Question: what is the term for a song in a book musical that does not advance the plot? — Page 2

Source music is music which is being performed within the plot, and heard by the other characters. I believe the entire score of ONCE has been classified as source music.

Wonkit, I wasn't doubting you, I was just trying to understand the origin of the term "source music" and it seems to come from film. As your reference to ONCE suggests, is it now commonly used in the theater as well?

ETA I apologize for not knowing ONCE, but in film, the term seems to assume that the "source music" will come from some source other than the score created for the film itself. Am I understanding the term too narrowly?

Is the "Can-can" title number "source music" because it pretends to be Offenbach (but isn't)?

Updated On: 12/13/12 at 07:59 PM

According to on-line dictionaries, "incidental music" is any music used as background for dialogue or scene changes. I've only heard the term used with reference to non-musical plays. But incidental music may come from another source or be written for the current project.

Either way, it's almost the opposite of what the OP asked, because with rare exceptions (Blanche Dubois and the tune that haunts her), characters pretend they CANNOT hear it.

"Source music" would be music coming from, say, a radio or on-stage band under a scene. This probably isn't the technical term defining the question at hand, but I would call it "utility" music.

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For what it's worth, Joey, I saw your name on this thread and thought, "A ha! Now we'll get the exact meaning of all these terms."

Wonkit, just to be clear, I was seriously asking, not being a smart ass. I really don't know what term is current for theater usage.

Re: source music. In opera, the terms "noumenal" and "phenomenal" are used to differentiate between music that is not heard by the characters and music that is heard by the characters. I don't know how applicable it is to musical theatre, but the term noumenal is often used in opera when a character is singing within the context of the story.
Noumenal vs Phenomenal

Do you feel left out at concerts?

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Bingo! Yes you do feel left out at concerts?

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Recititif?

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If you are not moved by the songs Steve Kazee and the cast sing in ONCE, you are a cold-hearted Diagesis Addict and I pity you.

You are missing out on an extraordinarily moving experience simply because you think it doesn't follow your meaningless "rules."

Here's a clue: Good art acknowledges the rules. Great art acknowledges them and breaks them.

Academics kill art.

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Updated On: 12/14/12 at 08:41 AM

Wow, PJ, didn't expect to find myself so diametrically on opposite sides of a discussion with you, when generally I'm in such agreement.

I greatly admired Steve Kazee's performance in ONCE, but kept thinking so much of the time how much MORE i would have been moved had the WORDS he sang been the characters' actual thoughts. (I don't own the cd so could be misremembering details of the live performance--forgive my errors here.) When a character sings a heartfelt song he wrote years before about a previous relationship (whom we never meet), I'm sorry but that is not as visceral an experience as singing something he's written now about the GIRL HE'S IN THE ROOM WITH.

I was dazzled by the ensemble's work in the show-- amazing singing, dancing, and music-playing throughout-- but the songs DID seem like filler to me since the WORDS of the songs never spoke to the story they were telling me that night.

Had the Kit Kat songs in CABARET been actual period songs of the Weimar era with no reflection on Sally or Cliff or the ascent of Fascism, I would have had the same reaction as the songs in ONCE. It was the very connection I as an audience member made between TWO LADIES or IF YOU COULD SEE HER THROUGH MY EYES and the story being told that made it great musical theater. It's that very metaphoric leap that makes musical theater magical for me. Somehow ONCE denied me that pleasure.

In film, diegetic refers to any sound created in the world of a film. Either characters making music our singing or even a ringing telephone or doorbell.

Non-diegetic refers to soundtracks and sounds added in post.