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Bernstein Lesson 2

This is the second in a series for the GCSE Set Work lessons on Something's Coming from West Side Story by Leonard Bernstein.

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MrPughTheMusicMan
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216 views15 pages

Bernstein Lesson 2

This is the second in a series for the GCSE Set Work lessons on Something's Coming from West Side Story by Leonard Bernstein.

Uploaded by

MrPughTheMusicMan
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PPT, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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SOMETHINGS COMING

By BERNSTEIN From

WEST SIDE STORY


Lesson 2

Key Vocab Revision from last lesson


SYNCOPATION TONYS VOICE STRUCTURE

TONALITY

TRITONE

OSTINATO

Somethings Coming from

West Side Story (Leonard Bernstein, 1958) Context & Background

GCSE Music: Area of Study 2

Quick Background 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, such as 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 was composed in 1957 and made into an award winning film in 1961. Stephen Sondheim wrote the lyrics for the musical (librettist/lyricist/composer Sweeny Todd) Based on the 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 as relevant today as they were when Bernstein composed the musical. Revolutionary not about happy, sweet things (like Rodgers & Hammerstein) West Side Story is 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) MELODIC INTERVALS

GCSE Music: Area of Study 2

Somethings Coming: Melody


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?

Somethings Coming: Melody


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)?

D Major (2 sharps) Tenor D 10th (E to G) Syllabic one note per syllable Diatonic melody

Is the melody line syllabic or melismatic?


Is the melody diatonic or chromatic?

Somethings Coming: Melody

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

Somethings Coming: Melody

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.

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

Somethings Coming:

What is an interval? An interval is the distance between 2 notes. TASK: Identify the intervals. You have 5 minutes.

Answers
Interval 1 = 3rd (Major) Interval 2 = Octave or 8th Interval 3 = 6th (Minor) Interval 4 = 4th (Perfect) Interval 5 =3rd (Minor) Interval 6 = 7th (Major)

Practical Learning
Youve looked at the range of intervals (gaps) between notes. TASK 1
Have a look at some of the intervals in the melody and learn the sound of them. Were going to have an intervals

test!

TASK 2
Commit to memory the melodic shape of THEME A and TUNE B these are the 2 themes for the whole piece and you need to learn them to understand the structure!

Fill in the gaps


The melody of Somethings Coming is D******* The melody line is *******c The voice of Tony would be classed as a **n** voice An important interval in this song is the **i**** - this definition of this interval is ......................

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