As Music Gershwin Study Guide - Summertime

AS Music study guide Gershwin Summertime

AS Level Music Unit 3: Developing musical understanding

Vocal music 2011

George Gershwin

Summertime

A guide for students

1 © Nick Redfern www.nickredfern.co.uk Contact: [email protected]


Developing musical understanding works for 2011 . . . .3 .3 Instrumental music........... music....................... ......................... .................................................... .......................................3 Vocal music............ music........................ ........................ ........................ ................................................... .......................................3 About this document......................................................................... document.........................................................................3 The exam........... exam....................... ........................ ........................ ......................... ......................... ........................ ................... .......4

Gershwin .......................... Gershwin............. ........................... ........................... ............................ ...............5 Text........................................................................... Text ...........................................................................5 Setting....................................................................... Setting .......................................................................5 Structure............ Structure .......................... ........................... ........................... ............................. ...............5 The score................................................................... score...................................................................6 Harmony.................................................................... Harmony ....................................................................6 Introduction....................... Introduction........... ........................ ........................ ........................ ....................................... ...........................6 Verse 1............ 1........................ ........................ ........................ ......................... ......................... ................................. .....................8 Chromaticism.................................................................................. Chromaticism .................................................................................. 10

Texture....................................................................12 Texture.................................................................... Melody..................................................................... Melody .....................................................................13 13 Swung time............ time......................... ......................... ........................ ................................................ ....................................14 14

Orchestration........................................................... Orchestration ...........................................................15 15



Deve Develop lopin ing g musi musica call under underst stan andi ding ng work works s for for 2011 Instrumental music Bach Sarabande & Gigue from Partita in D Haydn String Quartet The Joke, Joke, movement 4 Webern Quartet Op. 22, movement 1 Tippett Concerto for Double String Orchestra

Vocal music Dowland Flow my tears Bruckner Locus iste Gershwin

Summertime

Berio Sequenza III for III for female voice Cliff You Cliff You can get it if you really want Gallagher Don’t look back in anger

About this document This document is designed to support the study of AS Level Music (edexcel) Unit 3 Developing musical understanding, Vocal Music. The guide is available at www.nickredfern.co.uk and is produce produced d in conjunct conjunction ion with with student student workbooks, workbooks, PowerPoint PowerPoint documents documents and other related related material. material. I have tried not to include detail which is extraneous to the exam, such as dates and biographical detail, analysis of text, etc.

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The exam There are two questions which relate to the set works which are constant in format.

Part B: Investigating Musical Styles

(b) Vocal Music

(i) Describe the stylistic features of XXXXX (one of the set works) which show that this is an example of XXXXX (style/period/era) (10)

(ii) (ii) Comp Compar are e and and cont contra rast st the the XX XXXX XXX X and and XX XXXX XXX X (two (two comp composi ositi tiona onall device devices: s: harmon harmony, y, tonalit tonality, y, melody, melody, struct structure, ure, vocal vocal writing writing,, texture and word setting) of XXXXX and XXXXX (two different set works) (18)



Gershwin George George Gershw Gershwin, in, American American compos composer er and pianist pianist (1898 (1898 – 1937, 1937, was a prolific composer of songs, musicals and operas. The Opera, Porgy and Bess, Bess, from which Summertime is taken, was first performed in 1935.

Text Summertime an’ the livin’ is easy, Fish are jumpin’, an’ the cotton is high. Oh yo’ daddy’s rich, and yo’ ma is good lookin’, So hush, little baby, don’ yo’ cry.

One of these mornin’s you goin’ to rise up singin’, Then you’ll spread yo’ wings an’ you’ll take the sky. But ‘till that mornin’ there’s notnin’ can harm you With daddy an’ mammy standin’ by.

Setting The The setti setting ng of the the text text is almo almost st entir entirely ely syllabic, syllabic, that is one note per syllable.

Structure Introduction bars 1 – 7. 7. The vocal part begins on an anacrusis, anacrusis, or an upbeat. beat. Verse 1: bars 7, beat 3 – 24 Verse 2: bars 25 – 46 (Coda bars 41 – 46)



The score The score is a piano reduction of an orchestral score which does not truly represent the music of the recording. For the purpose purpose of this document I will refer generally to the score alone.

Harmony Introduction The octave unison texture of the introduction is triadic.

Bar 1 outlines a

diminished tonic, tonic , B diminished chord (the key of the main body of music is B minor). The Fª, a flattened 5 th of the tonic chord, acts as a blues note and immediately signals a strong stylistic trait of this blues infused infused music. In bar 2 the F# is established and the B minor tonic is established. Here an F# dominant pedal is established.

In bars 3 and 4 the descending quaver pattern falls in thirds, which also implies implies harmon harmony. y.

Here Here the harmon harmony y implied implied is a B minor 13, 13, which is an

extended chord, chord, or a triad with additional thirds added above the 7 th, and is indicative indicative of the jazz style of the the harmony. harmony. The chord chord is rich rich and sonorous sonorous and contributes to the sensuous and evocative feel of the introduction.



The ostinato on F# and G# in bar 4, beats 3 to bar 4 is in crotchets and augmented to minims minims in bars bars 6 -7 and and echo echoes es in the the bell bells s are are the the sharpened 6th & 7th degrees of B minor, the A# being the leading note. This ostinato therefore has the effect of preparing the statement of the tonic minor at bar 8. 8.



Verse 1 The harmonic language of the verse is characterised by the employment of chord chords s with with add added ed not notes. es.

In bars 8 – 11 a harmonic harmonic ostinato ostinato is

established, painting in music the the act of gently rocking a sleeping baby. baby. This work is, after all, a lullaby. The two minim chords are B minor with an added sharpened 6th and C# minor with an added sharpened 6 th. Chor Chord d os osti tina nato to

Chor Chords ds repr repres esen ente ted d in on one e octa octave ve

These chords, written in parallel parallel motion motion, or moving by step whilst maintaining their shape. Parallel motion was a stylistic trait of the French composers Debussy and Ravel. Gershwin was highly influenced by European modern music music and did try and obtain obtain composition composition lessons lessons from Ravel. Ravel. The sharp sharp 6th is a styl stylis isti tic c chara charact cter eris isti tic c of the the Fren French ch schoo schooll and and also also the the emerging Jazz style of harmony.


AS Music study guide Gershwin Summertime Bars 12 – 13 have a change in harmonic expression, with an ascending patter pattern n of rich, Blues Blues inform informed ed chords. chords.

The chromatic embellishments

add to the languid feel to the music, represented here by circles.

In reduction the exact nature of the harmony is revealed.

E minor 7

E minor 7

Em

G ^7

G^7

E# dim

7 1st inv.

2nd inv.

Inversion

B pedal


1st inv.1st inv.

2nd inv.

AS Music study guide Gershwin Summertime At bars 14 = 15 the chromatic language which characterises characterises the work and Gershwin’s harmonic idiom is stated fully.

The use of blues notes or false relations lends the work an expressive dissonant bite: bar 14 F# - F ª and E# - Eª; bar 15 Dª

- D#. D#.

Chromaticism

The harmonies of this moment are quite exquisite.

Here they are

represented in reduction.

F# 1st inversion

C#7

F#

maj/min 10 © Nick Redfern www.nickredfern.co.uk Contact: [email protected]

D#m7

F#¨5/7

3rd inv

2nd inv.

AS Music study guide Gershwin Summertime At bar 19 there occurs yet another example of Gershwin’s exotic harmonic language.

The ascending whole tone scale ensuring the E¨7 chord of beat 3 has an added dissonance, a sharpened 4 th. The melody melody then then raises a minor third to to add a sharp 6 th to the chord. chord. The F# of the the vocal melody melody adds a further further 9 th to the colour of the chord. Here are the chords in reduction:

The complexity of the chord is diluted through the spacing of the notes throughout throughout three octaves. octaves.

The final cadence cadence of verse 1 reveals yet more

complex harmonies. harmonies. The melody melody of bar of bar 20 clearly outlines a B minor 7, as does the bass, which is an example of heterophony of heterophony (see Texture) Texture)

Bar 21: E major to A major 11 (no 3 rd or 5th) Bar 21: B minor (tonic) This VII 11 to I cadence is highly effective.



A major 11 (no 3 rd or 5th)

A major 11 (complete)

As the work is strophic there is no variation in the harmony of the individual verses until bar 41, 41, the Coda. Coda.

E

A 11

D

G 11

C

F# #6/7

Bm Bm

The combined affect of the tonic pedal in the Soprano, the cycle of fifths fifths in the Bass, the extended 11 th chords and the Blues cadence results in powerful powerful and highly functional functional harmony. harmony.

The chromaticism of the chord

progression is evident in the top note of each chord, whose chromatic decent is expressive and enhances greatly the directional quality of the progression.

Texture Homophonic. Homophonic. The first first two two bars bars are are in octave unison in the score and at bar 20 there is a brief example of heterophony. heterophony. This is where where the melody melody occurs in one or more independent parts simultaneously but in variation. There both parts outline the chord of Bm7.



The counter counter melody melody of bars 26 - 37, beat beat 1 does does offer offer very very brie brief f moments of heterophony, but these are too insignificant to warrant further investigation. investigation. However, However, the countermelo countermelody dy does bring bring some contrapuntal interest to the passage.

Melody

The melody is not pentatonic but clearly based on a 6 note scale with the semitone between the 2nd and 3rd degrees.


AS Music study guide Gershwin Summertime The narrow range of the melody sits within an octave between F# and F#:

The range is a stylistic allusion to the Black American folk music of the late 19th and early 20 th Century as is the pentatonic feel to the modality. modality. The leading note (A) is a tone or major second from the tonic (B) which is typical of the Blues mode. mode.

The use of a portamento at bar 21 is also a stylistic allusion to Black American folk music.

Swung time Swung time is a method of rhythmic interpretation which alters pairs of quavers or dotted quaver + semiquaver into a triplet of a crotchet + quaver. Here is verse one in swung time as sung by the Soprano on the NAM recording.

This is a stylistic allusion to jazz and blues where this is a common feature. 14 © Nick Redfern www.nickredfern.co.uk Contact: [email protected]

AS Music study guide Gershwin Summertime Bar 12

Here, at bar 12 the triplets are notated.

Orchestration As the score is represented in piano reduction discussion of the scoring is not really really feasible. feasible. However, However, the addition addition of of a wordless chorus at bar 26 does extend the colouristic range of the orchestra. Bars 30 - 33

However However,, there there materi material al is a simple simple doubling of the orchest orchestral ral chords. chords. Where the wordless chorus does make a significant impact is the manner in which the upper Soprano enhances the chromatic decent of the cycle of fifths chord progression at bars 41 – 44 of the Coda. Coda.


As Music Gershwin Study Guide - Summertime

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