Musical Theatre Keywords

Syllabic

lyrics align primarily with one syllable of text per note sung

Melismatic

each syllable aligns with more than one note

word-painting

the musical elements in accompaniment illustrate emotion/ imagery demonstrated in lyrics of the song. Ie sustaining pedal to illustrate water

Recitative/ sprechgesang

lyrics sung in the rhythm of ordinary speech and on a single or on very few notes

sprechstimme

More similar to speaking than recitative. Notes are approximated. Seen in Der Kranker Monde- the voice kind of sings the notes but not really

Conjunct

music moves in step. Smooth movement between notes in terms of pitch

Disjunct

The intervals between notes are larger than a tone. Often sounds ‘jumpy’ or arpeggaic

repetition

a melodic phrase is repeated

arch like

melody begins at a lower pitch before rising and then falling back to return to original pitch. Also inverted arch melodies (U shaped)

Vocal range

whether the vocalist or piece has a large range or small range. this can be used to determine voice-type ie soprano, alto

Sung-through

a musical with no dialogue, only songs ie les mis

book musical

generally refers to a musical where both dialogue and song tell the story ie wizard of oz

strophic form

AAA, where each verse is set to the same music ie One hand, One hart (west side story)

belting

a technique that produces a powerful chest-voice ie in ‘I dreamed a dream’ when she sings “shame”

32 bar song form

four 8-bar phrases (32 bars) in AABA. Two of the same and one contrasting. Ie somewhere over the rainbow. This is the most common form for musical theatre songs.

12 bar blues

12 bar chord progression typically used in jazz.

middle 8/ bridge

a section of contrasting material which usually occurs towards the middle of a song.