A UBC School of Music professor has got the world’s attention with his Top 114 tracks list
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When UBC musicology professor Dr. Robert Komaniecki decided to apply rigorous research methodology to rank Disney musical tunes, he never expected worldwide media coverage for the final list of the top 114 songs.
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When it comes the music made by Mickey’s house, we do talk about Bruno as well as every other imaginable character from the legendary studio.
“It started with CBC, then it went to BBC and tonight I have an interview with ABC in Australia, as well as other outlets,” said Komaniecki. “A little good, harmless press might be good.”
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The 34 year-old academic admits he considers the best Disney musicals to be those made in the studio’s 1990 renaissance period such as Beauty and the Beast, Frozen and even Hercules. The majority of music that made the cut comes from this later period with far fewer selections from the golden era of Pinocchio, the Jungle Book or 101 Dalmations.
He used his music theory-based rating system which assigned songs a potential 500 points. Scored on lyrics, music, vocals, plot integration in the story and that all-too-divisive category of subjective enjoyment, he released daily lists of five on X. Debates raged around the results.
By the end of the exercise, his list numbered over 100 drawn from a chronological study of 31 films beginning in 1937 with Snow White and winding up with 2023s Wish. The top choice after all of that was Donna Murphy’s performance of Mother Knows Best from the 2010 film Tangled.
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In a chat with Postmedia, Komaniecki talked about his findings and the hard work that went into compiling his list. As a side note, he has no plans to attempt a similar study into the music of such Disney+ hits as High School Musical and others.
Postmedia: There are many, many generations who would wonder how anything from Tangled or Mulan could ever top When You Wish Upon a Star — #32 — or Dumbo’s tear-raising Baby Mine, which isn’t even on the list. How is that even possible?
Dr. Komaniecki: A lot of people recognize When You Wish Upon a Star as one of the most well-crafted and widely beloved songs of all time, which has become a part of the Great American Songbook. But I’m considering things like what is the orchestration like, is there a great B-section, etc. A lot of those great, classic songs are shorter and I tended to gravitate toward the songs that are more like modern musical theatre, with plot progression moving things along, strong bridges and so forth.
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Q: Was it fun to go through and discover the depth of the talent employed across the 86-year spread you analyzed?
A: Oh yeah. There is the core Alan Menken and Howard Ashman throughout but also people like Lin Manuel Miranda from Broadway for Encanto and Robert Lopez from the Book of Mormon for Frozen and Coco.
Q: Ultimately, what songs on your list are likely to become piano lounge classics like some of those beloved vintage Disney film tunes?
A: I do wonder that. We are starting to see some of them like Part of Your World from the Little Mermaid or Beauty and the Beast’s titular song entering into the North American imagination and make their homes in the songbook now. The onstage vernacular in Moana and Encanto incorporates rapping.
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Q: Can you hear something in the way the newer material is written to suit adaptation to live theatre. So many audience favourites have been turned into stage hits in recent decades, haven’t they?
A: I can certainly hear how Encanto can be adapted to being performed on ice by figure skaters with my two year-old slapping my leg excitedly because I’ve seen it. Some of the blocking and effects like a cousin who can shape shift could cause a producer to pause, but I’m confident it can be done.
Q: After all this listening, is there a formula for writing a great Disney song. Are there particular chord progressions, melodic decisions or other aspects that you discovered?
A: No. But I do think that the template of an “I want” song has really taken hold. Starting with Part of Your World in the Little Mermaid and moving through more and more of the Disney songs, there are many examples.
Dr. Robert Kamaniecki’s Full List of Top Disney Musical Tunes
twitter.com/Komaniecki_R/status/1812758985726144531
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