Oh, the joys of Danse Macabre around this time of year by Camille Saint-Saëns. Time to crank it now as a matter of fact to get ready for tonights show. I like to crank this one in the car and just watch the madness around me on the interstate or on the IPod while at the mall. It is a perfect soundtrack to life
When I was younger, my favorite thing to do in Elementary school was go to music class (band camp) and we would actually act out the Danse Macabre during October. We would actually act out the music and hide under tables and such. Man, you have to wonder if they do cool stuff like that in school anymore.
Wikipedia states:
According to the superstition, "Death" appears at midnight every year on Halloween. Death has the power to call forth the dead from their graves to dance for him while he plays his fiddle (represented by a solo violin with its E-string tuned to an E-flat in an example of scordatura tuning). His skeletons dance for him until the first break of dawn, when they must return to their graves until the next year.
The piece opens with a harp playing a single note, D, twelve times to signify the clock striking midnight, accompanied by soft chords from the string section. This then leads to the eerie E flat and A chords (also known as a tritone or the "Devil's chord", and the solo violin's E string is tuned a half step lower to accommodate this) played by a solo violin, representing death on his fiddle. After which the main theme is heard on a solo flute and is followed by a descending scale on the solo violin. The rest of the orchestra, particularly the lower instruments of the string section, then joins in on the descending scale. The main theme and the scale is then heard throughout the various sections of the orchestra until it breaks to the solo violin and the harp playing the scale. The piece becomes more energetic and climaxes at this point; the full orchestra playing with strong dynamics.Towards the end of the piece, there is another violin solo, now modulating, which is then joined by the rest of the orchestra. The final section, a pianissimo, represents the dawn breaking and the skeletons returning to their graves.
The piece makes particular use of the xylophone in a particular theme to imitate the sounds of rattling bones. Saint-Saëns uses a similar motif in the Fossils part of his Carnival of the Animals.
Tubular Hell off the Van Helsings Curse CD!!
HELLS YEAH!!
Let Me Prey off same cd !
Dee Snider is a beast!
Owner of The Fear Experience Haunted House in Cleveland, Ohio, voted the #1 haunted house in Ohio, and #14 in America by Funtober. The Fear Experience Haunted House was called the premier haunted attraction in northeast ohio by cleveland.com and #1 in cleveland by metromix.
"Grim Grinning Ghosts" from Disney's Haunted Mansion (the attraction, NOT the movie) is definitely my favorite.
Also, the main theme from "Halloween" the movie. I use it as the ring tone on my cell phone.
If you're into 80's rock, check out the movie "Trick Or Treat"... great soundtrack, and the movie features an undead rock star who can blow people up with lightning bolts from his guitar... yes, I'm serious... (Gene Simmons and Ozzy both make appearances)
Welcome to my Nightmare - Alice Cooper
I love the Dead - Alice Cooper
Superbeast - Zombie
Enter Sandman - Metallica
Creatures of the Night - Kiss
The Ripper - Iron Maiden
Scary Monsters - David Bowie
Highway to Hell - AC/DC
Children of the Grave - BS
Werewolves of London - Zevon
Halloween - Misfits
Boris the Spider - The Who
Dream Warriors - Dokken
Shout at the Devil - Motley Crue
Digging up the Corpses - DevilDriver
Immortally Insane - Pantera
Deliver Me - Static X
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