How do you feel about Mel Brooks as a composer....- Page 2
How do you feel about Mel Brooks as a composer....
Dollypop
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/15/03
#25re: How do you feel about Mel Brooks as a composer....
Posted: 6/29/07 at 9:05pmHe doesn't write theater music, he writes jingles. Frank Wildhorn, move over!
"Long live God!" (GODSPELL)
#26re: How do you feel about Mel Brooks as a composer....
Posted: 6/29/07 at 9:25pmI like his melodies, but I honestly don't call him a COMPOSER because he openly admits to having no musical experience at all. Like others have said, he hums tunes into a tape recorder, and then gives it to his orchestrator, who then has the arduous task of transcribing the tunes into actual written music.
"You drank a charm to kill John Proctor's wife! You drank a charm to kill Goody Proctor!" - Betty Parris to Abigail Williams in Arthur Miller's The Crucible
#27re: How do you feel about Mel Brooks as a composer....
Posted: 7/1/07 at 3:19am
He's still the composer. You'll finmd that many of the great names in the biz wrote lead or theme sheets, then had an arranger turn them into piano versions, then an orchestrator created a full score.
Brooks may be more involved than we know. Or less. But still, the show wouldn't have existed if he didn't hum into a tape recorder...
Irving Berlin could only play the black keys on a piano, but nobody calls him any less a composer.
http://www.broadwayworld.com/board/readmessage.cfm?thread=972787#3631451
http://www.broadwayworld.com/board/readmessage.cfm?thread=963561#3533883
http://www.broadwayworld.com/board/readmessage.cfm?thread=955158#3440952
http://www.broadwayworld.com/board/readmessage.cfm?thread=954269#3427915
http://www.broadwayworld.com/board/readmessage.cfm?thread=955012#3441622
http://www.broadwayworld.com/board/readmessage.cfm?thread=954344#3428699
#28re: How do you feel about Mel Brooks as a composer....
Posted: 7/1/07 at 6:31am
He's a throwback to the Tin Pan Alley era, which is not to say that's a bad thing. Brooks knows his limitations, and like the great TPA composers, he had a creative team to take his essentially mindless riffs and turn them into something.
But c'mon: THE PRODUCERS itself was a throwback to the era of 30s and 40s musicals.
http://docandraider.com
#29re: How do you feel about Mel Brooks as a composer....
Posted: 7/1/07 at 8:20am
Mel Brook's method of humming melodies into a recorder and then having a trained arranger figure out harmonies and come up with form, modulations and all those other goodies is how a lot of pop music is written these days. Do you think Janet Jackson or Mariah Carey carefully debate the virtues of half-diminished versus minor seventh chords when they "write" songs for their albums?
Coming up with a catchy melody and clever lyrics is no small achievement, and arrangers who can add harmonies and other musical details are a dime a dozen. (That's not to take anything away from the brilliant work Glen Kelly did on The Producers.)
ETA: I just had a very disurbing thought, imagining what the Grey Garden's score might have been like if Mel had written it.
"I have got to have some professional music!" - Big Edie
Updated On: 7/1/07 at 08:20 AM
#30re: How do you feel about Mel Brooks as a composer....
Posted: 7/1/07 at 9:35amI believe Irving Berlin could only play in the key of C..the white keys*,
EdmundOG
Broadway Star Joined: 7/9/05
#31re: How do you feel about Mel Brooks as a composer....
Posted: 7/1/07 at 10:32amI like him, for what it's worth.
#32re: How do you feel about Mel Brooks as a composer....
Posted: 7/1/07 at 10:46amAm I a composer?
#33re: How do you feel about Mel Brooks as a composer....
Posted: 7/1/07 at 10:55amDrama, I think you hit the nail on the head pretty much for me. I listened to The Producers when it was released. After a few listens, the songs just seemed to be the same. I got kind of bored with it fast. Maybe in the show they came off better. I will probably never know because the OBCR kind of turned me off and I didn't want to see the show. And I keep thinking that the music for Young frankenstein will have the same feel. I think this will be a big test for Mr. Brooks. I do want to see this show as the movie is one of my all time favorites. We'll see.
Just give the world Love.
#34re: How do you feel about Mel Brooks as a composer....
Posted: 7/1/07 at 11:15amI agree. I can't remember the last time I've listened to THE PRODUCERS. I think about listening to it then pick a different show. I did see the show and the music fit, but I don't think the music can stand alone.
9/10 - Next To Normal, Ensemble Theatre
9/18 - Brian Stokes Mitchell, Cincy Pop's
9/28 - Death Of A Salesman, Wright State
9/18 - Brian Stokes Mitchell, Cincy Pop's
9/28 - Death Of A Salesman, Wright State
#35re: How do you feel about Mel Brooks as a composer....
Posted: 7/1/07 at 11:26amAfter hearing it, I actually turned down the chance to get premium seats when Lane and Broderick were in it. And they were offered to me for free as a gift. Looking back, I kind of wish I had but I am not really upset that I didn't.
Just give the world Love.
#36re: How do you feel about Mel Brooks as a composer....
Posted: 7/1/07 at 5:18pm
I never saw it onstage. At first it was a knee-jerk reaction to it winning everything away from JANE EYRE, but when I got over it and it toured (the first time when I really could have seen it--those B-way tickets were hot stuff), I wasn't interested. I did see the movie and was underwhelmed, particularly with the music and lyrics. THAT won over JANE EYRE. Bleh!
Though I howled at "Springtime."
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Mr Roxy
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/17/03
#37re: How do you feel about Mel Brooks as a composer....
Posted: 7/1/07 at 5:19pmCompetent
Poster Emeritus
MrsVampyre
Stand-by Joined: 8/26/06
#38re: How do you feel about Mel Brooks as a composer....
Posted: 7/1/07 at 5:27pm
All things talken into account. Mel Brooks does a passable job as a composer.
Mel "hums" the tune he has in his head, because he cannot read music. Which is why he has assistance. The truth is, he's been wrting music for years, and has written the music for many of his films.
The music for the Producers wasn't bad. There are a few songs that I truly liked such as "Betrayed" and "Here Comes Bialy", but there are some that I didn't care for such as "Til Him". But this is just my tastes.
I am interested to see what he comes up with for YF.
#39re: How do you feel about Mel Brooks as a composer....
Posted: 7/1/07 at 5:38pmWait he can't read music? Unless there's a medical reason behind that, IMO there's no excuse not to learn to read music if you're going to write songs.
#40re: How do you feel about Mel Brooks as a composer....
Posted: 7/1/07 at 5:50pm
His songs are very catchy and they get stuck in your head. If you can walk out of a show and remember the melody/words to atleast 3 songs that make an impression on you, it's all good. (The King Of Broadway, I Wanna Be A Producer, Along Came Bialy, That Face, Prisoners Of Love, Springtime For Hitler)
I had 6.
MrsVampyre
Stand-by Joined: 8/26/06
#41re: How do you feel about Mel Brooks as a composer....
Posted: 7/1/07 at 6:13pm
Humatune... many people that compose music, cannot read music. You don't have to be able to write notes on a page, to have a good tune in your head. But that's just my opinion...
#42re: How do you feel about Mel Brooks as a composer....
Posted: 7/1/07 at 6:26pm
Humatune... many people that compose music, cannot read music.
- That is a pretty absurd statement. Since when does a composer NOT have to read music? I'd like to see you say that to Stephen Sondheim.
To write music - you need to read music. Brooks doesn't write or read music. He hums melodies.
#43re: How do you feel about Mel Brooks as a composer....
Posted: 7/1/07 at 6:31pmOf course not MrsVampyre. Maybe he thinks learning to read music will inhabit his creative process I don’t know. I just don’t understand why he wouldn’t want to learn and I’ll leave it at that.
MrsVampyre
Stand-by Joined: 8/26/06
#44re: How do you feel about Mel Brooks as a composer....
Posted: 7/1/07 at 6:31pm
Ijay889 - Here's my exzample, Paul Mcartney of the Beatles, cannot read music. Do you like his music?
I am not saying that Sondhein isn't great he is. All I am saying is that many composers of music that have done well can't read music.
#45re: How do you feel about Mel Brooks as a composer....
Posted: 7/1/07 at 6:35pm
I'd hate to think that the world could possibly be deprived of some wonderful music, purely because the man who comes up with the melody thinks "but I can't read music! I'm not a composer, therefore I won't share this with anyone, I'll just forget about it".
#46re: How do you feel about Mel Brooks as a composer....
Posted: 7/1/07 at 6:35pm
Then you shouldn't be considered a composer if you can't read music. Plain and simple.
You're probably talking about pop writers. Find a Broadway composer besides Brooks that can't read read music.
Updated On: 7/1/07 at 06:35 PM
MrsVampyre
Stand-by Joined: 8/26/06
#47re: How do you feel about Mel Brooks as a composer....
Posted: 7/1/07 at 6:36pm
Humatune - who knows why he never learned to read music? Maybe for some people it's hard to put down the tune you have in your head into notes on paper.
I guess people express themselves musically in many different ways, some sing, some play an instrument, some write lyrics, and some do a combination of the above.
#48re: How do you feel about Mel Brooks as a composer....
Posted: 7/1/07 at 6:50pm
Anyone who can't read music can't be a composer? What a bunch of elitist bullsh*t!
All sorts of wonderful music in many different cultures is written by people who haven't had conventional Western musical training.
I will grant that many people who can read music can't write it worth a damn.
"I have got to have some professional music!" - Big Edie
#49re: How do you feel about Mel Brooks as a composer....
Posted: 7/1/07 at 7:03pm
Why are you bringing up different cultures? I'm talking HERE. There is no excuse why someone in America can't learn to read music. It's laziness.
Composing music is more than writing or humming a melody. You need chords, you need structure, you need harmony, you need balance, etc etc. That's why I don't call what Mel is doing composing.
