I am intrigued about how music composers for movies do their trade.

It is Oscars night, which does nothing for me, but I got to thinking about what music composers contribute to a movie, and how the hell they do it.

The actors do a scene, often with no one else on the set. It all gets spliced together later. And there is in a good movie some spontaneity and unexpected character development that makes it worth the $10 price of admission at the multi-plex.

I have absolutely no idea how a movie music composer is able to do his/her job while a movie is being filmed.

Virtuoso John Williams, among others, has figured it out. I admire the likes of him, they give movies a critical texture which I think most of us rank amateurs don’t recognize or appreciate.