Grove Music Guide to American Film Music

The Grove Music Guide to American Film Music documents the lives and works of many of the individuals responsible for writing music for some of the most popular and well-known films, television shows, video games, and music videos ever created. Its 150 articles and 30 images, updated and expanded from The Grove Dictionary of American Music by film scholar Daniel Goldmark, cover key composers, sound engineers, and other figures in American film music history, and include in-depth articles on film music, musical film, production music, video game music, television music, television musicals, and music videos.

This book is intended first and foremost as a musical primer for the student of American film, television, and video, whether you're a casual fan, a longtime listener, or someone wanting to gain a deeper understanding of those who have shaped the modern media soundtrack. Bibliographies are curated, not comprehensive, and are most detailed for the subject areas and composers who have been especially popular with historians.

Daniel Goldmark is Professor of Music and Director of the Center for Popular Music Studies at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland. He works on American popular music, film and cartoon music, and the history of the music industry. Goldmark is the author or editor of several books, including The Cartoon Music Book (A Cappella, 2001), Tunes for 'Toons: Music and the Hollywood Cartoon (Univ. California, 2005) and Beyond the Soundtrack: Representing Music in Cinema (Univ. California, 2007).

Goldmark also spent several years working in the animation and music industries. He was an archivist at Spümcø Animation in Hollywood, where he also worked as the music coordinator on the short cartoons "Boo-Boo Runs Wild" and "A Day in the Life of Ranger Smith." For five years Goldmark was research editor at Rhino Entertainment in Los Angeles, where he also produced or co-produced several collections and anthologies, including a two-CD set of the music of Tom & Jerry composer Scott Bradley, and a two-CD anthology entitled Courage: the Complete Atlantic Recordings of Rufus Harley.