Analysis 2

Analysis 2
Since time immemorial, songs from Disney cartoons have been my all-time favourite. They are always easily recognisable with their distinct and special tone colour which sounds almost magical, and at the same time the melodies are very simple, memorable and easy to sing. This fascinating "Disney sound" prompted me to take a closer look into the musical details of Disney songs. Hence, I have selected Walt Disney’s very first sing-a-long classic "Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf" for analysis.

Background
This song is taken from Walt Disney's Three Little Pigs which was released in 1933. Just like most Disney cartoons, they have 3 different dimensions, viz. Words, Music, and Animation/Story. They are arranged in increasing order of importance. This is illustrated in this case where the story of the Three Little Pigs was written first, then Frank Churchill wrote the music in 1930, and the words were added much later by Ann Ronell. This is unlike most other films and musicals in those days where the music dimension took precedence.

Form
The structure of this song is generally A B B' A. Although there are no repeats for A, it is still in the simple ternary form. The reprise is an exact repeat of A as indicated by the Da Capo direction at the end of B' with no changes in key, texture or melody. The middle section takes on a different theme and key from A, like all simple ternary forms where the middle section does not develop the ideas in A, but has a totally different scheme to show contrast.

Harmony and Tonality
This song starts in Gmaj and modulates to its dominant Dmaj in the middle section.

Fig 3a

In bar 2, instead of a simple D7(V7) chord as suggested by the writer, more than that is going on in the harmony (see Fig 3a above). A slight touch of minor chord iii is used followed by tonicization of V. This progression is one example which accentuates the fairytale-like "Disney sound" which I mentioned earlier.


Fig. 3b

For the transition of B to B' and B' to the reprise, Churchill makes use of a short passage of descending and ascending chromatic harmony (see Fig. 3b above)

Melody and Phrasing
Fig. 3c


Fig. 3d

There are two main melodic ideas in this song. These can be seen in blue in Fig. 3c and 3d. The melody is built mainly on repetitions. The phrasing of the melody in this piece is quite interesting.

As seen in Fig. 3c, it has a 'l' 's' 's' sentence structure instead of the 's' 's' 'l' structure we commonly see. It seems as if this is done to accommodate the three-word motif "big bad wolf", but we have to remember that the music was written first before the words.

In the second sentence of Fig. 3d, we see an asymmetrical sentence of approximately 1 bar followed by 3 bars. Aurally we would expect it to be 1+1+2 but it turned out 1+3.

Accompaniment
The LH of the accompaniment in sections A and B differs. In A, the LH uses the alberti bass figuration for the bass (see Fig. 3c). Whereas for B, only 5ths and 8ves of the chord are played on each downbeat (see Fig. 3d). This further shows the contrast between A and B.

Re-look at I Dreamed a Dream

RE-LOOK AT I Dreamed a Dream

Fig 2a

As said earlier, the descending chromatic progression in bars 37-38 is used as a transition from EbMajor to FMajor. The style of this chromatic descent is similar to the ground bass progression, except that octave leaps are used to add interest. A secondary dominant chord is also used to ensure the smooth transition, and it is a lament bass. (refer fig.2a)


Fig 2b

In the final bars, the descending base line takes up more of a chordal structure rather than just a single descending line as seen throughout the piece. It is more stable and allows the cadence at the end to sound out more. This gives a strong sense of closure. (refer fig.2b)


Fig 2c

Here's the analysis of the opening phrase using secondary dominants. Can it be analysed this way too even though they are passing in function? (refer fig.2c)


Fig 2d

About the phrase structure, this piece is made up of symmetrical and double periods. (refer fig 2d)

Analysis 1(Score+Harmonic analysis)

ANALYSIS 1
I DREAMED A DREAM
























Friends, may I know what you have to say about the bridge section from bars 20-29? I find it quite tricky because more than one key is involved in this little section, and also those keys are not closely related to the primary key of Ebmajor. Hmm.. Abrupt modulation?

Analysis 1

I Dreamed a Dream
by Michel Schonberg and Alain Boublil from the musical Les Miserables(pronounce as Le-Miz-er-rahb)

Verse 1
I dreamed a dream in time gone by
When hope was high and life worth living
I dreamed that love would never die
I dreamed that God would be forgiving

Verse 2
Then I was young and unafraid
And dreams were made and used and wasted
There was no ransom to be paid
No song unsung, no wine untasted

Bridge
But the tigers come at night
With their voices soft as thunder
As they tear your hope apart
And they turn your dream to shame

Verse 3
He slept a summer by my side
He filled my days with endless wonder
He took my childhood in his stride
But he was gone when autumn came

Verse 4
And still I dream he'll come to me
That we will live the years together
But there are dreams that cannot be
And there are storms we cannot weather

Coda
I had a dream my life would be
So different from this hell I'm living
So different now from what it seemed
Now life has killed the dream I dreamed.

Analysis:
Form
The form of this piece is generally A A B A 'A C. It is strophic with the melody repeating for the 4 verses, but with different words each time. It also has a bridge which links V2 and V3. The piece then ends with a Coda.

Tonality
The piece starts in EbMajor. However in bars 38-39(V4), the music heightens as the key modulates 2 semitones up to FMajor. This modulation is achieved by a gradual descending chromatic progression as seen in the bass line; D to Db to C, where C is the dominant of the new key FMajor. Along with the modulation, performance direction is given in bar 37 and 39 to increase the speed and gradually become louder. This helps to bring the music to a higher level.

Metre
In class we established that the metre of the music give its feel and melodic shape, and it is neither the pulse nor rhythm. This piece has steady 4/4 metre almost throughout, and only at bar 29 the metre changes to 2/4 time. The Purpose of this is to create fluidity and blur the phrasal structure to push the music forward. The last note B from the 5 ascending notes is therefore cut short to a dotted crotchet. Since time is cut short in this bar, it moves more quickly and feels more hurried into bar 30 (verse3) after the bridge. This causes emotions to build up as the song becomes more exciting.

Rhythm
To create rhythmic interest in the verses, dotted quavers are also used instead of only even quaver beats. On top of that, triplets are also used in V4. This is one of the reasons why listeners will not get bored listening to the same melody 4 times in this song. Secondly, it is interesting to note that every single phrase in this piece starts on an off-beat.

Harmony
There is a ground bass, which in this piece is a descending melodic line in the bass, and it persists almost throughout the whole piece, except in the bridge. It is in the lowest register and it acts as a support for the rest of the music in the higher register as well as the voice part. Secondly, there is a tonic pedal(Eb) in the bass which spans bars 27 to 28. This makes it seem as if the outermost parts are moving in oblique motion.

Others
Marked out in green on the score are the function regions. The phrases are mostly repetitive, so I only marked out the 2 main phrases.

T- Tonic
PD- Predominant
D- Dominant
DS- Dominant Substitution

It is interesting to note there is a Dominant Substitution(DS) in bar 15. Initially I analyzed that chord as a V7 with an added 6. But thanks to Dr Chong's enlightenment, I can now share with you all that it is actually a chord iii in 1st inversion acting as a DS.

First Post

The 3 pieces of music I will be analysing will come from contemporary music, film music, musicals, or popular music. I am still exploring my different options.
Here's my top 5 choices and I'll select my 3 pieces from this list:

• The Music Man-- Till There Was You
• ABBA-- Thank you for the music
  -- Mama mia
• My Fair Lady-- Wouldn't It Be Loverly
• Daniel Powter-- Bad Day

Comments of the following nature would be very much appreciated:
- You agree or beg to differ from my opinion
- Certain parts of the pieces you are interested to know more about or wish to clarify
- Any additional ideas for more discussion and analysis

I hope to understand this area of music to a deeper level, and also that this blog site would serve as a useful and convenient reference for those who are interested about this area of music as well!