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In this episode, we welcome pianist and composer/arranger Tom Ameen. Tom’s renditions of some of your favorite songs from Disney theme parks and movies are interesting and beautiful, and it was a treat to get to talk to him. He clearly loves Disney and is a gifted musician, which I think made for a great conversation.
Now, in this episode, Tom talks about…
- Where his love for music came from;
- Becoming more aware of and attuned to music in Walt Disney World;
- Learning songs by ear early on;
- “Candle on the Water” and “Someone’s Waiting for You” aren’t on any of his Disney albums so far;
- How much practice he puts in and what form it takes—at the beginning and now;
- Learning the rules before you can break them;
- Some of the non-Disney CDs he’s recorded—most of his albums are original songs and compositions;
- How he got started doing arranging;
- Arranging for Jim Brickman;
- What he drew on to start working on his Disney cover songs;
- Whether creating the Disney songs was different than what he’d done before, or if it was a natural progression;
- What the process of arranging music is like for him;
- If there are any songs he’s tried to arrange for an album that just didn’t work like he wanted it to;
- Getting clearance to use the Disney music;
- How he chose which songs were going to go on the Disney albums.
Find Tom:
I want to hear from you, so please email me, leave a comment below, or call the Listener Feedback line at (734) 23-STORY.
If you call in, don’t worry about having to sound perfect. If you ask me to, I’ll edit out any mistakes so you sound as good as you possibly can. You’re even welcome to start your entire story over again and I’ll use the “take” you want! If you want to submit a story anonymously, for whatever reason you may have, email it to me and tell you me you wanted it shared that way. I’ll read it on the podcast, but keep your name private.
Thanks for listening!
Music and voiceovers provided by Rick Moyer.
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