 Theaters projected silent films with a variety of musical accompaniment . Depending on the film and the venue , accompanying music might have been the performance of a live pianist or orchestra , recorded music , or absent entirely . Some films were distributed with cue sheets indicating when music was to be played , or anthologies of specific songs to use as accompaniment . Especially between 1910 and 1912 , these selections were often popular music , chosen because the song 's title or lyrics related to the film in some way , in contrast to later efforts to provide music with appropriate texture . Beginning in 1910 , Vitagraph provided lists of this nature for all of their films . 
