I begin with an interview. Phillip Johnston, leader of the Microscopic Septet and a prolific composer for silent film, emailed me a set of questions in February 2012. This is part 1 of 4.
Name of Composer: Richard MarriottName of Ensemble: Club Foot Orchestra
City/Country of Residence: San Francisco / New York
List of Silent Film Scores, with dates:
The Cabinet of Dr Caligari (1987)
Nosferatu (1989) with additional music by Gino Robair
Metropolis (Moroder edit, 80 minutes, 1991) co-written with Steve Kirk, Sheldon Brown, Nik Phelps, Myles Boisen, Beth Custer
Sherlock Jr. (1992) co-written with Steve Kirk, Sheldon Brown, Nik Phelps, Myles Boisen, Beth Custer
Pandora's Box (1995) co-written with Steve Kirk, Sheldon Brown, Nik Phelps, Myles Boisen, Beth Custer, Matt Brubeck, Elliot Kavee
Hands of Orlac (1997) co-written with Sheldon Brown, Gino Robair
Legong Dance of the Virgins (1999) co-written with Made Subandi
Battleship Potemkin (2005)
Phantom of the Opera (2005)
Indian Tomb (2006)
Love Suicides (2006)
Metropolis (Moroder edit, 80 minutes, New Score 2009)
Steamboat Bill (2011)
The Golem (2011) co-written with Sheldon Brown, Alisa Rose
The Godless Girl (2011)
Metropolis ("Complete" 148 minutes, New Score 2013)
I. Background
1) How did you originally get interested in composing original scores for silent film? When did you compose your first silent film score, and how did it come about?
Here's a blurb from Wikipedia about CFO and how we got involved with silent film:
"The Club Foot Orchestra is a music ensemble founded in 1983 by Richard Marriott. After a brief career playing dramatic, complex music in San Francisco clubs, they became known for their equally dramatic and complex scores for classic silent movies. The ensemble got their name from a performance art nightclub called the "Club Foot" which flourished in the Bayview district of San Francisco. Marriott, who lived upstairs, formed a house band that came to be called the "Club Foot Orchestra". Two albums released on Ralph Records document this period: Wild Beasts and Kidnapped. The performers on these recordings included Snakefinger, Beth Custer, Eric Drew Feldman, Dave Barrett, Dick Deluxe Egner, Josh Ende, Arny Young, Julian Smedley, Dave Kopplin, Raoul Brody and Opter Flame.
Marriott explains how they started writing for movies:
I became interested in doing something visually that further expressed the ideas behind the music; something that would help put the music in context. I considered projecting slides of experimental art on a screen behind us. Then a friend suggested, after catching our show: "The music is so cinematic, why don't you take outtakes of 1950s sitcoms and score them." I put it under my hat. Later that night I saw a Lily Tomlin skit on Saturday Night Live. She was reading the Dow Jones averages of various art trends. She reported, "Pop art up 10... Op art up 20... Expressionism down 30." I turned the channel. And there was THE CABINET OF DR CALIGARI. The distorted sets and dreamlike atmosphere in the film were the qualities that I always envisioned accompanying our music. The subversive plot was drenched in the unconscious. I was obsessed to write for that film.
The score was premiered at the 1987 Mill Valley Film Festival...."
We didn't set out to write music for silent films - we wanted to find moving images that interacted with the music, producing a synergy that was more than just sound and picture.
2. Did you have a background in composing music for contemporary films before you wrote your first silent film score?
In 1986 I wrote and recorded a score for Lynn Mueller's documentary SILVER INTO GOLD which ended up being nominated for an Academy Award. More scores for the talkies occurred later.
3) What generally is your background in music composition?
At the University of Minnesota I studied composition with Dominick Argento, Paul Fetler, and Eric Stokes. Later I studied composition with Pauline Oliveros at UC San Diego. I also studied North Indian music with Ali Akbar Khan at his school in San Rafael CA. Shakuhachi with Masayuki Koga, Synthesizer design with Serge Tchrepnin. I've been a student of many master Balinese musicians, chief among them Made Subandi and Nyoman Windha.
But the best teacher has been my ear and the desire to recreate the sounds which move me.
4 What types of compositions have you written in addition to composing original scores for silent film (if any)?
I've written 4 operas, 3 musical theater shows, countless jazz tunes, hours of electronic music, incidental music for 4 theater productions, 8 evening-length modern dance programs, 2 evenings of gamelan music, 12 indie films, a Hollywood feature, a Saturday morning cartoon series for CBS, art installations, 6 arcade video games with Atari Games, 8 home video games, 24 educational books and an interactive globe with Leapfrog Toys.
5) Are your scores performed live, or are they recorded in a studio to be synched with the film? If both, do you consider one form more important than the other?
Most of my silent scores were created to be performed live for an audience. Many of these scores were subsequently recorded and synced to picture. One score (LOVE SUICIDES) has been recorded and synced to picture, but not yet performed live.
I love to perform before an audience, each performance slightly different and each audience transforming the event into something unique. And the playing is better when the audience is present.
6) If applicable, can you speak about the challenges and satisfactions of performing the score live with the film in front of an audience?
Satisfactions of performing in front of an audience: answered a bit in the preceding question. Just plain more exciting!
Challenges of live performance with films: sound is often compromised, hearing within the ensemble is often compromised, difficulties of reading the score or following the conductor in the less than optimal light, difficult setups into a small space, no ability to doubletrack, clean up mistakes or "fix it in the mix".
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