January 5, 2021

 


Tuesday the 5th


Today, Tuesday the 5th, was our first day participating in the Musical Theatre J-term hosted by the Post Oak School and taught by Ms. Bowman and Mr. Lowery. Our class includes seven kids: Sabrina, Nora, Jack, Nathaniel, Katie, Patricia, and myself (Cidette). We started the morning by going over the varying types of theatre and how they appear chronologically in musical theatre history. We covered three main eras, the Golden Age (1940-1964), innovations (1970-1999), and rejuvenations (2000-present). We then quickly delved into the genre portion of musical theatre, and how it affects the tone of a show. Genres such as: Golden Age music, modern acoustic “pop/folk”, innovative music, rock, pop, jazz, hip hop, country, classical, and folk. 

Now that we had the basics of genre and era down, Ms. Bowman started to explain the varying types of song, and how a song’s purpose helps move the musical forward. Types of songs can include, but are not limited to: the opening number, “I am” song, “I want” song, charm song, ballads, comedic number, reprise, 11’oclock, and the finale. While each song’s title is pretty much self-explanatory, I will do a brief overview of each song’s purpose because I feel like it.


  1. Opening number: There are many variations of opening numbers, including but limited to the “welcome to my world” and “meet the character” songs. In general, the opening number serves as an introductory song so the audience can get their bearings before a full story is thrust upon them.

  2. The “I am” song: This song’s purpose serves as an opportunity for the character to introduce themselves to the audience.

  3. The “I want” song: This song allows for a character to establish a course of action for the future, showing the audience what their goals are and what they are driven by.

  4. The charm song: The charm song is used exactly how it sounds. Used to build a relationship between the audience and a character, the charm song, well, charms the audience into liking the character presented. This is almost solely done with unfortunate and/or funny characters.

  5. Ballads: Usually about romantic love, ballads are thought of as the classic love song in musicals. A ballad could also be a character singing philosophically about the emotions they’re feeling, or emotions in general.

  6. Comedic number: “Well that was tragic. Time for some funnies!”. A song with the sole purposes of making the audience laugh and lightening the mood.

  7. Reprise: When a song occurs again, typically with a lower keychange and more serious meaning.

  8. The 11o’clock song: The emotional climax of the musical- the protagonist sings their strongest emotions here in a solo. Nicknamed the 11o’clock because it would come later in the show, wake the audience up, and prepare them for the final songs.

  9. Finale: Closes the show.


As we were discussing these varying types of song, in my head I was going over the musical soundtracks I had enjoyed in the past and making notes on the songs I could and couldn’t recognize. Legally Blonde has some very clear examples of each of these songs, as well as Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson. We did a kahoot about types of songs, and Nathaniel and I were neck in neck but the universe decided that I should win (or maybe it was the note writing…)

You can take the kahoot at types of songs in musicals kahoot


Following lunch, we had to present a musical to do. The musical would be 10 minutes long maximum, would have to have 7 equal parts, and we could make covers of songs that already existed. We split into two groups, the Lorax and [REDACTED]*, and my group of Jack, Nathaniel and I set out to convince the Loraxians why [REDACTED]* should be the J-term’s musical. In the end, we succeeded.

*Name of the musical has been redacted to avoid spoilers. Blog will not include a plot summary.


I asked around once we started cleaning up the class, and miraculously, out of those I asked, everyone was at least good with where they fit into our [REDACTED] musical. The last thing I want to do in a musical theatre J-term is have someone end up unhappy with a role, since it’s a nasty feeling. 


Tomorrow my classmates and I are each presenting our own respective presentations on an overall look at a musical. Spoiler alert, but I think I’m going to do Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson, Legally Blonde, or the Among Us musical. We’ll just have to see when I present it tomorrow!


Thank you, and goodnight Houston!

Cidette 


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