Paper Example on Disney's Fantasia: The Art of Music Evolved

Disney's Fantasia comprises the kind of art in music that has undergone developments, especially in recording and photography, so as to bring forth an understanding of good music. Other people, however, account it as a threat to the nature of musical type of art but it is clear that its mechanical reproduction makes it the best out of the rest. Although, Fantasia does not postulate any musical knowledge its creative staff makes it easier for any listener to understand its music. In, fact, it is considered good music because of its moral force, which is necessary for community uplift. Fantasia makes use of narrative, color, pattern, and image to elucidate musical experience to the audience. Further, critics of the music portray the chemistry of good sound and image, particularly when looking at the audiovisual alignment. Gestures of melody and motion reinforce each other and at the same time musical image and rhetoric fuse to create meaning. The paper will demonstrate and discuss in detail the descriptive, listening, and analysis of the music from Disney's Fantasia.

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Fantasia has different movements of longer work, for example, the series of didactic vignettes, which are related. The narrator, Taylor, introduces these movements with each musical segment displaying a meaning in terms of imagery and music (Rosenmund 1). The longer work has three kinds of music, which are also covering in the whole film. The first is program music and its role is to tell the definitive story. There is also a part that has no specific plot but it plays the role of painting a series of definite pictures. Lastly, it the absolute music, which happens to exist for its own sake but it is also essential since it is necessary for opening the film (Clague 92). All these movements relate to use imagery, which makes it easy for a listener sitting in a concert hall to understand the music by seeing the aminations. For example in the film, as the musicians appear walking onstage, the trumpet, bass clarinet, and bassoon indicate their motif, thus sound connects to imagery.

In addition, as each instrument is heard, the camera tends to focus the reaction from each performer hence making turning a lesson in orchestration and timbre (Clague 92). The two works also project the characters in such a way that they help to make the ritual of the musicians. Therefore, the orchestration plays a role in teaching the juxtaposing choirs the importance of contrasting timbre in articulating the melodic structure. The use of imagery in relation to musical performance enhances the explication of musical structure. At the same time, imagery reinforces the use of color, stereophonic sound, light and space to differentiate the performers (Rosenmund 13). Each performer has tinted with a spotlight something that indicates the kind of themes used in the music. Also, there is abstraction of string instruments, such as sets of strings, bows, and bridges, which swap across the screen to show the melodic structure and sonic gesture (Rosenmund 13). In this case, image color reveals the tone color while motion shows melody. For instance, dark lower timbres are represented by red and sometimes deep green colors while violins by bright colors particularly yellow. Fantasia asserts that music is well understood by both sight and listening.

Fantasia uses for families of instruments, which are strings, brass, percussion, and woodwinds (Clague 96). To begin with strings, particularly the violins, they are played in such a way that they suspended in the air to allow souring bows build music in a metamorphosis of color and light. Brass also is made up of cornets, which are played the same way as trumpets. The only difference is that they play more melodic passages as compared to trumpets. However, the technique for playing both instruments is the same but cornet is used because it has good intonation. The other is percussion, which comprises Marimba, vibraphone, Timpani, Celesta, to mention but a few and they are played by hitting specific parts with wooden and sometimes steel objects to produce brighter tones. Among the use of other instruments, the composer is trying to achieve the effect of good music due to the admiration created from the sound system. The combination of the sounds from all the instruments dominates hence making the music less resistible to the audience. Moreover, the great music from the established sound signals shapes the music experience thereby introducing the audience to the new meanings and ideas that are presented in both audio and imagery. The composer transforms the film into a new form of entertainment by not only through the explicate sound but making the classical music intelligible and satisfying.

The musical elements and lyrics used helps to define the emotions, style of the song, and the characters (Guevara 6-15). For instance, Duke, the builder wishes to be a jazz drummer and in the end, the dream comes to him since he quits his girders and drives rivets job. He is a character who wishes have a better life and now he is a drummer in a jazz band. Also, a character by the name Rachel wishes to spend more time with his parents than the usual piano, violin, ballet, and many other lessons. Duke who almost runs over Rachel creates an intention in his parents and makes Rachel's wish fulfilled. A poor man, Jobless Joe who is always honest and dependable becomes a construction worker. Research shows that emotions direct behavior and by the fact that Joe did wish to have a better life, he lived by his character, which made his dream come true. There is also George Gershwin, a pianist who lives in the apartment above where Rachel takes her piano lessons; this incident is portrayed on the Al Hirschfeld Caricature of Gershwin.

The music in Fantasia belongs to the 20th century modern styles period. The musical characteristics that place it in the period are an abstraction of music with imagery, use of multiple instruments to form a sound system, representation towards increasing abstraction through the use of instruments such as strings and bows, use of fantasy as a technique, and many others. The characteristics show that this kind of music was an inspirational force, which had a focus on building a new conception of life. The idea of which composers borrow techniques and styles from the earlier periods applies to many of the 20th-century works. For example, Fantasia of 2000 contains animated features and classical music styles that were used in the fantasia of 1940s (Clague 99). Even today, Disney animations and styles are the contributing segments used particularly in the American context. The use of motif, design, motion, and phrase shows a fresh glassy of integration.

Conclusion

In conclusion, Fantasia is a piece that portrays its massage through imagery and inspiration music. The sequence of the music is so well by the audience hence making it easy for analysis. Classical music is hitched to create an ideological synthesis, which serves as a remarkable site for social memory in both film and sound. At the same time, the inspired jazz jam among the performers suggests the kind of talents for many classical musicians.

Works Cited

Clague, Mark. "Playing into Walt Disney's" Fantasia"(1940) and the Imagineering of Classical Music." American Music 22.1 (2004): 91-109. Retrieved from: https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/3592969.pdf?casa_token=quMvRm0YHlIAAAAA:SS8QTIEIHLzrGw6Lq-62OAzr58oJHJArZonav25nthhEj3GLqp5qVZD8WrK1BFGdvymhjA9E_yk-gamzLxKXZ7aKmUxrLGPvSZ-bzZpytcY9977K-9E0

Guevara, Sofia. "An Analysis of Disney's Fantasia Opening Sequence." Retrieved from: http://www.academia.edu/download/50483638/tesis_upload_reduced.pdf

Rosenmund, William D. Evolving Fantasia: Listening for Fun and Education in Walt Disney's Dynamic Commodity. Diss. University of Pittsburgh, 2015. Retrieved from: http://d-scholarship.pitt.edu/24857/1/Rosenmund._Evolving_Fantasia_submission_1.pdf