Beauty World paper
Beauty World this sun, kiat and kinfoong are both coming down ... btw, an indian commented on the scary efficiency of the Singaporean who went around sticking up Beauty World posters and leaflets on the doors of BJ dorm. Most doors now have a leaflet plastered over them. Keep it up. To hell with what the indian thinks :)
Heres my beauty world paper written for my music class... gave up trying to chase the prof to get back my final paper. Artistic licensing has been used in the paper; the words do not necessarily describe the actual attitudes/perspectives of the cast, crew, or props manager.
N.B. This was a comparison paper, of which i removed references to the other piece of music, hence the linkgae here might seem weird... but who cares. Have fun reading...
Calvin Lin – Introduction to World Music
Relevance of Music
All music can be considered World Music. Given the proper context and familiarity with a piece, we are then able to understand the significance and importance of that musical piece in relation to culture and tradition. For this paper, I would be analyzing how 2 pieces of music can be used to illuminate various concepts that we have encountered in this course. Through a series of comparisons, I would show how the drama Return to Beauty World’s “Beauty World Cha-Cha-Cha” can illustrate the relevance of everyday music to narrative, elements of music, improvisation, ownership and production of music.
Return to Beauty World is a quintessentially Singaporean musical and has won numerous accolades. It was written by Michael Chiang with music and lyrics by Dick Lee, both of whom are Singaporeans. Developed as part of “CityLights Chicago”, an annual event which brings Singaporean culture to the United States, Return to Beauty World is to be staged on April 15th at the University of Chicago’s Mandel Hall. The cast and crew comprise of students from the University of Chicago, and have been rehearsing for the past 3 months under the instruction of the director, Andy Tan. They are setting a precedent, not only by being the first to perform this musical outside of Asia, but also being the first student group in the United States to put up a performance on such a large scale. Drawing on the tradition of 1950’s black-and-white Cantonese movies, Return to Beauty World and tells the story of an orphan girl (Ivy) from Malaysia who travels to a Singaporean nightclub to search of her parents in 1960’s. Through her experiences with various characters in the cabaret, Ivy eventually discovers that Lulu is her mother. However, since Lulu mistreated Ivy, Ivy was unwilling to be reunited with Lulu. The song that I have chosen comes from the start of the last scene, when Ivy and Lulu have both left the cabaret.
Drama, dance and music are often intertwined. It is easy to observe how the storyline of the drama, the steps of the dance and the rhythm of the music all blend to give the audience a wholesome experience. The dance steps for the songs were choreographed by Meiyi and Weiyi, both of whom are also performing. For the most part, there are 6 pairs of dancers whose steps are entirely the same. The males have more forceful steps and lead the dance, while the females have more fluidity and ease of motion, teasing the males at times. During the male part (BW 1:15), the females dance with them, in contrast to the female part (BW 0:35), where the females dance while the males watch from afar. The contrast of movement helps us to identify the males as paying customers who seek entertainment, and the females as cabaret girls, who have to entice their customers in order to earn a working wage. The similarity of steps help to give the dancers more stage presence by appearing to fill up the stage, while underscoring the idea that, at the end of a day, a cabaret girl or paying customer is easily replaced by the next person who steps into the cabaret. The simplicity of the dance indicates that this is not a high class place that it pretended to be, bringing to a conclusion the slow disintegration of a façade. These are directorial concepts of the play that were successfully portrayed by this swan song.
Another interaction between drama and music is that this song and dance both opens and closes the play. By drawing a link back to the start, it gives us a sense of continuity and cyclicity. We realize that though the events of this play may be life changing and heart wrenching, they have little effect on the cabaret. No matter what, the show must go on. To underscore this idea, even after the dancers take their last bow (BW 1:40), they proceed to the back of the stage to continue dancing till the curtain falls. It is almost as if even the presence of the audience is not crucial; the latter are only observers and not participants. Even though the show is at an end, the cabaret show must still go on.
The relationship of these 2 songs to narrative is immediately obvious – music assists the retelling of a story. By dividing these songs into clear distinct parts, the meaning of the narrative is further revealed. In Beauty World, we see a lot of emphasis placed on the chorus, which is substantially longer than the verses. This reminds us that a production of Beauty World (both the cabaret and the musical) requires the participation of everyone, and not just a single person (the director or Lulu). Hence, even if the most important character were to leave, the rest are still able to shoulder on and earn a living.
There are also several differences between these 2 songs which indicate the various ways in which music can be used to enhance narrative. First, in Beauty World, the song is but a small part of the bigger picture, as it only situates the audience into the context of the play, without advancing the narrative. It would not be entirely crucial to the storyline if this song was cut, as was what happened with another song “Welcome to Beauty World.”
Furthermore, in these two songs, we see that they start off with lively upbeat tunes in order to maintain the audience’s attention. The songs slow down at the bridge portion of Beauty World. This sets off a mental alarm to the audience, who are then prepared to understand the deeper meaning beneath these stories. Beauty World uses a cacophony of voices, which makes the individual words difficult to catch, but repeats them several times so that the audience eventually captures the meaning. This illustrates how different musical effects can be used to achieve the same results in a narrative.
Another aspect of music which these two songs represent is the method through which elements of music can be combined to produce a composition. In both pieces, a band of several performers is used to produce the musical backdrop. It is interesting to note that though Return to Beauty World is a production about Singapore culture, the music is highly based on Latin America styles like honky tong. In the original production, a live band was playing on stage to provide the musical accompaniment for the various dances[1]. The instruments, which include a synthesizer piano, drum set, triangle, cymbals and guiro, help to contribute to the overall sense of unity. Both of these pieces use the western notion of scales and timing, despite being from opposite ends of the globe.
This is where the similarity ends in terms of elements of music. Both pieces utilize the vocalist in very different ways. In Beauty World, the dancers are supposed to be singing the lyrics, but have not completely memorized their parts yet. There is a very strong call-and-response relationship between the males and females singers throughout this song. Call-and response is not limited to a simple repetition during the solo parts, but extends to completing the call during the chorus and call-independence during the bridge. By interlacing the various vocals and ranges, a further sense of continuity of introduced as a new singer would start up even before the line is finished. This is further complemented by the wide range of instruments available.
Central to most music is the concept of improvisation – the way through which one can distinguish from the others. In the case of Beauty World, the dancers were given several basic steps instructed to improvise during the bridge from BW 2:15 to 2:40. However, it is painstakingly obvious that several of these dancers are not used to the idea of improvisation on stage. For example, the male on the extreme right is generally staring blankly into space or making sporadic movements, and unable to complement his partner who also feels awkward. Also, the dancers are afraid of making a wrong step and unable to respond swiftly to a break in their pattern. This is evidenced during BW 2:05, when several dancers pre-empted the cue, and then weakly retracted their arms instead of continuing as if they were correct. The instinct of wanting to appear correct is so strong, that despite the audience not knowing how the actual dance is supposed to appear, the dancers have a need to correct their steps on stage instead of internalizing and improvising on their mistakes. In this case, improvisation hinders the development of the dance due to societal norms.
Through these pieces, we can also see how ownership can affect the perception of a musical piece. As Beauty World is a pre-conceived production, it does not completely reflect the views and opinions of the actors. The ownership of this piece is limited to an appreciation of the slang and language that their fellow Singaporean writer used. As seen in this dance rehearsal, most of the dancers are not putting their entire effort into perfecting this piece – actions that should have been sharp and crisp have come across as sloppy and untidy.
Finally, I will analyze the different methods through which these pieces were produced and transferred. Return to Beauty World is clearly an amateur production, and this recording was done during a typical rehearsal. The dancers are not in costume and makeup, which would add another dimension to the concepts they were portraying. Also, the extreme left male dancer’s partner was unable to attend this rehearsal. Furthermore, I was limited by the specifications of my digital camera, which accounted for the poor visual quality and splitting of the dance into 2 recordings. In terms of transfer of music, this is the first time that Beauty World is to be performed outside Asia, as the creators of Beauty World were afraid that the performing troupe would be unable to understand the nuances of Singapore culture. Through it is written in English, there are several Singlish[2] elements and Singaporean slang which might result in misinterpretation and misunderstanding by a foreign group. Hence, in order to maintain the integrity of this musical in portraying Singaporean culture, it was restricted severely in its distribution.
By understanding the background of a piece of music, we are better able to analyze the underlying meanings. Through understanding the framework of culture and circumstance from which the music piece developed, we get a different perspective and understanding. In relating the music to its context, I have explored the relationship between Return to Beauty World’s “Beauty World Cha-Cha-Cha” to drama, religion, narrative, elements of music, improvisation, ownership, production and distribution of music. Without a doubt, this analysis barely goes beneath the surface and there are still several layers of meaning that is waiting for us to unpeel. The significance and importance of a musical piece is restricted only by our knowledge and understanding of it – as new knowledge comes to light, our interpretation of the music would evolve.
[1] For this production, due to space and cost constraints, recordings of the original are to be broadcast over the sound system.
[2] Singaporean English consists of a mix of English, Chinese dialects and Malay. It is often incomprehensible even though the meanings of the individual words are known. http://www.une.edu.au/langnet/singlish.htm
Heres my beauty world paper written for my music class... gave up trying to chase the prof to get back my final paper. Artistic licensing has been used in the paper; the words do not necessarily describe the actual attitudes/perspectives of the cast, crew, or props manager.
N.B. This was a comparison paper, of which i removed references to the other piece of music, hence the linkgae here might seem weird... but who cares. Have fun reading...
Calvin Lin – Introduction to World Music
Relevance of Music
All music can be considered World Music. Given the proper context and familiarity with a piece, we are then able to understand the significance and importance of that musical piece in relation to culture and tradition. For this paper, I would be analyzing how 2 pieces of music can be used to illuminate various concepts that we have encountered in this course. Through a series of comparisons, I would show how the drama Return to Beauty World’s “Beauty World Cha-Cha-Cha” can illustrate the relevance of everyday music to narrative, elements of music, improvisation, ownership and production of music.
Return to Beauty World is a quintessentially Singaporean musical and has won numerous accolades. It was written by Michael Chiang with music and lyrics by Dick Lee, both of whom are Singaporeans. Developed as part of “CityLights Chicago”, an annual event which brings Singaporean culture to the United States, Return to Beauty World is to be staged on April 15th at the University of Chicago’s Mandel Hall. The cast and crew comprise of students from the University of Chicago, and have been rehearsing for the past 3 months under the instruction of the director, Andy Tan. They are setting a precedent, not only by being the first to perform this musical outside of Asia, but also being the first student group in the United States to put up a performance on such a large scale. Drawing on the tradition of 1950’s black-and-white Cantonese movies, Return to Beauty World and tells the story of an orphan girl (Ivy) from Malaysia who travels to a Singaporean nightclub to search of her parents in 1960’s. Through her experiences with various characters in the cabaret, Ivy eventually discovers that Lulu is her mother. However, since Lulu mistreated Ivy, Ivy was unwilling to be reunited with Lulu. The song that I have chosen comes from the start of the last scene, when Ivy and Lulu have both left the cabaret.
Drama, dance and music are often intertwined. It is easy to observe how the storyline of the drama, the steps of the dance and the rhythm of the music all blend to give the audience a wholesome experience. The dance steps for the songs were choreographed by Meiyi and Weiyi, both of whom are also performing. For the most part, there are 6 pairs of dancers whose steps are entirely the same. The males have more forceful steps and lead the dance, while the females have more fluidity and ease of motion, teasing the males at times. During the male part (BW 1:15), the females dance with them, in contrast to the female part (BW 0:35), where the females dance while the males watch from afar. The contrast of movement helps us to identify the males as paying customers who seek entertainment, and the females as cabaret girls, who have to entice their customers in order to earn a working wage. The similarity of steps help to give the dancers more stage presence by appearing to fill up the stage, while underscoring the idea that, at the end of a day, a cabaret girl or paying customer is easily replaced by the next person who steps into the cabaret. The simplicity of the dance indicates that this is not a high class place that it pretended to be, bringing to a conclusion the slow disintegration of a façade. These are directorial concepts of the play that were successfully portrayed by this swan song.
Another interaction between drama and music is that this song and dance both opens and closes the play. By drawing a link back to the start, it gives us a sense of continuity and cyclicity. We realize that though the events of this play may be life changing and heart wrenching, they have little effect on the cabaret. No matter what, the show must go on. To underscore this idea, even after the dancers take their last bow (BW 1:40), they proceed to the back of the stage to continue dancing till the curtain falls. It is almost as if even the presence of the audience is not crucial; the latter are only observers and not participants. Even though the show is at an end, the cabaret show must still go on.
The relationship of these 2 songs to narrative is immediately obvious – music assists the retelling of a story. By dividing these songs into clear distinct parts, the meaning of the narrative is further revealed. In Beauty World, we see a lot of emphasis placed on the chorus, which is substantially longer than the verses. This reminds us that a production of Beauty World (both the cabaret and the musical) requires the participation of everyone, and not just a single person (the director or Lulu). Hence, even if the most important character were to leave, the rest are still able to shoulder on and earn a living.
There are also several differences between these 2 songs which indicate the various ways in which music can be used to enhance narrative. First, in Beauty World, the song is but a small part of the bigger picture, as it only situates the audience into the context of the play, without advancing the narrative. It would not be entirely crucial to the storyline if this song was cut, as was what happened with another song “Welcome to Beauty World.”
Furthermore, in these two songs, we see that they start off with lively upbeat tunes in order to maintain the audience’s attention. The songs slow down at the bridge portion of Beauty World. This sets off a mental alarm to the audience, who are then prepared to understand the deeper meaning beneath these stories. Beauty World uses a cacophony of voices, which makes the individual words difficult to catch, but repeats them several times so that the audience eventually captures the meaning. This illustrates how different musical effects can be used to achieve the same results in a narrative.
Another aspect of music which these two songs represent is the method through which elements of music can be combined to produce a composition. In both pieces, a band of several performers is used to produce the musical backdrop. It is interesting to note that though Return to Beauty World is a production about Singapore culture, the music is highly based on Latin America styles like honky tong. In the original production, a live band was playing on stage to provide the musical accompaniment for the various dances[1]. The instruments, which include a synthesizer piano, drum set, triangle, cymbals and guiro, help to contribute to the overall sense of unity. Both of these pieces use the western notion of scales and timing, despite being from opposite ends of the globe.
This is where the similarity ends in terms of elements of music. Both pieces utilize the vocalist in very different ways. In Beauty World, the dancers are supposed to be singing the lyrics, but have not completely memorized their parts yet. There is a very strong call-and-response relationship between the males and females singers throughout this song. Call-and response is not limited to a simple repetition during the solo parts, but extends to completing the call during the chorus and call-independence during the bridge. By interlacing the various vocals and ranges, a further sense of continuity of introduced as a new singer would start up even before the line is finished. This is further complemented by the wide range of instruments available.
Central to most music is the concept of improvisation – the way through which one can distinguish from the others. In the case of Beauty World, the dancers were given several basic steps instructed to improvise during the bridge from BW 2:15 to 2:40. However, it is painstakingly obvious that several of these dancers are not used to the idea of improvisation on stage. For example, the male on the extreme right is generally staring blankly into space or making sporadic movements, and unable to complement his partner who also feels awkward. Also, the dancers are afraid of making a wrong step and unable to respond swiftly to a break in their pattern. This is evidenced during BW 2:05, when several dancers pre-empted the cue, and then weakly retracted their arms instead of continuing as if they were correct. The instinct of wanting to appear correct is so strong, that despite the audience not knowing how the actual dance is supposed to appear, the dancers have a need to correct their steps on stage instead of internalizing and improvising on their mistakes. In this case, improvisation hinders the development of the dance due to societal norms.
Through these pieces, we can also see how ownership can affect the perception of a musical piece. As Beauty World is a pre-conceived production, it does not completely reflect the views and opinions of the actors. The ownership of this piece is limited to an appreciation of the slang and language that their fellow Singaporean writer used. As seen in this dance rehearsal, most of the dancers are not putting their entire effort into perfecting this piece – actions that should have been sharp and crisp have come across as sloppy and untidy.
Finally, I will analyze the different methods through which these pieces were produced and transferred. Return to Beauty World is clearly an amateur production, and this recording was done during a typical rehearsal. The dancers are not in costume and makeup, which would add another dimension to the concepts they were portraying. Also, the extreme left male dancer’s partner was unable to attend this rehearsal. Furthermore, I was limited by the specifications of my digital camera, which accounted for the poor visual quality and splitting of the dance into 2 recordings. In terms of transfer of music, this is the first time that Beauty World is to be performed outside Asia, as the creators of Beauty World were afraid that the performing troupe would be unable to understand the nuances of Singapore culture. Through it is written in English, there are several Singlish[2] elements and Singaporean slang which might result in misinterpretation and misunderstanding by a foreign group. Hence, in order to maintain the integrity of this musical in portraying Singaporean culture, it was restricted severely in its distribution.
By understanding the background of a piece of music, we are better able to analyze the underlying meanings. Through understanding the framework of culture and circumstance from which the music piece developed, we get a different perspective and understanding. In relating the music to its context, I have explored the relationship between Return to Beauty World’s “Beauty World Cha-Cha-Cha” to drama, religion, narrative, elements of music, improvisation, ownership, production and distribution of music. Without a doubt, this analysis barely goes beneath the surface and there are still several layers of meaning that is waiting for us to unpeel. The significance and importance of a musical piece is restricted only by our knowledge and understanding of it – as new knowledge comes to light, our interpretation of the music would evolve.
[1] For this production, due to space and cost constraints, recordings of the original are to be broadcast over the sound system.
[2] Singaporean English consists of a mix of English, Chinese dialects and Malay. It is often incomprehensible even though the meanings of the individual words are known. http://www.une.edu.au/langnet/singlish.htm
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