Listening Blog #9 – “Deep River” – Marian Anderson

Instrumentation: Voice (Anderson) and piano accompaniment

Texture: The song’s texture is fairly sparse as there are only two instruments, and the piano is usually playing softly in the background so as not to interfere with Anderson’s singing. The texture of Anderson’s voice is very full and rich.

Range: Anderson mainly stays in a low vocal range (in fact, impressively low). However, her voice jumps an octave on the words ‘over Jordan’: this puts musical emphasis on the most important word of text in the line. She also maintains a higher vocal melody during the song’s bridge, with one sustained high note. However, the song’s ‘home’ is in the low vocal range.

Tempo: The song’s tempo is very slow and dragging. This adds an element of drama and soulfulness. As the piece progresses, some subdivision occurs in the piano part and vocal part to add interest – but in the song’s final verse, it reverts to the original tempo.

Meter: Overall, the song is set in duple meter: however, there is some delaying of the beat in some places.

Volume: An unusual aspect of this song is Anderson’s ability to maintain fairly loud volume even in her lower range: in fact, her ability to project and resonate at low pitch is one of her assets as a singer. While Anderson gets louder as she gets higher, the recording shows her talent in both ranges.

Form: Strophic

Lyrics: ‘Deep River’ is an African-American spiritual: in it, the narrator speaks of the deep river, which separates them from their home, Jordan. However, the narrator has faith that their Lord will soon deliver them. Within the lyrics lies the hope of African slaves that they would soon be delivered from the evil and oppression of slavery. Anderson’s singing of this song is particularly poignant. The listener can sense the emotion and soulfulness that she brings to the piece. Through this piece, Anderson reminded her audience that the vestiges of slavery were still not erased (through the Jim Crow laws and other acts of discrimination), and encouraged them to continue the fight for equality.