Movie for the ears LIVE ORCHESTRA CONDUCTS FILM EXPERIENCE

THE CONDUCTOR RAISES her arms and a hush falls across the theater. A second passes, she takes a breath and with a swift downward movement of her baton, the symphony springs into action as the Disney movie opening song, “When You Wish Upon A Star” begins.

However, it is not the synthetic tune familiar to those who have watched Disney movies in theaters; instead, the classical sound of a symphony vibrates through the concert hall in sync with the movie on screen.

Symphony San Jose, like many other symphonies and orchestras, accompanies movies by performing film soundtracks live.

On April 30, Symphony San Jose performed two live film orchestra concerts to the movie “Coco,” a Disney movie about a young musician named Miguel who travels to the Land of the Dead.

According to Robert Massey, the general director of Symphony San Jose, performing film soundtracks that have been reinterpreted for orchestras helps draw more people into listening to classical music.

“By taking some of their favorite movies and thus favorite film scores and bringing them to life in a real concert setting, we move the soundtrack from the background to the foreground and let people see and hear for themselves just how awesome symphonic music can be,” Massey said.

However, film orchestras face the unique challenge of synchronizing with the motion on the screen. Contrasting to traditional orchestra concerts where the conductor is in control, during film orchestras, the conductor and orchestra must follow the motions on screen throughout the performance.

“The conductor has a screen that shows cue markings in the way of visual streamers and dots that indicate tempo and bars,” Massey said. “The conductor and the orchestra are also on a ‘click track’ which is like a big metronome that gives everyone the beat in real time [through earpieces they wear during performances].”

This technology allows orchestras to perfectly complement the film, allowing the audience to enjoy it in a new way.

“For me, this [kind of performance] makes a movie similar to the experience of going to a concert for one of my favorite artists,” Film Composition teacher Alanna Williamson said. “There are a lot of movies with soundtracks I absolutely love, so getting to see them performed live is really fulfilling.”

According to Williamson, music, like cinematography and acting, is one of the many technical elements in movies that enhance the audience’s experience.

“Music is often designed to give the audience an emotional response,” Williamson said. “So when you hear it live, the effect is even greater.”

Band and orchestra students in the Palo Alto Unified School District are also able to experience accompanying films through their annual seventh-andeighth-grade SoCal music tours. During the tours, they visit a recording studio in Disneyland and play parts of famous Disney movie soundtracks.

“It was awesome to see how they synced our playing with the movie afterward,” said Orion Knudson-Criales, a senior who went on the SoCal music tours in middle school.

By preparing soundtracks for different movies as a part of their film series, Symphony San Jose hopes to continue emphasizing the importance of music and making classical music more approachable.

“Today, we take the soundtrack for granted,” Massey said. “Even if most of us don’t pay much attention to it, if it were missing, the movie wouldn’t be the same.” v

Text by MEENA NARAYANASWAMI

Art by CHARLOTTE ANTHONY