Composer Jeff Morrow is known for his work on animated projects like Trolls, the many Snoopy Presents’ TV specials, and even the live-action adaptation of The Little Mermaid. But when Morrow was approached to score one of Disney’s newest live-action endeavors, Snow White, the opportunity was more than just another chance to work on an iconic property with the house of the Mouse. It was kismet. “I have these photos of Frank Churchill, the composer of the original Snow White, sitting at a piano in a room with Walt Disney and the writers while they’re figuring out the music in a building which is now my local grocery store,” shares Morrow. “It's like a 10-minute walk from my house.” And it was in that grocery store where Morrow says he got most of his musical revelations for the score of Marc Webb’s Snow White, which was released in theaters last month.                                                        “I have a whole big studio setup but most writing happens in voice notes with me singing into my phone randomly at the grocery store,” says Morrow. “And then six months later I’m in London at AIR Studios with 100 of the world’s best musicians and they’re playing the thing that I hummed into my phone.” The original film, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, released in 1937, told the story of a young princess, Snow White, forced to flee her kingdom when her jealous and vain stepmother hatches a plan to have the princess murdered. Snow White finds refuge in the woods with a band of seven dwarves. Thus commences not only Snow White’s grand adventure, but a musical masterpiece with which many generations of Disney fans are acquainted. Snow White was not only nominated for Best Musical Score at the Academy Awards in 1938, it was also the first American film to have a soundtrack album. “‘Heigh-Ho’ and ‘Whistle While You Work’ are real bangers,” says Morrow. “I don’t know what it’s like to not know the tune to ‘Heigh-Ho’ so it was such an unbelievable honor to be asked to be part of that huge legacy. There was definitely a lot of pressure when I sat down at the piano to try to figure out what the score was going to be. But it was also very exciting.” The live-action adaptation, starring Gal Gadot as the Evil Queen and Rachel Zegler as Snow White, features original songs by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, who previously worked on films like the live-action Aladdin and La La Land. Morrow had the challenge of creating a score that encapsulated the nostalgia of the original film while pairing with the new songs being brought to the table.  “My job is to create the music that underscores all the drama and emotion between Benj and Justin’s songs,” says Morrow. “And you have to weave it all together in a way that makes sense. Delivering the full Disney magic version of a love song when Snow White and Jonathan kiss, capturing the tragedy of when she eats the apple and momentarily dies, and even writing silly scores for food fights, they’re all fun tasks.” Especially since the composer had the grocery store ghosts of Snow White past on his side, and the pack rats at Walt Disney Animation Studios.  “I’d read that Jimmy MacDonald, who did the sound effects for Disney back in the day, came up with the sound for the pump organ, the dwarf Grumpy’s organ, by blowing into whiskey jugs and ocarinas. I emailed the music department and asked, ‘Hey, remember those whiskey jugs used to make the organ sounds? Do you still have them?’ A week later they got back to me saying they still had the ones used in the original movie. So, director Marc Webb and I got into the studio and tooted into these whiskey jugs and ocarinas, which you hear in the food fight scene and also during ‘Whistle While You Work’ when one of the dwarfs is banging on the keyboard.”  Morrow also had some tricks up his own sleeves when it came to creating a haunting score during the poison apple sequence.  “When Snow White takes a bite of the poison apple, we had a 30-person choir singing these strange sounds,” shares Morrow. “They weren’t singing written notes. They were making these noises while they bent around. It was an experiment that worked to capture the feeling of the poison working its way through Snow White’s body.” Morrow continues, “These kinds of things are some of my favorite parts about being involved with Disney music. It’s a very important part of the language of what a Disney film is. They really value their music and put a lot of effort into making sure it’s the absolute best. As a composer, it’s a dream come true.” Alongside the cinematography of Mandy Walker and VFX work from Clear Angle Studios, Day For Nite, Framestore, ILM Stagecraft, MPC, Technicolor LA, and Vitality Visual Effects, Morrow says he’s proud of how the score came together to create a true-to-Disney experience, while steering clear of what he calls the “Mickey Mousing” effect.  “It’s an expression we use in film scoring, which comes from Disney, to describe how the music fits tightly with the visuals,” explains Morrow. “In their animated films, every little movement and gesture – animals going up the stairs and down the stairs, that kind of thing – had music attached to it. When you do that in live-action, it doesn’t translate right. It looks a bit weird. But we still needed to have fun with this score, have it set the emotions of the scene, while still allowing the visuals to carry more while standing on their own. But, because of Disney’s belief in the power of music, there are still moments that are score-focused.” Morrow wishes to give a big thanks to not only Pasek, Paul and Webb, but also song orchestrator Dave Metzger and film producer Marc Platt.  “All of them are unbelievable storytellers and have such a good sense of how music can work to tell a story,” shares Morrow. “Nothing in the movie is my first idea. It’s a process and we all work together to figure out what’s going to stick to the screen best. I’m so proud of how this turned out.” Victoria Davis is a full-time, freelance journalist and part-time Otaku with an affinity for all things anime. She's reported on numerous stories from activist news to entertainment. Find more about her work at victoriadavisdepiction.com.