Conference Agenda
The Online Program of events for the 2026 AMS Annual Meeting appears below. This program is subject to change. The final program will be published in early November.
Use the "Filter by Track or Type of Session" or "Filter by Session Topic" dropdown to limit results by type. Some of the sessions are also color-coded: purple indicates performances, grey indicates paper forums, and orange indicates sessions which have been organized by one of the regional associations of IMS (ARLAC or IMSEA). (Sessions which are both IMS sessions and performances are only colored orange.)
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Please note that all times are shown in the time zone of the conference. The current conference time is: 1st Sept 2026, 02:58:28am EDT
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Daily Overview |
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The Sounds of Silent Film Session Chair: Ryan Nason | |
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Scoring the Frontier: Max Winkler’s Musical Scenario for Straight Shooting (1917) and the Early Formation of the Western Soundscape N/A This paper examines the musical accompaniment compiled by Max Winkler (1888–1965) for Straight Shooting (1917), John Ford’s first feature film, in order to reconstruct aspects of early twentieth-century audience experience and to begin to trace the development of the Western film score. The film emerged during a period of increasing standardization—and commercialization—of silent film music. Winkler stood at the forefront of this transformation, producing detailed musical “scenarios” that combined carefully selected repertoire with room for local interpretation. Winkler’s accompaniment for Straight Shooting reveals a hybrid strategy: the integration of pieces that evoke a Western atmosphere alongside compositions from photoplay anthologies, particularly for action sequences, as well as romantic works. At times, he recommended specific selections to underscore particular characters or dramatic situations; at others, he deferred to the accompanist’s discretion, encouraging nuanced and context-sensitive performance. This balance between specific direction and flexibility highlights the variable nature of silent-era exhibition practices. Analyzing Winkler’s scenario in relation to the film’s narrative—an archetypal yet tragic conflict in which ranchers kill homesteaders to preserve the open range—allows us to approximate how contemporary audiences may have experienced its emotional and moral tensions. Music played a crucial role in shaping sympathy, suspense, and the imaginative construction of space, especially in a genre so closely tied to landscape and myth. Moreover, Ford’s early stylistic traits evident in Straight Shooting, including the framing of action through open doorways (anticipating the mise-en-scène later made iconic in The Searchers), gain further resonance when considered alongside their musical framing. As an early and influential Western, Straight Shooting offers a valuable case study for understanding how silent films—and Westerns in particular—were accompanied. Winkler’s scenario not only reflects broader practices but also demonstrates how silent-era accompaniment shaped audiences’ perception of the West as both romantic and contested terrain, helping to establish conventions that would influence Western film scoring into the sound era. | |