# Your favorite instrument, and a movie to go with it **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 22, 2010, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-instrument-and-a-movie-to-go-with-it/544075 "2010-06-22T01:19:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Taomist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/53a042/32.png) [@Taomist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Taomist)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2010, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-instrument-and-a-movie-to-go-with-it/544075/1 "2010-06-22T01:19:33Z")
What instrument inspires you? You don’t have to play one, but most folks have a particular instrument whose tone or expression just brings out _something_ that other instruments might not. And there are often movies that include works of instruments that are well worth passing along. I’m always looking for more music films, so…share! For me it’s cello, which is why I loved the movie ‘All the Mornings of the World’, Tous Les Matins due le Monde, a synopsis here: [Tous les matins du monde (1991) - Plot - IMDb](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0103110/synopsis) I haven’t seen it in a while, but I think it’s an unobjectively good movie; if you enjoyed Amadeus or My Immortal Beloved, you would probably like it. And on a smaller, but still grand. scale, a video I saved on Youtube years ago, a quite complex and compelling piece of cello music: Giovanni Sollima - Sogno ad Occhi Aperti (Daydream) PART 1 [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ldPf3yqq3-8&playnext\_from=QL&playnext=1](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ldPf3yqq3-8&playnext_from=QL&playnext=1) ---
**Author:** ![Quasimodem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Quasimodem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quasimodem)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2010, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-instrument-and-a-movie-to-go-with-it/544075/2 "2010-06-22T01:21:50Z")
I hope I’m understanding this thread correctly? Drums: _The Gene Krupa Story_ Thanks Q ---
**Author:** ![Taomist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/53a042/32.png) [@Taomist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Taomist)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2010, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-instrument-and-a-movie-to-go-with-it/544075/3 "2010-06-22T01:53:11Z")
> [@Quasimodem](#): > > I hope I’m understanding this thread correctly? > > Drums: _The Gene Krupa Story_ > > Thanks > > Q Yes! And thank you! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2010, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-instrument-and-a-movie-to-go-with-it/544075/4 "2010-06-22T04:27:28Z")
Tenor saxophone, and _Round Midnight_. ---
**Author:** ![Olentzero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/90ced4/32.png) [@Olentzero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Olentzero)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2010, 7:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-instrument-and-a-movie-to-go-with-it/544075/5 "2010-06-22T07:33:59Z")
Violin, and _The Red Violin_. I also liked _Tous les matins…_ but it’s been years since I saw it. ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2010, 9:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-instrument-and-a-movie-to-go-with-it/544075/6 "2010-06-22T09:57:48Z")
Well, piano and, er, The Piano. But I doubt that one’s new to you! ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2010, 10:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-instrument-and-a-movie-to-go-with-it/544075/7 "2010-06-22T10:43:04Z")
> [@Taomist](#): > > What instrument inspires you? You don’t have to play one, but most folks have a particular instrument whose tone or expression just brings out _something_ that other instruments might not. And there are often movies that include works of instruments that are well worth passing along. I’m always looking for more music films, so…share! > > For me it’s cello, which is why I loved the movie > > ‘All the Mornings of the World’, Tous Les Matins due le Monde, a synopsis here: > > [Tous les matins du monde (1991) - Plot - IMDb](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0103110/synopsis) > > I haven’t seen it in a while, but I think it’s an unobjectively good movie; if you enjoyed Amadeus or My Immortal Beloved, you would probably like it. Ironically, the instrument in _Tout Les Matins du Monde_ is not a cello - it’s a viol (viola da gamba). Which is not to say that it isn’t a beautiful movie filled with beautiful music - the soundtrack with Jordi Savall playing is well worth having. But it’s not a cello. There are a lot of movies featuring cello players (mostly women, funnily enough) - _The Witches of Eastwick_, _Electric Dreams_, _Ghostbusters_ (yes, really), _Truly, Madly, Deeply_ - the last one is probably your best bet for some properly moving cello music. As you may have guessed I’m a cello fan as well, but I’m going to go full opera here and recommend _[Meeting Venus](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0102428/)_ with Glenn Close, which not only has some wonderful singing in it but also is an excellent satire of some of the behind-the-scene politics of the opera world. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2010, 10:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-instrument-and-a-movie-to-go-with-it/544075/8 "2010-06-22T10:49:31Z")
> [@scifisam2009](#): > > Well, piano and, er, The Piano. But I doubt that one’s new to you! Have you seen [Madame Sousatzka](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0095564/)? It’s very good indeed. ---
**Author:** ![Taomist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/53a042/32.png) [@Taomist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Taomist)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2010, 12:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-instrument-and-a-movie-to-go-with-it/544075/9 "2010-06-22T12:09:12Z")
Ack! For some reason, I have thought that a viola and a cello were different words for the same instrument, by which I mean the one played between the knees; it just has been too long since I’ve seen the movie and I forgot it’s the one played NOT between the knees . \>.\< /facepalm Thank you for the heads-up! And thanks for all the recommendations; need more, too! ---
**Author:** ![Sigmagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2010, 12:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-instrument-and-a-movie-to-go-with-it/544075/10 "2010-06-22T12:35:53Z")
Well, tuba, of course. There are plenty of movies in which a tuba is played: _Mr. Deeds Goes to Town_, _LA Story_, _Brassed Off_, _A Very Long Engagement . . ._ Robert Wagner plays an anachronistic sousaphone most unconvincingly in _The Stars and Stripes Forever_. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2010, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-instrument-and-a-movie-to-go-with-it/544075/11 "2010-06-22T20:39:35Z")
I have two - the hurdy-gurdy, as featured in a tavern in _The Duellists_. Two lasses are playing the less-common lute-formed hurdy. And the _guqin_, the chinese zither featured in the first duel in _Hero_. ---
**Author:** ![Knorf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/58956e/32.png) [@Knorf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knorf)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2010, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-instrument-and-a-movie-to-go-with-it/544075/12 "2010-06-22T22:55:51Z")
> [@Taomist](#): > > Ack! For some reason, I have thought that a viola and a cello were different words for the same instrument, by which I mean the one played between the knees; it just has been too long since I’ve seen the movie and I forgot it’s the one played NOT between the knees . \>.\< /facepalm Three different instruments. [Viola da gamba](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viol) (“viol”). Played between the legs or on the lap. Fretted. Featured in _Tous les matins du monde_. [Viola](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viola). Not fretted. Belongs to violin family. Played under chin. [Violoncello](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Violoncello) (“cello”). Played between the legs. Not fretted. ---
**Author:** ![Knorf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/58956e/32.png) [@Knorf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knorf)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2010, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-instrument-and-a-movie-to-go-with-it/544075/13 "2010-06-22T23:00:28Z")
My own instrument, the bassoon, has to my knowledge only appeared prominently in one mainstream movie, _Never Cry Wolf_. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2010, 9:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-instrument-and-a-movie-to-go-with-it/544075/14 "2010-06-23T09:34:20Z")
> [@Knorf](#): > > Three different instruments. > > [Viola da gamba](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viol) (“viol”). Played between the legs or on the lap. Fretted. Featured in _Tous les matins du monde_. > [Viola](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viola). Not fretted. Belongs to violin family. Played under chin. > [Violoncello](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Violoncello) (“cello”). Played between the legs. Not fretted. Thank you for that. Since we’re having a teaching moment here, the old “between the legs” instruments are the “viola da gamba” family (literally, “viola of the leg”, a “viola” in this instance just meaning a bowed instrument). Confusingly, the cello does not come from this family; it, and the modern violin and viola, are from the “[viola da braccio](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Violin_family)” (viola of the arm) family. The two instrumental families co-existed at the same time in Renaissance Europe, but evolved their variations separately. The bass version of the viola da gamba is the violone which, like most members of the gamba family, typically has six strings. The braccio family usually has four strings (as its modern versions still do). [Fun Fact: the German name for the modern viola is _Bratsche_, from the Italian _braccio_.) Do not ask me about the _viola d’amore_ (yet another instrument)or the _baryton_ or I may start to weep. Back on topic: not a moving instrumental appearance but certainly a memorable one, Dudley Moore’s _Unfaithfully Yours_ features what I can only describe as a comedy violin duel with Armand Assante\* . It’s not an otherwise great film but a very funny scene. And Moore was an accomplished musician in his own right, [especially on the piano](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oVh2Z83WLJI&feature=related). \*Using Vittorio Monti’s famous \*Czardas \*- you won’t know the name but you’ll [recognize the music](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Op7GsUAiRnM), especially the section at about 2’30") ---
**Author:** ![palindromemordnilap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/db5fbb/32.png) [@palindromemordnilap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/palindromemordnilap)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2010, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-instrument-and-a-movie-to-go-with-it/544075/15 "2010-06-23T14:07:39Z")
My piano movie would be “Once”. I didn’t actually like the movie as much as the critics did but the parts I liked the most were the music, particularly piano. August Rush was a good (albeit really sappy) movie with some tremendous acoustic guitar scenes. Keri Russell plays a concert cellist too, so add this movie to Gyrate’s list. ---
**Author:** ![Greg\_Charles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/839c29/32.png) [@Greg\_Charles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Greg_Charles)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2010, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-instrument-and-a-movie-to-go-with-it/544075/16 "2010-06-23T17:11:01Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > There are a lot of movies featuring cello players (mostly women, funnily enough) - _The Witches of Eastwick_, _Electric Dreams_, _Ghostbusters_ (yes, really), _Truly, Madly, Deeply_ - the last one is probably your best bet for some properly moving cello music. You missed _The Soloist_ with Ray Charles and Ironman … or something like that. My instrument is the clarinet, partly because I played it as a kid, and partly because I love its plaintive wailing. I can’t think of any good movie examples though. Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto appeared in _Out of Africa_, and I’m sure there has been a biopic about Benny Goodman. Other than that I’ve got nothing. ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2010, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-instrument-and-a-movie-to-go-with-it/544075/17 "2010-06-23T18:42:48Z")
> [@Greg\_Charles](#): > > I’m sure there has been a biopic about Benny Goodman. [The Benny Goodman Story](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0047873/). Good flick, and Steve Allen is a dead ringer for Goodman. ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2010, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-instrument-and-a-movie-to-go-with-it/544075/18 "2010-06-23T18:54:26Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > There are a lot of movies featuring cello players (mostly women, funnily enough) - _The Witches of Eastwick_, _Electric Dreams_, _Ghostbusters_ (yes, really), _Truly, Madly, Deeply_ Don’t forget _Hilary and Jackie_…and [The Living Daylights](http://www.brandnoo.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/sledge.jpg). 😃 ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2010, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-instrument-and-a-movie-to-go-with-it/544075/19 "2010-06-23T21:01:00Z")
Wasn’t there a cellist in _Short Cuts_? Yes, the lovely Lori Singer (Julliard-trained cellist, as it happens), who was also a cellist in \*Fame \*(the series). ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2010, 9:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-instrument-and-a-movie-to-go-with-it/544075/20 "2010-06-24T09:50:12Z")
Oddly, Lori Singer appeared in the US remake _The Man With One Red Shoe_, in which Tom Hanks, Carrie Fisher and Jim Belushi all portrayed orchestral musicians and she didn’t. I Googled “female cellist movies” and came up with a Korean film called [Cello](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0475532/). Seriously, is there a TV Tropes page somewhere about female cellists? This is getting ridiculous. [On checking] [Yes there is](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/AirInAG-String), although their film section needs filling out.