I've decided to make a few changes to this blog.
It's mostly for my sake.
I love Love LOVE deconstructing/analyzing music.
So, I've decided to do, "One Broadway A Day". In other words, I want to deconstruct at least one show tune every day. Hey, it might not even be a show tune--it could be an artist/band/pop song/country song/whatever. But, for my sanity, I decided to do so.
I also might be taking a few deconstruction tips from the one and only Seth Rudetsky.
This guy knows what's up. He is an amazing musician, and he loves to deconstruct and analyze singers and the songs they sing. It's nice to have another musically analytic mind like myself. He's a pro though, so don't expect too much from me.
So, here it is! The first deconstruction!
I have been singing this song ALL DAY LONG.
What song is it??
It's "Just Around The Riverbend" from Disney's Pocahontas.
It is sung by the amazingly gifted, Judy Kuhn.
The SECOND this song starts, I get the chills.
Why? Because Alan Menken is a genius. He creates the tone for the piece with the lilting melody that flows through the entire number. It gives the essence of..well..being in water. Then Judy starts singing and her beautiful phraseology helps create the feeling of adventure.
Listen to her vibrato--it's fast, but I love it. It's not annoying, it's wonderful. She doesn't need to be full-on Etheling (singing like Ethel Merman). She can talk-sing and it brings the sense of excitement and longing to the forefront of the song.
MMMM. The first "What's around the riverbeeeeeend" is amazing. She bites off the end of the phrase, but first, she lets her vibrato carry us around a metaphorical/musical riverbend. Usually the bend of a river is a climax, and in the song, Menken's music and Kuhns voice take us around the same riverbend, until we reach, "I look once more, just around the riverbend," which brings us to the crashing, white water rapids that are usually experienced after a river flows around a corner. The chorus is one a climax of the song, and then as it ends, the intensity of the song peeters out, just like the river does.
The lyrics flow with the music and feeling of the song. Kuhn sings of finding something better in life, wanting to be great--but they are just out of reach. As she reaches the very climax of the song, it cuts off suddenly. She is faced with the possibility of being stuck in her mundain life. But still, the hope of things extending "just around the riverbend" is clear in the song, as Kuhn reveals her incredible soprano range. She soars up to some high notes in her register as she longs for the adventure that awaits her.
The song ends in a quiet, flowing manner as Pocahontas is waiting in the water to find out what is around the riverbend for her.
So, things to look for:
- The first "What's around the river bend" vibrato/biting off the end of the phrase.
- Metaphorical/music riverbend.
- Climax of the chorus flowing with the climax of the river.
- Sudden cut-off after the climax, into the soft hoping of a better life/Judy's UNREAL soprano range.
ENJOY!
