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Lead Belly

In case your credit card isn’t maxed out from my previous recommendations, here is another “must have” set of three DVDs… Legends of Country Blues Guitar.

This landmark film distills the essence of folk blues. The staging and cutting in this little film is exquisite. Lead Belly was a man whose temper kept him in trouble with the law. Bob Dylan described him as “one of the few ex-cons to record a children’s album”. But he is best known as the “King of the 12 String Guitar”. Like the Carter Family, his extensive recording career was responsible for documenting and preserving scores of folk songs that would not have survived otherwise. His importance to American folk music can’t be overemphasized. This little clip is a treasure of the first magnitude.

A commenter has pointed out an interesting fact about the “Gray Goose” song. The goose represents the indomitable spirit of the black man, oppressed and forced to suffer countless indignities, but still surviving and persevering.

Stephen Worth
Director
Animation Resources

This posting is part of a series of articles comprising an online exhibit entitled Adventures in Music.

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Leonard Bernstein

Leonard Bernstein was an accomplished composer and conductor, but if you want my opinion, he really stood out as being one of the world’s greatest educators. He began a series of televised educational concerts in 1958 called “Young People’s Concerts”, and systematically educated America’s youth about great music for the next 15 years. Bernstein didn’t talk down to the kids. Looking at these lectures today as an adult, there’s still plenty for me to learn. It distresses me that there’s nothing even remotely like this available to kids on television today. It’s a crime in fact. Thankfully, the entire series of Young People’s Concerts is available on DVD.

In this clip, Bernstein sums up how America’s melting pot of cultures distilled many different kinds of music into quintessentially “American” music. Too often we try to ignore cultural differences and pretend they don’t exist. Pointing out the things that are particular to a group of people is seen as “impolite”. I prefer to celebrate all of the ethnic cultures around me here in Hollywood- Hispanic, Asian, Black, Middle Eastern- even the plain old white bread people I grew up around are unique in their own way. As a cartoonist, the differences between all of us are much more interesting than the similarities. Viva la difference!

Stephen Worth
Director
Animation Resources

This posting is part of a series of articles comprising an online exhibit entitled Adventures in Music.

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Shirley Temple

Music and Dance are sisters. They go together. They both know how the other one moves. And they’re able to seamlessly meld together to create something that communicates on a level far below conscious thought. How do you go about describing the way a melody makes you feel, or how a dancer’s attitudes convey joy or heartache or excitement? The great thing about art is that it can take a million words to describe it in detail, yet you still haven’t communicated its meaning as well as just viewing it.

When I share great old stuff with young people, inevitably someone in the crowd will pipe up with “How come only old stuff is good? New stuff is good too!” Well, it is certainly true that there is great new art being made today, but this level of skill, talent and artistry isn’t as common as it used to be, and it isn’t in the mainstream media the way it was in the 30s, 40s and 50s. Case in point: Shirley Temple.

Here’s a little kid whose dancing is just as good, if not better than anything on “Dancing With The Stars”. Buddy Ebsen just plain kicks ass in this clip and even he is hard pressed to keep up! This freakin’ 8 year old makes Beyonce look like a tired old nag! They weren’t alone. Check out MGM’s That’s Entertainment for more… and the other studios too- Fox, Columbia, Warner Bros… every studio was loaded with talent like this.

Animators need to study great dancers and learn from their techniques. I sat down with a couple of my interns and analyzed this particular clip. It has a lot of interesting things to teach animators and entertainers of all types.

Stephen Worth
Director
Animation Resources

This posting is part of a series of articles comprising an online exhibit entitled Adventures in Music.

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