Jump to content

Theme Of The Month, March 2014: Television And Movie Music


Jim Besser

Recommended Posts

It's some of the most recognizable music across the planet: tunes from movies, TV shows and stage musicals are part of the soundtrack of our lives.



I'm a dance musician, and for many of us it's great fun throwing easily recognizable movie and TV music into trad medleys - the theme from Gilligan’s Island is an old favorite in jig sets.



My friend and cnetter Randy Stein does a wonderful set of tunes from The Godfather. The Molly dance group Gog Magog, in Cambridge, dances to a tune from Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.



So that’s the March challenge: find, learn and record something from the movies, or from television, or from the musical stage.



Since I”m distantly related to one of the Three Stooges, maybe I’ll learn and record their theme tune!



Play a tune by itself, or put it in a medley with some traditional tunes, or whatever strikes your fancy. Let’s have fun with this.


Edited by Jim Besser
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Since I”m distantly related to one of the Three Stooges, maybe I’ll learn and record their theme tune!

Should we try to guess which one? :D

 

But since you're a Morris musician, why not make it into a medley with the "Mr. Softee" tune? After all, Kingsessing's Mr. Softee dance incorporates moves from The Three Stooges.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

Since I”m distantly related to one of the Three Stooges, maybe I’ll learn and record their theme tune!

Should we try to guess which one? :D

 

But since you're a Morris musician, why not make it into a medley with the "Mr. Softee" tune? After all, Kingsessing's Mr. Softee dance incorporates moves from The Three Stooges.

 

 

You don't need to guess, it should be obvious.

 

I have played Mr. Softee. Since I've never lived in an area with those ice cream trucks, I initially though it was a tune right out of Bacon.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have played Mr. Softee. Since I've never lived in an area with those ice cream trucks, I initially though it was a tune right out of Bacon.

 

I, on the other hand, drove one of those trucks as my summer job one year.

 

And coincidentally, I was with the Kingsessing men (having joined them for lunch) when they got this "crazy" idea and proceeded to invent the dance. It was fun to watch it develop. :)

Edited by JimLucas
Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

I have played Mr. Softee. Since I've never lived in an area with those ice cream trucks, I initially though it was a tune right out of Bacon.

 

I, on the other hand, drove one of those trucks as my summer job one year.

 

And coincidentally, I was with the Kingsessing men (having joined them for lunch) when they got this "crazy" idea and proceeded to invent the dance. It was fun to watch it develop. :)

 

 

I have seen the Kmen do the dance, but I actually played it for another side. On a blistering hot summer day outside Watkins Glen, NY. Someone had to hum it to me first so I could learn it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

I have played Mr. Softee. Since I've never lived in an area with those ice cream trucks, I initially though it was a tune right out of Bacon.

 

I, on the other hand, drove one of those trucks as my summer job one year.

 

Oh, so THAT'S how it's supposed to go!

 

In the early 1980s lived in Manhattan, NYC for four years near Mount Sinai Hospital, where I was doing my residency. The Mr. Softee truck that prowled the neighborhood there in the east 90s had a glitch in the music that caused the last four bars to get smooshed together in a way that made tonal, but not rhythmic, sense.

 

I haven't heard it in 29 years, but it was so incessant I can still hear it clearly in my head. Now that I've heard it correctly it makes me wonder whether the trucks play an analog recording or an amplified music-box type mechanism. Jim, given your experience, could you shed any light?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

It's some of the most recognizable music across the planet: tunes from movies, TV shows and stage musicals are part of the soundtrack of our lives.

I'm a dance musician, and for many of us it's great fun throwing easily recognizable movie and TV music into trad medleys - the theme from Gilligan’s Island is an old favorite in jig sets.

My friend and cnetter Randy Stein does a wonderful set of tunes from The Godfather.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vgaghXuAB4M

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Here's one which will go unnamed for the time being.

 

I first heard it in a video of a dance by the terrific group Gog Magog Molly in Cambridge. I liked it and played it at a Morris dance practice, and one dancer - the only one in his 20s - did a double take. "Oh, isn't that XXXX?" he exclaimed. Silly me, I thought it was a traditional tune, not movie music.

 

So regard this as an age test: can you identify this tune? If you're as old as I am you may have a hard time.

 

https://soundcloud.com/concertinist/besser1-mp3-mp3

 

Played on a 30 button Jeffries G/D Anglo.

Edited by Jim Besser
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I was wandering around absent-mindedly humming Jim's tune and thinking, "what is that from?" when the lyrics suddenly popped into my head. Regarding the age test, it's from something that was made about a decade before I was born… :lol:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I was wandering around absent-mindedly humming Jim's tune and thinking, "what is that from?" when the lyrics suddenly popped into my head. Regarding the age test, it's from something that was made about a decade before I was born… :lol:

 

Here's where I got the tune, being too old to know the movie (and having a kid who never watched it). I heard these guys dance it to a melodeon, but could only find a version on sax.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Ay7zU1GpE8

Link to comment
Share on other sites

ha, well....i'm in my second month on crane duet, and attempting the "Godfather" waltz....it's going nicely, but it is a very simple arrangement and i must say that the Randy Stein EC version sounds more like a "duet" arrangement than my current efforts... :ph34r:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've just uploaded the Dr Who Theme: https://soundcloud.com/7wheels-1/dr-who-theme

 

They have played around with the theme quite a bit over the years, so apologies if this isn't your favourite version.

 

I started off thinking that I might tap out the rhythm with my foot while playing, but I found it incredibly hard to keep the rhythm consistent and ended up recording the foot tapping as a separate track... and once you start multi-tracking...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I was wandering around absent-mindedly humming Jim's tune and thinking, "what is that from?" when the lyrics suddenly popped into my head. Regarding the age test, it's from something that was made about a decade before I was born… :lol:

 

I've also been racking my brain trying to place that tune. My wife would place it immediately - she is very good at that sort of thing - but she's in New York at the moment and has ignored by emailed pleas for help. But then it suddenly came to me :rolleyes: and now I can sleep at night again.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

One of my favorite composers and jazz pianists is Michel Legrand.

Here is his piece I Will Wait for You which is the theme for the 1964 film The Umbrellas of Cherbourg . It won the academy award for best song that year.

 

https://soundcloud.com/randy-stein-1/i-will-wait-for-you-by-michel

Edited by Randy Stein
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest
This topic is now closed to further replies.
×
×
  • Create New...