Hall of Presidents / Liberty Square Background Music

Hall of Presidents

The Hall of Presidents is the central point of Liberty Square in Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom. The architecture of the Hall of Presidents and the surrounding buildings is reminiscent of the architecture at the time of the American Revolution.

Or maybe it is that my idea of American Revolution architecture comes from the architecture of the Hall of Presidents and Liberty Square? Hmm. I don’t think they would steer me wrong, though.

Photo location: Magic Kingdom, Walt Disney World, Florida
A three-exposure (-2, 0, +2) HDR tonemapped in Photomatix, edited in GIMP

Liberty Square Background Music

At all the Disney parks, background music is used to help set the scene for wherever you happen to be. In Adventureland, jungle drums can be heard in the background. On Main Street, music from the early 20th Century plays, as if a band is playing off in the distance. In Tomorrowland, futuristic tunes help to create the mood of the future.

In Liberty Square, music that evokes the feelings of the Revolutionary days used to be played. Either fife and drum tunes, or orchestral selections of songs from the Revolutionary days, or perhaps from movies set in that period, such as “Sons of Liberty” from the movie Johnny Tremain.

So during our recent visit, as we were walking through Liberty Square, something different caught my eye. And I immediately recognized it – a Sousa march! And then, once that ended, another Sousa march started, and then another.

Now don’t get me wrong here. I have nothing at all against John Philip Sousa and the marches he wrote. In fact, I used to love playing all those marches in the high school band. “High School Cadets” was always my favorite, actually – it was a really catchy tune. And of course, there was “Stars and Stripes Forever,” which is probably the most famous of the Sousa marches. And many others, too.

But to me, these marches seem glaringly out of place in Liberty Square. That is most likely because they were written over 100 years after the American Revolution. That would be like hearing Michael Jackson songs on Main Street. Sure, he was an American, but he wasn’t anywhere near being born at the start of the 20th Century. And Sousa wasn’t born until 1854, long after the American Revolution had been settled.

Most Sousa marches are patriotic in theme, and just about every band concert around Independence Day features at least one of the marches. But to me at least, Liberty Square isn’t just about being patriotic. It’s about the liberty that was fought for during the Revolution. And the music played there should reflect that, to help get across that theme.

Either that, or they should just change the name to Patriotic Land.