- PN1997 .R4346 2010


Week 7 Oct 16 Animated Film, 1920s-50s
Featured Screening:
Silly Symphonies shorts (1929-39) [in process]
experimental animation by Hans
Richter, Viking Eggeling, and Oskar
Fischinger
ORWIG RESRV-DVD -- PN1997 .A935x 2005
Whats Opera, Doc? (1957) ORWIG RESRV-DVD -- PN1997 .L6774 2011

Curated Clips - Presenter(s) choose one:
Fantasia (1940) ORWIG RESRV-DVD -- PN1997 .F3317x 2000
Neighbours (1952) ORWIG RESRV-DVD -- NC1766.C32 N67x 2006


Week 8 Oct 23 The Postwar Era and the French New Wave, 1945-60s
**DUE: Short written assignment #2
Featured Screening:
Clo de 5 7 (1962) ORWIG RESRV-DVD -- PN1997 .C53x 2000

Curated Clips - Presenter(s) choose one:
High Noon (1952) ORWIG RESRV-DVD -- PN1997 .H4553 2008
Psycho (1960) ORWIG RESRV-DVD -- PN1997 .A32333x 2005
La Jete (1962) ORWIG RESRV-DVD -- PN1997 .J4445x 2003 c.2
A Fistful of Dollars (1964) ORWIG RESRV-DVD -- PN1997 .F49 2005


Week 9 Oct 30 The Movie Musical, part 2, 1950s-60s
Featured Screening:
Singin in the Rain (1952) ORWIG RESRV-DVD -- PN1997 .S52697 2002

Curated Clips - Presenter(s) choose one:
Forbidden Planet (1956) ORWIG RESRV-DVD -- PN1997 .F6735 2006
West Side Story (1961) ORWIG RESRV-DVD -- PN1997 .W4437x 2003 (+ text)
The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (1964) ORWIG RESRV-DVD -- PN1997 .P335x 2004
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Week 10 Nov 6 Jazz and Popular Music in/on Film, 1950s-80s
Featured Screening:
This is Spnal Tap (1984) ORWIG RESRV-DVD -- ML3534 .T65 2000

Curated Clips - Presenter(s) choose one:
Anatomy of a Murder (1959) ORWIG RESRV-DVD -- PN1997 .A53872 2000
Stockhausens Originale: Doubletakes
(1964)
Vimeo - link on Canvas/OCRA
Shaft (1971) ORWIG RESRV-DVD -- PN1997 .S432x 2000
Nashville (1975) ORWIG RESRV-DVD -- PN1997 .N331165x 2000
Jubilee (1978) ORWIG RESRV-DVD -- PN1997 .J784 2003


Week 11 Nov 13 The Second Golden Age: The New Hollywood, 1968-80
Featured Screening:
Apocalypse Now (1979) ORWIG RESRV-DVD -- PN1997 .A6674x 1999

Curated Clips - Presenter(s) choose one:
2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) ORWIG RESRV-DVD -- PN1997 .T86x 2001
Ludwig Van (1970) ORWIG RESRV-DVD -- PN1997 .L73 2007
Chinatown (1974) ORWIG RESRV-DVD -- PN1997 .C45223x 2006
Star Wars (1977) ORWIG RESRV-DVD -- PN1997 .S7424 2004 A New
Hope


Week 12 Nov 20 The Indie Revolution, 1980s-90s
**DUE: Abstract of Final Project
Featured Screening:
Do the Right Thing (1989) ORWIG RESRV-DVD -- PN1997 .D593x 1998

Curated Clips - Presenter(s) choose one:
Koyaanisqatsi (1982) ORWIG RESRV-DVD -- PN1997 .K69x 2002
Matewan (1987) ORWIG RESRV-DVD -- PN1997 .M38 1987
Reservoir Dogs (1992) ORWIG RESRV-DVD -- PN1997.R473 R473 2002
Trainspotting (1996) ORWIG RESRV-DVD -- PN1997 .T6568x 2004
Monsoon Wedding (2001) ORWIG RESRV-DVD -- PN1995.9.C55 M66 2002


Week 13 NO CLASS Nov 27 (Thanksgiving)


Week 14 Dec 4 Global Cinema and the Postmodern Movie Musical, 1990s-2000s
Featured Screening:
Latcho Drom (1993) ORWIG RESRV-DVD -- ML3593 .L38 2006

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Curated Clips - Presenter(s) choose one:
Chungking Express (1994) ORWIG RESRV-DVD -- PN1997 .C4666497 2008
Run Lola Run (1998) ORWIG RESRV-DVD -- PN1997 .L64x 1999
Dancer in the Dark (2000) ORWIG RESRV-DVD -- PN1997 .D34656 2001
Moulin Rouge! (2001) ORWIG RESRV-DVD -- PN1997.2 .M795 2001
Hedwig and the Angry Inch (2001) ORWIG RESRV-DVD -- PN1997 .H3385 2001
Hustle and Flow (2005) ORWIG RESRV-DVD -- PN1997 .H975 2006

Reading Week - Final Projects Due Friday, December 12 at 5pm
(optional presentations during Reading Week, an afternoon symposium if there is interest)