Whenever I listen to instrumental music I like to interpret and depict stories by listening to the kind of emotions that are being expressed through the chords being played (more than one note being played at once to produce a new sound), the different instruments that are being brought out, the tempo, and the dynamics of the song (how loud and soft the song gets). Yes, I am a very musical person.
I’m trying something new here, once a week I will pick a song from a score of any Pixar movie and show my interpretation of that song. Of course that specific song that I pick every week will reflect what is going on during that point during the movie that the song is being played, but I will go deeper into the emotions being expressed in each song, tell my own story, my own interpretation.
The first song of the week that I have chosen will be Define Dancing composed by Thomas Newman. Define Dancing is played in Wall•E during the scene where Wall•E and Eve are outside the Axiom “dancing”. During this scene you also see the captain of the Axiom discovering many wonderful things about Earth through his computer. Every word the captain doesn’t understand, he asks the computer to define. He then asks the computer to define dancing.
Whenever I listen to Define Dancing I imagine two people falling in love at first sight, then going through life together. (Sounds a little like Carl and Ellie in Up, but that wasn’t intentional, its just how I feel about the song.)
During the first few seconds of the song you hear only a harp, then joins in the bass. During these first seconds I imaging two young people going through each of their lives. During this point in the song I get a sense of wonder, as if looking for love. Then the sound picks up with new string instruments being added to the sound, the melody picks up in a way that perceives someone looking at someone or something in complete utter awe, it’s love at first sight. Next comes long chords held out by violins along with quiet bells in the background, to me this is the first stage where the couple (being Wall•E and Eve) adore each other, they see nothing else in the world but their true love, to me the bells sound like the excitement of being together. During about the next minute the same chords are played and different themes are brought out, including a short beautiful piano solo. As the couple goes through life together, different obstacles are conquered, different events occur. Next you hear a “whoosh”, you hear the same theme you heard in the beginning of the song, now the couple are back in their natural rhythm of love. The song starts to slow down and get softer. The couple have learned to rely on each other, they are comfortable with each other, still completely is love, now more so than ever. After one last chord is played the song ends.
Didn’t hear what I heard? What’s your story?
The Dream of Pixar 