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Ann Leaf
From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist
Ann Leaf was an American organist who became known for the theatre organ, the great Wurlitzer organ that stood in cinemas and movie palaces in the first half of the twentieth century. Such organs could imitate an entire orchestra, with flutes, strings, trumpets and percussion, and were played by a single musician.
Music and breakthrough
In the days of the silent film the organist played live to the film. He or she improvised or played from a collection of pieces and followed the images: a chase, a love scene or a storm. Orphans of the Storm from 1921 is a silent film by D. W. Griffith. It is known that such films were shown with live music. On the album The Mighty Wurlitzer: Music For Movie-Palace Organs her playing appears alongside that of other movie-palace organists.
Influence
Theatre organ music belongs to a time when the audience took it for granted that a film came with live music. The instrument had a sound of its own, full and trembling, with a vibrato that sounds almost like singing. It largely disappeared with the arrival of the sound film, but the recordings let us hear how an organist knitted image and music together.
Listening
Orphans of the Storm · Ann Leaf, 1921
Discography
Studio albums
In School of Rock
The chapters, maps and magazine stories of School of Rock are currently available in Dutch only.
- The Dream Factory: Film Reel 1NL Reader