This topic is part of a series that shall talk about every track on the LBT soundtrack in detailed analytical terms, both musically and how it relates to the film. It is inspired by the "Best Score" topic, seen below.
I don't expect as many people here to talk about the pure musical value, so I shall volunteer to take on the task of focusing on both the purely musical aspects of the score, and on how it relates to the film.
Since "If We Hold On Together" is the most popular choice so far on the "Best Score" topic, I shall discuss that one first. This will be the simplest of all the analyses I plan to do, as the song is relatively simple compared to the rest of the score.
General Analysis: The structure of this song is very stright-forward. Simple 4-bar-phrase melody, and a gradual buildup to the final chorus with an abrupt transparency to a gentle fadeout, as seen by the image I drew up quickly:
If We Hold On Together uses a simple O A B A B C B E structure (or "Form" as its often referred to), where:
O) is an opening which contains a unique melody
A) is a verse, where every A contains the same basic melody
B ) is a chorus (or "refrain" if you prefer) where every B contains the same basic melody
C) is a bridge or transition with a unique melody
E) is the ending, which contains a unique varation of a melody
This form is very common in modern songs.
The song is intended to be a highly emotional piece of music to connect the events of the film to a feeling of closeness and intimacy with both the characters and the rest of the film as a whole. This is done by the use of touching lyrics and the use of key musical themes generally used in the most emotional moments of the film. The musical theme shown here:
This music corresponds with the lyrics "Don't lose your way with each passing day. You've come so far, don't throw it away". This theme is incredibly important to the film because as you can see in the next picture, a very similar theme exists which introduces Littlefoot in the track "The Great Migration" (Played on Piccolo starting at 5:52 in the track):
"If We Hold On Together" uses a variation of this theme as a link to Littlefoot's birth.
Along with Littlefoot's opening theme, "If We Hold On Together" contains another very important musical theme. The music "Whispering Winds", which plays during the scene of his Mother's death, contains this priceless melody (on the bottom line).
Let's compare that to the chorus of "If We Hold On Together, I know our dreams will never die. Dreams see us through to forever..."
Except for very minor rhythmic changes, and a transposition of one octave, it is the
exact same melody. This chorus melody is used in many moments in the movie, including the climactic discovery of the Great Valley. I almost see this musical theme as "The theme of the circle of life". After all, let's look at when we hear it:
1) Littlefoot's Mother's death and his brief talk with Rooter (death is a part of life).
2) The first sight of Littlefoot's "Treestar" (with the tree star symbolizing growing or maturing, which is clearly part of life).
3) A subtle variation of the theme is heard when Littlefoot meets Ducky (friendship is certainly an important part of life, and working together lets them both survive to reach the furtile Great Valley)
4) The Discovery of the Great Valley itself (a journey toward life).
One final section has yet to be discussed; the so-called "bridge" of the song: "When we are out there in the dark, we'll dream about the sun. In the dark we'll feel the light. Warm our hearts, everyone." Musically, it looks like this:
Now, where have we seen this before? Just like every other melody in "If We Hold On Together", this has been heard in a previous scene in the film. This is also from the "Whispering Winds" track, where Littlefoot sees his shadow on the side of the cliff, which he thinks is his mother.
Let's take a brief look at the scenes included in "If We Hold On Together".
1) Littlefoot's birth
2) The first sight of Littlefoot's "Treestar" (with the tree star symbolizing growing or maturing, which is clearly part of life).
3) Littlefoot's Mother's death and his brief talk with Rooter (death is a part of life).
4) Littlefoot's hopefulness that he found his mother (the shadow on the cliff)
5) The meeting of Ducky (the possible breaking of Littlefoot's learned 'racism')
6) The Discovery of the Great Valley itself (a journey toward life).
The musical themes of this song link the entire film together, as we can clearly see above.
Musically, there isn't a lot to discuss about this song. The song is kept at a very peaceful 66 to 72 beats per minute, remaining with primarily in the Major key. Like many songs, it tends to dive into minor or other, more tense chords (such as on beat 2 of the 2nd last measure of the bridge section) briefly (one or two beats) on occasion to keep the "tension and release" rule of music active. Musically, the most complex part of the song is the 2nd half of the bridge, where the key changes from C Major (which it is for most of the song) to Bb major (measure 49 above), to Ab major (measure 51), to G major (measure 52), within the span of only 4 measures. Back at the chorus (measure 53, not shown), the song moves back into the key of C Major and remains there until the end of the song. This is different from many pop/dance songs, which tend to end in a slightly higher key than they started in (see the popular "Around the World" by ATC, or even the LBT 10 song "Bestest Friends" for a perfect example of this effect).
An interesting element of the instrumental part of this song are the strings playing underneath the vocal in the Final chorus (not in Any other chorus) play the same melody as heard briefly, starting at 10:45, in "Rescue and Discovery of the Great Valley" (the variation lasts only a few seconds, form 10:45 to 10:51 but there is Definitely a similarity). I captured this in our original "Gang of Five" version of the song, only I had it play on french horns as well, I extended the variation theme in our version, and ours was part of a larger ensemble.
Generally, the song tends to progress into more intricate musical arrangements from the beginning to the end of the final chorus, before fading out into a unique coda, where the vocal melody matches a section of "Whispering Winds", and I believe there is an equally important link to the end of "Rescue and Discovery of the Great Valley". The instrumental part,
the Very End string chords , I don't believe are a direct reference to anywhere else in the soundtrack. If somebody knows off-hand if they are, feel free to correct me.
This ends my semi-detailed analysis of "If We Hold On together". I don't feel a need to go into a lot more detail, as the song is quite basic musically and cannot be analysed by myself without looking into more detail than I care to do right now.
