Joe pid=92312 dateline=1392404925 said:
Question for Mwhinva: What music was played in Candy Apple Grove originally? In the 1977 movie Rollercoaster they seemed to play stereotypical, ridiculously annoying, loopy-sounding carnival music in parts of the movie, and marching band music in other parts. An online slideshow has classic piano music such as The Entertainer, as well.
Do you (or anyone else) remember what the park played in Candy Apple Grove?
Regardless, I'm not sure what to expect next year. I certainly hope they don't continue to play the modern pop music in the area, for it will not fit the newly rethemed area at all. I think pop music should stay in Planet Snoopy. However, I hope that "clown" music played in the movie is not what they choose to play; it would get dreadfully annoying to walk through the area to myself, let alone the general public. I wouldn't mind the organ music played around the Carousel to be played in the entire hamlet, nor would I mind the classic music such as the Entertainer to be played everywhere. I'm interested to see what Kings Dominion will decide to play.
Joe, I really don't remember. It was not like the pop/contemporary music used today.
I thought it was generic music to match the theme of the area. It would not have been exactly like what you heard in the movie. I thought it was a mix of a little Carnival, Ragtime, Dixie-Land and other music genres from around the late 19th century - early 20th century (1890's through the 1920's-1930's).
Most of the areas in the park back then had music played to roughly match the theme of the area (Old VA -Country/Bluegrass; Hanna-Barberra Land - Kid Centric music; Lion Country Safari - African style music; International Street classical music and songs tied to European countries).
Come to think of it, the park has gradually gone back to music to fit the theme of the areas. Old VA gets country/bluegrass; Planet Snoopy gets Kid's music; Most of the Congo area was African style music. I think the Grove was the only area still using mostly pop/contemporary music. Not sure what the park plans are for Candy Apple Grove this year.
Funny, you mentioned the Carousel Band Organ. A couple comments relating to the organ was on the last batch of construction update photos from the park on their Facebook site. One person wished KD would restore the Carousel organ and another person stated the park had already approached him to do the restoration work; but, he referred them to another organ restorer to possibly do the work. Keep in mind that this was not from Kings Dominion; so I cannot say that this is going to officially happen.
Still, it would be great if they did. I did operate the Carousel one season (1981 or 1982) and the park was able to get the existing band organ up and running for almost a month. It ran for most of the 1970's. But, the player mechanism (think player piano with the music rolls on a paper/cloth material with the holes punched out to play a note when "read" by the player), kept breaking down. I just don't think the player mechanism was intended to run 10-12 hours a day while the park was open. Plus, the music rolls themselves became more and more fragile and would tear.
Since most park maintenance workers did not have that level of expertise to maintain the organ and player mechanism, the park went to recorded organ music. There just was not any alternative options back then to get around the existing player mechanism problems.
Today, there are several individuals and small companies that handle carousel band organ restoration. This includes adding to or replacing the mechanical roll player with a solid state electronic MIDI player that can store the music in memory. The MIDI player sends a signal to open and close the valves to play the music instead of reading a paper music roll to do the same thing.
Again, these folks/companies can still restore the old roll player mechanism and sell you new rolls of music and also add the MIDI player to give you the option of playing the organ from that. They set it up so you can switch the band organ back and forth between the two players if you want.
My biggest concern is that the organ has sat unused for over 30 years. I don't know if the park did anything to keep it stable and not allow it to deteriorate any further. These musical instruments need to be played to keep the parts, leather, and other materials pliant. The worst thing for an organ is to stay dormant.
I hope the park will invest the money to get the organ operational again. From what I remember it had a strong, vibrant sound that carried into the surrounding areas. Much stronger, richer sound than the recorded music. Time will tell.
