Danse Macabre Camille Saint-Saëns 1980s cartoon, PBS elementary school music class 

Broo who else's music teacher played this every fall when we were like in 1st grade 😭

For whatever reason I remember this having really smooth animation. I was wrong.

Y'know, the animation may be less than sophisticated, but at least the artists knew the poem that inspired Saint-Saens' poem, and illustrated the music accordingly. For that, this video gets 10/10 from me.

I finally found it! I remember this from elementary school!

Everything's better with skeletons.

Does anyone else think there just need to be more things with dancing skeletons in them?

We were shown a slideshow version of this every year before Halloween in my music class. Kinda a funny thing to show at a Catholic school, but it always ignited my imagination.

Wow!! I knew this song wasn't just my imagination!! I remember my elementary school teacher playing this every Halloween. I tried to explain it to my wife, but it didn't ring any bells. Then we're watching Walking Dead and a Jameson Whiskey commercial comes on and THAT'S IT!!!! That's the song!!! I Googled "Jameson Whiskey commercial song" and bam!, here I am. Fond memories....

This isn't where I parked my car

This takes me back to early elementary school. Almost each year we watched this before and during Halloween. EDIT: 2024 and 360+ likes?! thanks!!

This music is one of the main reasons I love Halloween so much. Because this instilled a macabre sense of the unknown afterlife in me as a child.

Looks like everybody's music teacher turned them on to this classic! Shout out to Mrs Warren, Spitler Elementary, Hart Michigan!

When I was in kindergarten, the music teacher played this for us once. I was raised in a Christian home (and still practice Christianity), and I had been told we weren’t going to celebrate Halloween with any big emphasis because, you know, demons are bad lol. Anyway, I took that idea wayyyyy too far (further than my parents ever intended), and being the devout 5-year-old Christian I was, I got mad at the music teacher for showing us this. It’s not even related to Halloween in and of itself, but she showed it around Halloween/in the fall, and so my mind made it a Halloween cartoon. And to me, Halloween was exactly the same as devil worship. In my mind, this woman had forced me to violate my religion and core beliefs by having me watch this video (I was a weird kid haha)! I wanted her to get in trouble, so when I got home from school that day I told my parents that she made us watch a horror movie about zombies. As you can plainly tell, this video is not, in fact, a horror movie about zombies. They asked me all kinds of questions about my story, knowing I wasn’t telling the truth. They threatened to call the school and get mad at the music teacher, which of course I told them not to do because I knew I was lying. I don’t believe they actually ever called or told anyone what I said. And I was punished for the lie haha. She was actually a good teacher and exposed us to a wide range of topics, mostly relating to classical music. My family moved to a different state the following summer, so I started 1st grade in a different school district, but I bet I would’ve learned a lot more from her had I stayed in that first school (it was K-12). I went on to become a classically trained pianist and singer, spending most of my childhood studying classical music (I stopped just before starting college). I can still remember several of the lessons she taught us, and while I wouldn’t attribute my decision to begin classical training to her class alone, I would definitely say she gave me a nice start and opened my mind to the world of music. I can’t even remember her name, but if she still shows this video to her kindergarten students, I hope she checks the comments and sees this. Haven’t seen her in around 15 years. Hope she’s still teaching and doing well.

From Roman tombstones: Quod tu es, ego fui, quod ego sum, tu eris (What you are, I once was; what I am, you will be.)

Am I literally the only person who didn’t listen to this song in Primary School? 😂

I looked for 20+ years. All I had was a vague memory part of it. One day I was talking to a middle school band teacher and hummed the parts I remembered and said we used to listen to it in music class on halloween and he "sang" the song and I was overjoyed that he knew it. Love it, so many memories.

The violin is considered the loneliest instrument, but perfect for the GOD OF DEATH, his minions dancing in rapture under the sweet DARKNESSS of the silvery moonlight, ready to be taken away in ecstasy under the SPELL of liberation from their earthy bones.

I too want my tombstone to read *THE END* 💀

When my roommates asked me why I wanted to learn the violin...because flying skeletons!

Finally found this childhood memory! Favorite song from my past! Music class was the best when this song plays!

This is what my music teacher played in perry l drew elementary while the class colored in Halloween fill in the blanks,

We listened to this song in elementary school around Halloween in music class and I loved the song but for years I couldn’t find it. I found it :) The teacher on the smart board had his own makeshift animation presentation thing sort of like this and at the end when the song hypes up it’s the sun rising and the skeletons are scrambling to get back to their grave and I loved the anticipation.

Shows how well our imaginations worked back when I was in elementary school in the 70's and 80's, because I remembered this film being much more elaborate than it obviously was! I can still see in my minds eye the darkened classroom and this film being projected by an actual film projector while we all sat on the floor watching! I have had a lifelong love of the Danse Macabre ever since! I remember we also listened to an old time radio show of "Sorry, Wrong Number Please" starring the actress who played the Wicked Witch in The Wizard of Oz! I loved my childhood and my elementary school! Simpler times.

My music teacher, Mrs. Rutherford, would always pop in a VHS of this video around Halloween.

i have been looking for this for years! my elementary school music teacher would show this every year on this massive slide projector! so many memories!!!

Cette musique est magnifique et je l'écoute toute ma vie !

Damn I had a really vague memory of this from elementary school and I ended up googling what little I could remember and found it. Awesome!!

I saw this when I was in kindergarten. It scared the hell outta me. For years I was scared to go up dark stairs, even in my own home, fearing that one of those acid trip skeletons would pop out of the corner. Even now my eye twitches.

Am I the only one who came to see this cause I watched this on music class

We’d always watch this in elementary school! I remember being scared but also in love with it. Memories.

After MANY YEARS I FOUND IT AT LAST

I watched this every year around October but the kicker is that as a child I had a severe fear of skeletons. I would hide when whole time and cry lol.

To my Music teacher from Arleth Elementary…it’s Cody and thanks for showing this. And if you are reading this around Halloween ….remember THINK SNOW!

The violin is considered the loneliest instrument, but perfect for the GOD OF DEATH, his minions dancing in rapture under the sweet DARKNESSS of the silvery moonlight, ready to be taken away in ecstasy under the SPELL of liberation from their earthy bones.The reason DEATH is horrifying to us is because we are observing HIM while WE are alive; therefore the representation of his skeletal appearance is the end of the physical “Flesh”, imperfection. But when we die and see him in a State of Death, HE appears to us as a most Beautiful Angel, he is by no means malevolent. His only mission is to take us by the hand like a child from this world, and lead us to the next membrane of the spiritual realm to a higher state of consciousness and understanding of spiritual perfection, even if we die miserably and tragically here on earth. In order to go to Heaven, one must journey to the HELLFIRE OF DARKNESS of the ROTTING grave first.

This is the classical music version of MJ’s “THRILLER!” 😃

You have no clue how much I've been searching for this

I remember seeing this in kindergarten just after 9/11. After we saw it we all used to beg the music teacher to put it on. In my memories, it is all moving images.

Holy hell do I remember this In grade school every year around Halloween, my music class would show this short. We did activities on it, we analyzed it and I was left confused and not terrified after watching it. Man were those good memories

ive spent actual years trying to find this video! i was starting to think this was a fever dream or something cuz when i tried to explain what this was to ppl they have no clue wtf im talking about! and all it took to find this video was searching "death playing violin to awaken the dead on halloween" 🤣

R.I.P henri cazaliz 😔 and I was listening to this in music class o my lord😳 we were like “OMG SO SCARY” cause my music teacher let us hear the audio😳 and there’s A POEM TO THIS OML.

2spooky4me

camille saint saens is my all time favorite. this was my inspiration to learn violin and also apocalyptica

Today I watched this in music class. Happy Halloween!! 💀💀👻👻👻💀💀

Ironically enough, I want this to be played at my funeral.

This scared me to death back in elementary school. I literally had panic attack and had to leave the room because all the lights were off and the visuals gave me nightmares. I love it as an adult now. As for those calling this animation, it is NOT animation. This was a series of images on a projector cast onto a wall or pull-down screen. Our music teacher flipped through the different slides throughout the song.

This is actually older than 80s, I was also shown this each Halloween by my elementary music teacher, Mrs. Cowles. I was done with elementary school in '78, and I had seen it several years by that point. I looked forward to it!

Only took me a good 10 years to finally find this!

We watched this when I was in elementary school every year at Halloween. I'm now fifteen and spent an hour searching for it.

This is my favorite Halloween music 🎃 👻🕷🕸🦇

Me... It's really freak me out...(Sorry for my bad english,I'm french)

Skeleton with fiddle, Brook from the Strawhat Pirates

Elementary school did not bring me here, no. My amazing music taste brought me here

Ms. Farrington my old music teacher from A.E. Phillips used to show us this once a year it seems. Then I saw it on a Jameson commercial and what memories it brought back! Any other 80s or 90s bullpups watching?

Wow this gives me so much nostalgia…

I remember when I used to watch this during class.

pause at 1:01. Lindsey Stirling?!? Is that you??

Ms. Layton, if you read this some how, please know this song still sends a shiver down my spine thanks to you playing this on Halloween and wheeling that skeleton out of that damn closet

dude it took me an hour to find this lol. so much memories

A masterpiece - and it actually makes you want to sway along and dance =)

My elementary school didn’t have this video but we did hear the song and we saw some illustrations about it!

A great tune and the old tale of Death waking up the dead between the time of midnight and the crow of the rooster at dawn and dancing etc to music is absolutely wonderful, i especially love the sound of Death regret after the rooster blows that the day of music and dance is over. This old tale comes from stories from pagan times & the time of the black death with symbolism thought to derive also from all souls day & the Halloween period in general . A total classic of classical music.

Ack! That wrist will prevent him from shifting properly!!

You are AWESOME! I have been looking for this video to show MY music classes for YEARS!! I saw it first when observing for student teaching in 2001, and have been searching ever since! THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!! My students thank you as well!

Anyone from 2018?......nope just me.im only here because I have a music exam about this.....

My mom showed me this when I was little and it's Halloween where I'm at...this is so touching thank you

The girl one that loved the boy one in red was cute It was their love story , her grave was shown at the end

I played the cello from elementary to high school and we played this piece every year for our Halloween concert! 🎃

Hi there! I'm writing with a sincere request to use your video for my university's band concert. We will be playing Danse Macabre and I'm wondering if we could screen your video to enhance audience engagement. Looking forward to a favourable response. Cheers!

Anyone Here From 2019?

Thumbs up if orchestra is cool

I first heard this song when I saw this cartoon as a little kid - favorite song ever since

My band directior showed us this today and I fell in love with this tune

It reminds me of the great plaque in Europe and of the first month's of Covid. Death is a merciless dancer ...

i knew this was coming every halloween at school

I love his music ❤️💙💛💜💚😍

I whatch t'is at school LOL sorry im french

Everyone was brought here from elementary school... but same 😂

I used to make myself sick with fear after watching this in elementary school music class! I would pretend I needed to go to the bathroom and hide there until it was over 😓

I love this music, its my favorite 🖤👄🖤

Just found this cartoon; loved it! Very simple, yet fantastically coordinated. I absolutely love when PBS does this sort of thing! -:D

It is always sad to see the night go :(

We just watched this in school today and I love this piece of music so much! It’s so amazing how the music creates a story without words or pictures to communicate with the audience that is listening. One day I hope to be as successful as the composer of this piece.

*Memories.*

This masterpiece seems to contain something unidentifiable that may make me feel uneasy . From Tokyo of the Land of the Rising Sun 🇯🇵

I remember seeing this for holloween back in elemntry school! Still is amazing with its beat!

esto no tiene nada de macabro, es una musica muy hermosa...lo verdaderamente macabro es el reggeton...eso si deberian de prohibirlo...

Why did all the old comments disappear?

For some reason, even after 20 years, I can still remember the exact place and time I've first heard this song and saw this cartoon. What a beautifuly horrifying song.

I remember this as a student and have been searching for it to show my students now that I am a music teacher! Love it!!!

All of these years and I finally found it

Wow! Our teacher played this in music class today! :D

I remember being in my elementary school music class and we would watch this video a few times each year around Halloween. Good memories.

I WANT THIS ON MY GRAVE

When you're a bard, but also a necromancer.

tétrico y elegante!

Everyone is saying they listened to this in elementary? My parents used to play this video for me over and over again because I loved it so much! Even now it still sparks my imagination :)

Impeccable Artwork .Colaborated.. ...

I remember I would cry when the skeletons had to go back to their coffins.😂😂

As much as the the vampire in the introduction was "poorly made up", as a music teacher, I miss the message that he gave about listening for the different themes of the music. I am unable to find it on RU-vid, with the vampire introduction.

I loved this as a kid. Imagining what was going on in that graveyard. Fantastic piece of music.