Vaudeville

As part of my solo assignment I have decided to write a cabaret-esque style song in the style of classic vaudeville or music hall. With my background of Musical Theatre I would've loved to have wrote a piece for a musical however I just don't have the music compositional knowledge. In the past I've wrote more commercial songs, classic pop ballad's about love or loss and this year I want to do something outside of the box and challenge myself with my writing. My aim was to explore my range, therefore I intend to write something that will showcase this.

I have therefore began research into cabaret, music hall, parody, and comedic songs. These songs tend to be short, catchy and simple. With lyrics pertaining to something relating to the audience - generally middle/working class. The majority of acts use only one instrument, usually a piano or guitar as accompaniment and let there voices and the lyrics do the work. Music Hall was immensely popular in the 1900's but went "out of fashion" after the Second World War. However, Variety Theatre as since been revitalised in shows such as Britain's Got Talent, which finds acts to perform at the Royal Variety Performance. Comedians especially are picking up on musical comedy (which is what I am focusing more on) for example Bill Bailey, Victoria Wood and Billy Connelly all touching upon it.

I will also look at exploring my voice through vocal characterisation, for example Mein Herr from Cabaret. with a view to possibly creating a mini show piece. Below is an example of something along the lines of what I'd like to create. I give you Bill Bailey's "Texting Song".

I hope that by writing in different styles I can improve my songwriting and create a successful piece for my assessment.