Semiotics Presentation

Scott plays piano while we *sing Happy Birthday to Gwen* and present a Cupcake.
SARAH
Todays presentation will be on Semiotics – which is essentially the study of signs or
forms of communication.
Although Semiotics dates way back it wasn’t until the start of the 20th Century when
two gentlemen began to theorise about the concept of Semiotics.

SCOTT
Charles Saunders Peirce was an American mathematician who explored the
understanding of signs and Ferdinand de Saussure was a Swiss Linguist who focused
on Language as Sign System and. These two scientists each created their own system
to define their interpretation of semiotics.
SARAH
The Peircian Model is divided into 3 stages. First we have ‘Representemen’,
which is the form that the sign will take; this is either audible, visual or can be
understand by your senses. Then we have ‘Interpretant’ which is the sense made
from that sign. And finally the ‘Object’ which is something beyond the sign that we
refer to. For example, Ding Dong is the representemen, “That’s My Door Bell” is the
Interpretant. “Someone’s at my door” is the Object.
SIIN
Like this we encounter signs which are semiotics in everyday life. This process is also
evident in theatre, these include costume, lighting, performance, text and music.
SCOTT
The Saussurean model is formed of two ideas, both of which are cultural systems
which must be learnt. The first is Langue, meaning language. This is a system which has rules
and conventions such as the English language has an alphabet and grammatical rules. The
second system is Parole, meaning speech. These are individual instances which use the
system like in forming words and sentences. This model also applies to music in which the
langue in Western culture consists of the 12 notes and the parole is how a composer
structures their order.
MUSIC QUIZ

SIIN
Based on this. Let’s have a little game where we can put this in action. (SARAH split
everyone into three teams)
Scott is going to play a musical excerpt, the first person from each team to run and grab
the………and identify the music correctly wins the point.

SCOTT
This interval known as a tritone or ‘the Devil’s interval’ is used heavily by Bernstein
throughout West Side Story due to its dissonant nature. The repeated use of this interval
forms a recognisable musical motif which is a common device employed by composers. The
audience subconsciously then creates links between the musical motif and the characters
and plotlines. For example, does anyone recognise this musical motif that Sondheim uses in
‘Into the Woods’?
SARAH PLAYS MOTIF
SCOTT
Yes! This motif is used constantly throughout the show and is associated with the
presence of magic, the witch and her beans. We hear it when she sing’s to
Rapunzel,…
SARAH PLAYS AND SIIN SINGS “Don’t You Know What’s Out There In The Wood”.
SCOTT
Sondheim uses a small deviation of this motif during the opening section when the
Witch appears…
SARAH PLAYS NEW MOTIF
SCOTT
And later on we hear another version where the entire phrase is inverted during ‘No
One Is Alone.” Perhaps this offers a more optimistic view of the world whithout
magic.
SIIN
Going back to Bernstein and his use of the tritone interval, when the audience hears
this, it gives a sense of unease as it is used both when introducing the Jets as a
confrontational gang, but then is also implemented in Tony’s love song ‘Maria’.
Bernstein however, purposefully emits the tritone from the melody of ‘Tonight’, Tony and
Maria’s duet perhaps to create a safe space when they are together. As you can see from
this image, the use of the balcony in this scene is reminiscent of the famous scene from
Romeo and Juliette. This is proof of one thing we often overlook, that semiotics is a learned
system. Without our prior knowledge of Romeo and Juliette, this semiotic would not have
the same effect as the audience are reminded of the original play and how they both are in
danger.

SARAH
Along with this knowledge of Romeo and Juliet we can then also recognise that the
two gangs, the Jets and the Sharks, are there to represent the feuding families of the
Montagues and the Capulets. The gang rivalry is most evident in the prologue due to the
semiotics in the choreography. The jets perform a step-ball change motif followed by a
ronde de jambe en l’air with outstretched arms which builds in cannon as they move
through the streets of New York claiming terrority. The sharks perform a similar motif but
with a step-turn variation which is then followed by a punching gesture as they defend their
side of the city. The dance evolves in an exchange of sequences as the gang’s compete and
in turn try to out number each other. With this we are no longer looking at just a
choreographic semiotic but numerous visual signifiers such as numbers of cast on stage and
even the increase of costume differentiation.

SIIN
One of the most recognisable choreographic devise employed are the clicks. The jets
perform these on the beat which the sharks respond off the beat. In this scene whilst they
are used to unify each gang while also attempting to intimidate, their purpose shifts to a
cultural mannerism when they are used for dancing in America.
SCOTT
One of the really interesting things if we look closer into America is the contradiction
it presents. “Bernsteins quote on contradictions”. Hang on, before we look at America lets
have a look at how Sondheim uses a similar technique in Sweeney Todd’s “A Little Priest”.
This song is written with a 3 4 time signature, does anybody know what style of music this is
most commonly associated with? It is a waltz – which is basically a formal dance where two
people dance and turn elegantly around the room. The interest arises here when Sondheim
pairs this stately dance with lyrics discussing killing people and eating them as pies. So lets
go back to America, Bernstein has used a rhythm which is recognized as a latino dance due
to the time signature it uses with accented rhythms… (clap America) matching this with
lyrics which attempt to degrade Puerto Rico and Praise America.

SARAH
This contradiction is only possible because we have the lyrics to pair with the music.
Text itself can act as a semiotic… the lyricist provides characteristics of class and age based
on how they speak and their vocabularly. Particularly noticeable with the Puerto Rican’s
struggle with English fluency.

SCOTT
However, Sondheim while writing did deviate from this and noted in his biography
of works “Finishing the Hat” that he should not have written Maria with such a rhyming
ability seen in the song I feel Pretty as this suggests someone way beyond her characters
status, age and grasp on English. “I Feel Stunning, and Entrancing… It’s Alarming, How
Charming I Feel.”

SIIN
soprano: heroine ‘Persecuted Victim’
alto: resistant or involved in witchcraft or treason
tenor: heroic and courageous
bass: providing the enemy character
association: good(high&light) and bad(low&heavy)
it is very obvious that in Les Mis the trio A Heart Full Of Love between Cosette, Marius and
Eponine, cozet -soprano who is very adorable, pretty and fragile
ephonine-alto strong sense of indepence
marius- tenor young intelligent
we can claim that voice agility allow them happy ending

Okay, I will show some pictures of roles in West Side Story

'What do you assume by how they look and sound?
(show pics of Maria and Anita)
show pic of Maria and discuss about it
white color : pure, clean, should not be easily destroyed, afraid to color, neat, moral
long hair : feminine,
soprano : young , pretty
show pic of Anita and discuss about it
alto : not a fresh a young voice, sexually active( perhaps her colored dress foreshadow her
sexual assault )
short hair : masculine, violent in her way of life
wine, red color: revenge, strong, passionate, blood
(citizen who own red colored vehicles need to pay higher tax to the government because
they believe people who prefers red color tends to be violent)
MARIA/ANITA COSTUME -> AUDIENCE SUGGESTIONS
WHITE DRESS (COSTUME SEMIOTIC), COLOUR/RACE (COLOUR SEMIOTIC) -> RED

SARAH

The fact that we associate innocence and purity with Maria’s white dress is then
backed up by the fact that she asks Anita to dye it red, which in response Anita says she isn’t
ready for. Although the film associates colours such as red and purple with the Puerto
Ricans, the colours are then given sexual connotations to the people, like Anita, who wear
them. ‘If in Western culture color is associated with a foreign, exotic “other” (Batchelor 22–
23), then it is no coincidence that the most colorful sequences in the film are ones that
showcase Puerto Rican subjects. “America” is one of such musical numbers, which
accentuates the Puerto Ricans as objects of spectacle’ (P.142). By dressing Maria in white,
along with casting the role with a white actress, Natalie Wood, the semiotics of her
appearance can easily be read as the film’s endeavors to dilute her race, allowing the inter-
racial relationship of Tony and Maria to happen.

SCOTT
Here we can see that a binary opposition is created in the clothing colour between
the Sharks and the Jets who opt for more muted colours such as beige, yellow and blue. The
first instance in the film where colour is obviously read as a semiotic is our first encounter
with Bernardo as he hits his fist on a bright red wall. On the surface, we know that red is a
colour which represents anger and passion; but in looking into its deeper cultural
significance in the film, red becomes a colour of otherness.

SIIN
Red foreshadowing bloodshed is also culturally significant as intrinsically tying this
colour to the Puerto Ricans allows for a separation of red or Puerto Rican blood and white
blood. ‘This idea of “white blood” points to a crucial irony in the musical: the color of blood
is red, but those who are principally connected to the color (the Puerto Ricans) are
discriminated against on the basis of not possessing said “white blood’ (p.143)

SCOTT
The final use of semiotics we want to mention is a musical trait which we’ve
probably never considered but it so crucial – especially from the composers intentions. How
a song end’s creates an audible sign instructing the audience whether to applaud or allow
the narrative to continue uninterrupted. Musically this is created by Cadences, which are
the chord progressions to end a piece of music. Composers tend to resolve their music by
returning the root chord – you will recognise this as a sense of completion in the music. If
they really want to drive the message home they can use whats called a button… “button”
which is pretty much a giant sign post saying clap
SARAH
or their purposefully don’t resolve the chord and the performance hopefully
continues– this is most noticeable near the end of act one when Bernado get’s killed and we
hear… “end of rumble.” Both the action and the music is imploring the audience not to
applaud. A great example of the use of this can be heard in the finale of Phantom of the
Opera – we hear a series of suspended chords until finally the music resolves. It almost
makes you hold your breathe with anticipation without realizing you are doing so.

FINISH.