The Silent Film Music Podcast with Ben Model

128 - ep. 74: National Silent Movie Day and Halloween 2026

A podcast from renowned silent film accompanist/historian Ben Model covering the techniques of creating and performing live scores to silent films, as well as a discussion of the language of silent cinema. Find what goes on in the mind of a silent film accompanist before, during and after playing for a show. Learn about the aesthetics of silent filmmaking and storytelling language.

More episodes

128 - ep. 74: National Silent Movie Day and Halloween 2026

Mon, 26 Oct 2026
127 - ep. 73: Go Into Your Trance

Wed, 26 Aug 2026
126 - ep. 72: 2025 Year-End Roundup

Sat, 10 Jan 2026
125 - ep. 71: Phantoms and Pipe Organs

Thu, 04 Dec 2025
124 - ep. 70: Flappers, Roscoe and Laura LaPlante

Tue, 21 Oct 2025
123 - ep. 69: Back to Charlie Chaplin and Harold Lloyd

Fri, 01 Aug 2025
122 - ep. 68: “The Silent Film Universe” mini-episode

Sat, 31 May 2025
118 - ep. 31: Scoring Dracula, Playing for Pat & Patachon, Reaching Younger Fans

Wed, 19 Dec 2018
117 - ep. 29: playing for scene breaks & film breaks, Lee Erwin’s Tootsie Oodles, how’d you get that gig? and more

Mon, 10 Sep 2018
116 - ep. 27: organ sounds from Norway and Idaho, a trip to Hollywood, and using main themes

Wed, 23 May 2018
115 - ep. 26: reinterpreting 1929 Buster Keaton, playing into a film, anticipating mood transitions

Thu, 12 Oct 2017
114 - ep. 25: performances in Tromsø, mood demos, universality of laughs, fitting hits to music (or not), “Diane” in reel 5

Fri, 22 Sep 2017
113 - ep. 24: Stuart Oderman, playing the numbers in Detroit, Show People, The Crowd, DVD news

Fri, 18 Aug 2017
112 - ep. 23: Tromsø, Kansas and Toronto Silent Film Festivals, Hindustan, W.C. Fields, being a 360 creator, Knighthood news

Thu, 20 Apr 2017
111 - ep 22: special “Cruel and Unusual Comedy” podcast episode #3

Sat, 07 Jan 2017
110 - ep 21: special “Cruel and Unusual Comedy” podcast episode #2

Sat, 07 Jan 2017
109 - ep 20: special “Cruel and Unusual Comedy” podcast episode #1

Sat, 07 Jan 2017
108 - coming in January 2017: 3 special episodes of the podcast

Wed, 28 Dec 2016
107 - episode 18: scoring The Bride’s Play, explaining the 1920s jokes, travel to South Korea and Norway

Mon, 01 Aug 2016
106 - episode 17: choosing music for a scene, Boise world premiere, Steamboat Bill Jr, Hammond theatre organ

Sun, 28 Feb 2016
102 - ep. 67: Scoring Wallace Reid in Kansas, Maurice Tourneur at MoMA, and “Ramona” for Kino Lorber

Thu, 24 Apr 2025
101 - ep. 66: Catching up on live shows from the 2nd half of 2024

Tue, 31 Dec 2024
100 - ep. 65: Scoring Roland West’s “The Bat” (1926)

Mon, 30 Dec 2024
99 - ep. 64: The Fierce Urgency of Silent Film Music

Fri, 26 Jul 2024
98 - ep. 63: Scoring Decisions and Transitions

Tue, 07 May 2024
97 - ep. 62: accompanying a Mary Pickford film on campus, Marcel Perez at the Silent Clowns, Monta Bell at MoMA, and more

Thu, 22 Feb 2024
96 - ep. 61: Improvising Themes for Re-Use and Development

Sun, 31 Dec 2023
95 - ep. 60: Music on the Road: Late Summer – Autumn 2023

Thu, 16 Nov 2023
94 - ep. 59: San Francisco Silent Film Fest, Undercrank’s 10th Anniversary, Tom Mix, and More

Mon, 28 Aug 2023
93 - ep. 58: “Potato Salad”, TCM Classic Film Festival, Ernie Kovacs, Undercrank Prods 10th Anniversary

Thu, 01 Jun 2023
92 - ep. 57: Recording silent film scores for Tom Mix and Rin Tin Tin

Thu, 13 Apr 2023
91 - ep. 56: Back to scoring silent feature films

Tue, 21 Feb 2023
90 - ep. 55: Music for unconventional silent films and other purposes

Tue, 24 Jan 2023
89 - ep. 54: playing different theatre or pipe organs at shows in Oct & Nov 2022

Tue, 20 Dec 2022
88 - ep. 53: underscoring “Frankenstein” (1931), leitmotifs and how often to use them, listener questions, and more.

Thu, 24 Nov 2022
87 - ep. 52: William Perry interview (part 2) – MoMA, Lillian Gish, composing orchestrally for piano, and more.

Wed, 19 Oct 2022
86 - ep. 51: William Perry interview (part 1) – “The Silent Years”, MoMA, and more.

Tue, 27 Sep 2022
85 - ep. 50: Serial Queens, Kovacs Music Videos, and the Charming Raymond Griffith

Sat, 20 Aug 2022
84 - ep. 49: Rudolph Valentino, Ernie Kovacs, Buster Keaton, and the Craft of Supporting Subtleties

Sat, 16 Jul 2022
83 - ep. 48: interview with Rick Benjamin, of the Paragon Ragtime Orchestra

Thu, 26 May 2022
82 - ep. 47: accompanying The Patsy, The Cameraman, and Gilbert Gottfried

Thu, 26 May 2022
81 - ep. 46: Kansas Silent Film Festival…and Other In-Person Shows, plus some new Undercrank Projects

Mon, 28 Mar 2022
80 - ep. 45: Home Video Releases, Kickstarters, Marion Davies, Wesleyan and MoMA

Mon, 14 Feb 2022
79 - ep. 08 (re-posted): “A Trip to the Moon” in Tromsø, an Organ in Oslo, live comedy show “Everybody Gets Cake”, Marcel Perez

Wed, 02 Feb 2022
78 - ep. 07 (re-posted): News From the Road, “Peter Pan”, Hitchcock’s “Blackmail”, physical comedy show “Everybody Gets Cake”

Fri, 28 Jan 2022
77 - ep. 44: Exploring the Music of “City Lights”…From Inside the Score

Mon, 24 Jan 2022
76 - ep. 06 (re-posted): Re-Starting the Podcast, Recap of 2014, “The Spice of the Program”, Marcel Perez on DVD, Arthur Kleiner, SFSMA

Sat, 15 Jan 2022
75 - ep. 05 (re-posted): Marathon of shows, Music for Doug and Mary, Organ Benches and Piano Lights

Thu, 13 Jan 2022
74 - ep. 04 (re-posted): “Accidentally Preserved” Kickstarter, getting clues from film intros, return to Boise

Fri, 07 Jan 2022
73 - ep. 03 (re-posted): Two Silent Griffiths (Raymond and D.W.), Music for Weddings and Funerals, DVDs, Alternate Scores

Thu, 06 Jan 2022

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