gmkings’s blog

This unit we’ve been looking at songs, at how words and music are put together.  Choose one of your favorite songs and describe: 1) the form– is it strophic, through-composed, something else (if it’s something else, see if you can break it down); 2) the role of the accompanying part(s), if any.

One song that I really love is “Defying Gravity” from the musical Wicked. I’d say that the song is strophic in that the chorus repeats, but that other parts of the song are through-composed in that each stanza is not the same, until each stanza repeats its melody later on, though the only words that repeat are the chorus, even then with slight vocabulary changes, the only staying phrase being “defying gravity”. The first stanza is followed by the chorus, followed by the second stanza which carries a different melody than the first, and all three sections are different from the introduction. Although these two stanza melodies repeat later, it is not structured strictly enough for me to think of it as being strictly strophic, as the music is composed to change with the emotions of Elphaba and Glinda, the characters who sing the song (mostly elphaba).
I would not describe Galinda’s role in this song to be an accompanying part, as she is only present in the very beginning of the introduction, and has a single stanza towards the end. She does however sing the harmony to Elphaba’s part in two stanzas, one following her own in the beginning, and one following her spoken part towards the end. The song is the most well-known song from the musical, as it is the character defining moment, and in a way, a mini-climax to the plot. It is also the piece that comes directly before intermission, which in any show is a “show-stopper”.

The inconsistency of the song in a way fits with the story-line that defies the original story of The Wizard of Oz. “Wicked” is in no way accepted, nor intended to be the actual events meant to precede the Wizard of Oz, it was simply an author’s original idea for a “what-if”. The “what-if” being what if the wicked witch wasn’t actually wicked, but simply in the wrong place at the wrong time, her acts being misconstrued, good things backfiring, and her good-deeds resulting in punishment so that she is thought widely to be wicked, the only ones knowing the truth being Glinda the Good and the love interest who will become the scarecrow.  These events that contrast with the original story are consistently referenced in a nearly joking manner throughout the musical with in-song comments from the future-scarecow such as “maybe I’m brainless”.
Nearly all the songs in the musical are this way, with the melody alturing based on the mood presented by the situation and lyrics, but despite this each song maintains a repeating chorus, which occasionally displays lyrical changes.

The song from the musical that is strophic and has great accompanying parts between two characters is “I Knew You” or “Because I Knew You” (It’s been released with both titles), as well as the song “As Long As You’re Mine”. The first being a song about friendship, the second being romantic love, but both feature strong accompanying parts and  very strophic form.  I Knew You, however, has a more complex accompyanment vocally and lyrically as ontop of harmonizing, the lyrics are different, creating a layered effect and each part being parallel to the character’s own person.

~ by gmkings on April 21, 2009 .