{"id":328,"date":"2019-10-10T20:26:09","date_gmt":"2019-10-10T20:26:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.runyanprogramnotes.com\/program_note\/music-spider-man\/"},"modified":"2025-06-16T17:10:44","modified_gmt":"2025-06-16T17:10:44","slug":"music-spider-man","status":"publish","type":"program_note","link":"https:\/\/www.runyanprogramnotes.com\/program_note\/music-spider-man\/","title":{"rendered":"Music from Spider Man"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> Music for films, whether by a pianist improvising for silent films, or that scored for full romantic-era orchestras, has always been an essential element in the medium.&nbsp;&nbsp; And film composers, and their individual paths to success, have varied remarkably over the years.&nbsp; From so-called \u201cclassical\u201d composers such as Aaron Copland, Virgil Thompson, and a host of others, to those who were practically self-taught, with simple roots\u2014it doesn\u2019t seem to matter.&nbsp; All that essentially counts is musical talent, creative imagination, a capability for artistic growth, and the ability to work within the demanding, cost and deadline-driven requirements of Hollywood.&nbsp; The music from the recent film hits, <em>Pirates of the Caribbean, A Nightmare Before Christmas, <\/em>and <em>Spider Man<\/em> are cogent examples of different ways of achieving success in the industry.&nbsp; The&nbsp; music of Danny Elfman is&nbsp; illustrative.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p> Elfman entered the business more or less through the backdoor.&nbsp; Composer for almost one hundred films, over a dozen TV shows, and other associated activities, he began in the seventies as a member of the new wave band, Oingo Boingo\u2014early on a ska-influenced group, and later a guitar-based rock band.&nbsp; Some may remember their performance of \u201cDead Man\u2019s Party\u201d in the Rodney Dangerfield movie, <em>Back to School.&nbsp; <\/em>Others may not.&nbsp; But in any case, from this background the essentially self-taught Elfman soon became a Hollywood insider, known for his creative scores.&nbsp;&nbsp; To name only a few:&nbsp; <em>Pee-wee\u2019s Big Adventure, Edward Scissorhands, Men in Black, Batman, Goodwill Hunting, Fifty Shades of Gray, <\/em>and <em>The Girl on the Train<\/em>.&nbsp; His style varies widely with the nature of the films, with clear influences from such eminent composers as Bart\u00f3k, Stravinsky, Philip Glass, Prokofiev, and Satie.<\/p>\n<p>&#8211;Wm. E. Runyan<\/p>\n<p>\u00a9 2017 William E. Runyan<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"program_note_tax":[127],"class_list":["post-328","program_note","type-program_note","status-publish","hentry","program_note_tax-dannyelfman"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.runyanprogramnotes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/program_note\/328","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.runyanprogramnotes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/program_note"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.runyanprogramnotes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/program_note"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.runyanprogramnotes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.runyanprogramnotes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=328"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"program_note_tax","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.runyanprogramnotes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/program_note_tax?post=328"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}