Musicology assignment

Characterization is often described as the introduction or creating of a character. This

essay will aim to establish that connotation that is formed by the treatment of musical
elements, specifically rhythm and pitch, to deliver secondary components of
characterization. The use of rhythm and pitch has helped establish the connotation of
fear, danger and spontaneity in ‘The Jet song’ from West Side Story and of stability and
friendliness in ‘Make ‘em Laugh’ from Singin’ in the rain.

Topic 1:
West Side Story is a musical set in 1950’s New York about two disputing gangs; The Jets,
a group of local boys; and The Sharks, a gang of Puerto Ricans. The Jet song appears
quite early in the musical and is used to introduce the Jets as one side delivering the
annotations of spontaneity and danger. The composer of West Side Story, Leonard
Bernstein, has done this through the use of rhythm and pitch. For example, throughout
the piece, the orchestra will come in with offbeat rhythms as well as playing in the

extremes of their register.

This is seen here where, in 6/8, the French horns and trombones come in on the pickup
and the bassoon and second trombone are on the first quaver beat. This is again
repeated at the end of the first and second full bars. In the third bar however the
bassoon and second trombone are on the first quaver beat while the first trombone and
French horns are on the third which is then followed by the second trombone and
bassoon on the fourth. This gives the music a sort of offbeat feel creating an energetic
and spontaneous annotation.
Pitch is also used effectively in this snip of the score as it can be seen that the first
trombone plays towards the top of his register while the second is playing in the bottom
of it’s register creating an uneasy and spontaneous feeling, resulting in the connotation
of danger. Another example of this in this snip is in the French horn part as the two are
playing a semi-tone apart again creating an uneasy feeling.
Another example of this offbeat rhythm is in the vocal line which creates a hemiola. This
is done by the vocal line singing crotchets over a 6/8 time signature. This creates an
uneasy feeling again drawing attention and connotation towards the energetic and
spontaneous ideal. This can be seen below.

Another example of this use of pitch is in the alto sax line where it plays an almost
atonal line. This is shown below. This again creates that uneasy feeling through the use
of atonality and pitch.

Topic 2:
Singin’ in the Rain is a musical set in the 1920’s in Hollywood that follows the story of
two silent film actors Don Lockwood and Cosmo Brown as they deal with the turmoil
that the film community dealt with when going from silent to sound. Cosmo, played by
Donald O’Connor, sings ‘Make ‘em Laugh’ the morning after a party where Don’s love
interest ran away, leaving him sad. Composers Nacio Brown and Arthur Freed have
successfully manipulated the elements of Rhythm and pitch to connotate a feeling of
warmth, safety, stability and friendliness through the use of happy chords in the strings,
bass chord accompaniment and time signature.

As seen above, the strings play minim passages on the chord tones to accompany the
vocal line creating a warmth to the music. Also seen here is the mix of bass chord
accompaniment from the piano. This style is known as ‘stride’ and was formed from rag
time of the late 1800s (Levin, 1989). This too creates a feeling of warmth and safety as
the style of stride, particularly in this piece, is very playful.
Rhythm is used to create the connotation of warmth and safety throughout ‘Make em
Laugh.’ It is seen in the horn lines below where the brass and woodwinds play a crotchet
passage to move in to the next chord. This can be compared to the atonal chords of
“The Jet song.”

Seen above, the horns play a line in bars 7 and 8 of the form to lead in to the next 8. It
can be observed that the majority of the chords are major 6s. Not only this, but the
crotchets are all on the beat creating the connotation of safety and warmth. This can be
compared to the obscure chords heard in ‘The Jet song,’ as this is quite tonal and
pleasant in comparison.
To conclude, it can be seen above that both “The Jet song” and “Make em laugh” use
pitch and rhythm in very different ways to annotate different feelings. “The Jet song”
uses spiritic orchestral rhythms coupled with atonal melody lines and a hemiola to
connotate the feelings of danger, fear and spontaneity while “Make em Laugh” utilizes a
bass-chord pattern as well as major chords in the form of string lines and a 4/4 time
signature to convey feelings of safety, warmth and joy.

Bibliography
Levine, M. (1989). The Jazz piano Book. New York: N.A.

N.A. (2017, 9 1). Singin in the rain. Retrieved from Wikipedia:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Singin%27_in_the_Rain

N.A. (2017, 9 1). West Side Story. Retrieved from Wikipedia:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Side_Story