The Forgotten Scene Partner: Creating Powerful Performances Through the Marriage of Text and Music | Harvard University

When interpreting and preparing a song for performance, we often disregard the importance of the accompaniment. Generally the music tells us all we need to know about the deeper meaning of the text, using range, rhythm, mood, or change of key to tell the story and create a character. In this performance-based course, we focus on the relationship between music and text in the musical theater repertoire. We study songwriting that uses the accompaniment and orchestration to highlight the lyrics, and explore how various composers use those accompaniments to mirror, support, or sometimes even play devil's advocate to the text. We listen to examples, and each student learns the song, working on vocal and theatrical aspects and digging deeply into the lyrics and their connection to the music. Finally, we bring together all of these elements to create a believable and compelling performance for the final presentation.