Would the “River Run Through It” without an Orchestra?

What is really frustrating about the angst in our industry is the lack of creativity in the arguments we make for why an Orchestra is important.  I put a heavy focus on why an Orchestra is important to its own community which is a firm belief that I have, but it seems that there might be a global crisis in confidence with the answer bandied about the most often being the dreaded “shrinkage” (what would we do without Seinfeld) that needs to occur.  So for those commenting negatively about the Detroit Symphony, let me ask you this: What would Star Wars be like if the soundtrack only had a Synthesizer playing?…..

This weekend I do a program of film music and it got me thinking that our very lives have a soundtrack!  Everyday nearly every person will hear an Orchestral instrument or an Orchestra, on TV, and at the movies especially.  Last year in the US the combined gross revenue for Movie attendance, sales of DVD’s and rentals topped $25billion!  The Orchestra plays a big part in those numbers and yet we struggle.

There’s no such thing as background music in the movies, even the genre “silent film” is a misnomer, as live music would accompany every major (and most minor) films before the “talkies” came into existence, so by buying a ticket people were supporting live music!  The same is true of the experience now in terms of how important music is to a film, I mean Darth Vader without the Imperial March is a respitorally challenged  Halloween costume searching for an asthma inhaler, it’s the orchestra that makes him truly terrifying!   Imagine the flying scene from Out of Africa without the music (it’s below!).  Lord knows Lucas, Cameron and Spielberg understand the power and necessity of the Orchestra which they use one in every one of their films.  They could endow a big part of our industry forever and barely feel it!  Lord knows it helped endow them!

The point is that whether it’s for profit or not, in the studio or on the stage, the Orchestra which is so necessary for a film to give its emotional power, has to survive.  The sonority and the colors are so organic and so connected to emotion that no special effect can emulate.  An Orchestra can provide the timeless quality in a film about the past just as it can open our imagination in films about the future using identical instruments, it is the bridge that connects the fantasy to believability, and emotional reality.

Where did these composers of film music experience get their ideas?  I am guessing at least in part in live Orchestra concerts, otherwise how would they understand the power of that sound.  The great film composer Dimitri Tiomkin once thanked the great composers when giving his acceptance speech at the Oscars.   So when I read people’s comments of how it’s not important to support an Orchestra because the audience numbers don’t justify it, it’s outdated etc…..I would just like them to list their top 10 movies, and then ask them to go watch them with the sound turned off, and ask them then if they think the Orchestra is irrelevant and outdated!

We need to turn the argument around and start challenging the “outdated” argument, we at the very least need to start connecting some dots here…please!!!!!

7 thoughts on “Would the “River Run Through It” without an Orchestra?”

  1. It has nothing to do with ‘outdated’ in Detroit. That city is shrinking in size and is in economic disrepair. Attending a symphony orchestra concert is a luxury many cannot afford. I don’t think orchestras in cities like London (the LSO did Star Wars) will ever have the serious financial issues Detroit has. With all due respect to the DSO, I don’t agree with your comparison of Detroit to larger cities such as London, NYC, Chicago, etc.

    • Marvin
      That was not my point, it is not to do with any orchestra specifically but the larger argument of “why do we even need an orchestra?”. We need to start to fight back at the notion that an orchestra live or otherwise is an outdated institution. In Avatar James Cameron spent years and millions of dollars perfecting the special effects, yet when it was all said and done, he knew that in order for the special effects to be truly special, and for the characters to have any sort of emotional depth, he needed a great score and an orchestra! It is not just about Detroit but about the industry as a whole….many places are struggling and our relevancy is at stake, the film score is proof of that relevancy and the fact that not only are we accepted, we are necessary!
      Ron

  2. Ron,
    I completely agree with your message. Orchestra supporters need to be more creative and persuasive in describing their relevance. I guess I am a little frustrated with the attitude of the DSO’s decision to strike. It’s awful that they can’t afford their salary, but they don’t look to good given that city’s unemployment rate.

  3. Augh, This moderated comment list needs a means of retracting and modifying submitted comments, a la gmail and the 30 second or so option of undoing a send.

    In referring to Darth Vader, he is “…a *respiratorily* challenged Halloween costume searching for an asthma inhaler”.

    The trouble with the movie clip, is that I can only turn the sound off. I can’t turn only the music off and still hear the plane engine and wind.

    …and what would the plane engine at the beginning be without the chirping birds?

    …makes one think twice about killing the NEA, NSF or EPA?

    http://www.insidethearts.com/sticksanddrones/2010/11/03/bill-eddins/2882/

    -Grumpy

  4. Augh, This moderated comment list needs a means of retracting and modifying submitted comments, a la gmail and the 30 second or so option of undoing a send.

    In referring to Darth Vader, he is …a *respiratorily* challenged Halloween costume searching for an asthma inhaler.

    The trouble with the movie clip, is that I can only turn the sound off. I can’t turn only the music off and still hear the plane engine and wind.

    …and what would the plane engine at the beginning be without the chirping birds?

    …makes one think twice about killing the NEA, NSF or EPA?

    http://www.insidethearts.com/sticksanddrones/2010/11/03/bill-eddins/2882/

    -Jennifer

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