Do pantos have music? Indeed they do! When you think about music in a panto your first thought might go to songs and dance routines, however there’s a whole world of incidental music and sound effects that bring your panto to life. A panto is rather like a cartoon, but on a stage. Often the musical accompaniment is ‘on the nose’, to overstate a mood or action and bring that larger-than-life feel to the story by making the action overly (and often comically) obvious to the audience.
Incidental music falls into several broad categories:
The Panto Jukebox has a carefully curated collection of incidental panto music for each of the most popular panto titles, we have everything that you need make magic with music in your panto. Here’s a selection of incidental music for Aladdin:
The best panto music has underlying musical ideas that like the different tracks together. The Panto Jukebox has done the hard work for you, with many of our tracks linking together through common ideas to make your production sound cohesive and professional. Check out everything we have to offer here
Stings
A sting is a term for a short burst of music used to punctuate a quick-fire event, which is often a ‘magical’ moment. This can be a character or object magically appearing or disappearing, or to signify a turn of events such as a ‘shock horror’ moment.
Stings are usually non-diegetic, meaning that they are an accompaniment to the action, and the characters in the story can’t necessarily hear them. This is usually distinct from a diegetic sound effect, which is likely to represent a specific noise which is part of the action, such as a doorbell or a splash. A musical sting is often one or two chords or a short snippet of melody, lasting one or two bars at most.
Some examples of when a sting might be used are:
Entrance or exit of an immortal, such as the Fairy Godmother.
Entrance of exit of a villain, such as King Rat or Abanazer.
Sometimes, a character with repeated entrances will have a longer or bigger sting for their first entrance, followed by a shorter, snappier version for the remaining occasions.
A character in disguise reveals their true colours.
An prop or a piece of furniture appears or disappears by magic.
An prop that changes appearance, such as a flower growing.
The classic shock horror ‘dun dun duuuun!’ moment.
The classic panto ghost gag - your characters walk round in a circle to find the ghost.
A joke punchline (’ba dam ch!’)
Stabs
A loud, very short chord which interjects dialogue for dramatic effect is known as a stab. A common scene which can utilise stabs is the ugly sisters tearing strips off Cinderella’s dress, with a stab played with each tear to add to the drama.
Underscores
An underscore is an ambient piece of music that is played under dialogue or action taking place on stage. It’s purpose is to set or contribute to the mood of the action, such as tension or mystery. Like stings, underscores are usually non-diegetic, meaning that they are there to set the scene for the audience and the characters can’t hear them.
Underscores are often simple chords or held notes that can be played at a low level so that they don’t distract from the action. They sometimes reflect music heard elsewhere in the show, e.g. a longer, ambient version of a melody or sequence heard elsewhere. Underscores are usually played under a monologue, character exchange or a section of a scene.
Some classic uses of an underscore include:
a haunted forest, complete with eerie howls and squawks.
A fairy glade, where.
A wicked enchantress reciting a spell.
A good fairy in her domain, recapping the story for the audience.
Aladdin exploring the cave of wonders.
A tearjerking moment when Dame Trott has to say goodbye to her beloved cow.
Sound Effects
Like stings, sound effects are short sounds which accompany the action on stage. Unlike stings, sound effects can be diegetic, meaning that they can be heard and are reacted to by the characters on stage, such as a door closing or coins jingling. Sound effects also be non-diegetic (i.e. accompanying the action but unheard by the characters), and these are distinct from stings as they are non-musical, although can be produced using musical instruments - see below.
The larger-than-life nature of panto means that a sound effect my also be more over-the-top than you might hear in real life. For example, the noise you hear when someone knocks at the door could be a snare drum rather than an actual door knocker, as that noise has more impact than a real-life knocker. Panto sound effects are often created using percussion instruments played the live drummer or a stage manager backstage, which adds to the ‘cartoon’, fairy story feel which charactierises a panto. The Panto Jukebox has a great selection of ready-made musical sound effects to be dropped into your production if you don’t have the space for a live drummer - discover them here.
There are so many uses for sound effects in pantos, here are some examples:
Sprinkle of fairy dust (mark tree)
Reeling in a washing line (football rattle)
Knees knocking (cow bell)
Flower wilting (swanee whistle)
Doorbell (celeste)
Other incidental music
Panto music doesn’t end there, here are some more specific types of incidental music that feature in a panto:
Overture
This is my personal favourite piece of panto music! The overture is the piece of music that kicks off the whole pantomime and tells the audience to settle in their seats and pay attention to the show. often starting as the auditorium darkens, and continuing over the raising of the curtain to set the first scene. It can be a high-energy track and is is usually an instrumental version of a song or a medley of songs from the production, lasting between 60 and 90 seconds.
The overture is the first thing that your audience will hear in your show and introduces the setting of your panto through the music, e.g. if your panto is Dick Whittington, the audience may hear church bells throughout your overture, or a sailor’s hornpipe idea to reflect the sea voyage that your characters will be embarking on. The end of the overture usually reflects the mood of the first scene, for example if the first scene is the baddie’s lair, the overture end in a moody, sultry way, perhaps segueing into an underscore to accompany the baddie’s opening speech.
A close relation of the overture is the entr’acte, which is a similar piece of music used to restart the show after the interval. It’s usually shorter than the overture as the audience knows what to expect and is quicker to settle.
I’ve had great fun producing overtures over the last few years, check out a selection:
Play On and Play Off
Major characters, scenes or sketches are often introduced with a play on. Like a sting, a play on is often a short snippet of music insterted into a pause in the dialogue, however it differs from a sting because it is usually a snippet of melody or song, almost like a mini overture specific to a character, and is usually a little longer than a sting. The dame is a common character to have a play-on, they’re also a good device to introduce a routine, audience participation song.
A play off is the same idea, but for ending a scene or routine, such as a slosh scene or ghost gaga routine.
A similarly named musical device is a play out, which is an extended piece of music, played over the bows and final curtain fall to end your panto.
Now that you know about the different types of music used in pantos, discover our tailor-made music for your show here.
Can you think of any other types of music that are missing from this article? Let us know!
Last updated: June 2024
Comentários