The Jazz influenced soundtrack of “The Princess and the Frog” adds great
feeling, along with necessary points, to the story. Classic jazz is a versatile genre. Portrayed in a blues style or in a more upbeat, positive way – it accurately recognizes a range of emotions. In addition, jazz music is native to the setting- New Orleans, Louisiana- making it perfect for the story. All songs in the movie help point out character traits, create action, or enforce a central theme.
Most big ideas or changes in “The Princess and the Frog” occur within a song. For example, when Tiana sings “Almost There,” viewers are introduced to her lifelong dream of owning a restaurant. Extravagant instrumentation and artist Anika Noni Rose’s powerful voice creates a beautiful text painting. The music reflects Tiana’s determination to overcome the odds and live out her father’s ambitions. Seeing Tiana’s goal come to life through the song moves along the plot.
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Soon after characters are introduced, songs often expound their personalities.
Major keys often indicate a benevolent character. For instance, after Tiana and Prince Naveen become frogs they meet Ray, Louis, and Mama Odie. Characters perform up-tempo songs like “Ma Belle Evangeline” and “When We’re Human” in a major key. As evil characters, like Dr.Facilier come into play, minor key songs allow viewers to form an opinion of the person. Keys serve their important role by leaving viewers with a necessary emotion.
Wide instrumental register creates diverse and exciting music, easing along the central theme- love conquers evil. One overall style of music ties together all songs, while key changes and different tempo allow varying feeling to be portrayed. Considering the main audience- a generally faster tempo, not much slower than allegro, is one key feature in the unique Cajun style. Fairly frequent key changes occur in order to escalate feeling of
excitement. Similar to major keys and upbeat tempo, dynamics are a crucial phenomenon within the movie’s original sound. Most songs begin with a mezzo forte level of sound, easing the transition from regular conversation to song. At the culmination of any particular piece, dynamic often increases to forte in order to reinforce the main idea, often within the chorus. By the conclusion of a piece, a decrescendo often brings the dynamic level to piano. Often this allows viewers to recognize a result, solution, or effect of the song’s subplot. Many musical elements give an original sound to “The Princess and the Frog” soundtrack. Even gospel influences in “Dig a Little Deeper” expand variety within the soundtrack. Various instruments are constantly used; pianos, saxophones, and trumpets maintain interest within all audiences. Music from “The Princess and the Frog” uses a range of notation to produce one of the most intricate soundtracks in any Disney movie.
This movie is one that I have always enjoyed and watching it in class gave me a new appreciation for it. The storybook, introduced into the movie by the grandfather, was the first motif that caught my eye. At first you don’t think much about it but it’s a great representation of so many different things. First off, the boy’s reaction to unwrapping the book is one shared by so many kids in today’s society. A book is seen as somewhat of a chore rather than an indulgence or hobby. The grandfather sets the scene to transition into the actual story with the book. Starting the first scene in the boy’s bedroom gives the movie a sense of realism and one that is relatable. The book gave the movie a whole new dimension that I appreciate and commend the directors and authors for creating. The book also represents tradition in their family. It was read to several generations and symbolizes the love that the fathers and grandfathers have for their children. It shows great patience and the desire to spend time with a loved one to read them a book. That is a gift that is slowly being lost as time g...
The first appearance of jazz was at the turn of the century in New Orleans and is called “Dixieland Jazz,” or “Classic Jazz.” It developed out of music for street parades in the black community. It also had deeper roots in a style of music called “Blues,” which was used to express the daily experiences of the community (History). Other influences include the combination of West African folk music with the popular classical music of Europe, developing into syncopated rhythms and chord variations on classical pieces (Passion).
In New Orleans, where the jazz music started, music was not a luxury, it was a necessity. Ethnicities represented in New Orleans were as follows: French, Spanish, and African, Italian, German, and Irish (Herbert Asbury, 1938). This unique combination provided a unique mix of cultural influences which gave birth to such unique styles of music: ragtime, blues, spirituals, marches, and of course jazz. The workers needed the music as a way of communication, relief, and hope for freedom, during the mind-numbing labor.
In an archetypal sense, “The Princess and the Frog” have the same type of characters and other elements just as other fairy tales. For example, Dr Facilier’s many physical traits can be compared to that of Jafar in Disney’s ‘Aladdin’ such as being tall and skinny and dressed up in very linear black and red (Aladdin). Also Dr Facilier’s personality as that of a scheming broker with ‘friends on the other side’ can be compared to that of Ursula and Hades in Disney’s ‘The Little Mermaid’ and ‘Hercules’ respectively (The Little Mermaid) (Hercules). The motif which includes the Quest in the movie, and characters like Louis, Ray and Mama Odie, learning and overcoming obstacles resulted in the transformation of both Tiana and Prince Naveen, both physically and mentally. One of the main uses of object archetypes in the movie can be Mama Odie’s blind glasses. These glasses shows that Mama Odie is blind. Analysing this with a critical eye, Mama Odie’s glasses are so such similar to that of the blindfold of ‘Lady Liberty’. The irony is that Mama Odie sees the truth and solution to everything. Archetypes can give strong and powerful meanings to mere objects like a feather to a giant
...t deeper into the genre by telling of his losses following Katrina and his experience with musicians that are not so well known to the outsiders of the jazz community. Additionally, his aim was to make known that a façade exists about what many consider New Orleans jazz. He credits a “commercial culture” that has led to an “ignorance” about what the music represents (826). White also touched on what he considers to be a new jazz era in the aftermath of the hurricane.
Imagine you are walking the streets of New Orleans. You are standing right where jazz was established in the United States of America. Jazz wasn’t just about music, it also affected the culture involving social, economic, artistic and jazz leaders.
Throughout my lifetime I’ve been exposed to many different styles of music. One of the most emotionally connected music styles I’ve encountered would definitely be instrumental jazz. When I was younger I mostly listened to blues and smooth jazz, but more recently I’ve been attracted to faster tracks and harder beats like those you hear in the Swing era of the 1920’s. On Tuesday, October 27th I attended the performance of the jazz band: Sylvan Street, as a part of the University of Miami’s music festival (Festival Miami). The show started at eight o’clock at night cost ten dollars for students. Throughout the show, the band provided an incredible mixture of different styles of jazz while delivering an electrifying performance that captured the true essence of what jazz truly is.
Jazz culture to be exact, is the topic at hand. Jazz culture expands throughout many genres and is expressed in many ways. The many genres of jazz are Big Band, jazz funk, modern jazz, smooth jazz, Latin jazz, and jazz fusion. Each of these comes with its own unique sound and origin. Latin jazz, for example, employs rhythms from both African and Hispanic backgrounds. The sound is particularly up tempo with divided eight beat patterns. Jazz artists who have portrayed these qualities of jazz to the world are at the very core of its culture. Many people who are in places of power in this society or are held in some form of esteem have had some exposure to the arts, whether it is classical or jazz. This is due to a desire to be culturally diverse which is a quality held in high esteem in regards to a more worldly point-of-view. There are many aspects of Jazz music that could be approached, but there is one point in particular that must be expressed in detail. The influence on the genre ...
Jazz is referred as “America’s classical music,” and is one of North America’s and most celebrated genres. The history of Jazz can be traced back to the early era of the 20th century of the U.S. “A History of Jazz” presents From Ragtime and Blues to Big Band and Bebop, jazz has been a part of a proud African American tradition for over 100 years. A strong rhythmic under-structure, blue notes, solos, “call-and response” patterns, and
In order to see the parallel between the novel and jazz, one must first see how Ellison incorporates jazz music in the prologue of the novel. He not only sets the scene with jazz music in the background but also gives the narrator a deep understanding of music. The music that the narrator listens to is Louis Armstrong’s “Black and Blue,” which is appropriate because Armstrong is a prominent African-American jazz musician who protests the treatment of African-Americans through his music. The narrator embraces every line of the song and gives an apt description of its message:
Jazz was portrayed through different styles of writing throughout each story. The first author focused on telling a story based on a time period of revolution while the second, focused on writing an interview-formatted story. Both stories did display sense of Jazz as a catalyst to feeling different types of ways no matter the situation. The group mentioned in the first story was able to revolt and share their beliefs of Jazz through performances. The author showed how Jazz affected even the people who were against it. Jazz touches everyone in some way like many other types of music. The second story didn’t mention Jazz a lot, but gave way to the feeling that Jazz heals people. As soon as the protagonist heard Jazz music, he was cured from his disease. Not everyone will view Jazz in the same way, but Jazz affects everyone as seen in the passages before.
Jazz music has got a lot of importances as much as it lacks a correct definition. It plays a role in the entertainment sector. It entertains the listeners who are passionate to the art. They get a special entrainment especially for the working class who find listening to jazz as an activity done during the leisure time. Jazz on the other hand is very educative and informative of the past and the current issues. Since it is a long time art, it can be used to safeguard and protect the cultural practices of the people of the community. The culture is stored in the jazz songs and easily passed from one generation to another. It can also be transferred from one community to another since jazz music listeners are all over the world. Hence jazz music is a store of culture of a people of a particular social locality or geographical location.
In today’s modern age, young children are being raised by their TV screen. Reining from the original tales of Perrault and the Grim Brothers, the Disney princess line has been a staple on the screens since the 1930s (Do Rozario 1). However, these princesses have gone through dramatic changes to remain relevant to todays youth. The effects that can be influenced by the roles expressed in these types of films send mixed messages to the audience, causing them to ask themselves whether or not they should believe what the princess is expressing on the screen.
Not only is it nearly impossible to pinpoint jazz’s conception in time, many locations are accredited with its origin, the United States allowed for jazz to start gaining popularity and leading into the change it had to the music scene. When jazz is brought up, many first think of its birth place being New Orleans, Louisiana. New Orleans has always been a big musi...
Morrison conjures up the hand of slavery on Harlem’s jazz generation. The more you listen, the more you crave to hear. ”-Glamour. Toni Morrison’s Jazz is an eclectic reading based on elements of African American culture that produce, surround, and are an integral part of literary text. As we know, African American culture is distinguishable from other American cultures by its emphasis on music.