AC Music 200 Blog

I chose to focus on a piece of music from the original Disney movie Aladdin . This was one of the movies that my brothers and I watched often when we were little. To this day, some of the songs from it will get stuck in my head on random occasions. One of these is the song Friend Like Me , which the Genie sings after Aladdin releases him from his lantern. Biographical Information:  Friend Like Me is one of the most popular songs from the 1992, Walt Disney film, Aladdin ( Friend Like Me ). It was written with the sole purpose of being part of the movie, and was incorporated into it much like any song in an animated Disney film. This song was sung by the same actor who did the voice for the Genie, Robin Williams. When the song was being written, the song writers didn't know who would be cast as the Genie, and end up singing Friend Like Me ( Criscitiello ). The image that the writers had in mind for the singer didn't exactly fit with Williams, but he was able to bring an entire...

The Piano Guys are one of the musical groups that I love listening to, even though they usually don't play their own music. They change the songs that they play, often only doing the instrumental part, and leaving out the singing, or mixing different songs together. Despite this, they still play so well that I often prefer their version of a song to the original.  Biographical Information:  The Piano Guys are a band consisting of four members:  pianist Jon Schmidt, cellist Steven Nelson, videographer Paul Anderson, and music producer Al van der Beek ( The Piano Guys ). This group had a very interesting history. Paul Anderson owned a piano store, called The Piano Guys, in Utah ( About Us – The Piano Guys ). Jon Schmidt was in the store one day asking to practice on the piano. After a time, Anderson and Schmidt were making music videos together, and then posting them on YouTube ( Leggett ). Nelson also became a part of these music ventures, since Schmidt knew him fro...

  Research Traditional African music is something that I find fascinating. It is deeply cultural and important to their everyday life. It is also extremely diverse, with distinctions between individual villages, as well as countries (Evens). African music is used for several different topics and events. It is an important part of religious ceremonies, and is also used to pass down oral stories, throughout several generations ( Music of Africa ). Songs and music are a very important part of African society; they are used to teach and guide, mark the passage of life and death, and even to give political guidance or show unhappiness ( Evens ).  There are a variety of instruments used in Traditional African music, but percussion instruments are some of the most common and popular. Various different types of drums, rattles, bells, and wooden sticks are often used in African music ( African Traditional Music ). African music is very rhythmic and often includes polyrhythms of varying...