On Writing a Musical Part 7

The performance of the musical, The Girls of Crabbottom, went well. The students enjoyed doing the show, audience response was positive, and in general, the show "worked." There were a few things that worked less well than others, however.

Timing is everything, and for me it is one of the more difficult things to gauge when I am in the act of writing. What I thought was important, insightful dialogue can occasionally just drag. What should have been a funny line can get lost. A song with what seemed to be clever lyrics can go on too long. 

To be fair to myself, it is hard to say how much the acoustics of Taft Hall played in the apparent slow pacing of one or two scenes. When the audience is probably only hearing 50% of the lines, it is only natural that a few spots can seem to drag. Still, there were only one or two places that I think can be tightened a little. Overall things moved fairly well.

The importance of context in presenting humor is another concept that was reinforced for me. There were a few lines that I did not think were very funny, but always got laughs, mostly because their placement served to release tension for the audience. Conversely, there were a couple of lines that I thought would get laughs and didn't, perhaps due to where they occurred.

Musically, the songs worked well. Crabbottom ain't Don Giovanni, but frankly, it shouldn't be. The songs were easy to follow, and a few even memorable. I didn't try to do too much with them and they didn't get overly complex. There's no retrograde inversion of the melody buried in the 2nd alto sax countermelody, but there are some very hummable tunes.

All in all, the plot held together well and kept the audience following the show. The characters were engaging and kept people interested in what happened to them. The songs were catchy when they needed to be, and expressive when that was the focus. The orchestration, if not totally authentic, was "close enough for jazz." If I write another musical, the lessons I learned from Crabbottom should be very helpful.

On Writing a Musical Part 6

I never played a lot of jazz and when I did it was back in my first few years of college. I am more of a choral person and my principle instrument is classical guitar, so I never developed a good ear for orchestration. Therefore, the prospect of orchestrating the musical for a 1920-30s jazz band was a little intimidating. Given that I had very little time to do it in also added to my anxiety.

I started off by listening to jazz bands from the era to try to get a feel for the sound. The late 20s to early 30s was an interesting transitional period. Small jazz and Dixieland combos had been around for a while, but it was before the polished big band sound of the 40s. I liked the raw and occasionally unrefined voicing of the instruments. I enjoyed hearing orchestrators experiment with the instruments.

My next step was to get a few scores to examine. I ordered Fletcher Henderson's "Variety Stomp" from a site on the Internet. Due to some email SNAFUs it took me a couple of weeks to get it, however, the owner of the site very kindly gave me a lot of advice. He described what instruments were in a typical band of the period. He told me about typical sax voicings, how instruments were combined, and a little on how the drums were played during that era. Any success I had in my orchestrating is due to his advice; any failures are due to my own ignorance and incompetence.

I started orchestrating with pieces that I knew were going to be less typical of the period, or were going to be primarily piano. As I got a feel for things, I moved to the heavier and more era specific songs. By the end, I felt that I was able to produce a plausible sound, at least to an audience that was not real familiar with the style of the period. Close enough for jazz, as they say.

Through the process, I learned that I am not a detail person by nature, and that orchestration requires a great attention to detail. Careful dynamic markings and phrasing can save a great deal of time in rehearsal. Clearly marking sections, watching note spellings (especially after the instrument has been transposed), and checking voice leading also can make things go easier.

The computer software (I used Sibelius) was indispensable. I am old enough to remember the days of hand writing everything and I do not miss the sore fingers and stiff neck! I learned little tricks along the way. One was to set up a template that can be reused for each song. Another little trick for parallel sax voicings was to just copy and paste the alto 1 part into the alto 2 part and then move the notes down a third to put them in the ballpark (and then of course adjust the pitches to fit the harmonies). The same could be done for the tenor part. I also learned that having a complete piano/vocal score before hand made things much easier. I only needed to copy that into the full orchestral score and then pull lines and harmonies out for much of my orchestration.

Once we got into rehearsals, the biggest problem I found was that the jazz band often overpowered the singers. This is in part due to the horrible acoustics of our performance venue (Taft Hall - a multipurpose room with hard walls and floor, low ceiling, and rectangular in shape). If I turned the singers' microphones up, the echo in the hall turned everything to mush. If I kept the microphones low, one couldn't hear them sing. The kids in the band did their best to play softly, but it was always a challenge.

My orchestrations in this regard were no busier or fuller than those of the period. I wonder how they did it back then with little or no amplification of the singers? I ended up cutting a few parts and thinning out a few sections to help mitigate the acoustical problem.

Another issue I had was the ability of our student musicians. They did a great job for high school kids, but there were certain places that were challenges. The first alto parts were often written very high back in the late 20s and are part of what give the music its distinctive sound. This can be tough even for our very talented first alto player. I had to compromise and avoid the extreme high notes whenever possible. In addition, trumpet parts were in a few places a little high for our trumpeter, and violin intonation is always a bit of a problem at the high school level.

Drum notation was also an issue. Usually the drummer is given a suggested outline of what to play and is then left to interpret and improvise the rest. This works well with a drummer who is versed in the style of the times, but is not appropriate for a high school student. Unfortunately, I don't know enough about drumming, especially from that era, to be of much help. Our drummer is an excellent percussionist and did an adequate job for the show, but I'm sure there were a lot of anachronisms in his playing.

Finally, I was reminded on how having a strong pianist is essential for a musical - especially at the high school level. We hired in a very talented lady who did a wonderful job. She covered parts when needed, reinforced vocal lines when necessary, and in short, held things together. She, however, could not make all the early rehearsals, and I used student pianists for those. I was surprised at what a good job they did. With the exception of one or two sections, they could have played the whole show and saved me some money.

In the end, the band sounded very good and the orchestration was passable if not always authentic. The acoustics were still bad and probably half the lyrics were lost. Nevertheless, it was a good learning experience for me and hopefully a bit of fun for the singers and instrumentalists.

On Writing a Musical Part 5

A few weeks ago I came across a blog entitled "Can Ordinary People Burst into Song." The blog discussed, among other things, the problem of moving from dialogue to song in a musical. In real life, people don't just burst into song, so when this occurs in a musical, it can disrupt the audience's belief in the reality of the play.

Though this can be problematic, when handled carefully it is not as big a problem as it seems. To begin with, when one goes to see a musical, one expects to hear the actors burst into song. The mere expectation of song makes the actual occurrence less jarring. Also, there are certain conventions and techniques for how a composer can work into a song: a soft instrumental background introduction, a recitative-like vocal introduction, an opening with sprechstimme (words spoken in rhythm and on pitch or approximate pitch).

Another technique involves the spoken setup before the music begins. There are textual clues an author can put in the script that let an audience anticipate that a song is about to begin. These clues can be enhanced with an actor's speaking style, blocking, and staging.  Again, the expectation of song eases the transition for the audience.

For me, a bigger problem than the transition into song is the question, why put a song here in the first place? What is it in the text that can justify a disruption of the plot so that a song can take place? As an actress might say, "What's my motivation?"

Songs can perform certain dramatic functions that make them more beneficial than just giving the audience a tune they can remember. Here are a few thoughts on how that can work with examples from West Side Story.

Songs can intensify an emotional moment such as in a love song. The emotions of a character compels him or her into song ("Maria," "There's a Place for Us"). Songs can act as a Greek chorus, giving voice to what an audience is feeling, what a group of characters is feeling, or commenting on the drama ("Cool"). Songs can help with pacing. A nice lively song can perk up an audience after an intense but slower paced scene ("America"). They can function like an aside to the audience, letting them know the inner thoughts or feelings of a character ("Something's Coming"). Songs can provide comic relief in a way that wouldn't be as effective as spoken text (the circus-like music in "Gee, Officer Krupke").

There are also cases where songs serve the drama in ways one would never expect. One wouldn't normally think that a song would be a good way to win an argument, yet in "A Boy Like That," Maria's convincing Anita to help her is more believable to the audience because it is sung.

I am certainly not an expert on musicals, and I am sure that others can add much more to what I've written. I would be interested in hearing other thoughts and opinions on the subject.

On Writing a Musical Part 3

As I mentioned in my last post, the plot to my musical was simple, but despite that (or perhaps because of that) characters and themes began to suggest themselves to me.


The main characters are as follows:

• Crabbottom - thirty something; misquotes Shakespeare; a somewhat lovable rum runner with gangster ties; his father, who also was a gangster, founded the home for wayward girls.
• Sister Salvation - thirty something; runs the home; has a belief that there is good in everyone.
• Willie - late teens; newspaper boy; a dreamer, likes Molly.
• Molly - late teens; one of the wayward girls; pragmatic; a 1930s style feminist.

The characters each had a slightly different look on life which fascinated me. Would the dreamer learn to deal with reality? Would a pragmatic girl dare to take a leap of faith? Would the the gangster learn to do good? Does God have a plan for all of us, or is the world an undetermined arena where we must find meaning and good?


The challenge, and the fun of it all, was to unobtrusively layer these ideas on to the scaffold of the simple plot. Cliches, throw away lines, misquoted Shakespeare, these might all be embedded with a deeper level of meaning without getting in the way of the entertainment.


Then, when I was nearly done with the book, I came across a quote from Anatole France, "To accomplish great things, we must not only act but also dream, not only plan but also believe." This fit the play perfectly and the quote would be a motto for the home for wayward girls.


I thanked my luck (or was it preordained fate?), but was also glad that I didn't come across the quote too early in the writing. I would have been tempted to make each of the characters "fit" - the dreamer, the planner, the doer, the believer. If I had done so, I think the characters would have been iconic and one dimensional. So, the characters don't match up perfectly (real people never do), but suggest and at times are in conflict with these themes.


I don't know how well I succeeded in any of this. For me, however, it was the fun and creative part of writing that kept me going.

On Writing a Musical Part 1

During the 2009 Winter Break it became increasingly clear that my school, Taft High School, had precious few dollars to spend on getting the rights to do this year's musical. It was also obvious that it would be hard to find a published musical that would allow us to cast all the many girls (and the few guys) who wanted to be in it.

The solution seemed obvious, write an original musical. No problem! I can do that. Two months to do it in, plenty of time. Ah, hubris has its price.

With a little gentle nudging from our wonderful drama teacher, Julianna Olinka, I began writing on January 2nd during the last week of winter vacation. Seven weeks later it was done - printed script, piano and vocal lead sheets, and guide audio tracks for the singers. I was lucky to have a Julianna's friend, Laura Manning, cowrite the lyrics. In addition to saving me time, she did a wonderful job.

I am now almost done with the orchestration. After that, there is the overture and some incidental music to write, but most of that will be derived from already composed material so it should not take much time. It can't take much time because we open April 29th!

The next several posts will be somewhat random thoughts on the process - what I learned, and what I should do or not do next time (if there is to be a next time).

I recently watched an outstanding internet concert by Les Arts Florissants (Arte Live Web). They performed of an assortment of Monteverdi vocal works with exciting dynamic contrast, a great sense of phrasing, and a beautifully expressive interpretation of the text.

A few days later, I decided to show part of the performance to my Vocal Ensemble class. This is the advanced choral group at Taft High School. The students are familiar with music from Monteverdi's time as we have sung several Renaissance and Baroque works. Because of their training and talent, it was not a surprise to me that they loved the concert.

Encouraged by their reaction, I decided to show it to my beginning choir as well. This group is a mixed bag of students, but most have had little musical or vocal training and have not had much exposure to classical music. The one plus was that we have been working on a little three-part Marenzio madrigal in class.

Their strong positive reaction to the performance by Les Arts Florissants was a surprise. They were impressed with the sound of the voices, the music itself, and the visual expressiveness of the singers.

I think the fact that they could see the emotions of the singers as well as hear them was an important factor in their enjoyment of the music. But I also feel that the high quality of the performance contributed greatly to their appreciation.

Strong musicality has a way of transcending age, training, and musical preferences. It speaks directly to us in an almost primal way. Even those with little previous classical music exposure can relate to good music done well.

This experience with my choir reaffirmed my belief that all students can enjoy good music. Once the stereotypes of classical music are dispelled, students are surprisingly open to the music. As arts educators, it is our job to tear down the popular media bias against classical music, give students some basic listening skills, and present them with high quality, engaging performances. In doing so we give our students a lifelong enjoyment of fine music and we create an audience that will continue to support the music we love.