Sounding Funny - Sound and Comedy Cinema - Mark Evans
Humour Between The Keys
Sounding Funny - Sound and Comedy Cinema - Mark Evans
Peter Morris [+]
University of Surrey
Originally trained as a concert pianist at the Royal Academy of Music, Peter Morris moved into research in areas such as artificial intelligence, mathematical modeling, human interface design, systems usability and mapping the usage of the Internet across Europe. Realising the folly of all of this, he returned to music and has spent 10 years researching music for animated cartoons and especially the compositions of Scott Bradley. This resulted in Peter being commissioned to create a suite of Bradley's Tom and Jerry music that was performed at the BBC Proms in 2013. Other research interests include computer-mediated composition, especially using SuperCollider, and the work of Stephen Sondheim. Peter is currently a Senior Teaching Fellow at the University of Surrey in the UK.
Description
Humour between the Keys is an analysis of the music used in The Cat Concerto (MGM 1947). The paper looks at how Scott Bradley constructed his score from the original Liszt Hungarian Rhapsody, what changes Bradley made to the original score and why the piece is so commonly used in animated cartoons. Predicated on theories of humour, the paper is, nonetheless, a working study of the music, which contributed to The Cat Concerto winning an Academy Award for Best Cartoon.