Walt Disney Imagineering music director John Dennis was charged with blending in new musical arrangements and counterpoint melodies to the maddeningly catchy multilingual song plussing in Disney-speak.
It was really about introducing some new elements to make it exciting and to give it a new twist, but not to take it over and change it, Dennis said. We found places and gaps to sort of fill in and create little new vignettes without taking anything away.
The changes include three new musical arrangements based on the Small World melody, including folk instruments, wood flute and percussion in the African scene, traditional Chinese instruments in the Asian scene and solo vocals, guitars and bass in the new pre-finale scene.
Similar existing musical arrangements include the gurgling mermaids, yodeling yodelers and the oh-lah-lahing can-can girls.
The biggest musical change involves the addition of five new instrumental counterpoint melodies derived from classic Disney films, including one in the Asian scene, one in the South American scene and three in the European scene.
