Buddy Baker Archives
Location
Rosen Classroom 111
Start Date
20-6-2024 11:45 AM
About the Presenters
Len Testa is a computer scientist who studies theme park operations at touringplans.com. He's also the co-author of The Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World, and co-host of the Disney Dish podcast with Jim Hill. Len says playing the 1991 Official Album of Disneyland and Walt Disney World on repeat got him through writing his thesis.
Description
Composer Norman “Buddy” Baker created the soundtracks for many beloved Disney theme park attractions, including The Haunted Mansion, If You Had Wings, and some of EPCOT’s classic Future World pavilions. The Fales Library at New York University received Buddy’s papers after his death in 2002. This collection of almost 100 boxes – many with Buddy’s hand-written notes – spans his nearly 50-year Disney career. The vast majority of the music in the Baker archives was used in Disney’s theme parks, and much of it can still be heard there today. However, a handful of compositions were written for attractions that were never built, meaning the songs have never been heard by the public. This talk presents nine of those never-released songs as audio and sheet music:
● Three from Marc Davis’ late 1970’s proposal for an Enchanted Snow Palace attraction, one of Disney’s first attempts at the story that would become Frozen
● Three from EPCOT’s unbuilt Africa World Showcase pavilion
● Two that appear to be from EPCOT’s early ideas for The Universe of Energy
● The earliest known version of the song This is America, from Marc Davis’ first treatment for EPCOT’s American Adventure
The talk includes overviews of each attraction using concept art to describe its setting and tone, giving the audience context as to how the music was to be used.
Recommended Citation
Testa, Len, "Buddy Baker Archives" (2024). Theme Park Music and Sound. 6.
https://stars.library.ucf.edu/tpms/2024/thursday/6
Buddy Baker Archives
Rosen Classroom 111
Composer Norman “Buddy” Baker created the soundtracks for many beloved Disney theme park attractions, including The Haunted Mansion, If You Had Wings, and some of EPCOT’s classic Future World pavilions. The Fales Library at New York University received Buddy’s papers after his death in 2002. This collection of almost 100 boxes – many with Buddy’s hand-written notes – spans his nearly 50-year Disney career. The vast majority of the music in the Baker archives was used in Disney’s theme parks, and much of it can still be heard there today. However, a handful of compositions were written for attractions that were never built, meaning the songs have never been heard by the public. This talk presents nine of those never-released songs as audio and sheet music:
● Three from Marc Davis’ late 1970’s proposal for an Enchanted Snow Palace attraction, one of Disney’s first attempts at the story that would become Frozen
● Three from EPCOT’s unbuilt Africa World Showcase pavilion
● Two that appear to be from EPCOT’s early ideas for The Universe of Energy
● The earliest known version of the song This is America, from Marc Davis’ first treatment for EPCOT’s American Adventure
The talk includes overviews of each attraction using concept art to describe its setting and tone, giving the audience context as to how the music was to be used.