Art & Music - Module 5: Combining Art and Music (Fall 2026)

For Teachers
1

“Creating Art & Music” is an introductory course designed to introduce creative activities in the context of art and music. Thus far the course has been taught at the middle school, high school, community college, and university level (with appropriate adaptations for each level). Each week this fall, students in the course are posting their projects in this strand of the Snap! forum. Here’s a link to the course materials:

Art, Animations & Music

This week’s module is titled “Combining Art with Music”. In it, we will explore the ability of Snap to use sounds in projects. We will then learn how to synchronize these sounds with visual elements on the stage.

In 1940, Disney released Fantasia, an animated film consisting of eight segments set to pieces of classical music performed my the Philadelphia Orchestra under the direction of Leopold Stokowski.

Fantasia-poster-1940

220×349 24.4 KB

Figure 1. Fantasia theatrical release poster (1940)

The film’s style and narrative format proved to be revolutionary in a number of ways:

  1. Fantasia was the first major feature film to blend animation with classical music on such a scale. Walt Disney sought to create “visual music” where the animation wasn’t just a backdrop but a core element expressing the emotional and narrative power of the music. Pieces like Tchaikovsky’s “Nutcracker Suite” and Stravinsky’s “Rite of Spring” were used to tell imaginative, visual stories, turning music into visual art.

  2. The film pushed animation boundaries by exploring different visual styles for each musical piece. For instance, “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice” featured Mickey Mouse in a traditional narrative, while the “Toccata and Fugue in D Minor” used abstract, experimental animation, blending surrealism and abstraction.

  3. Fantasia was one of the first films to elevate animated films into the realm of high art. At a time when animation was often viewed as children’s entertainment, Fantasia was aimed at adult audiences as well, making the case that animation could express deep artistic and emotional ideas.

  4. Fantasia inspired countless animators and filmmakers to think of animation as a serious art form. It also helped introduce classical music to a wider audience, using visual storytelling to make the music more accessible.

AIFF Fantasia Introduction (3 min) (Includes a brief interview with Walt Disney describing the conception of the film.)

Fantasia: Tocata & Fugue (9 min, animation beings at 3:40)

The assignment for this week is to create an animation with synchronized sound. You may use sprites from the sprite library, import sprites, or create your own in Snap. The animation can be representational or abstract. For sounds and music, we will learn how to record sounds in Snap! and write simple melodies or “motifs” using blocks in the Tunescope library.

Save your program to the cloud, share it so that others will be able to access it, and then post the link as a reply in this strand.

Please provide contextual information for your project. If there is anything in particular that inspired your project, please share that as well.

2

I am a big fan of a video game series called Fire Emblem. These are strategy games where you position characters like chess pieces. One of the big draws of the game is the flashy critical hit animations. Nowadays the characters are 3D models, but some of the older games used sprites, often times a character will throw their equipment in the air and then catch and then deal their hit, which I tried to recreate here. In terms of music I included the main motif from the Fire Emblem theme which has been present in nearly every game (if not all of them). I opted not to include the underlying chords in the song but that would be a stretch goal. Another would be to add a background and possibly have the character throw their equipment in the air. The backgrounds are a little tricky because in these older games its a dimmed version of the map in the game, which might look a little odd without extra context.

3

I took inspiration from falling ball music animations, so I made a ball bounce to the the first 3 measures of the Happy Birthday to You. I also made the pattern repetitive. I am considering adding some effect to the panel keys when the ball bounces on them, any recommendations?

4

Edits: I added the timer I was shown in class but also played with adding a ticking sound to it along with some sound effects that the start the animation and when the ball goes in. I used popular nba sounds from famous moments. I also played around with changing the stage color when the ball entered the hoop.

Im not sure why the audio doesnt play right away, but it should work when watching the animation the second time around.

I had the idea to animate a basketball and a shot being made in a hoop and so I used the music to try to create the sound effects that would be needed such as the dribbling, the shot, and the net/made basket. I really like how the dribbles turned out but I wonder if there is a better way to do the shooting the ball and making it along with sound that goes with it. I also think maybe ill add a buzzer or cheer and animation with that but im not sure.

5

After looking through the costume library, I wanted to create a cute animation of a flower blooming! I was struggling to think of and create a cute motif, so I just created a scale for now. I wanted the motif to enhance the effect of the flower blooming and growing before my eyes. At the end of the flower blooming, I want to add some sound effect that emphasizes that the flower is finished blooming, but I am also not sure what sound to add for that as well.

Edit: I changed the background color every time the costume changes. Also, I added a sound effect that plays once the animation is done. The code has been abstracted.

6

For my project, I want to make something that is similar to those audio visualizer videos on youtube that were really popular during our childhood. Right now, it is quite basic and is just a simple circle that moves with the tune, but over the week I want to see if I can add more effects such as the circle changing color as the beats go on, and then also I want to change how the beat sounds to simulate more of what the music videos were like.

7

I wanted to make something similar to minecraft with the guy walking. I had a lot of fun working with the music/TuneScope as I have a music background. To keep it to similar to minecraft, I want to add a block breaking or something.

8

For my project, I wanted to make a simple animation where colorful shapes move with the music. I created a short melody and used the Play Motif block to connect the notes to the animation. The shapes change between a circle, square, and triangle, move higher when the notes get higher, and get bigger for longer notes. I took inspiration from Fantasia’s use of abstract shapes to represent music. I would like to try adding smoother movement between the notes as a next step.

Edit: After getting feedback, I replaced the melody list and Play Motif block with individual TuneScope Play Note blocks to make the code easier to follow. I also replaced the basic shapes with a jellyfish that changes color and pulses up and down. The Current Note block connects the jellyfish’s appearance to the melody, so it rises with higher notes and holds its pose during longer notes.

9

https://snap.berkeley.edu/snap/snap.html#present:Username=nicolechecker&ProjectName=Week%205-%20City%20of%20Stars

One of my favorite movies is La La Land, so I decided to recreate “City of Stars” in Snap. I also enjoyed last week’s project and wanted to build on it for this one. I’m still working on getting the song right, which is why I haven’t abstracted the code yet. I imported my code from the last project as a starting point, but I plan to change it as I go. I may also add another sprite that stamps stars in random places while the song plays. I also might use a different image, but I am not sure yet.

Edit: I decide to keep the original picture. This was taken in Yellowstone National Park. I am originally from Wyoming and one of my favorite things about living there is that you can see the stars super clearly at night, so I thought this picture was fitting. Instead of adding something else as a star I kept the one I made from last week and just made it white instead. I also didn’t want the final image to show untill the motif was done playing so I made sure the image doesn’t hide until its done.

10

Snap! Modeule 4: Combining Art and Music

I’m a fan of Pirates of the Caribbean, so I created the tune and a pirate ship that travels across the ocean. I added some randomized tilt to make it seem like the ship is rocking. I’m not too sure what more I could add honestly.

11

I programmed a motif from one of my favorite orchestral pieces, Scheherazade. I have not been able to add the visual elements to accompany the music, but I am planning to do that. I am unsure if I should add more abstract visual elements or more concrete ones. I could also extend the motif as well, since the flute solo I programmed continues for a few more phrases.

12

I chose Ed Sheeran’s Shape Of You because it’s using very simple cords to make a very catchy song. I personally liked his lyrical videos so I used the screenshots and made them play based on the beat. I personally would adjust their sizes and positions so they look more natural and positioned.

14

I like the idea of adding random tilt to make the pirate ship look like it’s rocking! You could add waves that move with the beat or have the ship’s flag change direction during certain notes.

15

I think adding stars would fit “City of Stars” really well! You could have a star appear each time a note plays, so the sky gradually fills up as the song goes on.

16

With fall arriving, I made an Animal Crossing scene!. Tom Nook stands in the village and dances to the first 8 measures of the main theme, which I transcribed from a piano score.

Each note makes him hop higher for higher pitches and sends up a leaf colored by the note, and chords make the whole island flash. The hardest part was keeping the animation in sync with the music. I solved it by making each hop last exactly as long as its note. Chords were also too loud at first, so I lowered the volume while a chord plays.

17

Such a fun theme! it gives me One Piece vibes! I’d love to hear a longer version!

18

For my animation, I created a scene inspired by The Odyssey in which Odysseus strings his bow. I synchronized the animation with music inspired by this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a5IQCGdd_m8.

I used TuneScope to recreate part of the musical idea and timed the animation to the sound. As the bow is being strung, the deer in the scene reacts and begins running away, which helped me connect the movement of the sprites to changes in the music. I also created multiple costumes for the bow and the deer so that the bow appears to bend and vibrate while the deer has a short running cycle.

My goal was to make the sound feel connected to the action rather than simply playing in the background, especially at the moment when the bow is strung and the deer runs away.

19

Hey cool song choice! It’s a very distinct part and super recognizable. The one thing I would comment on is that it could be nice if you adjust the note length to be a little shorter. The sample used in the original song is pretty similar to a Kalimba or a Marimba, generally having pretty plucky notes. Not sure if this is doable with tune scope but I think a stacatto effect would really sell the song.

20

Hello! Your sound is relaxing and heartwarming. I would love to hear a longer version of it.

21

this so nice and I really like how the animation and music line up together so well. One thing I think that maybe could be interesting to play with is the background color. Maybe each note and sprite could also have a change in background or addition to background so when the flower is fully bloomed the background is also fully finished. But just an idea I think it looks great already!