Writing a musical is easy. Getting somebody to perform it is hard. When it comes to the music itself, very few people can even read it. (Confession: I can’t either.) Daniel Carter wrote some beautiful music for my lyrics, but even the best of vocalists do not know how to sing the songs, because they cannot follow the sheet music to find out how it goes.
That’s where Jill Dabney, a professional musician and music teacher, has come in to help us. She can read the music and sing the songs, but not all the songs are for women and not all the songs are for adults, and not every song is meant to be sung in Jill’s key. So what we are going to do is use Jill as a teacher — which is what she is — and she will teach us how to sing the songs. And then the people who are right for each of the parts can volunteer to play those parts. At any event, this is what we plan to do.
In this pub, Jill will help to introduce two of the songs from our play, The Debt Collector. One is meant to be sung by a woman, another by a man. The first song is called “God Help the Lonely Landlord.” It is sung by a character in The Debt Collector who is named Helga Hauser.
To get us in the mood for the song, first let’s look at the page in the script where that song occurs:
copyright 2012 Aya Katz
Now, also to get us ready, let us first listen to Jill playing the musical accompaniment to this song. The musical accompaniment, by the way, carries only the merest hint of the melody to the vocals. You cannot learn the vocal melody just by listening to the accompaniment.
Now, we are ready for the vocals. But before you listen to Jill sing them, you might want to study the lyrics:
God help the lonely landlord
Who gives the poor a home
They judge me by their standards
But I am all alone.
It’s true that I’m an owner
But just what do I own?
When the rent is due
They owe me, but I still pay the loan.
You see, there is a mortgage,
And taxes are assessed.
And the tenants are so horrid.
When they leave,
Who cleans the mess?
But who am I to judge them
And what they choose to do
To live beyond their budget, when the rich all do it, too!
And now here’s Jill:
Now the next song, which is really a continuation of this one, and not a whole different song, is meant to be sung by Carl Lark, the tenant. In order to understand the context of the song, I include the page from The Debt Collector where the song “Don’t Dare to Judge Another” appears:
Copyright 2012 Aya Katz
Now let’s listen to Jill Dabney playing the accompaniment to “Don’t Dare to Judge Another”:
The words to “Don’t Dare to Judge Another” are:
Don’t dare to judge another
Until you’ve tried his shoes
A landlord or a mother
Or a loan shark all pay dues.
Until you have reflected,
Please try to show respect,
‘Cause even debt collectors
Are bound to have regrets.
Now let’s listen to Jill singing the song:
If you would like to give a theatrical style performance of one of these songs, you may use Jill’s accompaniment to sing the song with your own voice. Then send me an mp3 or mp4 file of what you have done. I could be featuring you in our next pub about The Debt Collector.
Copyright 2012 Aya Katz
All rights reserved.
Interesting to hear an update about the play.
Thanks, Sweetbearies. We are moving along slowly, but we are making progress toward our goal, which is to see the play performed.
You know this is just a wild thought, but what about reaching out to some India movie producers or acting groups? Musicals are still quite a bit bigger there than here.
I would certainly be open to that, but again we would need connections. I don’t think you can just go up to a producer in India and get a fair hearing. You would need to know somebody who could make an introduction.
In fact, I’m willing to start much smaller. I would be happy with a local community theater production, but even for that you need somebody willing to listen.
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