Musicology and Research

MMus Research Essay – Music as Sound: Applying ideas of schizophonia and soundscaping to music for the narrative Read More Honours research thesis – Music for Plays: Towards a theatrical musicology Read more , Excerpted into a journal-style article Music in Theatre Theatre Scores

Who does what?

So, what does everybody do? When you read a programme you can see all sorts of music related jobs, many of which sound like the same thing. I’ve provided a brief outline of the most common roles below. Of course, many of these will be done by the same person in a smaller production, and… Continue reading Who does what?

History: The Orchestra Pit

Wagner's Orchestra pit. Based on the illustration in OxfordMusicOnline

The orchestra ‘pit’ is clearly the major feature of the theatre musician’s career: the musician will spend the entire show in this place, usually in the dark. De rigueur in early theatre, and still found in many opera houses, the orchestra ‘pit’ was simply an area at the front of the stalls at floor level… Continue reading History: The Orchestra Pit

Making Ghosts

Ghosts are one of the most enjoyable things to create in the world of technical theatre, as they allow you to merge a live performance with technological enhancements to create something impressive and other-worldly. Ghost Onstage These are a lot of fun, as you get to turn an actor essentially a classy cyborg. For me… Continue reading Making Ghosts

Feature Pieces

Feature pieces are pieces which stand apart from the fabric of the performance in some way, often contributing traditional musical structures and thematic writing to provide some variation to the musical score. When suites or albums are made of theatrical scores (Peer Gynt, A Midsummer Night’s Dream) they are usually drawn from the feature pieces,… Continue reading Feature Pieces

Live and Kicking

Live musicians vs recording The theatre provides an arena for the latest developments in musical and theatrical technology to be used in a practical context. This technological integration has both advantages and disadvantages for the development of live performance. Moving away from the traditional roles of amplification and reinforcement, advances in electronic and digital technology have allowed designers… Continue reading Live and Kicking

Around the Web: Theatre Today

This ones a bit old, but it’s nevertheless interesting. Andrew Haydon believes “lip-synching and the use of the recorded voice has become the new kitchen sink”. I agree, sort of. Like Andrew, I’ve spent the past fortnight watching shows that illustrate theatre’s current infatuation with headphones, microphones and recording devices. Until 15 or 20 years… Continue reading Around the Web: Theatre Today

Korean Musical Theatre

This blog is mostly about western music and western theatre, but I think it provides an interesting viewpoint to look at the theatrical and musical traditions of another culture. This weeks history focus revolves around an article by ethnomusicologist Andrew Killick. He examines the various genres of traditional Korean Theatre with music, and provides an… Continue reading Korean Musical Theatre

On Audiences

The main difference between theatre music and music for film or games or festivals isn’t the technology or the venue, it’s the fact that theatre is performed for a live and responsive audience. It may not seem like this would affect sound and music, but coping with audience reaction is a vital part of balancing and cuing music and sound. For… Continue reading On Audiences

Norman O’Neill – Music to Stage Plays

This is a wonderful old article (it was published in the proceedings of the Royal Musical Association in 1910) which lays out the land for the traditional method of presenting music to a stage play. Norman O’Neill was a composer who wrote prolifically for the theatre, and these musings are the product of an expert… Continue reading Norman O’Neill – Music to Stage Plays