Key points about Little Fly
Esperanza Spalding is an award-winning American jazz singer, bassist and composer.
Spalding taught herself to play the violin from a young age and after trying various instruments, she settled on the bass.
Spalding is known for her fusion style. This is when two or more styles, or traditions, are mixed together. In Little Fly, Spalding creates music that combines western classical music with jazz.
The song can also be described as a jazz ballad.
The lyrics are taken from the poem The Fly by William Blake (1757-1827). The track is from Spalding’s third studio album Chamber Music Society, which was released in 2010.
Remember
Little Fly is one of three songs by this artist which are the study pieces for Area of Study 2 for your AQA GCSE listening exam.
The other two are:
Video
Watch the video below to learn more about the structure, vocal, instrumental and other musical features used in Little Fly.
Presenter: Little Fly was written by the American jazz bassist and singer songwriter Esperanza Spalding. It's a William Blake poem set to jazz music. The simplicity of the poem's theme is mirrored by the simple instrumentation. A string trio of violin, viola and cello normally heard in chamber music. Esperanza herself features on the double bass and vocals.
Singer*: Little Fly. Thy summer's play.
Presenter: The song has a moderately slow 4/4 tempo and is in E major. The chromatic movement in the chord progressions contributes to an uneasy feeling, as does the repeating double bass riff with a descending chromatic pattern.
Let's hear it.
The other strings interject with melodic phrases and chords underneath the vocal melody.
Singer*: Am not I a fly like thee? Or art not thou a man like me? Oooh…
Presenter: Jazz music features extended and altered chords as well as syncopated rhythms, and this song is no exception. G♯m, A♯min7♭5, D♯7♭9, G♯m.
The Latin American influence on Esperanto is writing is clear, with the bossa nova rhythm and the double bass line featuring throughout.
Let's take a listen.
Singer*: Little fly.
Structure
The structure of Little Fly is based on the text from William Blake’s poem.
Verses 1 and 2 of the poem become verse 1 of the song, and verses 3 and 4 of the poem become verse 2 of the song. Verse 5 of the poem becomes the coda.
Like the poem, there is no refrain or chorus, which means the structure of this is A musical form in which a verse or passage is repeated. A strophic song refers to music in which every verse or chorus is sung to the same music. which is typical for poems which are ballads.
The following table summarises the structure with some musical features to listen out for.
| Section | Bars | Lyrics and notable features |
|---|---|---|
| Introduction | 1-5 | Instrumental - after entering one by one, the violin, viola and cello weave melodies around each other, while the bass plays a pizzicato chromatically descending riff. It plays two notes at once, also known as double stopping. |
| Verse 1 | 6-21 | ‘Little fly…’ - the bass riff continues but without the double stopping. The vocal line opens with a descending three note pattern in E major which is repeated. The second half of the verse gives way to higher vocals and the bass riff stops. |
| Verse 2 | 22-41 | ‘For I dance…’ - the vocal melody is the same but is accompanied by a violin countermelody at first, and some interjections from the ensemble. The viola recalls its own melody from the introduction. |
| Coda | 42-end | ‘Then am I…’ - this begins the same as the verses, but with different accompaniment. There is half the text of verses one and two. The instruments take over, embellishing the original viola melody. A pizzicato passage then follows with an improvisation on the bass. When the vocals re-enter, it is a scatting improvisation in dialogue with the bass improvisation. Over this, the string trio plays a sustained chord. |
Vocal Features
Spalding is known for her silky, smooth vocals and how they interact with her funky basslines. This is evident in Little Fly.
She sings in an alto range from B to D sharp in the treble clef:
In the second half of verses 1 and 2, she enters with her head voice and you can hear some vibrato adding warmth to her sound, for example on the word 'me' at the end of verse 2.
Her improvisations between verses include gentle repetitions of the words ‘little fly’ and some of her scatting sounds, like sighs, reflect the contemplative nature of the text.
In the coda, after the instrumental improvisations, the vocals return for the final strains of the song. Again, the scatting suggests sighing and contentment.
Remember
There is no refrain or chorus in this song. The structure is strophic, meaning that all verses are set to the same music.
Question and answer
Which three instruments make up the accompanying string trio?
- violin
- viola
- cello
Instrumental features
It is Spalding’s chosen instrumentation that is key to the fusion of the western classical tradition and jazz. The accompanying strings of violin, viola and cello form a string trio, a popular choice for Beethoven, Schubert and their contemporaries. Small ensembles like this were also known as chamber music, inspiring the album’s name - Chamber Music Society.
The strings provide accompaniment, sometimes sustained notes, as well as more intricate textures and countermelodies when they become more active in verse two. The trio is usually bowing, or playing arco, but in the coda, there is a section where they are all playing pizzicato. The string instruments also play trills to reflect the little fly.
As is typical of Spalding’s style, the bass plays a prominent role in this song. It presents the main riff in the introduction and is characterised by pizzicato and double stopping. This pizzicato contrasts the more legato arco playing of the string trio.
In pictures: Esperanza Spalding's Little Fly
Image caption, The string trio accompaniment brings the western classical influence to Little Fly.
1 of 5
Other musical features
Spalding uses her fusion style to tell a compelling story in Little Fly.
Below is a summary of the key elements and where appropriate, how they contribute to the storytelling:
| Element | Notable Features |
|---|---|
| Harmony and Tonality | The key is E major but the extended and altered chords and chromatic riffs can make the tonality unclear. |
| Melody | The bass riff in the introduction is repeated at the start of each verse and appears 20 times during the piece. The main shape of this is the chromatic descending scale. The vocal melody draws the listener into a repeating G# and descends afterwards. The strings enter one by one with their own melodies which weave around each other. Some melodies are by step, others include leaps. The viola melody from the introduction returns at the end of verse two, played in octaves with the violin before being imitated by the cello. This takes place in the extended instrumental section which follows the end of verse 2. |
| Texture | This is mostly melody and accompaniment, with the melody being sung. The strings provide a contrasting sustained texture compared to the more detached pizzicato bass. There are moments of different textures. A monophonic texture can be heard on the very first pizzicato note on the double bass and the final vocal held note (an E) is left by itself just before the instruments return. There is some polyphonic writing in the string accompaniment as the strings enter the introduction and also at the end of verse two. |
| Rhythm and metre | The song is in 4/4 but with many syncopated rhythms, especially in the bass riff. When the bass plays the bassline in the verse, the syncopation reminds the listener of a samba/bossa nova bassline. |
Question and answer
What word would you use to describe the overall articulation of this song?
Legato
Little Fly quiz
More on Traditional music
Find out more by working through a topic
