SONG ANALYSIS – YEAR 2

Listening for clues

In the musical, a song is a heightened expression of

a character’s experience:

•Story
•Characters
•Context
•Mood
•Emotional changes
Learn to listen

 Listen critically: eg. film scores

 “The music never lies” – basic premise is that
the accompaniment and/or underscoring are
always telling the truth about a character's
feelings
 Added textual layer of music – subtext often
explicitly delivered through music
 Music illuminates a character’s experience –
can amplify, diminish or change the impact or
meaning of the words
Kinds of musical information

•Melody
•Rhythm
•Tempo
•Key centres (Tonality)
•Time signature (Meter)
•Feel and musical style
•Harmony
TENSION CONFLICT

release resolution
Composer’s markings:

Term Meaning / Quality

 Adagio Slow tempo; restful, at ease
 Ad libitum (ad lib) Tempo left to performer; freely
 Appassionato Passionately
 Brillante Brilliantly; with sparkle
 Energico Energetically
 Parlando Speechlike
 Rubato Strict tempo gives way to feeling
 Staccato Sharply; with attack
 Vivace Brisk; lively and spirited
Emotional Qualities

Sensitise yourself to the intuitive response evoked by the

music because it expresses the experience of the character
that sings it.

Learn to express in such adjectives as jubilant, joyous,

brooding, agitated, somber, pensive, giddy and so forth.

These emotional qualities can change from section to

section within a song, or between the first version of a song
and its reprise
Melodic shape

 Examine the tendencies or variations in how

the melody progresses and the effects of
 RISING
 FALLING
 STATIC
 STEPS
 LEAPS
How do these things make one feel? How do
they express the character’s experience?
Tempo quality

Gives us information about how a character

feels too:
eg. excited, despondent, deliberate, confused,
driven, in a panic..
Changes in tempo suggest changes the
character experiences
Dynamics and degrees
p
mp
mf
f
ff
crescendo
diminuendo
subito pp
poco..
molto...
Rhythmic quality

 How quickly the melody (or any part of the

accompaniment) changes or how long notes
are held compared to others around them
 How a pattern is repeated
 How a pattern is varied

Can signify changing (or repetitive) experience,

new tactics, reactions to others etc.
Tonality

 Why has the composer chosen a particular

key?
 Major / Minor/Modal
 Modulation (key changes) – sense of growing
excitement, distinct changes in mood
 Intensity within the vocal range. Vocal quality
often reveals a character’s nature.
Musical accents and
highlighters
 “bumps, twinkles and booms”
 Fills – usually between singers’ phrases
 Prevalent in dance music (and many theatre
songs are built on a dance style)
 Indicate sudden shifts in attention or thought
process, or physical action, reaction or even a
comment on what the singer is saying.
Musical idiom

 Regional musical style – world of the story and

status or given circumstances of the character
 Borrowed regional or ethnic form to comment
on or make fun of a situation
 Heavy reference to dance styles, which comment
on location, mood, emotional journey, or
actually suggest dance.
 Oblique references to other “worlds” eg. church
music, musical cliches. How are they achieved
musically?
Melody and accompaniment

 What kind of support to the vocal line is given

by the accompaniment
 Where are the tensions and releases in the
accompaniment?
 What references to the melody are there in
the accompaniment?
 Note the harmonic rhythm – the rate of
change of chords
 How are changes in the melody reflected in
the accompaniment?
Form and structure

Components:
• Introduction
• Verse
• Chorus, Refrain
• Bridge
• Tag
• Outro, Playout
The organisation of these elements often puts a
song in a particular time or setting, due to the
conventions of the era.
Acting in Musical Theatre
A Comprehensive Course
Edited by Joe Deer and Rocco Dal Vera (Routledge)