Song Analysis Worksheet

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Song & Lyric Analysis Worksheet for Musical Theatre

Song & Lyric Analysis Worksheet

Use this to build a repeatable process for auditions and performance: clarify story, align actions with the score, and lock a cut that turns.

These tags guide design, pacing, and your marketing metadata.

Lyric Breakdown

Story Essentials

SectionPurpose (what changes)
Verse 1
Pre-Chorus
Chorus
Verse 2
Bridge
Final Chorus / Tag

Character & Relationship

Acting Choices

Musical Storytelling

Performance Layer

Audition Cut

Beat Map

Beat # Lyric / Text Action (verb) Obstacle / Partner Gesture / Object Musical cue Breath / Voice plan Evidence of change
1
2
3
4

Tip: If your tactic changes but the music does not, verify the turn; scores often signal pivots with harmony, groove, or texture.

Quick Workflow (reference)
  1. Clarify circumstances and objective.
  2. Beat the lyric and title each beat with an action.
  3. Map actions to harmonic and rhythmic turns.
  4. Release body and voice; add one functional gesture per beat.
  5. Run a listening pass; adjust tactics to true stimuli.
  6. Film; performance should read on mute and with sound.

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How to Use the Song & Lyric Analysis Worksheet (Step-by-Step Guide)

How to Use the Song & Lyric Analysis Worksheet: A Detailed Guide

This guide explains each field on the worksheet so you can build a repeatable preparation flow for auditions and performances.

Song Metadata

Song Title / Show / Album / Standalone

Identify the exact source so you can research context, collaborators, and known cuts. If standalone, define your own story frame.

Composer / Lyricist / Year

Credit correctly. Year matters for style expectations (Golden Age vs. Contemporary) and informs vowel strategy and vibrato choices.

Voice Type, Range, Key

Confirm printed key and your chosen key. Note written range and tessitura. If the tessitura sits high, adjust breath strategy early.

Tempo / Style

Write metronome marking and groove family (swing, 12/8, pop ballad, funk). Style determines consonant energy and phrasing length.

Keywords (10 mood + style tags)

Pick tags a stranger would use after hearing your cut (e.g., yearning, defiant, comic, folk-rock). Reuse them in your audition blurb and social clips for brand consistency.

Lyric Breakdown

Write the lyrics with beat marks

Print the lyric. Insert vertical bars where tactics shift. One playable verb per beat.

Unfamiliar words or phrases

Look up meaning and pronunciation. Note dialect variants if needed.

Severity / Scale words

Circle words that raise stakes (never, always, forever, ruin). Use them to escalate action.

Repetition & Contrast

Repetition needs new intention or color. Contrast marks turns; align with harmonic or rhythmic change when possible.

Story Essentials

Song in four words

Compress the spine. If you can’t, you haven’t found the turn.

Climax point

Mark the exact syllable where stakes peak. Manage breath so you arrive free and supported.

Section purpose (what changes)

  • Verse 1: Establish need and problem.
  • Pre-Chorus: Pressure builds; decision forms.
  • Chorus: Declare action or belief.
  • Verse 2: Raise stakes or add new tactic.
  • Bridge: Break pattern; reveal or risk.
  • Final Chorus/Tag: Consequence and button.

Situation (where/when/why now)

Write a one-sentence playable circumstance. Keep it concrete and present.

Who are you singing to?

Name the partner and the power dynamic. If to the audience, define what you need them to do.

Character & Relationship

Fill concrete facts: age, gender, locale/dialect, time period, economic background, education/experience. Then define the relationship focus for this moment. Do not invent backstory you can’t play.

Acting Choices

Objective

What must change in the partner now? Use active phrasing: “get X to…”

Obstacle

What stops you? Name the partner’s resistance or your inner block.

Tactics (playable verbs)

Choose verbs the audience can see: disarm, provoke, bargain, reassure. One verb per beat.

Trigger / Moment Before

The event that makes singing unavoidable. State it simply so you can physicalize it at the top.

Musical Storytelling

Before hearing the music

State what the audience should understand if the sound were muted. Then confirm the music delivers it.

Musical devices to track

  • Harmony: tonic vs. predominant vs. dominant pressure.
  • Rhythm: groove shift, hemiola, rubato.
  • Texture: accompaniment density, pedal tones, countermelody.
  • Form: pickups, buttons, tags, vamp lengths.

Align music and action

Place verb changes on musical turns when possible. If tactic changes but the music doesn’t, verify the turn is earned.

Performance Layer

Physical choices per beat

One functional gesture per beat, anchored in need, not decoration.

Vocal colors

Map mix choices, vowel modifications, and consonant energy to stakes. See Belting, Placement, Vibrato, and Breathing / Support.

Breath plan

Mark inhales and releases. Protect the climax by budgeting air and avoiding late gasps.

Imaginative world

Define space, eyelines, and imaginary objects so the story reads even on mute.

Audition Cut

16/32-bar cut

Target ~25–45s (16) or ~55–75s (32). Include a clear beginning, a turn, and a clean button.

Alternate tactics (for redirects)

List 2–3 verbs you can swap instantly without changing notes. Example: reassure → challenge → seduce.

Summary (1–2 sentences)

State what changes across the cut. This guides your slate and the pianist.

One takeaway word

Aim your performance at one final word (e.g., resolve). It keeps focus under pressure.

Beat Map (How to Fill It)

Each row = one playable action aligned to a musical cue.

Beat # Lyric / Text Action (verb) Obstacle / Partner Gesture / Object Musical cue Breath / Voice plan Evidence of change
1“First line…”DisarmPartner avoids eye contactLower shouldersVamp ends → downbeatQuick sip before bar 3Partner turns toward you
2“Second line…”PressThey deflect with humorStep closerPre-chorus hemiolaOpen ribs earlyThey stop joking

Quick Workflow

  1. Clarify circumstances and objective.
  2. Beat the lyric; title each beat with a verb.
  3. Map actions to harmonic and rhythmic turns.
  4. Add one functional gesture per beat.
  5. Run a listening pass; adjust tactics to true stimuli.
  6. Film; the story should read on mute and with sound.

Part 1: Song Basics

  • Song Title: Dead Mom
  • Show, CD, or Standalone Song: Beetlejuice the Musical
  • Composer / Lyricist: Eddie Perfect
  • Year Published / First Performed: 2018 (Broadway debut)
  • Could this song be done by the opposite gender? Yes, though it is written for Lydia, it could be adapted for any grieving character seeking guidance from a parent.
  • Range of this piece: G3 – D5 (mezzo/belt range, high belt required)
  • Key: Primarily C minor with shifts and modulations
  • Tempo marking: Moderato with a pop-rock drive
  • 10 keywords (musical feel + emotional vibe): urgent, pleading, angsty, raw, confessional, rebellious, grief-stricken, driving, vulnerable, explosive
  • Voice type: Mezzo/Belter

Part 2: Lyric Analysis

  1. Write the lyrics & mark beats: Each “Dead mom / dead mom” refrain is its own beat; verses are sections of plea; the bridge is escalation; the final chorus is climax.
  2. Unfamiliar phrases: None in modern context (language is simple and contemporary).
  3. Severity (time/amount/size words): “Always,” “never,” “again,” “little,” “everything,” “forever.”
  4. Repetition: The phrase “Dead Mom” repeats obsessively, showing fixation. Transition words like “but,” “if,” “so” mark turns.
  5. Short summary (4 words): “Grief becomes desperate plea.”
  6. Defining sections:
    • Opening: childlike call for help.
    • Verse: explains frustration with dad and need for guidance.
    • Pre-chorus: urgency and bargaining.
    • Chorus: direct plea to mother.
    • Bridge: rebellious escalation (“strike me down, take control”).
    • Final chorus: explosive demand, emotional climax.
  7. Character details: Lydia Deetz, teenager (about 15–16). Female. Gothic, sharp-witted. 1980s American suburb. Middle-class but alienated. High school level education.

Part 3: Before You Hear the Music

  1. Text as prose: Even without melody, it reads as a confession-letter to a dead parent, swinging between conversational sarcasm and desperate begging. You’d expect a pop-rock ballad with a strong build, which is exactly what happens.

Part 4: Situation

  1. Describe a situation: Lydia is trying to communicate with her deceased mother, feeling ignored and unsupported by her father, and desperate for guidance. The “audience” of the song is her dead mom—an absent but vividly imagined partner.

Part 5: Objective

  1. Objective: “I want my mom to answer me and guide me because I feel abandoned and don’t trust my dad.”

Part 6: Trigger Question

  1. Trigger / Moment before: Lydia has just witnessed her father move on too quickly after her mom’s death, brushing off Lydia’s pain. Her frustration explodes into this plea.

Expanded Performance Notes

  • Climax: The bridge (“Strike me down, take control”) → last chorus, on the top D5 belt.
  • Tactics: To beg, to provoke, to demand, to question, to accuse, to plead.
  • Obstacle: Her mother is dead and cannot answer. Her father won’t listen.
  • Musical cues: Modulation and vocal leaps match spikes in anger and desperation.
  • Physical actions: Looking upward (to her mom), pacing, gesturing outward in frustration, collapsing inward at moments of vulnerability.
  • Breath plan: Save deep support for high belt sections; breaths align with thought shifts.
  • Vocal colors: Mix on verses (intimate/confessional), open belt on chorus (urgent/demanding), edge and grit in bridge (rebellious anger).

Part 1: Song Basics

  • Song Title: Seventeen
  • Show, CD, or Standalone Song: Heathers: The Musical
  • Composer / Lyricist: Laurence O’Keefe & Kevin Murphy
  • Year Published / First Performed: 2010s (Off-Broadway 2014; West End 2018)
  • Could this song be done by the opposite gender? Yes — though rooted in Veronica and J.D.’s story, it can be adapted as a universal teenage plea for normalcy.
  • Range of this piece:
    • Veronica: G3 – D5 (mezzo/soprano mix with belt)
    • J.D.: Bb2 – G4 (baritenor, mix/belt)
  • Key: Original in C major with shifts to A major; warm pop-rock ballad feel.
  • Tempo marking: Moderato / gentle rock ballad, building to emotional swell.
  • 10 keywords (musical feel + emotional vibe): yearning, intimate, tender, nostalgic, vulnerable, hopeful, longing, youthful, emotional, bittersweet.
  • Voice type: Duet — Mezzo/soprano mix + Baritenor.

Part 2: Lyric Analysis

  1. Lyrics (beats/sections):
    • Veronica’s verse: confession and longing.
    • J.D.’s entrance: fragile vulnerability.
    • Chorus (“Let’s be seventeen”): central plea for normalcy.
    • Bridge: escalation, envisioning what life could be like.
    • Final chorus: joined voices, unified desire, climax.
  2. Unfamiliar phrases: None; all contemporary.
  3. Severity words: “Always,” “just,” “never,” “seventeen,” “normal.”
  4. Repetition: The phrase “Seventeen” repeats to emphasize the longing for innocence and simplicity; “Let’s be normal” is a refrain that contrasts the chaos of the show.
  5. Short summary (4 words): “Longing for normal life.”
  6. Defining sections:
    • Verse: expressing emotional exhaustion.
    • Chorus: desperate desire to rewind and simplify.
    • Bridge: fantasy of ordinary happiness.
    • Final chorus: climax — their united cry.
  7. Character details:
    • Veronica Sawyer, 17, witty and intelligent, caught between morality and rebellion. Middle-class, suburban high schooler.
    • J.D. (Jason Dean), 17, brooding outsider, unstable but vulnerable, abusive household background.

Part 3: Before You Hear the Music

  1. Text as prose: Reads like a heartfelt confession. Even without melody, it suggests a ballad — tender, emotional, aching, with a slow build. The repeated title word “Seventeen” clearly signals nostalgia and yearning.

Part 4: Situation

  1. Describe a situation: After chaos and violence, Veronica wants to escape the destruction and just “be seventeen.” She pleads with J.D. to return to innocence. J.D., though broken, echoes the desire. It’s a moment of reprieve in a dark narrative.

Part 5: Objective

  1. Objective:
  • Veronica: “I want J.D. to give up the madness and just live a normal teenage life with me because I crave stability and love.”
  • J.D.: “I want Veronica to believe in me and accept me because I long for connection despite my darkness.”

Part 6: Trigger Question

  1. Trigger / Moment Before: After escalating violence and moral compromise, Veronica sees a chance to step away from destruction. She asks: “Can’t we just be kids again?”

Expanded Performance Notes

  • Climax: Final chorus — both voices soaring on “Let’s be seventeen.”
  • Tactics: To plead, to persuade, to reassure, to seduce, to comfort, to beg.
  • Obstacle: J.D.’s trauma and obsession with revenge; Veronica’s fear of losing herself.
  • Musical cues: Verse (intimate piano), chorus (warm build with guitar/strings), bridge (emotional lift), final chorus (full rock ballad swell).
  • Physical actions: Sitting close, reaching out, hesitant touches, pulling away, then joining together at the climax.
  • Breath plan: Sustain long phrases in chorus; breaths align with emotional turns.
  • Vocal colors: Soft mix for intimacy; open belt for emotional peak; blend harmonies carefully in duet sections.