Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
THE SYMPHONY — It’s pretty safe to say most people have heard about Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5, but have you heard of Line Rider?
Line Rider is an animation tool for creating simple animations with a line and a “rider” on a sled. I say simple, which is true in appearance, but not so true in the actual creation of the animation.
Sure, it seems simple to draw hills, valleys, and jumps with basic lines, but the wee LIne Rider is also bound by physics programmed into the software. It’s not so easy to keep the rider from flipping into an animation oblivion.
But that challenge in and of itself isn’t enough for some people. And that’s where YouTube user DoodleChaos comes in. His channel is full of synching LIne Rider animations to music, adding to the challenge with specific, timed rhythms and visual setups to deepen classical music experiences. .
In this video, DoodleChaos synched his rider to Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5. And boy howdy it’s full or more drama, suspense, and tension than just listening to the piece on its own. Indeed, in one of my famous surveys of one person, one out of one people typing right now said this is an incredible way to experience classical music.
The animation is so filled with drama, I didn’t even notice that it was a 4.5 minute video until it was over. It strikes me that these videos could even be music learning tools for children, helping them connect emotion to what they’re hearing.
You can see more animation from DoodleChaos on his YouTube channel.
