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Alan Menken
Animation has come a long way since the days of Carl Stalling and ‘Merry Melodies’, and so it’s only natural that music in animation would take a new direction as well. Disney revolutionized the way the world looked at cartoons with its animated full-length feature films. While the earlier short cartoons by Warner Brothers had very silly, light-hearted storylines and music to match, Disney decided to go in a different direction. They decided to begin producing longer animated movies with more complex plots. The first of these movies was “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs”, which was released in 1937. This new genre of cartoon also brought about a new type of music. The new Disney movies were more like animated musicals, so the songs they contained were similar to something you might hear in a Broadway show. Leigh Harline, who took over for Carl Stalling on the Silly Symphony series, was one of the pioneers for this new type of music in cartoons. His work in “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” and “Pinocchio” paved the way for one of the most talented and accomplished modern day animation composers, Alan Menken. Top
Alan Menken grew up in New Rochelle, New York, and found early on that he had a passion for music. He was surrounded by a family that loved musical theater, and this exposure was a foundation for his future work on Disney movies. After graduating from New York University with a degree in Liberal Arts, he decided to pursue a career in music. He soon met lyricist Howard Ashman, and together they composed music for “Little Shop of Horrors”. Disney quickly took notice in Menken, as his songs possessed just the qualities they were looking for to put in their upcoming animated films. His first Disney project, “The Little Mermaid” was a huge success. He provided the underscore for the song “Under the Sea” which went on to win two Academy Awards, two Golden Globe Awards, and two Grammy Awards. Top
Menken’s unique style of music composition was a perfect match for the Disney movies of the 1990’s. The stories had reverted back to the fairy tale damsel in distress type seen in the classics, like “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” and “Sleeping Beauty”. These stories invoked a wide range of audience emotions, and Menken knew exactly how to manipulate his music to emphasize these emotions even further. His knowledge of musical theater played a big part in this. He was able to take the standards that Carl Stalling had set for music that was happy, sad, scary, etc. and incorporate them into more professional, less ‘cartoony-sounding’ music. He became an expert at composing songs that were catchy yet sophisticated, appealing to both children and adults. Top
Alan Menken is one of the most well-known and influential modern day animation composers mainly because he’s done so much quality work. He composed music for “The Little Mermaid”, “Beauty and the Beast”, “Aladdin”, “Pocahontas”, “The Hunchback of Notre Dame”, “Hercules”, and “Home on the Range” and accumulated a number of coveted awards. That’s nearly every hit Disney movie that came out in the 1990’s, as well as one in 2004. Top
The technology Alan Menken uses in his compositions has come a long way since the days of Carl Stalling. Although orchestra recordings are still often used for the finished song, the development of the synthesizer has opened up a wide range of possibilities for animation composers. They can create a variety of sounds from a single keyboard, allowing them to envision how the song will sound before working with the actual musicians. Menken’s technology of choice right now is the Yamaha Disklavier piano, the DC7A and DC3A to be specific. These are grand pianos fitted with Yamaha electronics. They have the ability to record and play back music, and can generate a variety of instrumental tones. They also contain built-in amplified stereo speaker systems, MIDI and AUX connections, direct computer interface, and ‘Silent System technology (allowing the composer to silence the acoustic piano sound and use only the digital tones). Top
