Did silent film prints get sent to movie houses with sheet music for the pianist to play? Or did they play whatever they had to hand?

by AmbivalentFanatic

I know that sometimes, at least, a person on piano would accompany silent films in the theater for the benefit of the audience. I was just wondering how the music for this was chosen, and if sheet music for silent films was a thing. Thanks!

japaneseknotweed

We just touched on this a week ago.

If you'd like to do your own research, the term to start with is "photoplay", and the rough answer is that they started being included about 1910.