Download pdf - Something's Coming

SOMETHINGS COMING FROM WEST SIDE STORY (LEONARD BERNSTEIN, 1958) LESSON 1: CONTEXT & BACKGROUND

GCSE Music: Area of Study 3

Learning Objectives

To be able to explain the context of musicals

To be able to demonstrate your understanding of the context of West Side Story

Keywords

Syllabic Melody Word Painting Sustained Notes Blue Note Tenor Voice Jazz Harmony Tritone Musicals Riff Syncopation Push Rhythm Legato C Major (Tonality) D Major (Tonality) 3 / 4 2 / 4

Modulation Lyrical Cross-Rhythms Tremolo Harmonics Motif Diatonic Tonal Solo Character Song Musical Homophonic Solo & Accompaniment Orchestration

Quick Recap Context (Bernstein)

Bernstein was born in America in 1918

He was a highly skilled musician, pianist, conductor, broadcaster and composer.

Bernsteins first musical was On The Town.

Bernstein had a wide range of musical tastes, but particularly Jazz (which is evident in West Side Story, as well as Latin American rhythms, as his wife was from South America)

Context (Musicals)

Musicals came from lighter versions of opera = Opera Comique or Operetta (Gilbert & Sullivan)

Broadway New York Musical Theatre hub from 1920s onwards

Musicals singing, dancing and acting

The style of the musical is normally reflective of the genre of the time (i.e. West Side Story is based on Jazz harmony, Jazz being a prominent genre of the 1930s-1950s, when Bernstein was around).

Orchestras provide accompaniment and incidental music/underscoring (background music like the opening scene (prologue) in West Side Story)

Some musicals are made into films some films are made into musicals.

Some pop songs are collated to make musicals (Moulin Rouge, Mamma Mia, We Will Rock You)

Context (West Side Story)

West Side Story composed in 1958 = made into an award winning film in 1961. Stephen Sondheim wrote the lyrics for the musical (Sweeny Todd) Based on tragic love story of Shakespeares Romeo & Juliet Maria (Juliet) and Tony (Romeo) Jets (Capulets) and Sharks (Montagues) Famous balcony scene is mirrored on the stairs of a New York apartment fire escape The themes (racism, immigration, love, tragedy, rivalry) are still relevant today

Revolutionary not about happy, sweet things (like Rodgers & Hammerstein) a story of doomed

love, extended dance scenes, underscoring, use of tritone Somethings Coming is sung by Tony solo character song sung quite early on in the musical Excited about the future and sings it before he meets Maria dramatic irony

SOMETHINGS COMING FROM WEST SIDE STORY (LEONARD BERNSTEIN, 1958) LESSON 2: MELODIC INTERVALS


Learning Objectives

To be able to recall musical keywords and features associated with Somethings Coming

To be able to demonstrate your understanding of melodic intervals

Starter Activity

Write down 5 keywords/facts you can remember about Somethings Coming

Pair up with someone else and think of as many more keywords/facts that you can remember

Share ideas with the rest of the class

Somethings Coming: Melody

Listen to the song and look at your scores: What type of voice (soprano, alto, tenor bass) is Tony?

What is the first note that Tony sings?

What is the vocal range of the melody line?

Is the melody line syllabic or melismatic?

Is the melody diatonic or chromatic?


Listen to the song and look at your scores:

What is the key of the piece?

What type of voice (soprano, alto, tenor bass) is Tony?

What is the first note that Tony sings?

What is the vocal range (lowest note to highest note of the melody line?

Is the melody line syllabic or melismatic?

Is the melody diatonic or chromatic?

Tenor

D

10th (E to G)

Syllabic one note per syllable

Diatonic melody

D Major (2 sharps)


Strong opening melody (questions) falling from tonic to dominant (D to A)

Bar 8-9: first melodic tritone heard in the melody line (D to G# - the tritone has so far been heard harmonically in the accompanying riff pattern)

Bar 17: Melodic tritone soon as it shows

F-B is a tritone. This is because F-G is one whole tone, G to A is one whole tone and A-B is one whole tone = an interval of 3 whole tones, which is a TRITONE

What is a Tritone?


A tritone is an interval spanning three whole tones, also known as diabolus in musica: the devil in music. It is also known as a diminished fifth or an augmented 4th.

Somethings Coming:

What is an interval? An interval is the distance between 2 notes.

TASK: Identify the intervals. You have 5 minutes.


What is the difference between a melodic tritone and a harmonic tritone?

What is this interval?

Minor 3rd


Major 3rd


Perfect 5th


Major 6th


Major 2nd


Minor 6th


Major 7th


Perfect 4th


Octave


Diminished 5th

SOMETHINGS COMING FROM WEST SIDE STORY (LEONARD BERNSTEIN, 1958) LESSON 3: MELODY


Starter Activity

Pass The Parcel

What do you remember about the context, melody and intervals from Somethings Coming?

BLUE QUESTIONS: EASY (ONE WORD ANSWERS)

GREEN QUESTIONS: SLIGHTY MORE DIFFICULT

RED QUESTIONS: CHALLENGING (DEFINITIONS AND HIGHER ORDER ANSWERS)

Learning Objectives

To be able to identify melodic features of Somethings Coming

To be able to analyse the structure of Somethings Coming


Bar 17-18: shows sung on a blue note, C natural (flattened 7th in D Major)

Melody until bar 20 is based on opening riff (melody & rhythm)

Word painting bars 21-24 It may come cannonballing down

through the sky) and bars 128-136 (long notes and leap on the air is humming reinforced by tremolo and harmonic strings in accompaniment)

Bar 31-39: Me sung on sustained E highest and longest note of the piece so far


Bars 44 & 48: Melodic Tritones (now F# to C music has modulated to C Major)

Bar 48: B flat blue note (flattened 7th in C Major)

Bars 72-105: Lyrical melody with sustained notes - contrast to

the syncopated, syllabic and driving rhythms heard in the piece up until the point

Bar 83: Down highest note of the piece (top G) ironic


Bar 89: C natural blue note (flattened 7th in D major)

Bar 144: Melody returns to the opening melody - returning back to the beginning of the piece

Bar 144-145: Tritone (D to G#)

Bar 153: Tritone last melodic tritone

Bar 153-end: Tonys last note is a C natural Blue note the vocal melody ends in the air, unfinished, like Tonys future

SOMETHINGS COMING FROM WEST SIDE STORY (LEONARD BERNSTEIN, 1958) LESSON 4: STRUCTURE


SPEED DATING

Think of 3 FEATURES of Somethings Coming Go on a speed dating journey around the room to

build up your ideas.

Learning Objectives

To be able to recall the melodic features of Somethings Coming

To be able to demonstrate understanding of the various musical parts of Somethings Coming

To be able to deconstruct the musical features of Somethings Coming

Group Vocal Performance

To perform Somethings Coming as a class To perform a part of Somethings Coming as a small

group To independently perform a part of Somethings

Coming Experiment with timbre, dynamics and different

parts To interchange between the different parts during

your performance

Learning Objectives

To be able to recall the melodic features of Somethings Coming

To be able to identify and locate melodic themes used in Somethings Coming

Analysis Activity: Structure

How many main sections do you think there are in the piece?

When do the sections start and end?

Listen to the song and look at your scores write down the bar numbers where you think there is a new section.

Do any of the sections sound the same?

Structure

Broadly, the structure of the piece is:

Introduction: Bars 1-3 (bar 3 is repeated ad lib)

Section A: Bars 4-39

Section B: Bars 40-105

Section B1: Bars 106-140 (shortened version of B)

Section A1: Bars 141-157 (shortened version of A)

Outro: Bar 158 (slow fade out)

Melodic Themes

There are three melodic themes in Somethings Coming.

What is a melodic theme?

In pairs, looking at your scores and listening to the track can you work out what the three melodic themes are?

Somethings Coming: Melodic Themes

Theme A opening melody based on the riff Theme B it may come cannonballing... etc bar 21 Theme C Around the corner... bar 73

ANALYSIS ACTIVITY:

Listen to the song and list the order of the sections next to the bar numbers on your worksheet.

Transfer the information to your scores using a pencil- highlight THEME A, THEME B, OR THEME C depending on which theme you think it is.

Listening Activity

Listen to the following extracts. Hold up one card for the section you can hear

playing and another card for the melodic theme being sung.

Final Activity: Pass The Parcel

SOMETHINGS COMING FROM WEST SIDE STORY (LEONARD BERNSTEIN, 1958) LESSON 5: STYLE & INSTRUMENTATION


Listening Activity

Listen to the piece and identify as many instruments as you can.

Where do these instruments come from?

What other styles of music may include these

instruments?

Pair up with someone else and share your ideas have you got the same instruments?

Style & Instrumentation: Analysis

Tony: Tenor Voice Maria: Soprano Voice WESTERN INSTRUMENTS: Strings, Brass, Wind

(traditional), saxophone, piano, electric guitar, mandolin, celeste, percussion including timpani, glockenspiel, police whistle and drum kit

LATIN AMERICAN INSTRUMENTS: castanets, guiro,

maracas

Style & Instrumentation

Instrumentalists double up instruments (play more than one instrument throughout the musical)

Instruments are not marked in the score, but note the

following: First 15 bars: clarinets, bass clarinet, pizzicato strings, bass

drum (wire brushes on snare and hi hat) End of Bar 17 to Bar 28: Muted trumpets From Bar 32: Minims in accompaniment played by clarinets,

and brass added for louder section at bar 52

Style & Instrumentation

Bridge *Theme C*: Sustained accompaniment played by high strings and flutes join in whistling in bar 82

Second bridge *Theme C* : high violins tremolo and sustained

harmonics on the air is humming Soft dynamics in accompaniment. There were no radio mics in

the 1950s for the stage performers so the accompaniment had to be soft in order for the vocalists to be heard over the music.

For the same reason as above (not to over balance the singer):

Wire brushes on drums Mutes on trumpets

Plenary: Quiz

SOMETHINGS COMING FROM WEST SIDE STORY (LEONARD BERNSTEIN, 1958) LESSON 6: HARMONY & TONALITY


TRITONE 3

INTERVAL AUGMENTED 4TH/5TH

SYLLABIC

BEATS NOTES

SYLLABLES ONE

BLUE NOTE

SCALE JAZZ FLAT

OSTINATO

RIFF REPEAT

PATTERN

SYNCOPATION

OFF BEAT ON BEAT RHYTHM

LEGATO

SMOOTH STACCATO FLOWING

D MAJOR

SHARPS TWO FLATS

KEY SIGNATURE

3/4

CROTCHETS BEATS BARS

TIME SIGNATURE

WORD PAINTING

LYRICS PICTURE

MEANING

C MAJOR

NO SHARPS FLATS

KEY SIGNATURE

TREMOLO

STRING BOW

SHAKE SAME NOTE

2/4

CROTCHETS BEATS BARS

TIME SIGNATURE

FLATTENED 7TH

BLUE NOTE SHARP JAZZY

Tonality & Harmony

The piece starts in D Major, but it does modulate to C Major and back to D Major

Harmonic tritones in the accompaniment Jazz Harmony (i.e. bar 1, beat 3 B minor with 11th B, D,

F#, A C#, E bar 2 beat 4, D major with added 9th D, F#, A, C#, E)

First chord in accompaniment = harmonic tritone (G#

enharmonically A flat, flattened 5th in D major, Blue note)

Tonality & Harmony

Ostinato Bass (2 riffs working at the same time in accompaniment)

Bars 21-26: Orchestra chords punctuate the recitative

like, punchy phrase Bar 32: Piece modulates to C Major Bars 32-39: C & G in bass (with E, F# and G minims

F#s suggesting D major, tritones and blue note (enharmonic G flat) in C major)

Tonality & Harmony

Bars 52-72: C Major (52-58), G Major (59-62) (repeated a tone higher at bars 63-73)

Bars 52-58: F major 6 chord Bars 59-62: Minim riff in G Major this time (takes the

music back for a repeat with a click) Bar 63 (second time bar) music one tone higher in G

Major

Bar 70: Music modulates back to D Major

Tonality & Harmony

Bar 70 onwards: Quaver beats in bassline outline chords of D Major, A major and G major but middle parts of harmony are chromatic (including parallel 4ths) (bars 77-81 etc)

Bar 95: Neopolitan chord (flattened supertonic (E flat in D) in

first inversion) dramatic chord, temporarily out of key Bars 97-98: Shift to C Major with a perfect cadence (G-C) Bar 98: C major alternating quaver bass against four note

minim riff in G major (F sharps) bitonality (also at bar 106)

SOMETHINGS COMING FROM WEST SIDE STORY (LEONARD BERNSTEIN, 1958) LESSON 7: RHYTHM, TEMPO & METRE


Rhythm, Metre & Tempo

The piece starts and ends in 3 / 4 but fleets back and forth into 2 / 4 :

bar 1: 3 / 4 bar 21: 2 / 4 bar 58: 3 / 4 bar 59: 2 / 4 bar 69: 3 / 4 bar 70: 2 / 4 bar 124: 3 / 4 bar 125: 2 / 4 bar 141: 3 / 4)


Driving rhythms sense of urgency and excitement Syncopated push rhythms accompaniment and riff push

on third beat of the bar (Tonys first note comes in with a syncopated push on the 3rd beat)

Bars 23-25: syncopated push on sky and eye and due

and true Bars 52-72: mixture of straight rhythms (somethings coming)

and syncopated rhythms (I dont know what it is)


On beat crotchets confirm that something is going to happen at the dance push rhythms indicate uncertainty

Bars 72-105: fluidity of the melody line is achieved

through use of triplets free of 2 beat harmony of accompaniment. Bass plays on beat quavers throughout this section.

Bar 141: Back to - sense of going back to beginning,

also recalling the music from the opening bars 4-20
Somethings Coming from West Side Story (Leonard Bernstein, 1958)LESSON 1: context & backgroundLearning ObjectivesKeywords Quick Recap Context (Bernstein)Context (Musicals)Context (West Side Story)Somethings Coming from West Side Story (Leonard Bernstein, 1958)LESSON 2: MELODIC INTERVALSLearning ObjectivesStarter ActivitySomethings Coming: MelodySomethings Coming: MelodySomethings Coming: MelodySlide Number 13Slide Number 14Somethings Coming: MelodyWhat is this interval?What is this interval?What is this interval?What is this interval?What is this interval?What is this interval?What is this interval?What is this interval?What is this interval?What is this interval?Somethings Coming from West Side Story (Leonard Bernstein, 1958)LESSON 3: MELODYStarter ActivityLearning ObjectivesSomethings Coming: MelodySomethings Coming: MelodySomethings Coming: MelodySomethings Coming from West Side Story (Leonard Bernstein, 1958)LESSON 4: STRUCTURESPEED DATINGLearning ObjectivesGroup Vocal PerformanceLearning ObjectivesAnalysis Activity: StructureStructureMelodic ThemesSomethings Coming: Melodic ThemesListening ActivityFinal Activity: Pass The ParcelSomethings Coming from West Side Story (Leonard Bernstein, 1958)LESSON 5: Style & INSTRUMENTATIONListening ActivityStyle & Instrumentation: AnalysisStyle & InstrumentationStyle & Instrumentation Plenary: QuizSomethings Coming from West Side Story (Leonard Bernstein, 1958)LESSON 6: HARMONY & TONALITYSlide Number 50Slide Number 51Slide Number 52Slide Number 53Slide Number 54Slide Number 55Slide Number 56Slide Number 57Slide Number 58Slide Number 59Slide Number 60Slide Number 61Slide Number 62Tonality & HarmonyTonality & HarmonyTonality & HarmonyTonality & HarmonySomethings Coming from West Side Story (Leonard Bernstein, 1958)LESSON 7: RHYTHM, TEMPO & METRERhythm, Metre & TempoRhythm, Metre & TempoRhythm, Metre & Tempo