Defying Gravity- Wicked

• Melody pt1:

  • Leitmotifs
  • Recitative- speaking style from baroque period
  • Syllabic- Words are spoken/sung with each different pitches for easy understanding
  • Leap (Angular, Jump, Disjunct)- Creates tension, makes music harder to sing and more emphasised, ascending and descending leaps, notes are stretched out
  • Step, scalic, conjunct- Makes music easier to sing and represents joy or happiness . Notes next to each other
  • Repetition - Repeating a previous phrase sung
• Melody pt2:

  • Irregular Phrase- (odd) How many bars for one thing. Rests break up the phrases more
  • Word Painting- Inflecting word by making the way its sung seem more natural
  • Leaps- Perfect 4th, 5th- convey strength
  • Quote- “Unlimited” (wicked) quotes
  • Vocalisation- Like using melisma on a syllable
• Orchestration:

  mix of classical and popular

  • Classical- full orchestra
  • Popular- Guitar, Synthesizer, Drum, Voices, Electric piano, Bass guitar, Electric guitar
  • Voices (Elphaba and Glinda)
  • Guitar on Overdrive- distort sound in rock music
  • Guitar on E-bow- makes the guitar sound like a violin
• Texture:

  • Homophonic- 1 melody playing with a harmony/ 1 singer taking the stage
  • Counterpoint- The relationship between 2 or more musical ideas
  • Monophonic- One instrument playing, at start
  • Unison- In unity, singing at the same time
  • Harmonisation- Thicker, accompanying the melody (singer)
• Harmony:

  • Blocked chords- Chordal harmony
  • Chromatic- Moving down chromatically
  • Major and minor chords
  • Sequence- Chords are copied but pitch has changed
  • Interrupted Cadence- V to vi
  • Pedal note- sustained note
• Tonality:

  • Ambiguous- Key has not been established
  • Key established- B Major, bright sounding key
  • Rapidly Changing Key- Key of the music keeps changing after a few bars
  • Sudden shifts- unsettling
  • Intro- D major- Elphaba, D flat major- Glinda, returns to D major
  • Bridge- G major
  • Coda- D major
• Context:

  -Made in 2003

  -The story is set before the Wizard of Oz (1939)

  -The song is a duet between 'Glinda’ and ‘Elphaba’

  -Musical

  -The song is placed at the end of act one just before the interval to create climax
• Rhythm:

  • Time signature- 3/2 → 2/2 →  4/4
  • Duple and Quadruple time
  • Tempo- Varies through the piece, and also determines the change in structure. (andante, a tempo, allegro, moderato)
  • Colla Voce- Free Tempo, Follow the singer
  • Rallentando- Slow down heavily, Usually used at end of sections
  • Syncopation- Strong Offbeat
  • Ostinato- Repeated pattern
  • Driving quavers- Repeated quavers
  • Slow chordal accompaniment
  • Push rhythms- the driving quaver rhythm 
  • Rubato and heavy percussion
  • Rests-an interval of time when the player is not playing any music
• Structure- extended verse-chorus form

  intro- v1- ch1- v2- ch2- bridge- ch3- intro reprise- v3- ch4- coda