Defying Gravity Flashcards
Who composed defying gravity?
Stephen Schwartz
Metre in the intro
Opening bars are colla voce
Second half of the intro is at adante. Pauses are added in bar 29 to wait for the speaking interludes.
Instrumentation in intro
Text is disrupted by stab chords played by the full band. The texture is just the voice and homophonic chords held by the band (melody dominated homophony)
Melody
2 leitmotifs are heard in bars 20 and 21, first in the bass and then on the synths. Bar 20 is elphabas theme.
Verse 1 -From bar 34
Strings play with a tremolo effect to convey anticipation
Chords played are bare fiths - denotes the opportunity for elphaba to be free
The melody opens with a repeat of Elphaba’s leitmotif from bars 20-21. Only 5 different pitches are used at bar 32, 42 and 46
Chorus - From bar 50
The tempo is allegro, which is faster then the adante of the verse.
Rhythm - Accompaniment features a very high pitched 3 noteostinato played by the synth and wind instruments. The vocal melody is often syncopated and the held chords all move a quaver before the strong beat. The triplet in bar 60 creates a cross rhythm with the syncopated quaver pattern.
Verse 2 - From bar 63
Tonality and harmony - Final note on ‘‘grandeur’’ at the end of the previous section is on A. The first chord of verse 2 is a D, which produces a confident perfect cadence.
Metre - In bar 75 the drum kit augments the rhythm which gives the sense that the tempo is reduced by half
Chorus - From bar 79
Melody - Same as in first chorus, there are embelishments in the performance. EG: in Bar 83 on the word goodbye, Elphaba briefly touches the note above F#
Bridge - Bar 88+
Moderato tempo
In all of the spoken sections there are long held chords, as if they are waiting to see what happens before playing the next chord.
Melody - The leitmotif at bar 93 is the unlimited theme based on somewhere over the rainbow.
Metre - Bar 101 is the only bar in the song with a tempo that has 3 beats in a bar.
Chorus - From bar 102
Melody - EL + GL sing the chorus together in unison
Structure of Defying Gravity
Intro Verse 1 Chorus Verse 2 Chorus Bridge Chorus Intro Reprise Verse 3 Chorus Coda
VERSE-CHORUS STRUCTURE
Coda - Bar 161
Idina Menzel sings the part of Elphaba alone whilst the band rests at the very top of her range.
The ensemble sings ‘‘look at her, she’s wicked’’ a line that was sung at the end of the first act. They sing this with marking maestoso
Summary
Melody - Leitmotifs in the melody and accompaniment, Leaps in melody make the music sound angular
Tonality - Defying Gravity has an ample of key signature changes - Ambiguous tonal centre at start, Verses and choruses are in the key of D Major, Modulations in the bridge to G Major and intro Reprise to F Maj
Summary 2
Texture -Melody lead homophony
Monophonic spoken words sections heard in the intro.
Metre and rhythm - Generally in 4/4 except the 3 spoken bars. Both syncopated melody and accompaniment.
Layering of strong and consistent driving rhythmic patterns that create cross-rhythms.
Summary 3
Timbre and Dynamics - Powerful chest range in Elphabas part. Instrumental techniques (Guitar Overdrive + tremolo), Accents and Staccato articulations reflecting courage and defiance.
Tempo - Adante - Verse 1 Allegro - Chorus 1 onwards Moderato - Intro reprise Maestoso - Coda
