Mixture – Example 2-Inch Worm

Definition: Mixture is the use of chords from a parallel key (i.e., parallel major, minor, or mode) in a piece of music.

“Inch Worm” (1952) by Frank Loesser”

An example of a piece of music that uses mixture is “Inch Worm” written by Frank Loesser (1910-1969), first sung by Danny Kaye (1911-1987) in the movie Hans Christian Andersen (1952). The video below is an excerpt from this movie of Kaye singing the song:

(Note: There is another version of this song on Youtube from the TV show Sesame Street which you might remember.)

Below is a score with the chords for “Inch Worm”:

This version of the song is in the key of F major. Analyzing all the chords that are diatonic to F major, we get the version below. The chords in the shaded blocks are not diatonic to F major.

Looking at the analysis we also notice that m. 1-8 are very similar to m. 9-16. The chords that are shaded in m. 1-8 are the same in m. 9-12; shaded chords are Ebmaj7 and Bb-.

In the key of F major, Ebmaj7 is a bVII chord (Eb-G-Bb), borrowed from natural minor, with a major 7 from the major key.

Bb- is a minor iv chord, again borrowed form F minor and put into F major.

Both chords, bVII and iv, are examples of mixture.

A full analysis is shown below: