Arts & Sciences Events
[PAST EVENT] Hearing Death in Video Game Music's Silent Era: The Failure Sound of Pac-Man
Game sound scholar Neil Lerner offers a fresh look at the history of video game music: ".... early game soundtracks possess many similarities with the way music and sound was deployed in the accompaniment of early cinema in the early 20th century (so-called silent cinema) ... I propose a shift in focus towards things not commonly studied by musicologists: the chip technology and computer programs that contained and implemented the sound emanating from the earliest video game cabinets. After a brief summary of early game music, this presentation will focus on one particular game and one of its many memorable sounds: the sound for a dying Pac-Man in the game of the same name." - Neil Lerner
Neil Lerner is the Wall Distinguished Teaching Professor in the Humanities and Professor of Music at Davidson College where he teaches courses in Video Game Music and Film Music.
A renowned scholar, Neil is the editor of Music in the Horror Film: Listening to Fear (Routledge, 2010). He also co-edited Music in Video Games: Studying Play (Routledge, 2009) and wrote the seminal chapter "The Origins of Musical Style in Video Games" in The Oxford Handbook of Film Music Studies (OUP, 2014).
Blow Memorial Hall is located on Richmond Road, just across the street from The Crust and Pita Pit restaurants. Find plenty of free parking along Richmond Road and nearby streets.
Sponsored by the W&M Music Department
Contact
Christopher DeLaurenti at [[cadelaurenti]]