Parsons Playlists: Cartoon Classical

Welcome back to Parsons Playlists! Today’s playlist is curated by Music Library Associate Melanie A. and features some classical music which can be found in classic cartoons!

Cartoon Classical

What's Opera Doc still

It seems that sometimes folks can feel a bit intimidated by “classical” music. What if I told you that you are probably familiar with a lot more classical pieces than you think because they often show up in the soundtracks of classic cartoons?

During the 1930s and 1940s, many practices from silent film scoring (often performed on piano or organ in movie theaters), which often made use of classical pieces, made their way into cartoon shorts. Use of this music was economical for the movie studios because much of it was public domain and therefore free of copyright restrictions. Moreover, the use of “serious” classical music in silly cartoons often (literally & figuratively) the humor of the cartoons.

Here are a few a few “greatest hits” pieces which found their way into a variety of cartoons. Enjoy! – MAA

Gioachino Rossini – William Tell Overture
The most famous bit of Rossini’s William Tell overture is the finale (aka the “Lone Ranger Theme“) — you’ll see it in scenarios featuring horseback riding among other things.
Animated shorts featuring the finale include: Disney’s “The Band Concert” (1935) and Warner Brothers’ “Bugs Bunny Rides Again” (1948)

Section 2 “The Storm” and Section 3 “Call to the Cows” regularly show up as well
For example, Disney’s The Band Concert (again!) for a cartoon take on “The Storm” and both “The Storm” and “Call to the Cows” feature in Disney’s “The Old Mill” (1937)

Franz Liszt – “Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2”
Animated shorts featuring Hungarian Rhapsody include Tom & Jerry in “The Cat Concerto” (1947) & Bugs Bunny in “Rhapsody Rabbit” (1946), for example

Franz Von Suppé – “Light Cavalry Overture”
Features in animated shorts like Disney’s “Symphony Hour” (1942)

Franz Von Suppé – “Poet and Peasant Overture”
Used, for example, in the Popeye short “The Spinach Overture” (1935)

Popeye at the Piano

Johann Strauss II – Frühlingsstimmen op. 410
Tends to show up in cartoons where someone frolics in a field or similar, for example, “The Stupid Cupid” (1944) or “From A To Z-z-z-z” (1954)

Johann Strauss II – “An der schönen blauen Donau, Waltz, Op. 314”
Strauss’s “Blue Danube Waltz” also appears frequently for example in “A Corny Concerto” (1943) or “Johann Mouse” (1953)

Frédéric Chopin – “Marche Funèbre (Funeral March)” (from Piano Sonata No. 2)
Chopin’s funeral march is a bit morbid and will be instantly recognizable, cartoon examples include “Scaredy Cat” (1948) and “Convict Concerto” (1954)

Richard Wagner – “Ride of the Valkyries”
This one is used in one of my all-time favorite cartoons the 1957 classic “What’s Opera, Doc?” starring Bugs Bunny & Elmer Fudd

and here is a link all of the above (and more) on Youtube: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLU94rco57ZeyTST0VCx3NOQgyB_9o4ueq&si=v08TGVoC6bD3Y-LZ

P.S. If you’d like to learn a bit more about classical music as used in cartoons, check out this great thread with lots of video examples compiled by animator Vincent Alexander: https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1366449816042102787.html

Parsons Playlists: Coming-of-Age Movie Soundtrack

Welcome back to Parsons Playlists! Today’s playlist is curated by Music Library student assistant Nicole (class of 2024) and features

Coming-of-Age Movie Soundtrack

With Commencement coming up and only a couple of months until Summer, one can’t help but ponder on how far they’ve come and think about how uncertain the future is. Here is a playlist with songs to help you romanticize academic life and think of it as if you were the main character of a coming-of-age film!

BØRNS – “Electric Love”

Florence + The Machine – “Dogs Days Are Over”

GROUPLOVE – “Tongue Tied”

Harry Styles – “Keep Driving”

Harry Styles – “Matilda”

Indigo De Souza – “Younger & Dumber”

Keane – “Somewhere Only We Know”

MGMT – “Time to Pretend”

Of Monsters and Men – “Little Talks”

Royel Otis – “Oysters in My Pocket”

Tame Impala – “Yes I’m Changing”

Taylor Swift – “You’re On Your Own, Kid”

Tears for Fears – “Everybody Wants To Rule The World”

The 1975 – “Robbers”

The Script – “For the First Time”

The Strokes – “Hard to Explain”

Vacations – “No Place Like Home”

Here is a link to the whole playlist on YouTube: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLU94rco57ZezPBKdTCZPVYTGk1TkN7DeZ&si=YIkZOpxp2ukj5kY9

Arachnophonia: Sound Play: Video Games and the Musical Imagination

Editor’s note: Arachnophonia (“Arachno” = spider / “-phonia” = sound) is a regular feature on our blog where members of the UR community can share their thoughts about resources from the Parsons Music Library‘s collection.

All links included in these posts will take you to either the library catalog record for the item in question or to additional relevant information from around the web.

Today’s installment of Arachnophonia is by student manager Brianna (class of 2023) and features insert title info here. Thanks, Brianna!

Sound Play: Video Games and the Musical Imagination by William Cheng

Sound Play

In Sound Play, William Cheng dives into the nature of players’ engagements with the audio of video games, from horror to fantasy and more. Cheng explores how the virtual world of video games allows sound designers to play with sound and music in ways that would otherwise not be possible in the real world, and how our interactions with these sounds (in the virtual world) can teach us about ourselves and what we value in the “real” world.

I find this book to be an extremely interesting exploration of a fast growing field of research in musicology. Ludomusicology, or the study of sound in video games, has become a rich field of study as video games become more and more integrated into our lives and the world around us. Cheng wonderfully adds to this body of work by exploring how our own interactions within a virtual world and the choices we make shape us into the people we are in our everyday lives.

Parsons Playlists: Transcendental Film Soundtracks

Welcome back to Parsons Playlists! Today we’re featuring a collection of film soundtrack music curated by Music Library student manager Colin (Class of 2021).

Films have been my go-to source of entertainment for years. In high school, my friends and I became heavily invested in the awards season of movies, in which we tried to watch every film that was nominated for Best Picture by the Academy. Movies are not measured for enjoyability by their success winning awards, nor do awards automatically make a movie “good.” Rather, this activity was something that my friends and I enjoyed doing, and exposed us to a lot of new films and directors. Particularly interesting for us in watching films was hearing the soundtrack, as all of my friends and I were involved in my school’s music program. We loved talking about the scores of films, and the impact that specific songs have through their leitmotifs or influence on the narrative. For example, we were obsessed with the soundtrack from La La Land, because, well let’s be honest; who can’t tap their foot or hum along with the songs when listening to its music?

La La Land - movie poster

Richard Wagner had a great influence upon the film industry and its scores due to his methodical approach to writing operas, in which the music he composed enhanced the narrative through the use of leitmotifs, or short musical phrases that indicate the appearance of a character or narrative theme. This concept was recognized by the film industry, and was expanded on by different film composers, specifically Max Steiner who is known as “The Father of Film Music.” Steiner was heavily influenced by Wagnerian musical concepts, and would incorporate leitmotifs, non-diegetic sounds and other elements that enhanced the musical experience in movies and their relation to narratives. Since Steiner, films have grown to incorporate songs into their soundtracks that are either specifically written for the movie from a preexisting band, or the rights are bought from a band to include their song in the movie. The songs themselves share the same focus that Steiner envisioned for his films, in that songs are used for a narrative purpose in order to advance the plot, express the emotions of a specific character, and/or give credibility to the environment in which the film or a scene takes place.

Max Steiner scores

A sampling of films scored by Max Steiner

With this playlist, I wanted to highlight songs used in films that transcend just their immediate presence in the film. The rules of this playlist are rather loose, in that the songs included may have been written for the specific movie in which they are famous for being in, or written before the movie and added to the soundtrack and become a staple song for the film. I have included highly popular choices that the general film-viewing population would agree with, such as “My Heart Will Go On” in Titanic and “Don’t You (Forget About Me)” in The Breakfast Club. However, I have also offered some of my personal choices of songs that I believe greatly enhance the movie and urge audiences to listen to the song outside of the filmic experience, but do not necessarily have the history or popular recognition by audiences. I hope that choices like “Slip Away” from Booksmart and “(I’m Gonna) Love Me Again” from Rocketman will expand your music and film libraries. I have organized the songs in order of their film’s release date, and my personal choices begin with “Send Me on My Way” from Matilda. And this playlist does not feature any instrumentally focused soundtracks that typically appear in large blockbuster films, but rather individual songs focused on lyrics. I hope you enjoy this eclectic playlist and relive some great film experiences through music!

Movie Posters 1

“Somewhere Over the Rainbow” by Judy GarlandThe Wizard of Oz
“Singin’ in the Rain” by Gene Kelly Singin’ in the Rain
“Moon River” by Audrey Hepburn Breakfast at Tiffany’s
“Mrs. Robinson” by Simon & GarfunkelThe Graduate
“Born to be Wild” by SteppenwolfEasy Rider
“Stayin’ Alive” by Bee GeesSaturday Night Fever
“Eye of the Tiger” by SurvivorRocky III
“Footloose” by Kenny LogginsFootloose
“Purple Rain” by Prince Purple Rain
“Don’t You (Forget About Me)” by Simple MindsThe Breakfast Club
“Take My Breath Away” by BerlinTop Gun
“(I’ve Had) The Time of My Life” by Bill Medley & Jennifer WarnesDirty Dancing
“In Your Eyes” by Peter GabrielSay Anything
“Unchained Melody” by The Righteous BrothersGhost
“I Will Always Love You” by Whitney HoustonThe Bodyguard
“My Heart Will Go On” by Céline DionTitanic

Movie Posters 2

“Kiss Me” by Sixpence None the RicherShe’s All That
“Tiny Dancer” by Elton JohnAlmost Famous
“Lose Yourself” by Eminem8 Mile
“Dancing Queen” by ABBAMamma Mia!
“Happy” by Pharell WilliamsDespicable Me 2
“Can’t Stop the Feeling” by Justin TimberlakeTrolls
“Send Me on My Way” by Rusted Root Matilda
“Somebody to Love” by QueenElla Enchanted
“Life is a Highway” by Rascal FlattsCars
“Hoedown Throwdown” by Miley CyrusHannah Montana: The Movie
“Heroes” by David Bowie The Perks of Being a Wallflower
“Mystery of Love” by Sufjan StevensCall Me By Your Name
“Helplessly Hoping” by Crosby, Stills & NashAnnihilation
“Shallow” by Lady Gaga & Bradley CooperA Star is Born
“Slip Away” by Perfume GeniusBooksmart
“(I’m Gonna) Love Me Again” by Elton John & Taron EgertonRocketman

And here is a link to a YouTube playlist version!

Arachnophonia : The Life Aquatic soundtrack

Editor’s note: Arachnophonia is a regular feature on our blog where members of the UR community can share their thoughts about items in the Parsons Music Library‘s collection. All links included in these posts will take you to either the library catalog record for the item in question or to additional relevant information from around the web.

Today’s installment of Arachnophonia is by Music Library student library worker, Gabi (class of 2020) and features the soundtrack album for the 2004 film The Life Aquatic. Thanks, Gabi!

The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou soundtrack
Mark Mothersbaugh, Seu Jorge, et al

Life Aquatic soundtrack

What makes a film great? Some may say an Oscar-worthy performance by a lead actor, or the presentation of aesthetically pleasing cinematography. For me, although both of these are important, what really makes a movie stand out is music. Whether it’s the soundtrack, the score, or both, the ability to perfectly match a song to a scene is impressive. It can bring the emotions I’m feeling while watching up to another level.

Life Aquatic still

The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, directed by Wes Anderson, is a comedy-drama about an oceanographer played by Bill Murray. This film is an excellent example of one that uses a unique background of music to enhance its tone, which is whimsical and quirky.

Let me tell you about my boat

Mark Mothersbaugh, a former member of the pop group DEVO and a frequent Anderson collaborator, is the composer of the film’s score. Five of Mothersbaugh’s instrumental tracks appear on the official soundtrack, including “Let Me Tell You About my Boat”, which accompanies one of the most famous scenes in the film: Steve Zissou breaking the fourth wall by directly introducing himself to the audience.

Mark Mothersbaugh

Mark Mothersbaugh

The coolest part about this soundtrack is that it features five covers of some of David Bowie’s best songs… in Portuguese. The movie itself showcases Seu Jorge performing a variety of Bowie covers including “Rebel Rebel”, “Starman” and “Rock ‘n’ Roll Suicide”. Jorge plays one of Steve Zissou’s crew members in the movie, and sings the songs with a red beanie on his head and an acoustic guitar in his hands. These covers do not only provide a fresh take on several well-known classic rock songs, but also give the film unforgettable character.

Seu Jorge

Seu Jorge in the film

Seu Jorge’s work in The Life Aquatic was so memorable that, 13 years after the film’s initial release, he is currently on tour performing the covers as an homage to the late David Bowie.

New CDs added in August!

New CDs for August 2017

Chamber Music, Concertos and Orchestral Music

Frederic Chopin – Paul Badura-Skoda plays the Chopin Piano Concertos
Aaron Copland and Benjamin Britten – Piano Concertos
Howard Hanson – Symphonies Nos. 3 & 6 and Fantasy Variations on a Theme of Youth

Jascha Heifetz – Beethoven & Brahms Concertos
Sergiu Luca & Malcom Bilson – Mozart Sonatas for Fortepiano and Violin: Late Viennese Sonatas

Gwendolyn Mok – The Composer’s Piano: Brhams Late Piano Works Op. 116-119
Jean-Philippe Rameau – Piece de Clavecin en Concert
Ralph Vaughan Williams – Concerto in C for Two Pianos; Job: A Masque For Dancing
Manuela Wiesler & Julian Jacobson – Schubert*Reinecke*Boehm

Band Music

Frederick Fennell – Screamers (Circus Marches)
Johan Willem Friso Military Band – Alliance of the Free
Jack Stamp – Cloudsplitter
U.S. Marine Band – Picture Studies

Popular Music

Betty – Carnival
Betty – Limboland
Betty – Snowbiz
The Human League – Dare!

Humor/Parody

The Capitol Steps – Obama Mia!
The Capitol Steps – Take The Money and Run for President

Musicals & Film Soundtracks

Irving Berlin – Irving Berlin’s Annie Get Your Gun: The New Broadway Cast Recording
Laurence O’Keefe – Bat Boy : The Musical
Jule Styne – Bells Are Ringing
Betty – Betty Rules
Galt MacDermot & Bill Dumaresq – The Human Comedy: A Modern Opera

Frank Wildhorn – Jekyll & Hyde : The Musical
Various Artists – Repo Man: Music from the Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
Marvin Hamlisch – Sweet Smell of Success
Boy George – Taboo: Original London Cast
Boy George – Taboo: Original Broadway Cast
Jeanine Tesori – Thoroughly Modern Millie
Michael John LaChiusa – The Wild Party

Folk / World Music

Natalie MacMaster & Donnell Leahy – One

New CDs added in December!

New CDs for December 2015

Classical

Susan Allen – Postcard From Heaven
Franz Schubert – The Unauthorised Piano Duos, Volume 3

Postcard From Heaven

Early Music

Psallentes – Missa Transfigurationis

Missa Transfigurationis

Film Music

Carmine Coppola and Francis Coppola – Apocalypse Now Redux
James Newton Howard – Snow Falling On Cedars

Snow Falling On Cedars

Pop/Rock

Various Artists – Soul Of Sue Records
Various Artists – I’m A Good Woman – Funk Classics From Sassy Soul
Sisters

I'm A Good Woman

Jazz

Lafayette Harris, Jr. Trio – Bend To The Light
Jacob Fischer- … In New York City
Donald Vega – With Respect To Monty

Bend To The Light

Band Music

The President’s Own U.S. Marine Band – Elements

Elements

World/Folk Music

George Wassouf – The Best of George Wassouf
Various Artists – Teen Dance Music From China and Malaysia
Voices of Ireland – Lord of the Dance and Other Famous Irish Songs &
Dances

Teen Dance Music From China and Malaysia

In the mood for something spooky?

Jack O Lanterns

It’s late October and many folks around campus may well be looking for fun things to help them get into the Halloween “spirit”.

Maybe you’re tired of the usual suspects like “Ghostbusters“, “Thriller” or “The Monster Mash” and want to branch out? (All of the aforementioned songs, incidentally, are available to check out on CD here.)

Well, the Music Library can definitely help you get your spooky on, if you are so inclined!

For example, we have quite a few film soundtracks that could spice up your Halloween listening:

Bernard Hermann‘s soundtrack to the 1960 Alfred Hitchcock classic film Psycho might fit the bill (just stay away from the shower!)

Psycho soundtrack CD cover

We also have other cool film soundtracks like Max Steiner‘s score for the 1933 film King Kong

King Kong soundtrack CD

And CD compilations like The Definitive Horror Music Collection which has horror movie music selections dating from 1922 to 2009.

The Definitive Horror Music Collection CD set

In addition to film soundtracks we have some movie musicals that might make good seasonal viewing such as the adaptation of Stephen Sondheim‘s bloody good melodrama Sweeney Todd

Sweeney Todd film poster

or the sci-fi/rock craziness of The Rocky Horror Picture Show.

Rocky Horror Picture Show

You can also go DIY with Rocky Horror and check out sheet music with an accompaniment CD if you’re feeling especially Time Warp-y!

Rocky Horror Vocal Selections

You can also thrill to the ghostly sounds of the theremin — an electronic musical instrument that is controlled without physical contact. It was/is often featured in sci-fi and horror movies like The Day The Earth Stood Still. (Fun fact: Bernard Hermann did the music for this film as well!)

The Day The Earth Stood Still soundtrack

We have a cool documentary about the stranger-than-true story of the theremin that can be checked out, as well as an assortment of CDs that feature the instrument.

Theremin: An Electronic Odyssey

In a classical vein (pun totally intended) you can find recordings of things like Berlioz‘s Symphonie Fantastique, Saint-Saens’ Danse Macabre or Mussorgsky’s Night On Bald Mountain in a variety of formats (LP, CD, streaming) for your seasonal delectation and delight.

Danse Macabre

We even have sound effects CDs to help you create your own spooky atmosphere at Halloween parties.

Braaiiins!

So why not pay us a visit and check out some Halloween fun? We’re dying to see you! *rimshot*

Halloween Music Collection - Midnight Syndicate

New CD’s added this month!

Classical

Clara Schumann – Complete Piano Works
Javier Camarena – Recitales
Temianka & Shure – Beethoven – 10 Sonatas for Violin and Piano

Jazz

Donald Byrd – Kofi
Duke Ellington – Festival Session
Duke Ellington – At Newport

Pop/Rock

The Beach Boys – Sounds of Summer
Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band – Night moves
Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band – Stranger in Town
Canned Heat – Uncanned – The Best of Canned Heat
Cherryholmes – Cherryholmes
Cherryholmes – Cherryholmes III, Don’t Believe
Cornell Dupree – Child’s Play
Don Henley – Building the Perfect Beast

Soundtracks

Stephen Flaherty – Rocky: Original Broadway Cast Recording
Tom Kitt – If/Then: Original Broadway Cast Recording