James Newton Howard's Signs: A Film Score Guide

· Rowman & Littlefield
Ebook
228
Pages
Eligible
Ratings and reviews aren’t verified  Learn More

About this ebook

Released in 2002, M. Night Shyamalan’s Signs was the director’s follow-up to The Sixth Sense and Unbreakable, and his third collaboration with composer James Newton Howard. Well received by audiences and critics alike, the film was often cited by reviewers for its music. With its dependence on a single motive, the score is unique in Howard’s career, and one of his most effective and haunting works.

In James Newton Howard’s Signs: A Film Score Guide, Erik Heine provides the first close reading of the composer’s work. Heine discusses Howard’s musical style and influences, as well as his ability to compose for a variety of genres, acknowledging him as one of the most versatile composers working today. The book shows how early sketches of cues for Signs were developed into the final score, allowing the reader insight into Howard’s compositional process. The book also demonstrates how Howard’s style is difficult to pigeonhole, since his focus is on serving the needs of the film.

Drawing on completed orchestrated scores, as well as other material from the James Newton Howard Archive at the University of Southern California, the level of musical detail provided in this volume is unsurpassed. As a book that addresses Howard’s compositional style—and the only volume that significantly examines the music in any Shyamalan film—James Newton Howard’s Signs: A Film Score Guide will be of interest to music scholars, film scholars, and fans of the composer’s work.

About the author

Erik Heine is professor of music at the Wanda L. Bass School of Music at Oklahoma City University. His research interests include film music, classical form and analysis, and music theory pedagogy. He is the author of multiple articles and book chapters on film music.

Rate this ebook

Tell us what you think.

Reading information

Smartphones and tablets
Install the Google Play Books app for Android and iPad/iPhone. It syncs automatically with your account and allows you to read online or offline wherever you are.
Laptops and computers
You can listen to audiobooks purchased on Google Play using your computer's web browser.
eReaders and other devices
To read on e-ink devices like Kobo eReaders, you'll need to download a file and transfer it to your device. Follow the detailed Help Center instructions to transfer the files to supported eReaders.