Other Features
Music: Edexcel GCSE, topic 4.1.2
Structure & Melody
The overall structure is an extended verse/chorus form.
Structure
- The overall structure is an extended verse/chorus form which includes two dialogue sections between the Witches, linking passages between the sections, 2 bridges, 4 choruses and a coda!
- The repeat of the introduction section is used to show how Elphaba and Glinda have resolved their differences.
Melody
- Throughout the entire musical there are a number of leitmotifs used.
- Leitmotifs are musical phrases that represent a thing, character, place or emotion.
- In Defying Gravity these are typically based around 5 pitches with the most common notes being D and A.
Melody cont.
- Bar 71-79 is hexatonic which means that it only uses 6 notes of the scale.
- The marking in the score given to the orchestra is 'colla voce' which means 'with the voice' and is a direction to the musicians to follow the singers as they move from spoken to sung parts of the piece.
Recitative
- The spoken parts are the recitative section which helps to move the story forward.
- (Recitative is where the singer speak/sings the story to the audience).
Instrumentation, Texture & Harmony
Schwartz uses a typical classical orchestra with the addition of popular music instruments such as the electric guitar, drum kit, and synthesiser.
Instrumentation
- Schwartz uses a typical classical orchestra with the addition of popular music instruments such as the electric guitar, drum kit, and synthesiser.
- There are also unusual additions to the percussion section which include chimes, finger cymbals, crotales (a tuned percussion instrument which looks like a rack of small cymbals) and a nut rattle.
Texture
- The piece starts with chords played by the orchestra, which follow the vocal lines from Glinda and Elphaba.
- This is a melody driven homophonic texture (melody and accompaniment) that gradually builds throughout the song to a polyphonic texture (many different sounds overlapping each other.)
- Schwartz uses different textures throughout the piece to convey the different feeling and emotions within the text.
Harmony
- Major and minor keys are used throughout the piece.
- The first 6 bars are tonally ambiguous as the harmony keeps moving around.
Key
- Each Witch has an initial key:
- For Glinda it’s the key of D major.
- For Elphaba it is Db major.
Marcato
- The chords at the start of the song are played marcato and are strongly accented.
- Marcato means to be played louder, more forcefully and marked.
Chords
- Schwartz uses:
- Augmented chords in bar 7 (where the 5th degree is raised).
- Diminished chords in bar 19 (where the 5th degree is flattened).
- In bar 69 you can hear a chord progression based around the circle of fifths where the chords that follow either fall in 5ths or rise in 4ths.
Test yourself on Other Features
What means 'with the voice' and is a direction to the musicians to follow the singers as they move from spoken to sung parts of the piece?
What is notable about Bar 71-79?