I was notified of a local theater production hosting a staged reading and I wanted to audition. The auditions aren’t for another few weeks, but as part of the audition, I need to sing 32 bars of a modern musical song and then give a conflicting one minute monologue. I can handle the monologue, but what the hell is a bar?
In: 5
I have a second level of explanation:
32 isn’t a random number here. Songs in classical musicals often follow the “32 bar form,” in which each verse is 32 bars, often with an AABA pattern where the first phrase (8 bars) sets a melody, the second phrases (8 bars) repeats that melody with new words, the third phrase (8 bars) is a contrasting new melody, and the fourth phrase (8 bars) returns to the original melody.
Think of “Over the Rainbow”:
First phrase:
>Somewhere over the rainbow
>Way up high
>There’s a land that I heard of
>Once in a lullaby
Second phrase, melody repeats:
>Somewhere over the rainbow
>Skies are blue
>And the dreams that you dare to dream
>Really do come true
Third phrase, new melody:
>Someday I’ll wish upon a star
>And wake up where the clouds are far behind me
>Where troubles melt like lemon drops
>Away above the chimney tops
>That’s where you’ll find me
Fourth phrase, return to first melody:
>Somewhere over the rainbow
>Bluebirds fly
>Birds fly over the rainbow
>Why then, oh, why can’t I?
All of which is too say this: they want you to sing one verse from a song.
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