Musicality

Close Every Door

The Connotation Duration Graph was created to show the difference in note length for positive, negative and neutral verbs. The pink bar represents positive verbs, the light blue bar represents neutral verbs and the dark purple bar represents negative verbs. The numbers on the left hand side represent the duration. If you hover over the bars, you will be able to see which verb they represent. Note the light blue colored bars. Since these bars represent neutral verbs, we decided that the neutrality of these verbs would be best represented by dipping both into the positive range and the negative range. This is why the light blue bars go both ways. As such, the duration of neutral verbs can be calculated by adding the value at the top of the bar to the value at the bottom of the bar. For example, the first neutral verb is “do”. The top part of the bar has .5 duration and the bottom part has .5 duration. This does not mean that this verb is held for .5 beat, rather the verb is held for 1 beat, the sum of the top of the bar and the bottom of the bar.
This graph was created through the process of running several XML documents through XSLT. We first had to create an XML document that contained both the note duration and the verb itself. We did this by running MEI notational markup of Close Every Door with the lyrical markup through XSLT. Then we used this generated document and ran it with the connotation markup through XSLT. We then used this new document to help us create the graph you see before you now. This graph was made using SVG within XSLT. To view these files, visit our github!
Something is immediately apparent when looking at the bar graph, and that is the consistent duration of neutral verbs. This is indicative of Webber’s lack of emphasis when it comes to neutral actions in his songs. Where we see variation in the duration is with positive and negative verbs, as these can be more telling of emotion. For example, the positive verb “promised” is held for two beats, as is the negative verb “torture”. Both of these verbs are more telling of specific actions. What’s also interesting to note is the duration of the verb “live”, which is held for the shortest amount of time. This could be indicative of the shortness of life on earth in the face of eternity in heaven. Or it could also be inferred to show how little Joseph cares about his own life. As another line of the song goes “I do not matter, I am only one person”. The shortness of the verb than can be seen as the insignificance of one life compared to the greater good, meaning God and Israel.

Verb Connotation

As If We Never Said Goodbye

Stanza	Positive	Neutral	Negative
1	need to rediscover	know	frightened
2	feel	said
3		know	missed spent to resist trembling
4	coming start	said
5	come want		be alone waited
6	fly live watch	do knew know	stop
7		have make said say to say

The highlighted portions of this table represent the connotation value that appeared the most in a given stanza. For this song, the most common connotation value is positive. This is indicative of Norma's disillusioned dreams. She sings this song at the point of the musical where she returns to the stage. The positive verbs used in the song, specifically "fly" "start" and "live", suggest a start to a new career. However, despite the positive tone of the song, the audience listening will understand the meaning very differently as they are aware that this "new start" is nothing more than the fantasy of a washed up star. To read more about Sunset Boulevard, click here! To watch a performance of "As If We Never Said Goodbye", click here!

I Don't Know How To Love Him

Stanza	Positive	Neutral	Negative
1	changed love	do know move seem seen
2		had know moves	see take
3	bring come	speak thought	scream shout
4		think	scares
5	come	thought
6	love loved want	know said turn	cope frightened lost scares

The highlighted portions of this table represent the connotation value that appeared the most in a given stanza. For this song, the most common connotation value is neutral. In the context of this song as it is in the musical, Jesus Christ Superstar, Webber's use of neutral verbs are reflective of Mary Magdelene's indecision regarding her feelings for Jesus. The song title itself offers up the image of a confused person, who is stuck between the beauty that love can bring but also the pain it can cause. The table suggests that, although the positive and negative verbs are close in number, the balance seems to tip into the negative. Especially when looking at the use of verbs per stanza, Mary starts off with a majority of neutral verbs and no negative verbs, indicative of her own confusion. By the final stanza, she seems to have reached an answer to her problem. As the negative verbs are found more in the final stanza, it seems that this budding love might be hopeless. To read more about Jesus Christ Superstar, click here! To watch a performance of "I Don't Know How To Love Him", click here!

Close Every Door

Stanza	Positive	Neutral	Negative
1			bar close hide shut
2	laugh want	do	darken hate torture
3	live	ask know lie	die
4	love	keep	close
5	find promised	know
6	give		decay forget
7		do	destroy throw
8	live	ask know lie	die
9	love	keep	close
10	find promised	know

The highlighted portions of this table represent the connotation value that appeared the most in a given stanza. For this song, the most common connotation value is negative. This song, therefore seems to be one of hope. Joseph starts off with the first two stanzas in the negative range, but as the song progresses, the connecentration of neutral verbs increases and then the concentration of positive verbs increase as well. The continuation of negative verbs througout the song suggest an opposing force, perhaps something that the character must ultimately overcame. His success in this matter is suggested in the final stanza, where positive verbs are the most common and negative verbs are nonexistent. To read more about Joseph and the Technicolor Dreamcoat, click here! To watch a performance of "Close Every Door", click here!

Dynamics Wavelength Graph

Close Every Door

This graph represents the way in which the dynamics, or volume affect the verbs throughout this song, and where they lie on the volume scale. It is evident that more often than not the same verbs are in the same location in terms of volume; that is, "ask" is always at the highest volume, while "close" is always at the lowest volume. Comparing this graph with the information from the connotation and duration graph allows us to see a pattern in the way Andrew Lloyd Webber has emphasized these verbs musically. For instance, negative verbs are the most common in this piece. How does he distinguish them from other verbs to perhaps emphasize this idea of hopelessness in Joseph? By making certain that almost every negative verb is at a lower volume, never rising about mezzo piano. You'll notice that "close" is always at the lowest volume, along with "bar" and "hate." He also emphasizes them using note duration: the negative verbs almost always have a longer duration than the other verbs. "Torture," "darken," and "decay" are all worth two beats, as opposed to the positive verbs such as "laugh" and "love" which are only one beat. There are some exceptions to these rules; the verb of the highest volume is not positive, which you would expect as a counterpart to the always-low negative verbs. Instead it is neutral, almost always being "ask." Despite the few discrepancies in dynamics and duration, it would appear that Andrew Lloyd Webber prefers to acknowledge the verbs that appear most often in the same connotation by lengthening their duration and quieting their volume. This subtlety heightens the listener's awareness of these words, and thus allows the actor to better convey this idea, in this case, of suffering and agony. You'll notice one graph looks different from the others; this is the hand drawn version of the dynamics graph we mention on the Methodology page. For more information about Methodology in the dynamics graph, click here

I Don't Know How to Love Him

This graph, which represents the dynamic markings from "I Don't Know How to Love Him," clearly shows that there is a pattern in dynamic marking, and like the previous graph, can be compared to the information from the connotation and duration graph. For instance, neutral verbs are the most common in this piece. How does he distinguish them from other verbs? By making certain that every time the volume is at its loudest, the verb connected to that dynamic is a neutral one. You'll notice that "thought" is always at the highest volume, while positive and negative verbs never reach higher than mezzo piano, or medium loud. He also emphasizes them using note duration: the neutral verbs almost always have a shorter duration than the other verbs. "Thought," "speak," and "know" are all worth half a beat as opposed to the positive verbs such as "love" and "changed" which are typically two to three beats. There are some exceptions to these rules; the verb of the longest duration is come, which is neutral, and not shortened like its fellow neutral verbs. Despite the few discrepancies in dynamics and duration, it would appear that Andrew Lloyd Webber, once again, prefers to acknowledge the verbs that appear most often in the same connotation by lengthening their duration and quieting their volume. This subtlety heightens the listener's awareness of these words, and thus allows the actor to better convey this idea, in this case, of suffering and agony.

As If We Never Said Goodbye

You'll notice for this song, "As If We Never Said Goodbye," we do not have a dynamics graph. This is purely because of the version of the song we chose to mark up. Unfortunately, a problem we came across in using MEI notation is deciding which versions of each song to use to mark up. This became particularly apparent when we determined that our research question would feature dynamics, and this particular version of the "As If We Never Said Goodbye" did not feature any dynamic markings. Because of this, we want to encourage anyone interested in marking up sheet music to be certain that it is the best and most practical version for your purposes, and that it features all of the musical notation you wish to examine in your digital analysis.

Analysis

Connotation and Duration Graph

Close Every Door

Verb Connotation

As If We Never Said Goodbye

I Don't Know How To Love Him

Close Every Door

Dynamics Wavelength Graph

Close Every Door

I Don't Know How to Love Him

As If We Never Said Goodbye