My Walking Stick
My Walking Stick
This is a barbershop style song sung by Golden Gate Quartet. The song is accompanied by guitar and the singing group is consist of four men.
At the beginning of the song, the rhythm is free. It starts with the guitar playing an arpeggio, establishing the key of the piece. At 8”, the tenor, bass and the baritone sing the same chord, and the highest pitch is the same as the last note that the guitar played. While the chord is continuing, the lead sings an improvisation based on the harmony of what the other three sing. The melody is conjunct and it has a melisma. Then the guitar plays a different arpeggio and the three singers besides the lead sings a chord semitone lower than the previous one. While they are singing, the lead sings a similar improvisation based on that chord. The harmony played by guitar goes back to the first harmony and the singers repeat the same process.
At 23”, the music becomes more metrical. With the guitar plays constant broken chords and the baritone imitates the sound of trumpet with the same chord, the lead starts to sing the main melody of the song with the lyric of “without my walking stick… ”. The melody is disjunct and bass, tenor and baritone singing a short conjunct phrase as a connection follows every half phrase. The shape of the melody of “I’d go insane” goes up, and the phrase after that has a big leap within the melody and then descends back to the tonic. At 36”, the same melody with a different text repeated by the singers. The baritone imitates the trumpet all the way through the singing as a accompaniment with guitar.
At 46”, a new melody starts. It is disjunct and ascends at the end with a portamento, with the tenor and bass singing the accompanied chords. At 54”. The lead sings the same melody as the very first one and the whole group does the same process as well. And the melody ends on the tonic as a symbol of the end of a
This is a barbershop style song sung by Golden Gate Quartet. The song is accompanied by guitar and the singing group is consist of four men.
At the beginning of the song, the rhythm is free. It starts with the guitar playing an arpeggio, establishing the key of the piece. At 8”, the tenor, bass and the baritone sing the same chord, and the highest pitch is the same as the last note that the guitar played. While the chord is continuing, the lead sings an improvisation based on the harmony of what the other three sing. The melody is conjunct and it has a melisma. Then the guitar plays a different arpeggio and the three singers besides the lead sings a chord semitone lower than the previous one. While they are singing, the lead sings a similar improvisation based on that chord. The harmony played by guitar goes back to the first harmony and the singers repeat the same process.
At 23”, the music becomes more metrical. With the guitar plays constant broken chords and the baritone imitates the sound of trumpet with the same chord, the lead starts to sing the main melody of the song with the lyric of “without my walking stick… ”. The melody is disjunct and bass, tenor and baritone singing a short conjunct phrase as a connection follows every half phrase. The shape of the melody of “I’d go insane” goes up, and the phrase after that has a big leap within the melody and then descends back to the tonic. At 36”, the same melody with a different text repeated by the singers. The baritone imitates the trumpet all the way through the singing as a accompaniment with guitar.
At 46”, a new melody starts. It is disjunct and ascends at the end with a portamento, with the tenor and bass singing the accompanied chords. At 54”. The lead sings the same melody as the very first one and the whole group does the same process as well. And the melody ends on the tonic as a symbol of the end of a