NMI’s RESOURCE CENTER for musical theatre writers

GLOSSARY OF TERMS

• Rubato:

  In contemporary musical theatre, this term means “freely”, or “follow the singer’s tempo changes.” Traditionally, this term refers to internal slowing and quickening within a phrase or even a measure, even though the overall pace of a passage is steady.

• Collaboration:

  The process of two or more people working together to produce or create something. In musical theatre, this refers both to the writers of the musical, and later to the artistic team necessary to get the musical produced

• Chorus:

  The Chorus is particular type of refrain, usually shorter than the traditional refrain, often bearing repetitive phrases, often designed for chorus (or audience) to sing along. The musical theatre chorus is distinguished from the chorus in pop music. In pop music, the structure is typically verse/chorus, verse/chorus…which is equivalent in musical theatre to verse/refrain, verse/refrain. The chorus in musical theatre is much shorter, and most closely resembles the “na na na na” section of a pop song (like “Hey Jude” or King George’s “ba da da” from “Hamilton”). Musical theatre songs with singalong chorus include: “You’ll Be Back” (Hamilton) and “Schmuel Song” (The Last Five Years).

• Chord symbol:

  A chord symbol is a letter and/or accidental which indicates a root pitch on which a chord is to be built and other symbols which indicate the composition of the chord.

• Diegetic music:

  Music which occurs within the actual world of the characters. e.g., the characters are in a nightclub where there’s music, or they put a quarter into a jukebox, or pick up a guitar and start to sing.

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