1. Compare And Contrast Notes:
Musical theatre:
Book of Mormon –
The repeated motif of the doorbell shows they’re going door to door.
It has a very repetitive rhythm at the start but then starts to build upon it.
The music also builds in loudness as it builds in speed.
The sound show where they are because they are at the door.
The mood, it shows that they are always really cheery and happy!
The sound effect of the doorbell
Orchestra music
I think they are all wearing mics
As they are performing in a large venue I’d assume they are using passive speakers
Use of voice over
Singin’ in the rain –
The diegetic sound of rain is used to make it realistic
Use of mics on the floor of the stage to pick up live sound of rain.
Upbeat music to create the happy mood needed
Orchestra (traditional score)
The way he hums the tune at the start creates the atmosphere
Rocky Horror –
The speed of the music create the mood and excited atmosphere
Use of mics on each character to her what they’re saying/singing
Rock of Ages –
Use of a rock band on stage with them playing the music live to create the atmosphere
Not really any use of sounds effects or found sounds
Overall –
Not a great use of found sounds but when effects are used they use sound effects
Staging when mic’d isn’t louder than actors and the words are more important
With musical theatre they want to keep it simple as they don’t want the audience to be
thinking about too much they want them to focus on the performance.
When performing there is usually direct correlation between the music and the actions and
words!
Dance:
Beach birds for camera –
No correlation between music and action
Use of an original score
Found sound of stepping (15sec)
Ambient mics on floor to pick up sound

2. Hush –
Direct correlation between music and action!
Music to create cheery mood
Call & response
No use of found sound
Ghost Dancers –
Use of tradition Chilin folk music
Not always direct correlation
Motif of dripping noise to signify blood.
Very little amount of found sound used
Overall –
All videos show that it isn’t a great deal to have full correlation between music and action
Audience should be made to think a little.
Overview:
 Both Musical Theatre and Contemporary Dance can use sound to create a
beat unless there is no correlation between the sound and the actions on
stage.
 Both can use found sounds to add effect to the sound. However it’s less
common in musical theatre.
 Contemporary dance doesn’t stick to a traditional score whereas musical
theatre does more commonly.
 Both use unique mic placements to pick up different found sounds if they
want it to be heard.
 In musical theatre sound is used to spoon feed the audience so that they
are always aware of what is happening and what will happen next, this is
so the audience always can always understand the story line. Whereas in
contemporary dance sound is used to make to audience think, it isn’t
literal; sound can be used to make the audience think about different
topics such as politics, gendercide such as Ghost Dancers and even
historical.