I have always loved the art of musical theatre since I first saw Pirates of Penzance when I was four. Something between the music and the storytelling always got me excited. This has continued over the years as I keep going back to the theatre for musical storytelling. For my next project I want to tell a story and so I went on a deep dive into music theory and how the theatre uses this to express emotions. I won’t be talking about all my notes, but I will link to a document of them at the end.
Now for this I stuck to Western musicals as I wanted to stick to the treble and bass clef which is commonly used (Franceschina, 2015). Now the melodies are where accidentals will be used to write in key and raise or lower notes a semitone. Sometimes a grace note will be used to create a jazz or rock style like in Hairspray (Franceschina, 2015). Another thing to note is the notes used are commonly hole, half, quarter, eighth and sixteenth with the breve (double whole) used to create a more medieval sound (Franceschina, 2015). Sometimes the percussive ‘X’ will be used to notate how the song should be performed as well which is used in The Book of Mormon in the song “All-American Prophet (Franceschina, 2015). Heard at timestamp 0.49.
Augmentation is the doubling of speed of notes which can show a change in mood, tone and even cause a standing ovation (Franceschina, 2015). On the other hand, diminution is the slowing of notes which is used in reprises to manipulate the sound. Rests are often used to stop the flow of the music and show a change of emotion or thought (Franceschina, 2015). I won’t talk too much about time signature but one to note is 12/8 which Sondheim used in Into the Woods to convey a nursey rhyme when Red Riding Hood was singing (Franceschina, 2015).
I briefly touched on key earlier. In western music we commonly use major or minor. These can change the mood and interest. One in particular is how “Favourite Things” from Sound of Music begins in the key ‘E’ minor and ends in ‘G’ as the emotions change from scared to happy (Franceschina, 2015).
Another thing is that there are seven modes, Ionian, Dorian, Phrygian, Lydian, Mixolydian, Aeolian and Locrian. Aeolian is the natural minor, which is considered sad, serious, and tearful (Franceschina, 2015).
Dorian is minor sounding, so it conveys seriousness, though happy, and passionate feelings (Franceschina, 2015).
Phrygian is mystical and intense. It can even sound wrathful to an audience and seems exotic from traditional ‘Broadway’ (Franceschina, 2015).
Locrian incnludes the devil's interval (discussed later) so is hardly used (Franceschina, 2015).
Lydian has a natural resolution towards fourth to fifth making it major in sound (Franceschina, 2015).
Mixolydian is used for sadness with pleasure (Franceschina, 2015).
Ionian is the major scale and can seem frolicsome and wanton (Franceschina, 2015).
There are also pentatonic scales used in Eastern music. These can all be used to help with emotion but also time periods and locations.
Now we come to intervals. Perfect intervals are prime, fourth, fifth and octave (Franceschina, 2015). Major intervals from the tonic are, second, third (jovial and positive), sixth (descending draws audience in, dramatic and change of focus) and seventh (creating and communicating tension) (Franceschina, 2015). Any major interval can be made a minor interval when shortened a semitone (Franceschina, 2015). Second becomes a good tension resolution sounding sinister, mysterious, and jovial (Franceschina, 2015). The third is darker and less resolved creating unfilled promise or desire (Franceschina, 2015). The sixth is reaching out whilst the seventh is a ‘blues’ interval moving towards resolution (Franceschina, 2015). A diminished interval is any of the perfect intervals lowered a semitone except the fifth, while augmented intervals are any perfect or major intervals raised a semitone (Franceschina, 2015). Now the reason diminished fifth (also known as augmented fourth) is not included as it is also known as the devil’s interval (Franceschina, 2015). This is considered the most dissonant interval and requires immediate resolution afterwards (Franceschina, 2015). Intervals can be vertical or horizontal, so it can be shown across multiple instrument lines as well (Franceschina, 2015).
Chords tend to be triads (1, 3, and 5) which allows different types of tones not included in the chord by using non-chord notes. A neighbour tone is a tone up or below the chord note, Company uses this in the song “Side by Side by Side” to tell story (Franceschina, 2015). A passing note is a non-chord note in between two chord notes moving in the same direction (Franceschina, 2015). Suspension and retardation are chord tones held or repeated across to a change in harmony when they become non-chord notes (Franceschina, 2015). A suspension is resolved by a step to a lower tone in the new chord whilst a retardation is resolved by a step to a higher tone (Franceschina, 2015). An appoggiatura is a leap to a non-chord note followed by a step to a chord note which is common in increasing emotion and tension in musical theatre (Franceschina, 2015). An escape tone is a non-chord note approached by a step and resolved by a leap to a chord note (Franceschina, 2015). An anticipation is a step or a leap to a nonharmonic tone that anticipates the chord change before melody does (Franceschina, 2015). Pedal tones are a nonharmonic note held or repeated usually in the accompaniment belonging to the first and last chords in a series (Franceschina, 2015). This works against the harmonic progression and holds back the emotional payback. An inverted pedal tone is when this note becomes part of the melody instead (Franceschina, 2015). Free tones are nonharmonic notes approached and resolved by a leap (Franceschina, 2015).
I mentioned chords and triads at the beginning of tones. Below you can see the major, minor, diminished, and augmented chords in different types of keys.
Major key chords – I ii iii IV V vi vii* I
Natural minor – i ii* III iv v VI VII i
Harmonic minor – i ii* III+ iv V VI vii* i
Melodic minor – i ii III+ IV V vi* vii* i
* - diminished
+ - augmented
The tonic is 1, the subdominant is 4 and the dominant is 5 (Franceschina, 2015). This is important when we talk about cadences later. A simple way that musical theatre creates variety and forward movement is by using an alternating bass which changes between the tonic and the dominant (Franceschina, 2015). This bassline can include the tone that is missing from the chord (Franceschina, 2015). Harmonic movement towards and away from the tonic is the primary interest in musical theatre. This can be done seamless (shares a tone) or abrupt (no common tone) (Franceschina, 2015). Sometimes they will borrow notes from other scales to disguise the tonic-subdominant-dominant relationship to increase the tension (Franceschina, 2015).
One element I researched a lot on but won’t go into detail here is counterpoints, which are lines related by harmony but autonomous in shape and movement (Franceschina, 2015). There are many rules to counterpoints and the five different species which are commonly used for chorus lines (Franceschina, 2015). These rules are commonly manipulated to create new emotions in the story (Franceschina, 2015). To learn more, you can access my notes on them in the document attached.
I will quickly go over phrasing. In musicals it is common to use 32 bar stories (Franceschina, 2015). These break down into four 8 measure periods which can be sentences (Franceschina, 2015). These the break down into two 4 measure phrases which a complete musical idea (Franceschina, 2015). Antecedent phrase is first with the consequent phrase second can create a call and response movement in the piece (Franceschina, 2015).
Cadences have always been described to me as the punctuation of music (however unlike English punctuation I enjoy this one more). An authentic cadence moves from a V or V7 to a I or i (Franceschina, 2015). This is usually used for the end and in musical theatre a transition to a new key (Franceschina, 2015). An authentic cadence breaks down in to perfect or imperfect (Franceschina, 2015). A perfect authentic is when the V or V7 and I or i are in root position and the final melody note is the tonic which creates a conclusive end to the idea (Franceschina, 2015). This can be used to finish an idea explored in a musical when a character has made a conclusive decision (Franceschina, 2015). An imperfect authentic cadence is when the final melody note isn’t the tonic, V or I aren’t in the root position, or V or V7 are replaced by vii* or vii*7 (Franceschina, 2015). This means more is still to be said (Franceschina, 2015). Another type of cadence is the half cadence which ends in the V or V7 (Franceschina, 2015). This cadence is rarely used to end a song but has been used in musical theatre to show that the story is still unfinished (Franceschina, 2015). A plagal cadence is IV to I, which is used in the amen in hymns, can have supernatural implications in a piece (Franceschina, 2015). A deceptive cadence is initiated by the V or V7 but is resolved by anything but the tonic (Franceschina, 2015). There is also a ‘backdoor’ cadence which can be a flattened II, flattened III, flattened IV or flattened V to I to mimic unexpected drama (Franceschina, 2015).
The final music theory element I will talk about is modulation and tonicization. Modulation is a permanent key change (Franceschina, 2015). A direct modulation has no preparation in the chord of melody notes making it extremely dramatic (Franceschina, 2015). It can show changes in emotion, spontaneity and even youthfulness (shown in the musical Newsies) (Franceschina, 2015). A secondary dominant modulation is introduced by a single secondary dominant chord before the change (Franceschina, 2015). A third relation modulation uses a diatonic chord of the original key moving up or down using a chromatic mediant to a diatonic of the new key (Franceschina, 2015). This prepares the audience subconsciously for the key change due to the common tones (Franceschina, 2015). A pivot tone modulation is when a note from a chord of the original key is held to the chord of the new key putting emphasis on this note (Franceschina, 2015). A common chord modulation is when both keys share the same diatonic chord (Franceschina, 2015). There are also diminished seventh chord modulation where you respell the chord to be appropriately diatonic in both the original and new key and a augmented chord modulation where the dominant seventh in one can be augmented sixth by respelling the lower seventh as a raised sixth (Franceschina, 2015). Tonicization is when the key changes briefly (Franceschina, 2015). This can be done by any of the modulation methods and creates movement in the piece (Franceschina, 2015). One effective use of this is in Celebration in the song “I’m Glad to See You Got What You Want” where each memory is in a different key (Franceschina, 2015).
It was interesting to deep dive into the manipulation of music theory to create emotion. I learnt a large amount in how they compose musicals to increase tension and show different kinds of emotions. I hope that this will help with future work as I understand complex music theory a little bit more now. For any extra research notes you want to view for more information please follow the link below:
References
Franceschina, J. C. (2015). Music Theory Through Musical Theatre: Putting it Together. Oxford University Press. https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/sae/detail.action?docID=2068363
Original Broadway Cast - Topic, 2014. I'm Glad To See You've Got What You Want. (video) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vz2ncGQkz7s
Rogers and Hammerstein, 2013. My Favorite Things From The Sound Of Music. (video) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0IagRZBvLtw
The Book of Mormon, 2020. The Book Of Mormon Title Card. (image) https://bookofmormonbroadway.com/tickets
Trafalgar, 2017. All-American Prophet — Book Of Mormon (Lyric Video) [OBC]. (video) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EmhXXCBiUCI
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