Aladdin Central Messageboard

[Meesh]

On Zoom tonight! RSVP for live music and a Q&A. I'll be there

https://salastina-org.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJIvcemhrD4iGtIcuMcHd7c6bz_EKCIlcUJ9
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[AladdinsGenie]

Ooh, anything good happen/get mentioned?

[Meesh]

He answered a bunch of questions and played a handful of tunes, including AWNW and Sheraton Square (we talked about Howard in honor of his birthday last week). It was mostly stuff we already knew, with some new nuggets thrown in. He talked about figuring out a film's musical voice and not being married to being too on-the-nose, especially for Cab Calloway style with Aladdin and gospel with Hercules. He said he struggled to find the voice for Tangled, especially with the love ballad. He talked about a rock ballet that never got recorded, where he met his wife and briefly talked about the films he scored that he didn't write music to.

He had some good advice about character-writing and art. He says he decided to make Rapunzel's opening number upbeat because he believes you shouldn't have a character start out crying for themselves, if you ever want there to be an emotional return later. He said he pictured "When Will My Life Begin" as a Tori Amos (I think?) song and played like 10 seconds of his idea of it on piano and I remember preferring the way he played it

He said that when you're composing for film, you can't get too attached to what you do and you have to let others tell you what's good or not. When asked what his favorite work is, he said that's like asking what his favorite child is. But he said Hunchback had the most scope and was the grandest, and he shared a special sentiment for TLM.
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[AladdinsGenie]

Hearing he struggled with the music from Tangled makes so much more sense now cause I never found any of it particularly memorable for very long. I remember the score itself, like the music from the kingdom dance and the healing incantation better than any of the lyrics to any given song. But I hear the songs from the series are way better.

[Meesh]

I'm pretty good with lyrics from Tangled, but the songs and score don't work together a whole lot, and the styles aren't super consistent. So it makes sense to me too.

I watched like one episode of the series then forgot about it. I heard good things.
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