At 7:17 AM +0900 6/25/02, Richard Walker wrote: >on 02.6.24 2:14 AM, Christopher BJ Smith at [EMAIL PROTECTED] >wrote: > >> On the other hand, some guys like Danny Elfman don't ever touch a >> piece of staff paper, playing and singing things into cassettes and >> sequencers and passing it off to orchestrators that are more like >> arrangers. This seems to me to be more than a bit dishonest. I've >> done this kind of work, too (on the orchestrator side, not the >> composer side!) The money is the same, but for way more expertise and >> responsibility on my part. > >There may be illiterate "composers" out there, but Danny Elfman isn't one of >them. If you want confirmation, the Society of Composers and Lyricists >(www.filmscore.org) will sell you a CD of a lecture he gave to them where he >talks about his background and how he works. Elfman maintains that he does >indeed do the writing, on paper and in standard notation, and quite enjoys >the task. His orchestrator, a former Oingo-Boingo sideman, merely cleans >things up and fleshes out the lines. It's an entertaining 2 hours; overall, >Elfman comes off as very intelligent, engaging man who swears too much. > >Richard Walker
I understood from an interview in Keyboard Magazine that he DID read music (I never claimed he was musically illiterate) but preferred to create and communicate to his orchestrator with sequences and tapes, and that the orchestrator was more of an arranger (the last point which does not seem to be refuted in your account.) I seem to be reading different accounts of most of these things (Berlin, Elfman, Williams) than most of you out there. And I am certain that Elfman is extraordinarily intelligent and a great film composer. His sound is definitely personal and distinctive, and I have enjoyed his film scores. My beef was crediting "orchestrators' who are really "arrangers" and that the role of either one is not sufficiently valued in the industry. I guess I should have been more clear. Christopher _______________________________________________ Finale mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://mail.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale
