Film Musicology.

[Anonymous]

Hi everyone!!

This may seem a little off-topic but I really am a huge Danny Elman fan and I’ve been lurking here for a while ;o)

I am currently in my second year of a three year course at university in the UK and am studying for a degree in music. My ambition is to become a Film Musicologist but I don’t really know where to start. I am really enthusiastic about the subject and have almost decided to do a Masters (a further year) in Musicology (specialising in film) after I finish my BMus course. Other than that, I have no idea how I would go about becoming a Musicologist and would really appreciate some advice. I would like to look into the journalism aspect of Film Musicology (writing reviews, articles for journals, criticism etc.) but I would also like to hear ANY suggestions about other areas covered by Film Musicology.

All help will be GREATLY appreciated so if you can give me any advice, point me to any websites, books, journals, magazines etc. please let me know!!

Rachael.

[Anonymous]

Hi Rachael. Pity you use AOL – I was trying to guess which university you go to. :o) In terms of academia, film music study has only recently thawed as a respectable subject in the UK (we’re always a bit behind America, in case you hadn’t noticed!), so I guess you’ve come into things at just the right time. I confess I don’t know if there is a strict path. In some cases people have told me it’s not what you know but who you know (the usual, I guess), and that perhaps your lecturers might be the best to advise as to who to contact for specific journals. Bombarding the editor of your targeted popular audience music/film/film music magazine might do some good, especially if you have some examples of journalism/criticism to show off. These editors generally have lists of regular and occasional reviewers they call upon, so knowing what your strengths are etc etc means you might be contacted if they need someone new or need to cover. Getting your foot in the door and getting a few items from that might then snowball. If you’d have been interested in anything other than film music, I’d have advised that you also look into programme note writing, and from there into CD liner note writing – both can net you decent money as you build up a repertoire of specialist subjects and pre-written texts – but film music doesn’t really call for that very much. A Masters degree sounds like a good option. Why not take a film music-like subject, and with your resulting dissertation (I assume you’d be doing something like that?), you could then suggest article titles based on it to journal editors. I know of plenty of PhD graduates who do this with their more ample body of work (sometimes getting contracted for a book, but more usually they manage to get an article or two published), but don’t see why you shouldn’t try you luck with a Master’s thesis so long as the topic is relevant and interesting. One thing’s for certain – unless you get some kind of a contract (regular columnist, reviews editor, etc.) you might find the initial going slow, so don’t give up (looking for) your day job.

Gee, I’m out of ideas. Anyone else got any? Hey, maybe Ryan needs a reviewer for Cinemusic! Don’t know whether it pays well though. : o P Sites like that, especially the well-known ones, do at least get your name in lights, and though they don’t cut the mustard with any application for an academic journal, they might help with print magazines. You could write a review for my Elfman site (says the ever enterprising Blunt) but I pay zilch. Except the server blood money of course. And my site’s red. Not a good CV colour. : o )

Blunt

[Anonymous]

Hey!!

Thank you very much for all your advice – you’ve given me some great ideas that I’m going to follow up on :o) Guess I’ll have to start writing then, eh? My department decided to run a film music course this semester. It was only for 3rd year students though and it didn’t fit in with my timetable so I couldn’t sit in on the lectures either. I will cry if they don’t run it next year!! ;o)

Thank you so much – you’ve been really helpful.

[Anonymous]

You could write a book! And charge $100 for it! Because… sadly… you would not be able to sell very many of such a book… But I would more than likely buy it, seeing as there are not many such books. You’d have to charge less than $100 for it, you greedy swine! I don’t have that kind of money to spend on books.
You could host your own film musicology website, with reviews of soundtracks to pay the bills (does that pay the bills? Clemmenson seems to have some kind of monetary influx. Do you, Ryan?) You could post articles of studies into your science to keep up reader interests. I could definitely dig some online film music theory.

-+>Joe

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