music of brodway 1950s to 1990s

Question 1

types of musical songs

Answer 1

solo songs- the character sings about how they are feeling

duets- similar to solo songs but there are two singers so you might get two different reactions.

action songs- the words tell you what is going on in the plot.they advance the story.

chorus number- the whole cast sing together

Question 2

musical songs

Answer 2

the melodies are memorable and often have a hook - repeating a bit of lyric and melody.the harmonies are diatonic (major or minor) the song structure is often simple -intro-verse-chorus-outro. the chorus in 32- bar form broken up into 4 sections of 8 bars each in and aaba structure.

Question 3

west side story

Answer 3

composed by lenard bernstien and first performed in 1957.it’s based apoun romeo and juilet but set in new york with rival gangs. synocapation and extended , jazz chords (7th and 9th).

Question 4

little shop of horrors

Answer 4

composed by alan menken who has written much music for disney.the musical is very much in a rock and roll style. examples of this include the prologue- little shop of horrors with it’s repeated quaver accompiment and sycopated bass line and is sung by a three -part female trio trying to recreate the sound of 1960s girl bands.

Question 5

where did musicals come from?

Answer 5

musicals come from less- series versions of oprea.the types of musicals around today started in the 1920s and developed throughout the 20th century .they started on broadway , others started in the west end of london. musicals use singing, dancing and diologue to tell a story. they usally have an orchestra accompantent. musicals are developed from popular songs, novels,films.