Music to Picture at the iTunes Book Store: https://books.apple.com/us/book/music-to-picture/id503874009

Or I can send you a PDF.

There is no shortage of excellent texts on the craft of film scoring. Music to Picture offers the same essential knowledge—but approached through personal discovery rather than prescriptive instruction. In 1989, after studying the existing literature, I visited several universities to distill the state of the art into a coherent and teachable framework for my first film-scoring course at SUNY Purchase. This process was not merely academic. Music to Picture was written in real time, beginning in December 1989 as scoring commenced on 1201 PM, and concluding on January 27, 1990, following the recording of the score at Evergreen Studio. As such, the book functions not only as a historical and theoretical resource, but also as a working journal—captured in the moment.’ Now, more than two decades removed from its initial writing, a reasonable question arises: should this text be updated, revised, and expanded to reflect today’s technology-driven production environment?

The answer is yes—and with an important caveat. Technology extends the concepts and history presented here; it does not replace them. We discuss tools now just as we did then, but with the same guiding principle: a calculator in the hands of someone who has not yet learned arithmetic offers limited benefit. This is a concept-driven text, grounded in practical application. Engage the exercises, embrace the “miss-takes,” and follow the process in sequence. In doing so, you will gain essential historical and experiential understanding—before standing in front of an orchestra, or navigating a modern director’s QuickTime spotting session via video-conferencing.

Enjoy the journey and the process of discovery. Take notes directly in this book and in your personal scrapbook. Rediscover the pleasure of writing by hand.

Godspeed,
Stephen Melillo

The Ever Forward By Tom Davis, Music Educator, Composer

There is something of great interest and wonderment on every page: history, perspective, tools, experiments, music, processes and aesthetics. Composer Stephen Melillo has created a GIFT for the musician by exploring the parallel metaphors of music, philosophy, literature and time. For those that are searching for more depth in their creative spirit, be they film-composers or not, this is an essential document.

I have worked with many fine books and studied at Eastman in the early 80s with some of the greats. Without question, Stephen Melillo's book brings all of that knowledge home for me, presenting it with great clarity for today's professional composer.

Read it. Read it again. Then read it again and again, for each sentence will open a multitude of new doors to those who truly listen to the words. Music to Picture is a SERVICE to composers...