seasons, this takes the form of simpler pleasures such as dating and socializing, interspersed with defeating evil forces. It reaches a climax in the ultimate sacrifice when Buffy offers to die to save the world. However, "Once More, with Feeling", according to Stroud, is the turning point at which she begins to face her responsibility to the community, her friends and her family. Not only does she continue her Slaying despite a lack of inspiration, but for the rest of the season she works at a humiliating job to provide for her sister and friends. Music and style "Once More, with Feeling" was Joss Whedon's first attempt at writing music, which he had always wanted to do. He learned how to play guitar to write several songs. Christophe Beck, a regular composer for the series, filled in the overture and coda and composed "Dawn's Ballet". Whedon is a fan of Stephen Sondheim, and used him as the inspiration for much of the music, particularly with the episode's ambiguous ending. Cast member James Marsters (Spike) said, "Some of Joss' music is surprisingly complicated. Maybe it's a Beatles thing. He doesn't know enough to know what he can't do and he's smashing rules." The episode's musical style varies significantly. Buffy's opening number, "Going Through the Motions", was influenced heavily by the Disney song "Part of Your World" sung by Ariel in The Little Mermaid. Whedon wanted to use a similar opening in which the heroine explains her yearning. While singing her song, Buffy fights three vampires and a demon who themselves break into a choreographed dance; Whedon wanted this to be fun but not distracting. The song ends with chord influences from Stephen Schwartz's Pippin and a visual tribute to Disney: as Buffy stakes a vampire, it turns to dust that swirls around her face. Whedon chose the most complicated scene, with the most dancers and choreography in the classic style of musical theater, to accompany an 18-second song ("The Mustard") "to get it out of the way" for more personal numbers later in the episode. Stephanie Zacharek of Salon.com considers this "brilliant because it frees even people who hate musicals to settle into the story without getting hung up on the genre's conventions". The musical styles span from a jaunty 1950s sitcom arrangement of the Buffy theme in the opening credits—the only episode in the series to begin without the normal