Defying Gravity
Music: Edexcel GCSE, topic 4.1.1
Defying Gravity
Your first set work for Music for Stage & Screen is S Schwartz: Defying Gravity (from the album of the cast recording of Wicked).
Schwartz
- Written by Stephen Schwartz and released in 2003, this song is sung by both the characters of Glinda and Elphaba.
- Defying Gravity ends the first Act of the musical and is about Elphaba being ‘through with accepting limits’ placed on her and literally and metaphorically defying gravity.
Dynamics
- Defying Gravity uses a full dynamic range from pp (very quiet) to ff (very loud).
- There are sfz markings, meaning sforzando, which translates as ‘forced'.
- There is also an fp marking which means to play loud and then immediately soft.
Rhythm
- There is use of syncopation (off beat) and rubato (robbed time).
- The piece starts in 3/2 to 2/2 but soon turns into 4/4.
- In bar 101 the time signature changes to 3/4 and then back to 4/4.
- In bar 32 the marking 'andante' is given which means ‘walking pace’. In bar 49 this changes to 'allegro' which means 'fast'.
Defying Gravity
Defying Gravity ends the first Act of Wicked and is about Elphaba being ‘through with accepting limits’ placed on her and literally and metaphorically defying gravity.