Day 827: Stars and Stripes Forever

Brace yourselves everyone! Within the next few blog posts there's not one, not two, but THREE Music focused topics, and this is just the first one. You see, this week has been an absolutely stressful week filled to the brim with performances, saxophone playing, auditions and regular work. When I spend a significant amount of my time on stage or in the practice room, you can bet that my Disney references for each day probably come from a similar location, hence post after post about Disney and music. I do, however, promise that each of them will be a little different than the last, so get ready, because here we go.

The other night, in the first performance of my week, I played with that SNC Saxophone Quartet as part of the Chamber Music Concert, filled with performances by other small ensembles, including a Bell Choir, Flute Choir, Brass Trio and Piano Ensembles. I happened to be recruited to turn pages for the Piano Quartet, specifically for their arrangement of Stars and Stripes Forever. Now, this is pretty much the quintessential American March, and in yet another upset in the Marine Band March March Madness Competition, apparently it was beaten out yet again this year by the Valders March. At Disney, however, Stars and Stripes Forever appears in full force, and if you've forgotten what the original piece sounds like, here's a recording to refresh your memory before we continue forward. That way you'll have it fresh in your mind to understand where the references come into play.

The Carousel of Progress: 

You can bet that while I was sitting on stage turning pages for the Piano Quartet, there was definitely one Disney attraction that came to mind: The Carousel of Progress. I know this show pretty well, so of course I instantly thought of the portion that takes place around Fourth of July, when the music James (the son) picks for the fireworks show that evening happens to be Stars and Stripes Forever. Now I'm pretty sure that the next time I go to see The Carousel of Progress I'll think of my SNC Piano playing friends, but is that really a bad thing? 

The Main Street Electrical Parade: 

While the Electrical Parade is filled with all sorts of music, including the main theme based on Baroque Hoedown, something I'm definitely going to look into more as time goes on simply because I'm a music major and it seems like an interesting topic to take a look at, Stars and Stripes Forever does indeed make an appearance in the parade towards the end in the "Salute to America" section. If you listen to the audio, which I've included below for your to listen to, you can hear the song mixed in with the other patriotic pieces in the finale. 

The Muppets: 

Now, while Stars and Stripes Forever probably appears many more times throughout the parks (I'm looking at you, American Adventure Pavilion), I couldn't end this post without mentioning everyone's favorite Eagle, Sam, and his crazy awesome love of America. So here, to round things out, is a Muppet Rendition of Stars and Stripes Forever: 

Now...try getting that out of your head! Good luck! 

Have a magical day!

(Note: This blog post was written on April 12 due to a busy week).

Day 330: Playing the Piano

Today is our last day of college before our Thanksgiving break, and lucky for me two of my classes have been canceled for one reason or another. That means that this morning I have extra time to do whatever I wish to do, even if I should be working on my homework. 

Well, what I DID do this morning kind of has to do with homework. I was talking yesterday briefly about the arrangement I have to do for my music theory class, and today that's what we were working on. So after a brief discussion in the classroom, a bunch of us went down into the practice rooms in the basement to use the pianos. I nabbed one for myself and went through my Disney Piano Music to try and come up with a song I wanted to do an arrangement of. 

I played through my two classic Disney movie books, or looked through them rather, playing a song here and there, and then thought that maybe I should move onto my book with my Disney Parks Music. I have no clue where or when we got it, but I love it because it has all of those Epcot songs stuck in it for voice and piano. This basically means that I have everything from Grim Grinning Ghosts to the song that this blog post is ultimately about. 

For what seems like the thousandth time, let's head to The American Adventure. Considering this is probably my second favorite attraction in all of Walt Disney World, I suppose it's sensible that it comes up so often, but that's beside the point. I was going through the piano book and happened to eventually find the last song, which I can honestly say I have never really looked at before. I just never had a need or want to I guess. I had no clue what was back there because I don't look at the song list on the cover either. That's just not how I roll. 

So I flip back there for some reason or another and what do I find? The song about the Pilgrims from The American Adventure! This is one of those songs that I've been wanting to learn for years and here it was, I've had it the whole time! 

And you can guess what happened next. I spent a good hour and a half learning this song, which I can now kind of sort of play. I'm a bit rusty on the piano, but that's why my books are there, so I can continue to play every once and a while so I don't totally lose my ability to play the piano. 

Don't ask me to pick it up and play of the songs from the book though, just out of the blue. Chances are I won't be able to play them and you will never have heard the music in your life anyway. 

 

Remember When...there were trees on Main Street USA? Yeah, that's today's Frumpstagram Picture, and I can honestly say that I don't really remember the trees all that well...if I ever actually saw them in the first place. This is one of the pictures straight out of some of my family's oldest Disney photo albums, and I love looking through them to see how much Disney has changed. It's ridiculous! 

Here's today's Disney History: 1942: The Warner Brothers romance film Casablanca, starring Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman and Peter Lorre, is released. A scene from this film is represented in Disney's Hollywood Studios' The Great Movie Ride. It is also among the trailers shown in the ride's queue area. 

Have a magical day!

Day 2: My Own "Small World"

Hello!

My name is Lizzie, and I am obsessed with Disney.

(Here's where you all say "Hello Lizzie!")

Anyway...I'm 17 years old, and I live in a Semi-Small town (officially a city I guess) in Northeastern Wisconsin, which for those of you that don't know, is indeed a State obsessed with Cheese, and while we don't get snow all year long, it is still rather chilly here during the winter months. Ok, maybe it's more than a "little chilly."  I've grown up in a family of four people, my mom and my dad, my brother Jonathan and myself. I'm the oldest of us two kids, as my brother is younger than me by 4 years, making him, of course, 13, and just barely a teenager. I've gone to the same school district my entire life, and while my group of friends has changed multiple times since I was just a little girl, I am happy to say that I'm surrounded by a great group of people that I love and very much care about.

My obsessions, outside of Disney of course, include music (I play Alto Saxophone, Oboe, Piano, some guitar and I can sing), Photography (specifically Animal Photography), drawing, some painting, reading, writing, movie watching (Disney of course!), technology, making videos and a few more that I'm sure you'll hear about in time. Oh, and I almost forgot to mention that I'm a Senior in High School clearly looking at a future in either Music or English, with a possible Business something thrown in there, and I plan on doing the Disney college program and hopefully someday gaining a job in the Disney Company. While I'd love to be an Imagineer, I'm not sure I'm creative enough, but that's a topic for another blog post.

Now, for my obsession with Disney. While I'm going to be working on a FAQ page soon, which will include much of my background surrounding Disney, I'll give a brief description here. I don't necessarily have ONE favorite Disney movie, but just a few titles are "Beauty and the Beast", "Lady and the Tramp", "The Lion King", "Pirates of the Caribbean", and of course the new Disney additions of "Indiana Jones" and "Star Wars." As a member of Disney Vacation Club and a regular Annual Passholder, I have been to Walt Disney World a full total of 23 times in my short 17 years, which includes two trips on Disney Cruise Line. I traveled to Disneyland for the first time in 2011, and am hoping to go back this next summer in 2013. I do have a favorite park and attraction, which, as you will learn in time, I am truly obsessed with. It's Epcot for the park, and it's Icon, Spaceship Earth stands as my all time favorite attraction. It was my very first Disney World attraction back at the young age of 1, and since then I've been on it over 130 times, and yes, I have the dialogue from the current version memorized. With this obsession, I am a collector of all things Spaceship Earth, and while this is really another topic for another post, I am currently very excited about the newest additions to my collection, a 30th Anniversary Spaceship Earth iPhone case and a 30th Anniversary Park Map and Button. As I said before, I am also a fan of both Indy and Star Wars, with Indy and, of course, Han Solo, as my favorite characters respectfully...which, if it isn't obvious, mentions that Harrison Ford is one of my favorite actors. I own books, movies, and just about everything Disney I can get my hands on and afford at the same time, but that will all be explained in a later entry, I can't make this too long, after all. (I just realized as I proof read that I say "a different post/entry" like three or four times...funny!)

I own one house cat, named LillyBelle (yes, named after Walt's wife, Lillian, and a reference to the Disneyland/World Railroads), along with an ever changing number of barn cats, each with their own unique name and personality. Maybe sometime I'll introduce all of them.

Aside from all of that, it basically sums up my life...Disney, Disney, Disney and more DISNEY. Which I suppose is fitting now that I am starting this DISNEY blog.

Have a magical day!