YouTube’s best “how music works” channel takes Hamilton and Encanto to new depths
But the one channel I consistently return to for my “How did they do that?” to repair @HowardHoMusicthe channel where composer/playwright/journalist Howard Ho unpacks songs from stage and film musicals in micro detail, but in terms that music amateurs like me can actually understand.
I first came across Ho’s channel after the Disney animated film Encanto put the frustratingly catchy song “We Don’t Talk About Bruno” nonstop into my brain’s constantly spinning jukebox. I couldn’t figure out why I couldn’t get it out of my head, so when YouTube suggested a video explaining the phenomenon, I bit.
Ho’s video not only made me hear the song differently, it also made me see part of the movie differently. He doesn’t just explain the home keys and relative majors, and how the song’s keys and chords fit together: he pulls elements from Encanto‘s visual and narrative symbolism to explain why certain colors and images are relevant to the characters involved. The insight into the notes used in Bruno’s name and the concept of “blocking the way home” in this song amazed me, but the breakdown of Mirabel’s skirt embroidery was even more exciting. It’s like an ‘Easter Eggs You Missed’ video without the condescension.
Yet that video contains no (magical, symbolic, outright)Encanto) candle to the collapse of “Surface Pressure” from the same musical, which nearly made my brain explode. This look at how a song about emotional stress uses syllabic stress to make and break rhythms and convey different emotions is fascinating: one part structural analysis, two parts compositional education.
Ho has a degree in musicology and a clear fandom for the work of Lin-Manuel Miranda: His series are breaking down theory, process, rhymes and symbols Hamilton has a longer term than Hamilton yourself. He clearly follows his own fascinations as he programs the channel – he doesn’t just opportunistically dive into what’s popular at the time, he explores things he himself finds interesting, whether he picks out a particularly committed and clever bit of lyrical play in In the forest or spending nearly an hour on the 2022 Broadway show & Julia solves the fundamental problems with jukebox musicals.
Ho’s videos are lively, but not frenetic; they don’t have the “rushing to hold the attention of an impatient crowd” feel that annoys me in other channels of analysis, but they don’t drag or elaborate on any particular point either. For me, his shifting focus between lyrical, musical, symbolic, narrative, and rhythmic analysis also represents a steady shift between analytical languages that I already understand and can easily process, and ideas that push the boundaries of my understanding in exciting ways. If you’re like me, his videos explore the media most fans will already feel like they know a lot about it are informative and insightful enough to draw you in watch videos about lesser known projects – and maybe, hopefully, to actually check out those projects. (Schmigadoon! is great, y’all.)
But the best thing about Howard Ho’s channel is that he answers questions I wouldn’t have even dared to ask about the media I’ve already watched. Why does a B flat note kick Sinister Strange’s ass? Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness? How does it tie in with Danny Elfman and Beethoven? Why? Solo play the Empire theme from Star Wars in a major key, and how does that theme compare to “the happiest type of melody you can write”? The next time you’re looking for distraction on YouTube, you’ll know where to answer those questions.