The Sound of Music

The Sound of Music film is a classic that I grew up watching and more recently a live version was performed on ABC staring Carrie Underwood. However, the original film starred Julie Andrews as Maria and Chris Plummer as Captain produced by Robert Wise. This film came out in 1965 based off the Broadway musical of 1959 composed by Richard Rodgers. The film has several story lines that intertwine in my opinion, one of Maria, a young soon to be nun who is a free spirit at heart and winds up finding love and traveling. Another of the Captain who has lost his wife and is trying to find a new companion in the midst of the Nazi take over in Austria. The other story line is that of the Von Trapp family who have lost their mother figure an are in desperate need of another as the children are growing up and lack an affectionate parent figure. This heart transforming musical ties all of these story lines into one. Maria leaves the Abby to do some soul searching as a new nanny for the Von Trapp family where she falls in love with the Captain and becomes the mother figure to the children. The film ends with the entire new family traveling mountains to escape the Nazi takeover of Austria.

This film uses music in many different ways. The prelude to the film is an orchestral piece that samples several of the songs that are sung throughout the film and foreshadows the film. Then there are several pieces sung as if they were dialogue between characters with speech-like singing. Later there are pieces sung as musical entertainment within the film such as for the puppet show, bidding the party goodnight, or their Edelweiss performance at the theater. There is also one song (“Do-Re-Mi”) that is used as a teaching mechanism with shape-note singing featured.

The scene that features this “Do-Re-Mi” song begins with Maria and the Von Trapp kids wearing their new play clothes in a field enjoying lunch and enjoying the freedom of nature and an unstructured environment where they are free to be children. Maria is talking about music and the children express that they do not know how to sing because their father banned it since it reminded him of his deceased wife. Marie instantly grabs her guitar and starts with the basics explaining (in song) how the basics of singing are sol fetch. She uses shape note singing with a call-and-response to teach the children the basic sol fetch pattern. Then she adds in words in place of the sol fetch a common practice with shape-note singing. This song also has a lot of repetition and minor solos! Then she begins to harmonize with the children while they sing. By the end of the song, the children are laughing and climbing trees enjoying the gift of music.

This scene and song begin simply with one voice and one acoustic guitar and a very calm atmosphere where the children appear hesitant to sing. As the song progresses the strings begin accompanying and as the tempo speeds up there are more instruments added like flute and drums and a xylophone (I think). Once the music is more upbeat, the children become more upbeat as well, slowly becoming more comfortable with singing. Then Maria breaks and explains that once you know the basics you can mix them up and create songs! By the end of the scene the entire orchestra (strings, brass, drums, flutes, and more) are all playing along with all of the children and Maria singing with a burst of energy and harmonization! This song begins in 2/4 time and progresses to 4/4 time by the end and is both sung and played in the key of C major. The timbre of this song goes from a cool and pastel color pallet to a bright and lively one; I picture a flower blooming or a sunrise in terms of the color pallet blooming and bursting from a pastel modest into a bright bursting lively scheme.


Personally, I grew up watching this musical and I have always loved the Do-Re-Mi song. The musical is about love and music, two of my favorite things. Needless to say this is one of my favorite musicals based on themes alone. When I also consider the musicality of the production again it is one of my favorites because it incorporates music in so many ways (dialogue, entertainment, background, etc.) and the music is all so different! The musical as a whole was phenomenal and I loved it!
Sources:
Do Re Mi song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ps52qEFiLbg
“The Sound of Music (film).” Wikipedia. July 24, 2017. Accessed July 28, 2017. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sound_of_Music_(film).