THE WORLD-FAMOUS DISNEYLAND BAND
This History of the Disneyland Band goes into some depth. The video below on the left is excellent (if anodyne) and the band's first recording (way before my time) is on the right. My friend and old boss, Stan Freese, has written a book, Music, Mayhem and the Mouse: My "Tubazar" Life, which covers a lot of DLB history.
The band's first two sets were "concerts in the park" in Town Square as Disneyland opened and guests entered and proceeded up Main Street, USA. The music was in the turn-of-the-century style of the "Area Background Music" in the lower left combined with marches and Disney Tunes – setting the Magic Kingdom mood and leaving present day reality behind.
The Disney concept of "Atmosphere Entertainment" is to "set the stage" (all Disneyland employees are "cast members") for this figurative trip back in time. I understand for a while in the early days, "guests" walked through a literal curtain (I suspect cleaning became an issue) underneath this plaque to go "onstage." My friend, long time conductor of the Disneyland Band (and fine jazz trombonist), Art Dragon talked about the his (and the Band's) role in creating "atmosphere."
The present ("new & improved") iteration of the DLB is at the bottom right. Call me old-fashioned (or just old), but the new, high-energy, highly-choreographed, drum-and-bugle-corps-influenced, band seems a trifle anachronistic. (So does Starbucks – but what do I know.)
The band's first two sets were "concerts in the park" in Town Square as Disneyland opened and guests entered and proceeded up Main Street, USA. The music was in the turn-of-the-century style of the "Area Background Music" in the lower left combined with marches and Disney Tunes – setting the Magic Kingdom mood and leaving present day reality behind.
The Disney concept of "Atmosphere Entertainment" is to "set the stage" (all Disneyland employees are "cast members") for this figurative trip back in time. I understand for a while in the early days, "guests" walked through a literal curtain (I suspect cleaning became an issue) underneath this plaque to go "onstage." My friend, long time conductor of the Disneyland Band (and fine jazz trombonist), Art Dragon talked about the his (and the Band's) role in creating "atmosphere."
The present ("new & improved") iteration of the DLB is at the bottom right. Call me old-fashioned (or just old), but the new, high-energy, highly-choreographed, drum-and-bugle-corps-influenced, band seems a trifle anachronistic. (So does Starbucks – but what do I know.)
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