GCSE Analysis of "Something's Coming" by Leonard Bernstein
Something's Coming General Points
-Composed by Leonard Bernstein
- A song from the musical 'West Side Story', which is a musical based on Shakespeare's 'Romeo and Juliet'.
- First Performed on Broadway in 1957.
- Sung by solo tenor voice, 'Tony'.
Instrumentation
- Solo tenor voice.
- Accompanied by a chamber orchestra consisting of woodwind, brass, percussion and strings.
- Quiet dynamics, soft timbres, the use of mutes, pizzicato and a clear homophonic texture are used to make sure that instruments don't overpower the voice.
- The music illustrates the words, for instance when he sings 'the air is humming'.
- Harmonies and tremolo are used in the strings.
- the instruments often imitate each other, usually at different octaves.
Melody and Structure
- The piece is almost entirely syllabic and based on the following 3 main themes:
1) A quiet, syncopated opening theme.
2) A loud, strident theme in the metre 2/4 that starts at bar 21.
3) A lyrical, slow-moving theme that starts at bar 73.
- The themes are repeated a number of times but are varied each time by Bernstein.
- Bernstein changes things such as the metre or words each time a theme is heard.
Rhythm, Metre and Tempo
- Metre changes between 2/4 and 3/4.
- Changes of metre, a fast tempo and the use of a lot of syncopation maintains a feeling of excitement and anticipation.
- Use of cross-rhythms throughout (for example in the intro).
- Accompaniment is made up of an off-beat bassline, which constantly pushes forward a 'push rhythm', and offbeat chords.
Harmony And Tonality
- Written in D Major although there are 2 contrasting sections in C Major (heard in bars 32-72 and 106-127)
- Use of tritone which is an interval of 3 whole tones, e.g. C-F#.
- Last note of the entire piece is a flattened 7th which remains unsolved and creates a feeling of incompletion.
- The harmony is jazz influenced.
Comments
What is the song about
helped too much thx
Yeah, that may be Oli. But it will still help. And in some cases people may not have access to a revision guide so this could be a lifesaver.
It's not too difficult to write articles like this if all you'really doing is rewording what it says in the revision guide
I take my GCSE music in a week and these pages are really helpful. Thank you for making them
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Very useful source of information, however for the exam we need 2 points for texture so another point could have been added for texture
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Sweet analyis!
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- AUTHOR
Haha, you're welcome.
- AUTHOR
No problem!
Good luck!
Thank you for doing this! I'm panicking and writing out section B answers for everything as we speak and these pages are really useful for including things I'd almost completely forgotten.. Thanks again :)
- AUTHOR
No problem! I'm glad that you found it useful. :) I'm taking mine on Monday too.
Good luck in the exam!
Thanks a lot for this analysis, I am taking my Music GCSE in two days and this is REALLY helpful.
- AUTHOR
I love West Side Story too, definitely my favourite musical! Thank you! :)
How interesting! I love West Side Story, and you did a great job of musical analysis that was enjoyable to read. Thanks for sharing!
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