Piano sheets artist David Raksin

David Raksin (August 4, 1912 – August 9, 2004) was an American composer who was renowned for his work in film and television. With over 100 film scores and 300 television scores to his credit, he became known as the "Grandfather of Film Music."
David Raksin was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1912. His father was an orchestra conductor. Raksin played professionally in dance bands while attending Central High School of Philadelphia. He went on to study composition with Harl McDonald at the University of Pennsylvania and later with Isadore Freed in New York and Arnold Schoenberg in Los Angeles. In New York Raksin worked as an arranger for Harms/Chappell.
One of his earliest film assignments was as assistant to Charlie Chaplin in the composition of the score to Modern Times (1936). He is perhaps best remembered for the haunting theme to the 1944 movie Laura, which became the 1945 song "Laura". Johnny Mercer put lyrics to this theme, and during Raksin's lifetime this was said to be the second most-recorded song in history following Stardust by Hoagy Carmichael and Mitchell Parish. He also wrote the theme song for (and scored the pilot of) Ben Casey.
Later in life, Raksin taught at the University of Southern California and the University of California, Los Angeles. Raksin died in 2004, aged 92. At the time of his death, it was announced that Raksin had completed his autobiography, titled If I Say So Myself. The book was eventually published under the title The Bad and the Beautiful: My Life in a Golden Age of Film Music.

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Hear and Play: The Gift of Playing the Piano by Ear Have you ever heard a really nice song that got you so captivated that you just wish you can play it in the piano right away? Playing the piano by ear appears to be a gift, a talent of hearing music once or twice, and then once you have your hands on the keys, the magic begins. As easy as it may sound, hearing the music and playing it at once is not just pure genius. It requires a little background and familiarity with the piano scale and some piano lessons. Some people may not be able to read sheet music but knows the sound of each keys. That is the key to hearing and playing music. But others are born artists of piano. Surely, it would be great that even without music sheets, one can play music beautifully and can share his or her ow...Continue reading Hear and Play: The Gift of Playing the Piano by Ear

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