MUSIC AND LYRICS: HARMONIZING TWO FUNDAMENTAL PARADIGMS OF ACTION IN THE THEATRE A Thesis Presented to The Graduate Faculty of The University of Akron In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Arts Dustin Oliver December, 2015 MUSIC AND LYRICS: HARMONIZING TWO FUNDAMENTAL PARADIGMS OF ACTION IN THE THEATRE Dustin Oliver Thesis Approved: Accepted: _________________________________ _________________________________ Advisor Interim School Director Mr. James R. Slowiak Dr. J. Thomas Dukes _________________________________ _________________________________ Committee Member Interim Dean of the College Mr. Durand L. Pope Dr. John Green _________________________________ _________________________________ Committee Member Dean of the Graduate School Mr. Michael J. Geither Dr. Chand Midha _________________________________ Date ii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION ...........................................................................................................1 Music and Action ....................................................................................................1 Theories of Action ..................................................................................................4 Constantin Stanislavski (1863-1938) ..........................................................5 David Mamet (1947-Present) ......................................................................7 Dissonance ............................................................................................................10 Harmony ...............................................................................................................11 II. STANISLAVSKI’S MUSIC ........................................................................................13 Inspiration .............................................................................................................13 The Melody ...........................................................................................................24 Stanislavski’s Legacy ............................................................................................28 III. MAMET’S LYRICS ...................................................................................................30 Inspiration .............................................................................................................30 The Lyrics .............................................................................................................38 Mamet’s Legacy ....................................................................................................42 IV. THE BRIDGE .............................................................................................................46 Sonata Form ..........................................................................................................46 Exposition .................................................................................................47 Development .............................................................................................48 Recapitulation ...........................................................................................56 iii V. THE CODA .................................................................................................................59 Analyzing the Song ...............................................................................................59 Conclusion .............................................................................................................60 Recommendations for Further Research ...............................................................61 BIBLIOGRAPHY .............................................................................................................62 iv CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION Music and Action Theatre and music share a common bond – drama. Both move the audience through an array of emotional experiences that have a fascinating way of reaching the human psyche that is, as the saying goes, “greater than the sum of its parts.” The expressions created through manipulations of mere sound waves or simple human movement penetrate deep into the listener’s inner being more than mere words alone ever could hope to achieve. Acclaimed film director Frank Capra spoke about this effect on the audience, “I made mistakes in drama. I thought drama was when actors cried. But drama is when the audience cries.” This certainly applies to music as well. In popular culture, music has become more and more ubiquitous. Indeed, it would be quite difficult for the average person to avoid hearing some form of music throughout the day. It is accessible through radio, television, the internet, cell phones, shopping malls, doctor’s offices and the list goes on and on. With all this sonic bombardment, recording artists are finding it more and more difficult for their voices to be heard above the rest. There are “formulas” for a hit song, but one element that is usually left off the list is instrumental music. It is heard everywhere, but most perceive it as merely background noise or “elevator music.” In fact, Billboard Music Chart has not recorded a number one instrumental song since Miami Vice Theme in 1985 and nothing in that genre 1 has reached the top twenty since 1999. It is clear that songwriters today need both music and lyrics in order to be heard. Could one say that the same is true in the theatre? A theatre artist must be able to incorporate the “music” of physical action and the “lyrics” of language in order to reach an audience. However, upon viewing the current cultural landscape, this synthesis of action and language proves to be quite challenging. Contemporary society has been enormously influenced by the rise of television, the internet and modern technology such as cell phones and other wirelessly connected devices. This technological revolution has led to a less sophisticated society that has difficulty understanding performance art. Marva Dawn, in her book Reaching Out without Dumbing Down, shares research from Jane Healy’s Endangered Minds. …Healy wondered why teachers kept asking if they were less capable or if kids were actually dumber than they had been in the past. Their question led to her massive research, which uncovered several shocking facts... Considering multiple factors in home and society, she cites overwhelming evidence to convince us that, indeed, many children in contemporary society actually are less intelligent and less capable of learning than their forebears. (Dawn 5-6) Healy’s research included an examination of a standard reading test for fourth grade students in 1964 compared to one in 1982. It also includes a ninth grade “advanced” reading test from 1988. The reader is shocked to discover that the “advanced” ninth grade reading exam is far easier to complete than the fourth grade reading exam from 1964. This led Dawn to conclude that “We don’t notice that…they [children] are less able to think and cannot verbalize as well as their predecessors, because the educational system has simply ‘dumbed down’ the tests.” (Dawn 7) 2 Neil Postman’s research in Amusing Ourselves to Death echoes Healy’s findings on the disintegration of comprehension due to modern conveniences. In it, he shares Aldous Huxley’s vision in Brave New World and how it is currently being fulfilled. “…no Big Brother is required to deprive people of their autonomy, maturity and history. As he saw it, people will come to love their oppression, to adore the technologies that undo their capacities to think.” (Postman vii) This discussion is certainly prescient. People the world over are glued to their phones at all hours of the day. The rise of social media has given everyone ample opportunity to respond with an opinion, but facts and disciplined research are seen as boring or elitist. The user is encouraged to emote, not think. Postman goes on to describe the: …decline of the Age of Typography and the ascendency of the Age of Television. This change-over has dramatically and irreversibly shifted the content and meaning of public discourse, since two media so vastly different cannot accommodate the same ideas. As the influences of print wanes, the content of politics, religion, education, and anything else that comprises public business must change and be recast in terms that are most suitable to television. (Postman 8) The “dumbing down” of today’s tech savvy society has made it more difficult for theatre artists to make a genuine impact. Indeed, the goal of many artists is to enlighten and in some cases, inspire the audience to make a change. However, getting a message across is becoming problematic – it “goes in one ear and out the other.” Dawn goes on to say, “television has habituated its watchers…to ‘learning’ good ideas…and then doing nothing about them.” (Dawn 21) Postman continues this thought: “most of our daily news is inert, consisting of information that gives us something to talk about but cannot lead to any meaningful action.” (Postman 68) 3 In many cases, it may simply be “information overload” that prevents audience members from fully grasping what they see on stage. It is challenging to form cohesive thoughts in all the clutter. Marva Dawn’s research extends to how television and technology have decreased our learning abilities. We were left with a world loaded with “information” that is meaningless because it has no context, can lead to no response, and has no connection to everything else in our arsenal of “facts.” A turn