Chicago Musical With Music By Fred Ebb And Bob Fosse

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Chicago, a musical with music by John Kander, lyrics by Fred Ebb and book by Ebb and Bob Fosse contains a range of stylistic and structural elements that further the narrative and influence the audience’s aural experience.

ALL THAT JAZZ

All That Jazz sung by the vaudevillian Velma Kelly, is the first song in the musical and begins deliberately moderately slow and mezzo forte or moderately loud to assist in introducing the musical to the audience, showcasing the suggestive nature of the lyrics, whilst leaving room to crescendo later in the climax of the song. A tenuto (an accent that holds a note for its full value), is employed on the A chord from bars 1-4 to weigh down the song, furthering the sexualised tone familiar to Vaudeville.

Kander implements an E Augmented chord at bar 8 to introduce instability and tension early in the piece, complicating the standard dominant-tonic resolution. Having Eaug consisting of the notes E, G# and B#, gives a notably different feel as it creates a tritone interval as opposed to a straight E-A progression.

Kander then uses an interrupted cadence (V-VI) to further deny resolution by moving from E7 to F7. This highlights the exciting and new, yet unstable zeitgeist of the roaring 20s and generates anticipation for what is yet to come.
Key
Bars
A major
1-22
B flat major
23-42
B major
43-60
A major
61 - 77 …show more content…

Kander employs 2/4 timing, common in polkas and marches to display the upbeat and hyperbolical tone of the piece. Moreover, from bars 1-4, accents are placed in the piano line at the beginning of each beamed quaver to highlight the upbeat polka-like quality to the song.This is also shown by Kander through the use of stride piano. Stride piano was born out of the 20s and was common in jazz music due to its versatility and ability to use dynamics such as tension and