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Towards a poetics of a contemporary Broadway sound: orchestration techniques in Alan Menken’s Disney musicals and their application to a contemporary south African musical
Bezuidenhout, Stephanus Abraham. 2024. Towards a poetics of a contemporary Broadway sound: orchestration techniques in Alan Menken’s Disney musicals and their application to a contemporary south African musical. Unpublished doctoral dissertation. Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University [online]. Avai...
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| Format: | Thesis |
| Language: | English |
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Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University
2025
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| _version_ | 1867613763110174720 |
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| access_status_str | Open Access |
| author | Bezuidenhout, Stephanus Abraham |
| author2 | Nell, Mario |
| author_browse | Bezuidenhout, Stephanus Abraham Nell, Mario |
| author_facet | Nell, Mario Bezuidenhout, Stephanus Abraham |
| author_sort | Bezuidenhout, Stephanus Abraham |
| collection | Thesis |
| dc_rights_str_mv | Stellenbosch University |
| description | Bezuidenhout, Stephanus Abraham. 2024. Towards a poetics of a contemporary Broadway sound: orchestration techniques in Alan Menken’s Disney musicals and their application to a contemporary south African musical. Unpublished doctoral dissertation. Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University [online]. Available: https://scholar.sun.ac.za/handle/10019.1/131577
Thesis (PhD)--Stellenbosch University, 2024. |
| format | Thesis |
| id | oai:scholar.sun.ac.za:10019.1/131577 |
| institution | Stellenbosch University (South Africa) |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2026-06-10T12:41:18.607Z |
| license_str | Other — see source repository |
| provenance_str_mv | Harvested via OAI-PMH from SUNScholar — Stellenbosch University Repository |
| publishDate | 2025 |
| publishDateRange | 2025 |
| publishDateSort | 2025 |
| publisher | Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University |
| publisherStr | Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University |
| record_format | dspace |
| source_str | SUNScholar — Stellenbosch University Repository |
| spelling | oai:scholar.sun.ac.za:10019.1/131577 Towards a poetics of a contemporary Broadway sound: orchestration techniques in Alan Menken’s Disney musicals and their application to a contemporary south African musical Bezuidenhout, Stephanus Abraham Nell, Mario Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of Music. Instrumentation and orchestration -- Instruction and study Arrangement (Music) -- Technique Orchestrators -- South Africa Menken, Alan Tone color (Music) Theaters -- Electronic sound control Jacob, Abe UCTD Bezuidenhout, Stephanus Abraham. 2024. Towards a poetics of a contemporary Broadway sound: orchestration techniques in Alan Menken’s Disney musicals and their application to a contemporary south African musical. Unpublished doctoral dissertation. Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University [online]. Available: https://scholar.sun.ac.za/handle/10019.1/131577 Thesis (PhD)--Stellenbosch University, 2024. ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This research project is concerned with orchestration techniques characteristic of the Disney Broadway musical and their applicability in a specific South African musical theatre context. Orchestrators and arrangers have been and are today constantly changing their approaches when orchestrating for Broadway musicals. The main reason for these changes in orchestration techniques is the decreasing number of players available in the Broadway orchestra pit resulting in diminished instrumentation. The inclusion and use of keyboards in the Broadway orchestra also has a seminal effect on the orchestration process, especially with regards to the economisation of instrumentalist numbers, and naturally with musical consequences. In this dissertation, ten musical numbers composed by Alan Menken, with diminished instrumentation from a variety of Broadway Disney musicals, and by different orchestrators, are explored, to uncover the orchestration strategies employed to ensure a ‘full’ orchestral sound, appropriate to the original soundtrack versions, while adhering to Broadway pit restrictions. A further exploration is made towards an understanding of how the orchestration approach adapts itself to serve each specific musical number and its function within the specific musical. This is done in accordance with a matrix by Jack Viertel, which narratologically taxonomises the various kinds of songs composed for musicals, as formulated in his book The Secret Life of the American Musical (2016). The findings of this exploration are finally applied to a newly constructed South African musical, Valentyn, to attest to their usefulness and validity. AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Geen opsomming beskikbaar. Doctoral 2025-01-28T06:21:24Z 2025-01-28T06:21:24Z 2024-12 Thesis https://scholar.sun.ac.za/handle/10019.1/131577 en Stellenbosch University 408 pages : music application/pdf Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University |
| spellingShingle | Instrumentation and orchestration -- Instruction and study Arrangement (Music) -- Technique Orchestrators -- South Africa Menken, Alan Tone color (Music) Theaters -- Electronic sound control Jacob, Abe UCTD Bezuidenhout, Stephanus Abraham Towards a poetics of a contemporary Broadway sound: orchestration techniques in Alan Menken’s Disney musicals and their application to a contemporary south African musical |
| title | Towards a poetics of a contemporary Broadway sound: orchestration techniques in Alan Menken’s Disney musicals and their application to a contemporary south African musical |
| title_full | Towards a poetics of a contemporary Broadway sound: orchestration techniques in Alan Menken’s Disney musicals and their application to a contemporary south African musical |
| title_fullStr | Towards a poetics of a contemporary Broadway sound: orchestration techniques in Alan Menken’s Disney musicals and their application to a contemporary south African musical |
| title_full_unstemmed | Towards a poetics of a contemporary Broadway sound: orchestration techniques in Alan Menken’s Disney musicals and their application to a contemporary south African musical |
| title_short | Towards a poetics of a contemporary Broadway sound: orchestration techniques in Alan Menken’s Disney musicals and their application to a contemporary south African musical |
| title_sort | towards a poetics of a contemporary broadway sound orchestration techniques in alan menken s disney musicals and their application to a contemporary south african musical |
| topic | Instrumentation and orchestration -- Instruction and study Arrangement (Music) -- Technique Orchestrators -- South Africa Menken, Alan Tone color (Music) Theaters -- Electronic sound control Jacob, Abe UCTD |
| url | https://scholar.sun.ac.za/handle/10019.1/131577 |
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