The hemiola is demonstrated in at least three separate ways in the score. A different example appears in each of these songs.
- The Jet Song
- Something’s Coming
- America
A hemiola starts off the Jet Song (and thus the entire vocal score) with an easily discernible 6/8 rhythm accompanying a 3/4 melody. The first seven measures of the song are comprised of a series of quarter notes in 3/4, with the stress on the first beat of each measure ("When you’re a Jet you’re a Jet all the way from your first cigarette to your last dying..."). The accompaniment to this 1-2-3-1-2-3 melody is plainly 1-2-1-2-1-2. The uneven tempo sharpens the general air of restless anticipation.
Jet Song
mm 27-35
The same technique in reverse is heard in "Something’s Coming," wherein a 6/8 melody is sung against a 3/4 accompaniment. Another kind of anticipation or yearning is heard in a song that is anything but a standard Broadway ballad.
"Something's Coming"
mm 175-182
"America" alternates a 3/4 measure with a 6/8 one, delivering 6 rapid eighth notes ("I like to be in A-") followed by three quarter notes ("-merica"), thus 1-2-3-4-5-6 / 1--2--3. No restlessness or anticipation here, but the same lively if less serious application is keeping the audiences alert, interested and entertained. This is perhaps the best known hemiola in the score.
"America"
mm 50-57
Highly recommended reading
- Joseph P. Swain, The Broadway Musical
- Scott Miller, From Assassins to West Side Story
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