Private Lessons

“Sonic artist” Chris Cree Brown discusses composing with new media and how he orchestrates particular sounds into formal compositional structures. Some sounds are made instrumentally, while others are recorded from his environment. In 1980 few classically-trained musicians in New Zealand experimented with synthesized sound and the gloriously large and sturdy equipment Brown uses to create his music will be of sure anthropological interest to many musos. The documentary was recorded with no script to capture the true art of creation.

A short history of movie music is presented, from silent films accompanied by a single piano, to the elaborate song scores for musicals (with scenes from MGM's musicals) and background music for dramas. Conductor/composer

A metalhead gets passed down a satanic guitar that riffs to shreds.

Jerry Wald has to write about radio, visiting Sid Gary gives him the tip it might be more easy for him to write this article at the radio station than at his newspaper office. At the studio they listen to the Boswell Sister's rehearsal, which is interupted by some not so friendly remarks by orchestra leader Abe Lyman, they listen at the door, where a Colonel Stoopnagel broadcast is prepared, as well as to the rehearsal of a new song for an broadcast by Kate Smith.

"Swing cat" Louis Prima and his jazz quartette play songs and accompany featured singers and dancers.

In a nightclub setting, Jimmy Dorsey and His Orchestra, with two of his vocalists, perform four of the group's best known songs. For the complete list of songs, check the soundtrack listing.

Los Angeles 2066AD: The Pleasure-U BioDrone, Kate Shaw's only assistant, has contracted an undiagnosed mental-disease.

A music documentary about Olivier Messiaen's transcendent masterpiece, that he composed in a World War II prison camp, and debuted there on January 15, 1941. This film was completed on the 75th Anniversary of that historic premiere, and features "The President's Own" United States Marine Band Ensemble performing in rehearsal and at The Phillips Collection, in Washington, D.C. (Note by H. Paul Moon)

Johnny YesNo – Redux reunites Cabaret Voltaire and Peter Care almost 30 years later with a completely new cast, a relocation to LA and an entirely new soundtrack remixed by Richard H. Kirk, the film has lost none of its hallucinatory power. The short goes deep into the structure of Peter Care’s original film and the Cabaret Voltaire tracks used in connection with it. What emerges is as much a juxtaposition of times and places as sights and sounds. The tale changes in the retelling, but that change now seems to be taking place on a molecular level. Richard H Kirk has reconfigured the film’s soundtrack, giving the proceedings an ominous sense of something slowly sliding into view from afar, glimpsed out of the corner of the eye.

A newspaper reporter and the daughter of an immigrant maintenance man help expose political corruption in New York City.

Animated interpretation of the Bizet opera, second in a trilogy.

Animated interpretation of the Bizet opera, first in a trilogy

In this musical, a talented aspiring costume designer leaves her small town to seek her fortune in the Big Apple. The girl, who is also a singer, soon begins establishing herself in the fashion industry, but when a rival accuses her of stealing a pattern, her career is nearly destroyed. Fortunately, a handsome, romantic hero is around to help her clear her name. Songs include: "Come Along My Heart", "That does It", "Swing Low Sweet Lariat" and "Is You Is or Is You Ain't My Baby?".

An engine moves from the roundhouse to a track where it couples with several passenger cars. At 2:10 in the afternoon, it starts a trip out of the station through the countryside to its destination. The film consists of a montage of shots, some close up, of the engine and its gears and wheels. With the accompanying ambient sounds and an orchestral score, the emphasis is on the engine's power and speed. Parallel lines of multiple tracks, telephone wires, and trees confirm a careful composition.

At the zoo, the animals have all gone to play baseball. Animals fill the stands as they watch the antics that can only come about from exotic animals who play baseball.

This half-hour documentary by acclaimed director Jonathan Demme ("The Silence of the Lambs") captures singer-songwriter Neil Young and his hard-rocking backing band Crazy Horse "live" in the studio playing a set of four songs. These sessions took place at the Complex Recording Studios in Los Angeles on October 3, 1994, just one day after Young's critically-lauded Bridge School Benefit concert. Earlier that year, Young and his band had recorded the studio album "Sleeps with Angels" at the Complex studios and came back to film a series of music videos. Jonathan Demme was there to document the recording session, which began at 6:30 pm on a Monday evening and concluded at 4:30 am the next day. "The Complex Sessions" is the result of these sessions. Set List: 1. My Heart (3:08), 2. Prime of Life (4:44), 3. Change Your Mind (14:56), 4. Piece of Crap (3:08).

The Gay Parisian is an American short film produced in 1941 by Warner Bros. featuring the Ballet Russe de Monte-Carlo and directed by Jean Negulesco. The film is a screen adaptation, in Technicolor, of the 1938 ballet Gaîté Parisienne, choreographed by Léonide Massine to music by Jacques Offenbach. It was nominated for an Academy Award at the 14th Academy Awards for Best Short Subject (Two-Reel).

The first of a series of six two-reel "Musical Parade" shorts produced in Technicolor for the Paramount 1943-44 production season. The series would continue into 1948, and then were reissued in the early 50's. Songs included "All the Way" and "At the Mardi Gras."

Trapped in the swirling thoughts of a late night shift, a restaurant worker receives a cryptic phone call, guiding her to a refuge from the noise.

A child will over come the odds to achieve her dream.