Tim Minchin

Emily PrestonSemester ProjectMusic 1010-Sp14

Professor Craig Ferrin

Biogra

phy

Birthday!

• Date?– October 7th, 1975

• Where?– Northampton, Northamptonshire, England

• Grew Up?– Perth, Australia

Northamp

ton

Perth

Bachelor of Artsin

English and Theatre

Education University of Western Australia

Western Australia Academy

of Performing Arts

Advanced DeplomaIn

Contempory Music

Laughing Stock

• 2002 moved to Melbourne and began his time as a comic.

• The Butterfly Club• 2005 opened his big debut in Dark Side at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival

Tim Minchin Performing at the Edinburgh Fringe

Rock

n Roll

Nerd2008

2005

2006

2008

2010

Stage

• Hamlet in Hamlet• Amadeus in Amadeus• Pilate in Jesus Christ Superstar

• Toby Schmitz in Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead

• The Writer in The Return

• Judas Iscariot in Jesus Christ Superstar

Two Fists, One HeartTrailer

The “Occasional Address”

Tim receiving the Honorary Degree of

Doctor of Letters

History of Matilda the Musical

The

Book

Composer

Tim MinchinBook

Dennis KellyDirector

Matthew Warchus

Some Awards Won•12 Tony Awards Nominations, wining four of them• Drama Desk Awards

•Best Musical•Outstanding Featured Actor•Outstanding Lyrics•Outstanding Book,•Outstanding Set Design;

•New York Drama Critics' Circle Award•Best Musical

• Outer Critics Circle Award•Outstanding Book of a Musica•Outstanding Set Design

• Theatre World Award•Best Debut Performance

• Broadway World Awards•Best Musical•Best Book•Best Director,•Best Scenic Design,•Best Lighting Design;

•Playbill.com Audience Choice Award•Best Musical

• Broadway.com Audience Choice Awards•Favorite Song, "When I Grow Up".•Favorite Breakthrough Performance

Listen

ing Gu

ide

MiracleAndRevolting Children

From Matilda the Musical

Miracle0:00We start off the song with what sounds like an elementary school band attempting to play for a concert. The instruments we hear in this first portion are heard in this order; clarinet, flute, tuba, and finally the bells. As the song starts you almost feel like they're trying to imitate some little kid song, like Twinkle Little Star or maybe something from a music box.

0:26Notice how everything goes silent except for three triangle dings. Almost as if a signal for the band to pull it together.

0:27Children begin to sing now. This is where we are first introduced to the Miracle Motif, which we will hear, not just throughout this song, but also throughout the entire musical. The instruments are still sounds a little out of sync and the choice of chords that the children sing makes it feel like they too are not quite together. The tuba is the main instrument being played.

0:40The children are singing in unison now, still a bit atonal sounding. When the children sing about angels a flute can be heard.

Miracle Continued0:43The music starts to really come together and we are beginning to add other instruments to the tuba, most predominantly a muted trumpet.

0:56This is the first place in the song that you recognize the Miracle Motif from earlier. It may have been played repeatedly before, but here it is clear and easily heard and your brain recognizes that it's heard this combination of notes before. The singing is in complete unison now and the music no longer holds an atonal feel to it.

1:01The piano makes its first entrance.

1:09The drums start up. All the instruments have combined to make a piece of music at this point. The music starts to begin growing, tensing up.

1:19This is the introduction of the children speaking lines instead of singing them. This is a pattern that will continue through the score of the musical when it comes to the children singing. Under the words you can only hear a clarinet.

1:21The trumpets, drums, and tuba all climb down a scale that leads into the first adult portion of the song.

Miracle Continued

1:22The adults begin singing. At this point the music becomes "grown up" music, with the feel of an actual musical theatre performance piece and less of a little kid's music box. The strings are introduced with the cello playing the melody line and the whole orchestration smoothes out.

1:35The fuller orchestra during this portion of the song provides a much fuller, smoother sound that the average person is more comfortable listening to.

1:49Leading into this next portion are some trumpets playing groups of notes that sound atonal and this lets you know you're moving back into the kid side of the song. The Miracle Motif is back, as is the choppy feel of the music.

1:58Adult chorale move up a scale under the children singing melody.

2:01A young girl soloist moves in to sing. She ends each line that she sings with an upward vocal crack, done very purposefully, giving you the feel that this girl thinks she's the queen of the world. Beneath her singing you hear only the drums and a guitar.

Miracle Continued2:07You can begin to pick out the bells being played high above the rest of the instruments. Playing a very complicated version of the tuba's line.

2:12The Adult Phrase begins

2:40We now hear the Miracle Motif playing over a repeat of the Adult Phrase we just listened to, as if they are battling for your attention.

2:55It is now just the Miracle Motif we hear. Every time the children say the word miracle the adults join in.

3:06All quiet except for the bass, the bells, and what sounds like a cabasa. This music repeats under dialogue between Mrs. Wormwood and the doctor. After repeating itself the music turns into a vamp, waiting for the moment the dialogue finishes so the music can move on. The vamps in this song are more interesting than most vamps you run into in the musical theatre world.

3:53All instruments are quiet except the cabasa.

Miracle Continued4:20Trumpets, flutes, and clarinets are most dominant here, changing the feel of the music to an orchestration.

4:41The music becomes a Rock Ballad in style. The lyrics and the music both perfectly matched while being the complete opposite of the dialogue happening under the music.

4:55The choral comes in under the melody.

5:06Here we hear the trumpets and the choral begins to sing words, as opposed to just vowel sounds.

5:42The tuba is back, announcing the entrance of Mr. Wormwood. The previous vamp starts up again. It is the same basic vamp but it is played by different instruments, each taking a turn.

5:54A break in the vamp, played by the tuba

6:06The original vamp is back, with the tuba playing the main line.

6:31The tuba line gets replaced by the string bass

Miracle Continued6:50The piano and clarinet start up as the music turns into a classic sad ballad, one that demonstrates longing for what might have been.

7:10The music picks up and becomes Spanish dance music.

7:28The piano grows in preparation

7:38The only instrument to be heard is the flute. The music hear is very choppy, the only time you hear anything at all is when the vocals are sung. The flute and the vocal line play in unison, leaving empty rests between each word.

8:07The music has smoothed out leading back into the doctor's rock ballad tone.

8:23You can hear the Miracle Motif being sung by children under the music.

8:56Transition from the rock ballad into the main Miracle Motif, involving a piano building to it and all voices doing a slide up a scale as well as crescendoing.

9:01Hear we start to repeat the same lyrics and basic melody as we heard at 0:56. However now there is a full band involved and the music has a bigger, fuller feel to it.

Miracle Continued9:26

Complete silence and then the violins begin a tremolo.

9:30The music box feel is back, but now it feels more like a music box with a ballerina twirling inside of it. The music is entirely played by the bells you hear in a music box. The feel and tone of the music is the exact opposite of the feel you

should get when you hear the words Matilda is singing.

9:58Matilda stops singing, all you hear

is the music box.

10:08The music box is winding down and finally stops without finishing the

phrase.

Revolting Children0:00Introduction - Rolling cymbals start off this song, and is quickly replaced by an organ. The vocals open with a long, drawn out "Whoa". The music of the introduction is slow and has a very religious choral effect. The focus is on the vocals. This is the introduction of Motif #1.

0:20The music begins to build as other children start singing. The tone of the piece changes. We also hear the string bass and the drums come in. At this point in the song you could no long mistake this for any other song.

0:28Miracle Motif

0:29The children echo what was just sung in a shout. This shouting, as previously stated, is a great representation of how children get their point across. It is a very child like thing to do and only serves to make the song better.

0:34Chorus - we hear very heavy bass with drums, guitar, the piano. This motif is the melody that people get stuck in their heads.

0:49There is a second of silence before the drums riff and bring in the vocals again.

Revolting Children0:50The Chorus is repeated

1:05The children stop singing and begin to shout the lyrics.

1:17There is silence under the line "and draw rude pictures on the board". This silence pulls your attention to what is being said. It is this line that everyone can relate to when it comes to revolting in school. The one thing you always wanted to do, but were never allowed to do. The silence under this line speaks volumes.

1:24The children begin singing again, led in by the trumpets. As they are singing, each line comes in on top of the previous one. This is also where they begin spelling words. Pay special attention to the accents given.

1:37Shout singing again.

1:43Chorus - repeated again. This time all that can be heard is the vocals and the drums. Because of the build into this moment and then the sudden loss of depth the audience feels the need to clap with the beat.

Revolting Children1:53The other instruments enter again.

1:59Chorus - Once again the chorus is repeated but this time the key has changed and you can hear an electric synthesizer playing.

2:11The soloist from the introduction sings over the top of the other children. The children are all singing the Chorus while he is singing the motif from the introduction, Motif #1

2:14Chorus

2:26Trumpets and vocals start building.

2:29Notice how the song doesn't end in singing. Nor do the singers hold out some super impressive note. Keeping in true fashion to the song, and the whole musical, the last word is shouted over a big drum and trumpet finish.

Works Cited

• "Awards." Matilda The Musical. Matilda The Musical, n.d. Web. 23 Feb. 2014. • "Biography." IMDb. IMDb.com, n.d. Web. 22 Feb. 2014. • "History of Roald Dahl's Matilda." Matilda The Musical. Matilda The Musical,

n.d. Web. 23 Feb. 2014. • Minchin, Tim, Dennis Kelly, Christopher Nightingale, Matthew Warchus,

Lauren Ward, Bertie Carvel, Josie Walker, Paul Kaye, and Roald Dahl. Roald Dahl's Matilda the Musical: Original London Cast Recording. Royal Shakespeare Company, 2011. CD.

• Minchin, Tim. "THE MATILDA THE MUSICAL STORY." Tim Minchin ·. Heehaw Digital, n.d. Web. 23 Feb. 2014.

• Minchin, Timothy. "About." Tim Minchin ·. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Feb. 2014. • Wistrom, Elizabeth. "Matilda Characters Summary and Study Guide." Bright

Hub Education. Bright Hub Education, 20 Nov. 2012. Web. 23 Feb. 2014.