Background of the Song
The Song “My Favourite Thing” was written in 1959 by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II for a Broadway Production and later popularized by Julie Andrews in the film adaptation – The Sound of Music. This song was written to be sung by a young woman scared of facing new responsibilities outside the convent.
Harmonic Analysis
This song is pretty much repetitive, with the same block of melody repeated thrice, albeit twice in the minor key and once in the major key. Also, the first section of the melody takes on a distinctive property of only using three notes – B, F#, E. Perhaps this choice of repetitive moments was the composer’s idea of enabling the listener to catch on this tune. Despite the lyrics which are happy and telling of things that she likes, the song begins in a Minor key, featuring the singer’s apprehensiveness and dread of stepping out of her comfort zone. The shift to E major represents a transition of the singer’s expression as the major key brings about something lighter and a shift in her mood, from apprehensiveness to optimism. The V7 chord of at the end of each sentence repeated block further emphasizes this change in atmosphere – like a tipping-over effect- in to a new phase of life.
Phrase Analysis
This song has an obvious Simple Sentence Structure. The short-short-long subdivision is characterized by 4 bars in each of the “short” subphrases and 8 bars in the “long” subphrase. In this case, the piece is kept at the basic simple sentence structure rather than a double sentence as there are no larger overview of a short-short-long subdivision.
November 1, 2009 at 4:52 pm
Hey Elizabeth,
This song is pretty catchy, I’ve gotten the hang of it after hearing it a few times! (Am not familiar with the song) As you said, the repetitive motif causes listener to catch on the tune.
I also agree with you that the composer is creative in utilising Emajor and Eminor mode to depict the contrast of mood here. One would expect the conventional imperfect cadence (iv-v) at the end of each sentence, but he uses a V (major) chord, probably to add a tinge of hope that she can conquer her fears (haha, ok my interpretation).
My personal observation: I feel that the mood that arise from the chord progression matches closely with the meaning of the lyrics. For instance, the key changes back from Emajor to Eminor at the part ” When the dog bites, When the bee stings” to exemplify the “bad happenings that may come on the way” while she fights with her fears. This mood is supported by the melodic sequence used, where melodic line moves downwards from B-A-G.
Mood is then heightened as melodic line ascends in a sequence, ending in the relative major key as singer ‘does not feel so bad’ after remembering her favourite things. Hence relative major-minor relationship is employed to create the contrasting emotions displayed by the lyrics.
These are my personal feedback, feel free to comment!
November 20, 2009 at 7:59 am
Hi Elizabeth,
Generally well done!
You’ve identified the sentence structures correctly, but note too that there is a nested sentence (2+2+4) within the opening 16-bar sentence.
Both you and Jasmine are on the right track about the momentary switch to E major, we’ll learn more about such borrowings in AAI 102. Did you also notice the wavering between G maj and E min, not just in the verse but also in the intro? (BTW, you overlooked the treble clef in the opening LH)
Finally, one small detail: the mediant chord of E minor is III not III+; you certainly cannot tonicize an augmented chord. Apart from that, most of your harmonic analysis is fine. Would you like to figure out how the entire 16- bar sentence is an expanded lament bass (i.e. i –> V)?