The Joy of Musicals

Hi,

I was wondering, has anyone tried to write a musical, or sample music for one? I was listening to a selection of "showtunes" last night and their melodies were very "happy" and upbeat. They were also very layered - at which point would you start?

Would be interesting to know if anyone has attempted this, or if not, why not :)

pretty sure this is the WRONG section...

Incidental Music and Soundtracks

It would be a soundtrack to a theatre production?

I think this section is for reviewing other members' pieces though Ed. You're new here (as am I) and there's a fair number of subforums to get your head around on this site, so it's an easy mistake to make!

No, it should probably go under Composer's Headquarters.

Since no one is posting any music, it does not belong in one of the forums for that purpose.

Fair enough...sorry for the confusion.

Anyway, back to the question...

I've been toying with writing an opera/operetta (related genre...) for a while now. It's definitely a different animal than writing art music. The only advice I would give is to have the story and book done before you write any music.

Well, if you want to listen to absolutely brilliantly constructed musicals, I'm sure you'll get very little argument if I suggest listening to the musicals of Stephen Sondheim.

They're pretty much all masterpieces.

And for so many reasons.

Musically, Sondheim does things with incredibly limited thematic material (most remarkably in "Into the Woods"). Often, he will re-use material in various sections with minor modifications that somehow turn light to dark, or joy to sadness. It's pretty amazing how he controls his material.

Lyrics are a completely different matter. Sondheim is an absolute genius with lyrics. His use of rhyme, and of double-entendre is nothing short of perfection.

The miracle of Sondheim's musicals is that they withstand repeated listening like so few others do. And every new listening experience shines a light on some subtle nuance of meaning, some reflection back to an earlier moment in the play. It's freaking awesome.

And I'm in negotiations with someone to write an opera as well.

Yes, I have written for a musical and I'm working on another one as well. They are very fun but incredibly time consuming. I recommend listening to one of the best American musical composer: Leonard Bernstein. His orchestrations are fanominal and his themes are just as great.

Phenomenal

Phenomenal

Thanks, I thought that looked weird.

I have written one musical theater piece, incidental music for two plays, and just finished (really late on Sunday night) an operetta.

One of the most important things, I found, was to study the character I was writing for very closely. Then study the scene. Write music for the two. Understand the mood, understand what is to come (foreshadowing etc.) An audience will know the minute a work places a character out of character. Or a scene out of a scene. In the case of incidental music, the music is there to serve and help the flow of the show. If it doesn't, than it is creating more of a problem than helping and shouldn't be there.

What I found worked the best is to have the text first. Write the melody and then the harmony and other parts.

Have any of you uploaded your work?

No. Mainly because I don't have decent recordings of the works. They all (with the exception of the operetta) have had great performances but no recordings. MIDI is horrible for playback and so I refuse to post that because it isn't a fair representation of the work. Especially when the work is setting a mood.

What I found worked the best is to have the text first. Write the melody and then the harmony and other parts.

I agree with that as well.

Yes, some of the works are uploaded in the choral section of the forum.