Kenneth Sarch's Music for Chaplin Film to be Published

Publish Date: 6/10/2010

June 10, 2010

MANSFIELD, PA— Kenneth Sarch, professor of Music and conductor of the Mansfield University String Chamber Orchestra, has been offered a contract from Masters Music Publications to publish his Music for Chaplin’s Film The Rink.

The music along with a practice and performance DVD of Charlie Chaplin’s silent film will be released sometime later this year. Sarch has dedicated the work to the String Chamber Orchestra.

The announcement of the publishing contract is the culmination of a project supported by a Mansfield University Faculty Development Grant awarded to Sarch a year ago.

The work was premiered by the MU String Chamber Orchestra, under Sarch’s direction, in October 2009. Since the debut, it has been performed eight times: by the MU String Orchestra at the Gmeiner Museum in Wellsboro, by the 2010 Western Regional Orchestra Strings under Sarch’s direction in DuBois, PA, by the Williamsport Symphony String Quartet for the CLIO Club at the Williamsport Country Club, and five times in Panama by the Panama National Youth Orchestra, which Sarch was invited to conduct this past January.

The Orchestra recorded the work as a project of Mansfield Professor David Wetzel’s recording technology class.

“The music is intended to be played by youth string orchestras accompanying a DVD with three tracks,” Sarch said. “Two tracks are designed for rehearsing and timing the music. Track one contains the silent film clip with the music recorded and checkpoint letters that appear and must coincide with letters designated in the score. Track two contains the film without the sound but with the coordinating letters appearing so that the conductor can pace the music during rehearsal. Track three is just the silent film with no sound and no letters – this would be the performance track and can also be used during rehearsal to practice the pacing of the music.”

Sarch’s son Oren, an accomplished video production editor in New York City, did the film editing and produced the DVD. His daughter Natalya, a professional media specialist in New York, produced the film titles. Internationally renowned mime and Chaplin expert Dan Kamin served as a consultant for the project and helped Sarch select and edit the film clips.

The contract from LUDWIG Publications came with a letter which exclaimed, “The Rink is fabulous! The submissions committee was unanimous in their decision to offer a publication contract…”

The publisher also expressed interest in Sarch’s second Chaplin project, Music for Chaplin’s Film The Bank. He had started work on this second film, but put it aside in order to put the finishing touches on The Rink.

“I began my sketches and planning for the second silent film”, Sarch said. “With this encouragement, I will be back working on The Bank this summer. I am really excited that the Chaplin music has had such enthusiastic audience response as well as the enthusiastic publisher’s response.”
 

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