‘THE GENERAL’
At the start of the Civil War, Johnnie Gray (Buster Keaton) tries to enlist in the Confederate army. His job of locomotive engineer is deemed too valuable to the Southern cause and recruiters turn him away. His girlfriend, Annabelle (Marion Mack), thinks Johnnie isn’t in the army because he’s a coward. Then Union spies steal Johnnie’s locomotive, “The General,” as well as Annabelle, who happens to be on the train.
Did you know?
o “The General” (starring and directed by Buster Keaton) was ranked No. 18 on the American Film Institute’s 2007 list of the greatest American movies of all time.
o Keaton filmed “The General” in Cottage Grove, Ore., in 1926. Extras included 500 Oregon National Guard troops who wore Union blue uniforms for some scenes, then switched into Confederate gray for other scenes.
o The silent film (and a 1956 Walt Disney version) was based on an 1862 Civil War railroad chase in Georgia; the Union soldiers who commandeered the Confederate locomotive were the first people to receive the Congressional Medal of Honor.
'THE GENERAL'
At the start of the Civil War, Johnnie Gray (Buster Keaton) tries to enlist in the Confederate army. His job of locomotive engineer is deemed too valuable to the Southern cause and recruiters turn him away. His girlfriend, Annabelle (Marion Mack), thinks Johnnie isn't in the army because he's a coward. Then Union spies steal Johnnie's locomotive, "The General," as well as Annabelle, who happens to be on the train.
Did you know?
o "The General" (starring and directed by Buster Keaton) was ranked No. 18 on the American Film Institute's 2007 list of the greatest American movies of all time.
o Keaton filmed "The General" in Cottage Grove, Ore., in 1926. Extras included 500 Oregon National Guard troops who wore Union blue uniforms for some scenes, then switched into Confederate gray for other scenes.
o The silent film (and a 1956 Walt Disney version) was based on an 1862 Civil War railroad chase in Georgia; the Union soldiers who commandeered the Confederate locomotive were the first people to receive the Congressional Medal of Honor.
It’s a silent movie, so artillery blasts are represented by booming bass drums. During Civil War battle scenes, bugle calls blare from the brass section.
And in the far corner of the orchestra, Dana Coppernoll-Houston occasionally gives her triangle a delicate “Tingggg!”
The Vancouver musician could have had a more dynamic part in the musical score of Buster Keaton’s classic film, “The General.” After all, she wrote it.
Coppernoll-Houston, a 2011 graduate of Mountain View High School, is a music minor at the University of Portland. She worked with assistant music professor David De Lyser, her composition teacher, on a score for the black-and-white film. The University of Portland orchestra performed the music March 3 during a showing of the film on campus. It drew a standing ovation.
Coppernoll-Houston doesn’t plan to do a lot of this sort of thing. She’s actually a science major and plans to teach STEM (science, engineering, math and technology) courses in a high-needs school district.
The whole thing started almost a year ago, when De Lyser told her about a grant opportunity in the College of Arts and Sciences.
“His pitch was that it’s generic, and anyone can apply,” the senior said. “You don’t get a lot of chances for grants in the fine arts; it’s usually science. He thought a soundtrack for a silent film would be unique.”
A century ago, a movie did not arrive as a multimedia production. Musicians in the theater took care of the score.
“There was not always sheet music composed” for a film, Coppernoll-Houston said. Sometimes, there were just guidelines.
“Basically, ‘for 10 minutes, it needs to be really soft and happy. The next 30 seconds need to be really scary,’ ” she said. “A pianist would have a bunch of things ready and slip from one to another.”
When it came time to select a film, she really liked “The General” — named after a Southern locomotive hijacked in 1862 by Union soldiers. A blend of romance, slapstick comedy and Civil War action, it has been judged the 18th-best American film of all time.
“I watched it and I was blown away,” she said.
And De Lyser told her to keep looking.
“I saw the amount of energized soundtrack on a moving train, and was concerned how she would pull that off,” De Lyser said.
There also was the romance between Keaton’s character, Johnnie, and his doubting girlfriend, Annabelle, to portray musically. And the action scenes include the biggest special effect of the silent-movie era.
“It’s a very high-energy movie,” De Lyser said. “I said to keep looking, and to her credit, she looked.”
After Coppernoll-Houston concluded that nothing else was as good, De Lyser made the call: “OK, let’s do ‘The General.’ “
It’s a 75-minute film, and there is about 45 minutes of music in the score. The modern DVD version of “The General” that was shown on campus actually comes with four soundtracks composed over the last 30 years. Coppernoll-Houston listened to one of them while getting acquainted with the film. “I didn’t want to watch a completely silent movie,” she said, and she observed how it included echoes of Civil War-era tunes.
“We looked up some common Civil War marching songs and sprinkled three or four around in the soundtrack,” she said.
But — orchestrally speaking — she wasn’t just whistling “Dixie.”
“She chopped the movie into 160 little parts and put together a spreadsheet,” De Lyser. “Here’s what happens here, and here’s what happens here. We had a ‘General’ theme, so every time it was moving, the music was based on that theme. There was a ‘Johnnie’ theme and an ‘Annabelle’ theme.
“I was particularly proud how she brought in the ‘Johnnie’ theme and the train theme,” said De Lyser, who conducted the performance. “I thought, ‘You nailed it! It screams moving train, and heroic figure.’ “
Of course, she wasn’t watching the film during the performance, since it was playing on a screen behind the musicians.
“That’s more unfortunate for the orchestra,” she said. “I’ve seen it more than 50 times.”
