The forecast for Saturday, April 17 called for rain and all the day there was a steady build up the eventual arrival of the showers shortly following six o’clock that evening. Dusk came suddenly and when I arrived at the Jonsson Theater it was already pitch dark and the downpour was in full douse mode. Coming upon the courtyard with the Spirit Rocks, I was amazed by the crowd out side of the theater. I thought that having arrived at least thirty minutes early would I would miss most of the crowds, but people were still outside, so instantly my hopes were peaked.
Side Show is a typical American Broadway musical. The plot of the story is nearly all sung, with brief speaking interludes in between. Each of the songs was accompanied by an orchestra that was very well hidden (most of the time) behind large set pieces. The orchestra consisted of mostly aerophones: saxophone, clarinet, oboe, tuba and flute were observed. The use of each of these set the musical mood for each song, for example, the oboe could be heard used in the Sheik’s appearance in the opening song. The oboe was played in a way reminiscent of eastern music with eight-notes, small pitch intervals and ornamentation.
Most of the songs were melody centric and were homophonic. There was a focus on one melody and the music did not vary much form that melodic theme. One element was the use of percussion in the music. Instead of using percussion to keep a beat, it was used as another ornamental element. So even though there were songs where snare drums were used as pace-keepers, the percussion could best be heard in the forms of bells and chimes. The chimes in particular were used as a tinny crescendo that would call attention to a particularly emotionally charged bit of singing.
During the first half of the musical there were many more characters on stage then during the last half. The first half was mainly introductory and told the origin of the show’s stars, the conjoined twins Daisy and Violet. Since the first part of the musical was set in a freak show, many of the actors were free to move onstage, jumping and somersaulting and occasionally moving around the stage and into the audience for dramatic effect. The actors’ movements were fewer in the second half of the musical, mostly because of the shift in the plot to focus more on character development and affect.
Amusingly, the orchestra was obscured for the nearly the entire length of the performance. Conveniently they were always hidden from sight behind some mammoth set piece. Their little perch at the back of the stage was even painted to match the colors of the sets so that they would blend in further. Clearly they were meant to be heard and not seen.
The house was nearly packed and I was very surprised by the number of people in attendance. Outside it was poring buckets, and nothing demotivates people quite like precipitation. The audience was about ninety percent students and a few older people, who I guess were either parents there to support their children’s artistic aspiration or just local musical enthusiasts. Audience reaction was very warm and I believe that most of the people in attendance were entertained. Luckily the songs were easy to follow and there were no significant mistakes. Do to the “middle brow” status of stage musicals, the audience felt free to clap whenever they felt. This could be after a large cadence where the song would change tempo, and it would still be permissible. Possibly the fact that this was the last performance could have effected audience attendance and reaction.
I conclusion Side Show was a quintessential American-style musical with and emphasis on singing with musical accompaniment that is used in both a melodic and ornamental way. Both voice and orchestra are used as narrative storytelling devices.
Monday, April 26, 2010
Monday, April 19, 2010
Here are some examples:
Note the simple structure of the song and the nearly minimalistic instumentation.
Joy Division was one of the first bands to experiment with synthesizers.
PIL is the quentiscential Post Punk Band. The lead singer John Lydon was the former Johnny Rotten of Sex Pistols fame. Note the heavy base and disco beat.
Note the simple structure of the song and the nearly minimalistic instumentation.
Joy Division was one of the first bands to experiment with synthesizers.
PIL is the quentiscential Post Punk Band. The lead singer John Lydon was the former Johnny Rotten of Sex Pistols fame. Note the heavy base and disco beat.
Post Punk
The genre that I chose to write about is not well known in America because great deals of bands in this genre are British. It is only in the last ten years that the United States has recognized the influence of bands such as Joy Division and Gang of Four due to their influence on much of today’s music.
As a whole, Post Punk is more of a movement in music then an established genre. Although all Post Punk bands call all be said to be influenced by earlier Punk bands like the Sex Pistols and the Clash. Post Punk took the “do it yourself” independent spirit of Punk and also a sense of social-political awareness and to some extent activism. What Post Punk did was to free this “Punk Ethos” form some of the more anti-intellectual and anti-artistic notions that have developed as Punk swelled in popularity and threatened to spill over into the mainstream. Suddenly in the years following 1977 there was this massive movement incorporating punk simplicity and directness with a variety of other influences, such as reggae (“ska”) and disco (“death disco”).
Some Post Punk kept the three chord structure and tempos of Punk. There was also an emphasis on incorporating very “un-rock and roll” musical elements such as syncopation, reggae inspired base lines and minor scales. Some totally deviated form the guitar, base and drum format to include electrophones. In time these experiments would see the rise of the “New Wave”, which combined Punk Ethos and added dance and pop sensibilities i.e. the Human League.
Post Punk was a repudiation of both the nihilism of Punk as well as the stale state of traditional Rock and Roll.
As a whole, Post Punk is more of a movement in music then an established genre. Although all Post Punk bands call all be said to be influenced by earlier Punk bands like the Sex Pistols and the Clash. Post Punk took the “do it yourself” independent spirit of Punk and also a sense of social-political awareness and to some extent activism. What Post Punk did was to free this “Punk Ethos” form some of the more anti-intellectual and anti-artistic notions that have developed as Punk swelled in popularity and threatened to spill over into the mainstream. Suddenly in the years following 1977 there was this massive movement incorporating punk simplicity and directness with a variety of other influences, such as reggae (“ska”) and disco (“death disco”).
Some Post Punk kept the three chord structure and tempos of Punk. There was also an emphasis on incorporating very “un-rock and roll” musical elements such as syncopation, reggae inspired base lines and minor scales. Some totally deviated form the guitar, base and drum format to include electrophones. In time these experiments would see the rise of the “New Wave”, which combined Punk Ethos and added dance and pop sensibilities i.e. the Human League.
Post Punk was a repudiation of both the nihilism of Punk as well as the stale state of traditional Rock and Roll.
Monday, April 5, 2010
Performance report: Shakespeare in Song.
Time and space:
Saturday, March 27 had been sunny and warm with a few clouds, but as show time approached. The clouds moved in and the air was noticeably cooler. It was a Saturday evening and I expected for there to be more people out at the time. The courtyard was deserted, but I presume that the sudden change in the weather discouraged a few from wandering about.
I was early in arriving to the theatre and I arrived just as the ushers were set to hand out programs to Shakespeare in Song. I entered the Jonsson Performance Hall when there was almost no one there at the time. I decided to stay in the back so that I would interrupt as few people as possible. On the stage there were choral bleachers, a grand piano off to the left and several music stands to the right. From these the performers would recite a few lines that would bookend each song.
Audience:
At the start of the performance the performance hall was about one-third full. The audience was mostly comprised of parents who had come to see their kids in action. There were some students, though many seemed to be there on assignment, I saw at least one other person taking notes. Most seemed to believe this occasion was informal, I only saw one group of people who dressed up for the occasion. Most of the audience seemed to have just come in their regular clothes.
Some thing that I found interesting about the audience is that they never knew when it was appropriate to clap. No one clapped too early because we no one knew when the performance was over. Since each song was introduced and then followed up by some more lines, people withdrew from clapping until they were instructed by the conductor. At first it seemed that people were confused, were they to clap after every recital, every song? Thankfully, the audience soon learned to clap whenever the conductor turned to face them.
Performers:
I was surprised buy the period costumes. For some reason I expected them to be in choir robes. They entered the performance hall in a single file line with the pianist first and the conductor last. Through out the performance, people would make their way up to the front of the bleachers to either give a solo or a recitation.
Music:
I hope that you will forgive me for the dryness of the following words, but I am trying to be as objective and descriptive as possible.
The music was vocals accompanied by a piano only. Many of the songs began with a soloist and then went on to a section that included the rest of the choir. The themes of the songs were either about love or on the tragedy of death. Most songs began with the pianist playing a tone and looking at the conductor. Generally songs began with a soloist and then went on the main part of the song. I noticed in more somber songs, the melody was played in parts that were offset in a round and that the more light hearted songs were sung in one harmonious melody. Tempos were mostly as expected, with the happier songs faster than the sadder ones, although I noticed that the songs did not vary much in tempo once they were started. Since the songs were originally meant to be stuck among the action in a play, they are short, single themed and they establish themselves very quickly with little build up. They were as a whole homophonic with a few moments of polyphony.
Conclusions:
Unfortunately, I left in a hurry so that I would not miss my ride, but as I was leaving, I noticed a lot of conversation between the parents and a few of the performers. Most of the songs were about two minutes in length and the concert seemed to go by rather quickly; the event seems rushed despite the recitations. Perhaps that was a good thing, better to let the performance flow along rather than have it sag.
Saturday, March 27 had been sunny and warm with a few clouds, but as show time approached. The clouds moved in and the air was noticeably cooler. It was a Saturday evening and I expected for there to be more people out at the time. The courtyard was deserted, but I presume that the sudden change in the weather discouraged a few from wandering about.
I was early in arriving to the theatre and I arrived just as the ushers were set to hand out programs to Shakespeare in Song. I entered the Jonsson Performance Hall when there was almost no one there at the time. I decided to stay in the back so that I would interrupt as few people as possible. On the stage there were choral bleachers, a grand piano off to the left and several music stands to the right. From these the performers would recite a few lines that would bookend each song.
Audience:
At the start of the performance the performance hall was about one-third full. The audience was mostly comprised of parents who had come to see their kids in action. There were some students, though many seemed to be there on assignment, I saw at least one other person taking notes. Most seemed to believe this occasion was informal, I only saw one group of people who dressed up for the occasion. Most of the audience seemed to have just come in their regular clothes.
Some thing that I found interesting about the audience is that they never knew when it was appropriate to clap. No one clapped too early because we no one knew when the performance was over. Since each song was introduced and then followed up by some more lines, people withdrew from clapping until they were instructed by the conductor. At first it seemed that people were confused, were they to clap after every recital, every song? Thankfully, the audience soon learned to clap whenever the conductor turned to face them.
Performers:
I was surprised buy the period costumes. For some reason I expected them to be in choir robes. They entered the performance hall in a single file line with the pianist first and the conductor last. Through out the performance, people would make their way up to the front of the bleachers to either give a solo or a recitation.
Music:
I hope that you will forgive me for the dryness of the following words, but I am trying to be as objective and descriptive as possible.
The music was vocals accompanied by a piano only. Many of the songs began with a soloist and then went on to a section that included the rest of the choir. The themes of the songs were either about love or on the tragedy of death. Most songs began with the pianist playing a tone and looking at the conductor. Generally songs began with a soloist and then went on the main part of the song. I noticed in more somber songs, the melody was played in parts that were offset in a round and that the more light hearted songs were sung in one harmonious melody. Tempos were mostly as expected, with the happier songs faster than the sadder ones, although I noticed that the songs did not vary much in tempo once they were started. Since the songs were originally meant to be stuck among the action in a play, they are short, single themed and they establish themselves very quickly with little build up. They were as a whole homophonic with a few moments of polyphony.
Conclusions:
Unfortunately, I left in a hurry so that I would not miss my ride, but as I was leaving, I noticed a lot of conversation between the parents and a few of the performers. Most of the songs were about two minutes in length and the concert seemed to go by rather quickly; the event seems rushed despite the recitations. Perhaps that was a good thing, better to let the performance flow along rather than have it sag.
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