Published two years after the premiere of the first film with synchronized dialogue, The Jazz Singer, this instruction supplement suggests that although silent film and its music quickly died out in major cities, silent film and its music continued in many communities.

A list of some 10,000 pieces (titles, composers, and publishers) organized by theme; with brief introductory discussion on putting together an orchestra, organizing a music library, and how to approach compiling film scores.

Ahern's book offers practical advice in the specific task of playing to the pictures. His preface states, "This Booklet was not gotten up to criticize anyone's way of playing pictures, nor to teach you how to play the piano; but What and How to Play for Pictures is the object aimed at. The book also contains a little advice to beginners in this line of business."

This text provides pithy lists of tips to improve piano playing and accompanying.

At the zenith of the silent film industry, well-known film music composer Ernst Luz proposed something entirely new for film music classification: different colors assigned to the basic human moods. Luz attached gum tabs of the appropriate color to all musical selections. “Always remember,” he concluded his explanation, “that the Love Theme is White; the Villain’s Theme is Red; the Vampire’s Theme is Dark Green;..."

Many women worked in the film industry as silent film pianists and organists. This manual is an example by a woman author.

This manual is one of the few instruction guides for silent film music accompaniment published by a woman. She details how to accompany pictures using piano player rolls.