In Elia Kazan’s On the Waterfront, the musical score had a huge impact on the success of the film. The composer of the film, Leonard Bernstein, was known more in the world, rather than in the film industry, yet he offered his own unique twist that introduced new techniques in into the scene of musical scores. Bernstein sought to incorporate various techniques into the musical score that would define his signature style, American nationalism, while supporting the major themes of the film as well.
The musical score incorporated an American Nationalism style into the film. Bernstein wanted to bring into reference the current situation of that time, which “incorporates aspects of Copland’s style, including disjunct melodies and an emphasis on small, colorful musical ensembles” (Hickman 214). Yet, what made Bernstein’s musical
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The music is introduced as the music shifts from the start of the gentle sounds to the pounding of the drums, which then after the drums come to a mute, the saxophone solo comes in, which is describe when “A saxophone blares out a theme associated with Joey and violence”, (215). The tune of the saxophone represents the foreshadowing of death in the film, as when Joey was killed, which clearly portrayed the violence aspect of the characters, which included Johnny Friendly, a local union mob boss, and even a close family friend of the Malloy’s. The violence theme also emphasizes the highlight of the musical score which occurred during the climax of the film, when Terry gets beaten up by Friendly’s mob members, as it “[combined] the dissonances of modern music and the syncopated rhythms of popular music” (215). The reference to theme is mentioned when “Terry says ‘Put me on my feet’, the Waterfront theme is stated heroically a solo horn”, as this represents Bernstein style of American Nationalism, while using various tunes that highlights the use of dissonance
Old Navy is an American clothing and accessories company owned by the corporation Gap Inc. As holiday season approaches, retail stores such as Old Navy hire thousands of seasonal workers to keep speed with the millions of shoppers who are expected to hit the stores during the holiday season. Nearly two days after applying, I got called for an interview then hired for the seasonal position, this not only made me realize that this opening will lead me to gain some experience in retail, but also made me realize that in a way I will be joining a new community and will be part of a team that strives to create an environment that is functional enough
believe the film is saying, and what effect music has had on projecting the films overall message.
Nearly a century’s worth of compositions has earned Aaron Copland extensive recognition as the foremost American composer of his time. Ironically, Copland was raised the son of Russian Jewish immigrants and inhabitant of a colorless city environment, yet would become known for producing the music of “rugged-souled Americans” (Mellers 4). Unbounded by historical musical constraints such as those present in the culture of France, where Copland studied for many years, Copland found himself free to explore and experiment in pursuit of a unique, undoubtedly American sound.
People have dreams of what they want to do or accomplish in life, but usually musical theatre is just pushed into the non-realistic void. It isn’t a dream for me. In the past four years, musical theatre has been clarified as my reality. Musical theatre has been the only thing I have seen myself wanting to do. My first love was The Phantom of the Opera, seeing how I watched it almost every day and it was one of the first shows I saw. Of course, I started doing all of those cute shows in middle school and making a huge deal about it to my family and friends, but I have never felt so passionate about something. The minute I get up on that stage I throw away Riley for two and a half hours and it’s the most amazing feeling! Being able to tell a story
Musical theatre is a type of theatrical performance combining music, dance, acting and spoken dialogue. Written by Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim, ‘West Side Story’ is a classic American musical based on William Shakespeare’s ‘Romeo and Juliet’. The through-composed score and lyrics are used to portray different characters and their cultures, the rivalry between the Jets and Sharks, and the emotions felt as the story progresses. This essay will be exploring the music and how effective the score is in realising the world and characters of the musical. Furthermore, it will discuss how Bernstein and Sondheim relate characters’ diverse ethnicities to particular musical ideas and motifs.
According to Albert Murray, the African-American musical tradition is “fundamentally stoical yet affirmative in spirit” (Star 3). Through the medium of the blues, African-Americans expressed a resilience of spirit which refused to be crippled by either poverty or racism. It is through music that the energies and dexterities of black American life are sounded and expressed (39). For the black culture in this country, the music of Basie or Ellington expressed a “wideawake, forward-tending” rhythm that one can not only dance to but live by (Star 39).
The musicals that were produced around that time period were meant to be strictly for entertainment, for the most part. It was a very brave move for the creative team of this musical to tackle themes like racism, violence, and death. The risk definitely paid off, because even today West Side Story still remains a very popular musical. The main message that this show is trying to convey to the audience is that it shouldn’t take a horrible tragedy to finally unite people. Just because someone may not look the same way you do, or act the same way, or share your same belief system, that doesn’t mean you have to be fearful of them. Instead we should try our hardest to embrace the fact that this world would be a very boring place without a little diversity, and it’s ok to celebrate the things that make us
Throughout history, music have defined or depicted the culture and social events in America. Music has constantly played an important role in constituting American culture, where people have expressed themselves through music during flourishing and turbulent times. In the 1930’s, Swing music created a platform for audiences to vent their emotions in the midst of Great Depression and political unrest. Such strong relationship between music and culture can be seen throughout history, especially in the sixties.
Hammerstein established the “book music”, and Lerner being one of the first to observe this and put his own spin on creating work. They both have earned a place in history and now there works like open inspire the next generation of
The period between early 1940s to mid-1960s or so, alternatively, the period between when the musical Oklahoma! (1943) was produced till the time when Hair (1968) was produced, is usually referred to as the Golden Age of the American musical (Kantor, 2010). It is during this period, that most of the noted titles such as “Carousel”, “South Pacific” etc. were produced. 1940s and early 1950s were dominated thoroughly by MGM musicals, while the late 1950s and 1960s belonged to Broadway. Initially, the musicals of this era had simple plots, unchallenging themes, with romantic or comedic characters and lots of singing and dancing. But towards the end of it, the plots were sophisticated, serious with singing, dancing as well as dialogue. In this paper, I choose to elaborate more on the musical – Arthur Laurents’s West Side Story. In the first part of this paper, I discuss the plot, songs and other aspects of the musical such as the awards etc. Later on, I explain how this musical revolutionized the theatre and the cultural effects it had on Americans. Finally, I conclude in the end the historical importance of this musical piece.
The film starts out with orchestral music, and shows James Dean's character, Jim, drunk on the ground of a sidewalk. The sound of a police siren is heard and used as a transition into the next scene that takes place, understandably, in a police station. While in the police station, Jim is yelling along with the sound of the siren, and humming loudly to give the impression that he is drunk. At one point in the scene he is brought into another room with an officer, and begins to punch a desk. The sound effects are loud, and the he pauses, and music begins again when he begins to hurt. Again, a siren is played at the transition to the next scene. However, for the most part, score music is played during all transitions.
As it mentioned above, the title itself, draws attention to the world-renowned music created by African Americans in the 1920s’ as well as to the book’s jazz-like narrative structure and themes. Jazz is the best-known artistic creation of Harlem Renaissance. “Jazz is the only pure American creation, which shortly after its birth, became America’s most important cultural export”(Ostendorf, 165). It evolved from the blues
Theatre has heavily evolved over the past 100 years, particularly Musical Theatre- a subgenre of theatre in which the storyline is conveyed relying on songs and lyrics rather than dialogue. From its origination in Athens, musical theatre has spread across the world and is a popular form of entertainment today. This essay will discuss the evolution and change of musical theatre from 1980-2016, primarily focusing on Broadway (New York) and the West End (London). It will consider in depth, the time periods of: The 1980s: “Brit Hits”- the influence of European mega musicals, the 1990s: “The downfall of musicals”- what failed and what redeemed, and the 2000s/2010s: “The Resurgence of musicals”- including the rise of pop and movie musicals. Concluding
Sound is an extremely important element to a film. Music, the sound chosen in this scene, is categorized as non-diegetic, which means that the music is not in the story world. The directors use deep, dramatic, intense music when Nick is interrogating Judy about her speech. The music in the scene helps the audience feel the anxiousness that Judy is feeling towards predators, particularly Nick. As the music plays in the background, the intensity of the scene grows immensely. The directors use the music to help heighten the emotion during this encounter and reveal Judy’s inner fear of predators that gets the best of her in this
Neher, Erick. "Movie Music At The Philharmonic." Hudson Review 64.4 (2012): 668-674. Academic Search Complete. Web. 3 Dec. 2013.