Sunday, December 13, 2015

Contemporary Music - Broadway Musicals

Broadway Musicals

Musical theatre has been a staple in American culture since the beginning of the twentieth century. In the early 1900’s, Broadway shows consisted of 10-15 vaudeville acts and large choruses of singers and dancers. One of the most popular Broadway shows during this time was the Ziegfeld Follies, starring popular performers such as Fanny Brice. The most popular songs during this time period were Broadway show tunes. Composers such as Cole Porter, Irving Berlin, and George Gershwin dominated “Tin Pan Alley,” a term used to describe the music industry in New York City in the early 1900’s.
 
In 1943, the forward thinking creative duo Richard Rogers and Oscar Hammerstein II completely changed the format of musical theatre to what we understand as a musical today. Oklahoma was the first musical to have one plot throughout the entire show. Based off of Lynn Riggs’s play Green Grow the Lilacs, Oklahoma had many hit songs, such as the title song, “Oh What a Beautiful Morning,” “The Surrey with the Fringe on Top,” and “People Will Say We’re in Love.” The Broadway cast album sold very well and the show ran for an impressive 2,248 performances, which was unheard of at the time. Here is a performance of “Oh What a Beautiful Morning,” featuring Hugh Jackman.

 
Nowadays, Broadway musicals are not as popular as they were in the 1900’s. In the 21st century, there is a dedicated niche audience that avidly consumes and participates in musical theatre. The contents that make a Broadway musical popular are forever changing. For example, composer Robert Lopez has written many controversial comedic Broadway musicals. In 2003, Lopez wrote Avenue Q with Jeff Marx. This musical is a parody of the children’s show, Sesame Street.  The musical has adult puppets as the characters, with some real humans added in too.  When the musical first opened, nearly half of the audience left before it ended because they felt the show was too inappropriate. Here is the opening song to Avenue Q, “It Sucks to be Me.”


A similar musical is The Book of Mormon, written by Robert Lopez, Trey Parker, and Matt Stone. Stone and Parker are known for creating South Park, a comedic television show. This musical is satirical of the Mormon religion. While it won many Tony Awards, a high honor for Broadway musicals, it also offends many people. Here is a number from the show called, “I Believe.”
 
  
While Broadway shows can sometimes ostracize social groups, Broadway can also be a safe haven for subcultures. For example, the musical Priscilla, Queen of the Desert focuses on the journey of two drag queens and a transgender woman as they take a road trip across Australia. Along the road, they encounter bigotry and hatred, but gain a better sense of who they are as individuals and make strong friendships. Here is a sample of the casts’ performance at the Tony Awards.


Another musical that focuses on individuality is Billy Elliot. Billy Elliot is a 11 year old British boy who learns that he has a talent for ballet dancing. Unfortunately, his father and many of those around him do not approve of his new talent. Billy faces discrimination for doing what he loves, to dance. Ultimately, he overcomes the diversity he faces and begins to study what his passion truly is.

Broadway shows allow audiences to be transported to different worlds. They contain themes that many audiences can connect with, such as diversity and individuality. They can also provide comedic escapism entertainment. Musical theatre is a genre that has existed for over a century, and will continue to thrive in the future because of its flexibility and ability to appeal to audiences.

Works Cited
 
"Avenue Q.” Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 13 Dec. 2015.

"Billy Elliot the Musical.” Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 13 Dec. 2015.
 
"The Book of Mormon (musical)." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 13 Dec. 2015.
 
Broadway: The American Musical. Dir. Michael Kantor. PBS, 2012. DVD.
 
"Fanny Brice." Encyclopedia Britannica Online. Encyclopedia Britannica, n.d. Web. 13 Dec. 2015.

"Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (musical)." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 13 Dec. 2015.
 
"Richard Rodgers." Encyclopedia Britannica Online. Encyclopedia Britannica, n.d. Web. 13 Dec. 2015.

"Tin Pan Alley.” Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 13 Dec. 2015.
 
"Vaudeville." Encyclopedia Britannica Online. Encyclopedia Britannica, n.d. Web. 13 Dec. 2015.
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Sunday, December 6, 2015

Contemporary Music - Recordings vs. Performances

Recordings vs. Performances

Nowadays, popular music is delivered to audiences in two main formats: recordings and performances. In this essay, the aesthetics of these elements will be examined to see what audiences and performers enjoy.

Aesthetics in Recording

A common feature of modern pop music is enhanced vocals through technology, such as Auto-Tune. The proliferation of Auto-Tune in pop music has forced artists to use the technology even if they have the talent to not do so. For example, Ke$ha claims that she, “…really can sing. It’s one of the few things I can do” (Anderson). Yet, this might not be true, as shown by this video:
 
 
Perhaps, artists use correcting software because they are insecure about their voice. Music editor Larry Crane believes that, “…lots of artists are basically insecure about their voices, and use Auto-Tune as a kind of protective shield” (Anderson). Not only could it be artists’ security blanket, but it could also be a tool to make singers more appealing to audiences. With so many artists using Auto-Tune, artists could feel “peer pressure” to use the tool themselves. For example, the acapella group Pentatonix has recently released an album full of original songs. Previously, they focused on covers of other popular songs. Their goal is to be featured on the radio, so they are trying to appeal to a broader audience. Listen to this song from their new album. Notice how they use digital effects to enhance their voices, straying from the normal aesthetics of live acapella singing:
 
 
For comparison, here is a video of Pentatonix singing live. Notice how they have a pleasing sound without using digital effects:
 
  
Groups like Pentatonix now crave the sound that digital effects create on their recordings. Yet in performance, aesthetics are vastly different from their recordings.

Aesthetics in Performance

Live performances have been the only source of entertainment for hundreds of years, until around the late 19th century.  Live performances were the only way people could listen to music and avidly enjoy it.  Over the last hundred years live performances have changed drastically.  For example here is Frank Sinatra singing “Come Fly with Me” live:


This performance is genuine, still possesses Sinatra’s style, and great vocals.  In the 1950s musicians could stand on stage and sing, there was no need for big light shows and loud noises.  However, 30 years later in the 1980s performance aesthetics already were beginning to change.  In this video Queen is signing “Bohemian Rhapsody” live:
  

In Queen’s performance the values of amazing vocals is still held in high regard, concerning the instrumentalists they all contributed by mastering their craft.The guitar playing in this performance has a flawless ease to it, that we know is truly not an easy task.  And yet, their performance still has amazing flare and is highly entertaining.  This performance was in 1986 which was almost 20 years from when the band originally was formed and they're still rocking, literally.  Now another 30 years later the music industry has changed even more, such as how people entertain, and possibly what they sacrifice to do that.  Many times while watching videos of live performances, or when one goes to a live performance there is sometimes a big lack in the vocal department.  While a loud, big entertaining show is happening all around, the vocals usually suffer because of it.  Such as when watching the Video Music Awards put on by MTV or the American Music Awards many artists will fall flat usually or be extremely breathy.  However, some artists kill it on stage and give all that they have, such as Pink, who can do crazy acrobatics and yet still sing in tune and with enough breath support to still sing well:


Pink says in an interview that she takes her craft very seriously and believes you have to give it your all as a performer:


Pink has remained highly respected in her field for so long because of this, she is an artist who has crossed the many decades.  Maybe, more upcoming artists should take a look at performance ethic and nurture this secret of entertaining.

Logan Kropp wrote about recordings. Sierra Marsh wrote about performances.

Works Cited
 
Anderson, Lessley. "Seduced by 'perfect' Pitch: How Auto-Tune Conquered Pop Music." The Verge. Vox Media, 27 Feb. 2013. Web. 04 Dec. 2015.

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