Song Character Analysis Worksheet - The University of North ...

progressions, tessitura, the accompaniment’s relationship to the vocal line, and the
structure of the climactic phrase. 39
Comprehensive preparation of these four steps by the singer before the first
rehearsal is a standard expectation of the production team in professional theatre. It also
provides a non-professional singer a strong foundation for an original performance that
will delight (and probably astound) her director and music director. It should be
cautioned that this is only a method. The ultimate goal is to make a physical and emotion
connection of the words and the music that best “communicates the story of another
human being.” 40 As an example, this analytical method will be outlined as a means to
communication for two songs from Show Boat.
Analysis of Select Songs in Show Boat
The songs of Jerome Kern retain landmark status as popular songs for they remain
in the standard repertoires of jazz and cabaret performers, as well as in the memories of
pre-rock-and-roll generations. Their appeal remains because of Kern’s careful crafting of
text and music; his ability to capture a universal emotional essence in song. Kern was the
first native-born American composer who studied in the European tradition but then de-
parted from it to create a new American type of art song. Alec Wilder described Kern’s
music in the 1920s as portraying a “native quality . . . a new kind of song, perhaps unlike
39 Clark recommends that the singer ask the composer “why?” throughout the score to find
emotional clues and personality shadings within the music. Singing, Acting, Moving in Opera, 25.
40 Jake Heggie, composer, quoted in Clark, 96. Heggie’s expectations of performers are that
“every good singer does what the composer does--starts with the text, understands it, and then works on
inhabiting it convincingly.” He believes that a “sense of motivation and purpose” is lacking in most
dramatic and concert performances. Clark, 97.
95