1. No category

CLASS AND INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC (Years 9 – 12)
Analysing the songs of Cole Porter
Anything Goes contains many of the well-known songs of Cole Porter, including several “standards”
that continue to be performed, recorded and “re-interpreted” today. Students undertaking elective
Music subjects can use the musical elements contained in these songs as a way of developing their aural,
musicianship and performance skills.
For [Victorian] VCE students: two of the songs from Anything Goes - “All through the night” and “Blow
Gabriel Blow” – are included in the Classical Voice prescribed works. For [NSW] HSC students: these works
can be included as part of their program of study for Music 1 (Music of the 20th and 21st centuries) or Music
2 / Music Extension (Music 1900 – 1945).
Lesson ideas
An analysis of “All through the night” and “Blow Gabriel Blow” presents a great opportunity to introduce
aural and analytical / musicianship skills that explore chromatic scales, arpeggios, the circle of fifths and
jazz chords. Teachers can use ideas such as:
• Comparison of the two songs:
i. What melodic devices are used in each and how do they differ? e.g. “Night” is a descending
chromatic scale, whereas “Gabriel” uses equal amounts of descending and ascending lines, with a lot of perfect 4ths and minor 3rds as if mimicking a bugle call.
ii. How are the chord progressions in the song used to change or set the mood? e.g. “Gabriel”
changes to the relative minor in the “hell” section (giving a sad, angry feel), and modulates to the ii chord in the “ready to fly” section (as if ascending to heaven), whereas “Night” modulates freely from bar to bar, giving a more modern “jazz” sound.
• Compositional devices:
Porter used Western compositional techniques when setting out the harmonic structure to his songs, as
well as employing newer jazz chords when harmonizing the accompaniment. Below is a basic outline of the
chord progression for “All through the night”. You can see that Cole Porter used chromatic progressions
in the melody as well as in the chords. Chromatic means moving in steps of only a semitone, as opposed to
the degrees of a major or minor scale.
Ebmaj7
G7
Cm7
Eb7
Abmaj7
Abm7 / Db7
Gbmaj7
Gb6
Ebmaj7
G7
Cm7
Eb7
Abmaj7
Abm7 / Db7
Gbmaj7
Gb6
F7 (#5)
Dmaj7
Eb (etc …)
//
Bb7 (b9)
Dmaj7, D7, D6
Abdim7
//
Db7 (b9)
Eb
F – Gbmaj7
C7 (b9)
Gbmaj7
Fm9
Fdim7
Shows a chord pattern based on a chromatic progression
Shows a chord pattern based on a circle of fifths
Bb7 (b9)
Bb7 (b9)