Regarding MTI"s 'Grasslands Chant' recording of Lion King Jr.--wrong rhythms

[musicpostjams]

Posted: 4/19/22 at 9:43am

Hello Fellow Directors,

The recording provided for Disney's The Lion King Jr. is very polished, with the rhythms being very deliberate, and the intonation of the singers is excellent. I noticed, however, that their recording of "Grasslands Chant", which is a cool little piece, has the singers performing the rhythms of that song very differently from what is on the written score. It seems like they have really worked hard to perfect those difficult rhythms on the recording. But they sure ain't doing them the way they were written. My guess is that it was too hard to notate the rhythms that they want kids to sing...or I should say, the notation would have been intimidating for both music directors and singers. So I'm also guessing that we should perform the piece the way it was recorded vs. the way it is written. What do you all think? Thanks, David

 

p.s. here is both a link the the recording and to the pdf of the music (it is part of the script, page 18.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9hj5hKjTkqE&list=PLspjULyrs499KF3JukT1IJdU0urRB99Dv&index=2

https://beyondthe4thwall.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/Lion-King-Script.pdf

[DooWahDiddy]

Posted: 4/19/22 at 12:15pm

Looks like all the "mama ye"s need to be moved over an 8th note. I doubt it had anything to do with the difficulty; probably just a mistake. I agree you should do it as recorded, not written; especially because that's how it was in the original version.