Much has been written about Tiomkin and his music over the years—in books, magazines, and Web sites, this one included—but, in his prolific career, Tiomkin himself took pen to paper and wrote articles on film scoring, as well as participated in numerous interviews discussing his creative process.

Tiomkin was among a number of film composers who contributed to the Music Journal, a monthly educational magazine dedicated to the promotion of American music. Published in New York from 1946 to 1987, the journal’s film music articles lacked the bias and publicity-machine-driven content typical of Hollywood trade publications. Tiomkin wrote three articles: “Writing Symphonically for the Screen” (January 1959), “The Music of Hollywood” (November-December 1962), and “Music for the Films” (Music Journal Annual, July 1967). His intent was to enlighten the readership, which consisted primarily of educators.

Four years before the first article, an interview with Tiomkin, conducted by Music Journal columnist C. Sharpless Hickman, focused on Hollywood “mood music” versus concert music. Hickman brought to the interview his somewhat unusual (at the time) background as a concert music critic with an interest in film.

Hickman’s column for the Music Journal began in 1951 as the rather awkwardly titled “Heard While Seeing” and was renamed “Movies and Music” the following year. Subjects ranged from the work of film composers such as George Antheil and Miklos Rozsa, to more esoteric topics, including UPA animated films, True-Life films, and student films at UCLA and USC.

For the April 1955 “Movies and Music” interview, Hickman visited Tiomkin on the Warner Bros. lot. At the time, the composer was between projects—finishing Land of the Pharaohs and preparing Strange Lady in Town—and was besieged by telephone calls and visitors throughout the hour-long interview. In the interview, Hickman observes that Tiomkin has completely left behind his roots in the concert hall and adapted himself to “the system” in Hollywood. The composer then goes into detail about the differences inherent in writing for the screen. Tiomkin emphasizes the “highly specialized technique” needed to adapt music dramatically and emotionally to the cinematic form. The skills of a composer and orchestrator, Tiomkin notes, must be combined with a mastery of split-second timing and a wide knowledge of music for opera, ballet, theater, and dance. Comparing his task to working a puzzle, Tiomkin relishes the opportunity to compose music that fits a scene’s continuity, dissolves, audio-visual contrasts, and dramatic situations. Time, pace, emphasis, and color (as in orchestral timbre) are elements at his disposal, yet, even as a technical specialist, he believes musicianship and showmanship must not be ignored. In any case, Hickman points out, writing film music satisfies Tiomkin’s financial and emotional needs.

In the interview, Hickman describes the composer as vital, persistent, and self-satisfied, and indicates that Tiomkin’s achievements and recognition are matched by few other composers in Hollywood. The interview ends with Tiomkin, excited about future technological improvements, noticeably intrigued by the advent of stereophonic sound.

Born in Seattle, Charles Sharpless Hickman (1913–1959) spent most of his adult life in Los Angeles. While a student at the University of Chicago in the mid-1930s, he programmed silent classics and early sound films as head of the University Film Society. After graduation, he held a number of newspaper positions, first as an assistant music critic for the Los Angeles Times, then as a concert reviewer for the B’nai B’rith Messenger (his mother, who was Jewish, was born Liebenstein) and later the Pasadena Independent-Star News, among others.

Around 1949 Hickman turned to municipal music, serving as a publicist and then as a field representative for the Los Angeles Bureau of Music. He wrote several articles for educational journals on the subject of civic music. In a 1958 letter to Time magazine, he boasted that more than 2.25 million people had attended the bureau’s band concerts in 1957.

Prior to his untimely death at 45, Hickman was a member of the National Music Critics Association and vice chairman of the International Music Conference. He also served on the board of the Los Angeles chapter of the International Society for Contemporary Music.