Rodgers Walk Alone Flashcards
Context
Julie’s fianceé, Billy, dies in a bank robbery. Julie pregnant, starts song (from childhood) but sobs and can’t continue.
Her cousin, Nettie, picks it up and sings it to her. Sad, hope, love, support, determination, grief, pain, resilience.
General info: (phrase) structure, metre/tempo, instruments, key, common features.
Through composed: (A)ABCD coda (move on) , always 4 bar phrases (regulated), moderato, 4/4, strings, harp, woodwind, C major (simple), 3rds- childhood, w.p. Only when Nettie sings. Viola and cello join when Nettie starts, just vln and cor angls before.
No perf cad till end- determination. Vlns, cor angls double melody. Solo
Motifs
‘t’- 2 crotchets and minim, descending by step
Intro
Accomp mf, support.
Harp rising quaver arps, hope, momentum.
1.5 bars long
‘When you walk through a storm keep your chin up high’
-First half of A section
-4-bar phrase
-Chromatic inner line- mood
-Harp tonic pedal
-Mainly I and V chords.
-I and V pedal points.
-Low pitch, narrow range- sad, stable.
-‘When you’ two-beat anacrusis, monotone- statement, sadness.
-‘Walk through’ -mj 3rd, w.p, ch song
-‘Through a’- I9
-‘Through a storm’ - ‘t’ w.p
-‘Keep your’- V7 or I + sus4
-‘Keep your chin’- ‘t’ inverted
-‘Chin up’ falling p4- ch song, hope.
-‘up high’ monotone.
-‘Chin up high’ minims
‘And don’t be afraid of the dark’
-4- bar phrase, end of A
-‘and don’t’ mn 3- mournful
-‘dont’ minim
-‘be’ 9th accented UA, w.p
-‘be afraid’- ‘t’
-‘of the’ mn 3- fear
-falling contour to ‘dark’
-‘dark’ imp cad, lands on V (G), cad 6/4.
‘At the end of the storm is a golden sky’
-4 bar phrase, start of B
-‘At the’ Gm6’
-‘at the end’, ‘and a sweet’ ‘t’ inverted 4th apart = sequence.
-‘end of’ mn 3rd, dm chord
-‘storm’ B flat = coming to an end
-‘storm’ IV of F or VI of D without settling in either - harmonic detour, but will pass.
-‘is a golden’ 3rds, child song, w.p
-‘‘golden’ f major w.p
-‘golden sky’ minims
-‘sky’ d mn chord
‘And the sweet silver song of a lark’
-second half of B, 4 bar phrase.
-higher pitch, birdsong, hope
-‘sweet’ Bb chord, w.p
-‘silver song’ p4, hope, w.p
-‘a lark’ falling mn 6, love
-‘lark’ 6 beats, rall- relax.
-‘lark’ har E pedal point Emj 1st inversion- love, imp cad A mn
-‘lark’ baby?
‘Walk on through the wind, walk on through the rain’
-4 bar phrase, start of C
-Accomp still mf, support
-Accomp still rising arp quavers
-‘walk on’ perf cad f mj (V7c of F on ‘walk’ and p4 leap = wp and hope, ‘on’ Fmj chord), subdom of C- release tension, return to C mj.
-‘through the wind’, ‘through the rain’, (‘tho your dreams’) ‘t’ inverted rising seq.
-‘wind’ Bdim7, w.p
-‘wind’ held
-‘walk on’ before ‘rain’ rising s.t
-‘rain’ D1/2 dim 7 w.p
-rising contour, hope
‘Tho your dreams be tossed and blown’
-4 bar phrase end of C section
-phrase falls C arp.
-mj 3rds
-‘dreams’ E highest note- focus
-‘dreams’ C mj chord w.p
-‘tossed and’ e mn chord, w.p.
-‘blown’ B1/2dim7/F= imp cad in C, w.p.
-‘blown’ 6 beats- constant troubles
-No feeling of harmonic rest/cadence- leads to next phrase
‘walk on, walk on, with hope in your heart’
-4-bar phrase, start of D
-accomp cresc poco (dynamic climax)
-ww double melody octave up
-minims- determination, resilience
-monotone tonic inv pedal (C)
-‘on walk on with hope’ chromaticism in bass
-‘walk on with’ C- C aug =w.p
-‘hope’ F = w.p
-‘heart’ D7 (imp cad in G) - tritone in bass (broken heart)
-‘in your heart, and you’ll nev-‘ two iterations of ‘t’ inverted in sequence
‘and you’ll never walk alone’
-Second 4-bar phrase of D
-minims
-monotone, E, high, message
-accented in ww doubling
-‘never’ C- C aug, w.p
-‘walk a’ IV7 - IV#7flat5
-‘Alone’ Em w.p
‘You’ll never walk alone!’
-Coda- 4 bar phrase
-Minims
-‘ff with great expression’
-only point where orch block chords in homorhythm instead of broken arps- determination, support- determination, support.
-accents in orch
-‘you’ll never’ p4 leap, hope
-‘never’ G- highest
-‘never walk alone’ falling A7 arp
-‘alone’ dominant- support, solidarity (lack of resolution- ongoing support)
-‘never walk alone’- Ib, I aug b, IV, V79, I - w.p
-perf cad Cmj- only one- Nettie won’t stop until she is convinced.
