Final Assessment Qn1

Final Assessment



Question 1: Consolidation and self-reflection of blog posts


My selected area of focus was Rock music, an area which I was completely alien to, and finally decided to narrow my scope and look only at music written by the Beatles as they were the ones who have impact Rock culture in the 1960s the most.

My most significant learning point was the identifying of mixture harmonies, and this came only at the very end of this assignment which was from the individualized assessment questions. Before that while doing the analysis of these three Lennon and McCartney songs, it did not occur to me that primary and modal mixtures were used and were not aware of them. Being able to identify them later on helped me have a better understanding of mixture harmonies especially in ‘Lady Madonna’ and ‘Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds’ where the primary mixture was used and also the modal mixture of Lydian mode as described further in Question 2.

Another insight was seeing how very simple melodies in those songs were treated that they can be used many times but yet does not get boring at all. An example is ‘Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds’ which has very simple and repeated melodic ideas but remain interest by having unconventional underlying harmonies. It also does not stick to one idea for a long period of time as we see that this song has three short sections with different ideas for each.



There is a question yet to be answered from the comments of the very last post on 31 March 2007 regarding the key of the introduction of ‘Eleanor Rigby’. I too also struggled to decide if the key should be in E minor or G major as both were possible options, but in the end I still decided that there was a stronger sense of E minor. A possible reason why Jeanette felt a stronger sense of E minor only in the verse as said in her comments could be because the verse uses an E minor pedal like a drone and briefly switching to C major and back again to E minor.

Final Assessment Qn2

Final Assessment

Question 2: Three Lennon & McCartney songs

i. All three songs you have chosen betray a rather idiosyncratic use of mixture harmonies, whether in the major or minor keys. Examine and comment. Consider their renderings both in the melody and in the harmony.

[Special note: Obviously, answers to these two questions can be full-length essays, but for this test you need only discuss 2 or 3 instances in each case.]

Eleanor Rigby

The home key of this song is E minor and the use of the Dorian mode with its 6th raised, ie. C#, as a mixture harmony is also very distinct. This is seen in the chorus (b.19-26) and also in the verses. In the chorus, it seems to be switching between tonal and modal harmony especially because of the C# appearing.

Perhaps the Dorian traditional/church mode had been used here deliberately because the scenario of this song is also in a church.

Lady Madonna

Primary mixture harmony is used extensively in this entire song. It is the borrowing of diatonic chords from its parallel major/minor, which is A minor in this case. Examples are shown below in (2a) in b.15.

Looking at this song from the perspective of a mixture harmony, the song does not modulate to C major as said previously in my 31 March 2007 posting on ‘Lady Madonna’. Instead, it remains in A major and the chords used are borrowed from A minor as seen in (2b) from b.25 to 31.

As for the melody, the flattened third (C natural) occurs very frequently. This is also very common in blues. The sixth and seventh of the scale is also flattened occasionally but not as frequently. An example of the melody using the mixture harmony is also in (2a) above where the melody uses G natural and C natural.

It is interesting to note that at b.15 at (2a) even though C natural is used in the melody, that chord still contains a C#, resulting in a false relation. I believe this C# is used as a Common Tone which leads to the A major chord that follows.

Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds

There are two types of mixture harmonies used in this song – primary mixture and modal mixture.

The primary mixture occurs in the first part of the verses in the A major section, b.5 to 21. Similar to Lady Madonna, some chords are borrowed from its parallel minor of A minor. An example of those chords can be seen underlined in (3a).

The modal mixture occurs in the second part of the verses in Bb major, b.24 to 35. The Lydian mode is used where the 4th is raised, ie. E natural. One example can be seen in (3b), giving rise to a major chord II.

ii. Another prominent musical feature is the use of a scalic motif/idea as a recurrent or repetitive element in all three songs. This has a unifying effect on the one hand but it also betrays the composers’ ingenuity on the other. Again, identify the motif in each song to examine and comment.

The main idea found in all three songs is the use of descending partially-chromatic motifs. However, they are handled differently in each case.

Eleanor Rigby

The main motif of this song is A G F# E in b.2 labeled as (1a). It recurs many times throughout the song as seen in the score, labeled from (1b) to (1e). However, this does not make the song any less interesting because it always reappears in varying forms. Even though (1c), (1d) and (1e) have a missing F#, it still sounds quite clear that it is from the main motif. These descending lines can be likened to sighs, lamenting the lonely people and sighing throughout the song.

The second motif is D C# C B found labeled as (1f) and (1g) in the score. This motif is important to the song as it introduces the C# at b.10 which contributes to the song’s modal feel. This motif also complements the main motifs in (1d) and (1e) in b.19 to b.26.

Lady Madonna

The main motif of this song is C# C# C B A (as seen in b.9 in (2c)) and it occurs in throughout the song in different variations such as in (2d) and (2a), highlighted in blue. It is easily recognisable and memorable as the motif is catchy with syncopation and at the same time simple.

Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds

There are three distinct motifs for each of the three sections of this song – the A major section, the Bb major section and the G major section.

In the A major section, it has a distinct three-note motif of C# B A which repeats tirelessly (3c). Underlying this motif is A G F# F E in semibreves (as described further in the 21 Feb 2007 posting). This descending line gives a certain form of direction as the melody continues to repeat itself for a total of 11 times in this short section of 16 bars.

In the Bb major section, the motif also consists of three notes D D D and repeats throughout, with a dip in the melody to C which cause syncopation in the beat (See 3b).

The final motif in the G major chorus section is more complicated in comparison with the previous two motifs. The chorus is simply made up of this motif repeating 3 times. An example is seen below labeled as (3d).

Final Assessment Qn3

Final Assessment



Question 3: Schubert, “Der Doppelgänger” (Burkhart, 294-296; XCD 656)



i. Like “Eleanor Rigby”, this is also a depressing song, but far more powerful in its emotional portrayals. Can you identify two or three of the musical elements used in Schubert’s setting to achieve this? Consider the vocal line as well as the accompaniment.



In my very first listening of this piece, bearing in mind that this is going to be a depressing song, I immediately felt the starting chord very bare. This is because the first chord and also many of the subsequent chords have a missing third. But more importantly, on top of the missing thirds, the musical element used in portraying the ‘depressing’ mood is the open octaves used in the left hand of the accompaniment throughout the song (except for a few bars). Inside these octaves and also in the right-hand of the accompaniment is an F# inner pedal, forming an F# octave also almost throughout the whole song from b.1-46. [As a side note, this reminds me very much of Debussy’s ‘The Sunken Cathedral’ we did in class because of the bare octaves used with the E inner pedal found in b.7-13.]

Another feature is the modulation from B minor to D# minor through a series of chords which are rising chromatically below a stagnant melody. This is in b.43-47 where the “doppelganger” or “the double” is addressed directly for the first time (reading from the English translation). This feature of modulation creates a stronger atmosphere for this third stanza.


The last and most obvious element which contributes to the powerful portrayal of emotions is the wide range of dynamics used from ppp to fff. fff is used three times in this song. At b.31, the fff used coincides with F# which is the highest note so far. However, the real peak has yet to come. The actual climax of this song is at the second fff at b.41 with G which is one semitone above the previous. For the final fff, it attempts to peak again but not as much as the previous one. It then fades into a ppp as the song ends. This use of dynamics highlight the anguish and fear the writer must be feeling as described in the poem.





ii. Analyze the harmony for bars 1-11 and bs. 43-end.

Comments for analysis of b.43-46:As mentioned earlier, this is a series of chromatically ascending chords in the key of B minor eventually leading to D# minor. Initially I thought the chord in b.44 was simply vdim6/4. Later on, it was suggested that b.45 be analysed as a passing 6/4. This made me think further and analysed b.44 as the passing 6/4 instead, and b.45 to be not passing in function as it reminds me of the opening bars of I-V-III.

Eleanor Rigby - Analysis

Eleanor Rigby - Analysis

This song is quite depressing. It talks about an unlamented death of an old and lonely spinster who used to clean up after joyful church weddings. This depressive mood is reflected in the music where descending lines are used throughout the song. It is in the key of Emin and also sound modal. Also, this whole song is written using only the harmony of C and Em chords (VI-I). Is there any term for this? or is there anything very significant about it?

In the Intro, the descending line A G F# E sung by the singer can be heard distinctly (b.1-2). This is repeated by the keyboard an octave lower as part of a compound melody (b.3-4). Also, there is a pedal point in b.1-2 and 5-6 below the descending line. This alternating between the voice and kbd of the descending melodic motif is repeated twice.

Moving on to the verse, most of it is made up of a decorated descending melodic line over a tonic pedal. D C# B A can be heard very distinctly (b.10-12 and 15-17). This line moves downwards in spirals gradually. The word-setting is also very apt because all the stressed syllables are held longer by the rhythmic displacement of the melody .
We've learnt about the '5-6' technique, and we've also learnt of other suspensions, but not '6-5'. In b.13 there is '6-5' suspension and also in b.12 which is separated by a long rest.

The chorus (b.19-29) can be looked at in 3 parts: the bass, 'tenor' and melody line.
The bass is a tonic pedal of Emin throughout. This gives a strong sense of the key in Emin even though the Dominant is not used once in this song. The 'tenor' line descends chromatically D-C#-C-B and adds to the harmony. As for the melody line, it has leaps of 8th (b.20) and 10th (b.24) upwards followed by a descending line. This style of the music climbing upwards quickly and gradually coming down is typical of this song as we have seen in the Verse section (b.10-11) and now in the chorus section (b.20-21 & b.24-25)

Eleanor Rigby - Score

Eleanor Rigby - Score
I can’t think of a better way but to simply put all 3 pages of the score here instead of small specific sections like what I did earlier, cos a lot of my points are interlinked. Pardon me, cos its gonna be more difficult for you to refer to.. Perhaps you could just print them out! Thanks.

Lady Madonna - Plagal Expansion

Lady Madonna - Plagal Expansion

After Dr Chong mentioned about Plagal Expansions in lesson last Tuesday, I couldn’t resist putting this song up here – Lady Madonna. So I’ll just have to put Eleanor Rigby on hold for the moment!

As you can see in fig. 11 above, the song starts with a plagal expansion of I-IV-I-IV-etc. and ends that phrase with VI-VII-VIII, completely avoiding out V. This deliberately creates tonal ambiguity.

Towards the middle of the song, it modulates to Cmaj where Cmaj is briefly established by an imperfect cadence. It then shifts back to plagal expansions in Amaj.

The Dominant of Amaj is finally used as seen in b.39-40 in fig.13 above. A suspension is used but it is not resolved the conventional way. It is a suspension followed by retardation (resolution upwards). But whatever the case, it definitely feels more comfortable and stable after being established in Amaj with the use of V after being tonally ambiguous throughout the whole song. This is further emphasized with a sudden increase in note values for these 4 bars. The whole song is slowed down and chord V becomes more prominent, confirming the tonal center.

At the end of the song, one would usually expect a resolution of sort in the home key. However this is not the case here. (fig. 12) Even though the chords provided says E7sus – A, it does not seem like a V7-I to me. I would think its iio7-I. Am I right by saying this?

Eleanor Rigby - Lyrics and Overall Form

Eleanor Rigby – Lyrics and Overall Form

Here are the Lyrics for Eleanor Rigby, the new song I'll be working on. It starts with a stand-alone introduction. This song is strophic with 3 verses having the same melody and harmony but different words set to it. And after each verse is the chorus.

{Intro}
Ah, look at all the lonely people
Ah, look at all the lonely people

{Verse 1}
Eleanor Rigby picks up the rice in the church where a wedding has been
Lives in a dream
Waits at the window, wearing the face that she keeps in a jar by the door
Who is it for?

{Chorus}
All the lonely people
Where do they all come from?
All the lonely people
Where do they all belong?

{Verse 2}
Father McKenzie writing the words of a sermon that no one will hear
No one comes near.
Look at him working.
Darning his socks in the night when there's nobody there
What does he care?

{Chorus}

{Verse 3}
Eleanor Rigby died in the church and was buried along with her name
Nobody came
Father McKenzie wiping the dirt from his hands as he walks from the grave No one was saved

{Chorus}

Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds & Beatles Background

Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds & Beatles Background

John Lennon got his primary inspiration for this song from his son, Julian Lennon. Julian had a painting of his classmate Lucy at his nursery and described it as "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds". This theme stuck in John's mind and he developed the music from there, also adding in more dream-like ideas influenced from his love for surrealism. (With reference to 'A Hard Day's Write' by Steve Turner)

It is also interesting that there were persistant rumours of "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" sending a cryptic message about LSD. Despite John's denial, this accusation was quite believable as the Beatles were into drugs and LSD was the latest fad then. Ever since they started tripping out on drugs, it was very evident the type of drug they took affected the kind of music they produced. They tripped from alcohol in 1964 to marijuana in 1966 to acid (LSD) and finally heroine in the last few years.

This text I came across (Rock and Roll: an introduction by Michael Campbell) draws specific relations between this song and the drug very aptly. "The verse creates a dreamy state. The lyric contains numerous psychedelic images (e.g., "marmalade skies") and the music floats along in waltz time. It gives the impression of a person in the middle of an acid trip. By contrast, the chorus is straight-ahead rock and roll, which conveys a sense of normalcy. The repetition of the title phrase suggests a second persona in the song: someone observing the person who's tripping in the verse."

Aha! This explains the surprising shift to the tonal functional harmony of T PD D T in the refrain section from the non-standard function verses! (refer to section on harmonic and functional analysis) Way cool.

Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds - Other Features

Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds - Other Features

The intro to this song (fig.10) is a short 4-bar melody. Despite it being very angular, it manages to blend in well with Verse 1 which follows immediately after. The reason being, it is actually a compound melody. After the intro, this descending line of A G F# F E then shifts to the bass and recurs throughout the first section of Verses 1, 2 and 3.

Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds - Modulations

Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds - Modulations

A Common Note F is used across b.22-26 (fig.8) to ensure a smooth transition from Amaj to Bbmaj. Another feature which contributes to the modulation is the C# note rising a semitone to D as the key rises a semitone as well. It serves as a form of preparation so the listener can expect this change.




On the other hand, the second modulation at the refrain (fig.9) does not have any form of preparation like the first modulation. It shifts from Bbmaj to an unrelated key of Gmaj. The change sounds drastic and must have been done deliberately.

Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds - Harmonic and Functional Analysis

Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds - Harmonic and Functional Analysis

-The entire first section of verse 1 from b.5-19 (fig.4a&4b) can be seen as a T Exp. It then ends with a T Sub in b.20.

-In the Bbmaj section from from b.24-35 (fig.5), the repeating note D in the melody line forms an inverted pedal. This section can also be taken as a T exp.

-The refrain section (fig.6) comes as a surprise as it sounds distinct from the rest of the song. It is completely tonal and makes use of only the primary chords I, IV, V. This is to emphasize the theme which is 'Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds'.

-This song ends in an interesting way. (fig. 7) Initially I simply thought it ends curiously on a PD. However, I realised it actually ends on T of Amaj, which is the first chord of this piece. There is no resolution here. This is also a common practice in pop music.

Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds - Lyrics and Overall Structure

Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds - Lyrics and Overall Structure

The structure of this song is in a simple and straightforward verse-refrain form. However, the only anomaly would be that verse 3 is half the length of what it should be like in verses 1 and 2. It goes straight into the refrain and makes up for the loss of half the verse by repeating the refrain.

{VERSE 1}
Picture yourself in a boat on a river,
With tangerine trees and marmalade skies
Somebody calls you, you answer quite slowly,
A girl with kaleidoscope eyes.

Cellophane flowers of yellow and green,
Towering over your head.
Look for the girl with the sun in her eyes,
And she's gone.

{REFRAIN}
Lucy in the sky with diamonds(diamonds).
Lucy in the sky with diamonds(diamonds).
Lucy in the sky with diamonds(diamonds).
Ah... Ah...

{VERSE 2}
Follow her down to a bridge by a fountain
Where rocking horse people eat marshmallow pies,
Everyone smiles as you drift past the flowers,
That grow so incredibly high.

Newspaper taxis appear on the shore,
Waiting to take you away.
Climb in the back with your head in the clouds,
And you're gone.

{REFRAIN}

{VERSE 3}
Picture yourself on a train in a station,
With plasticine porters with looking glass ties,
Suddenly someone is there at the turnstile,
The girl with kaleidoscope eyes.

{REFRAIN REPEATED}

Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds

Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds

I've selected Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds as my first piece to work on. It's taken from the album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, and this album has been hailed for its lyrical and musical brilliance. The Beatles made waves throughout the world again when this album was released in June 1967 as this kind of music they created was considered unconventional then.

The history aside, here are some things I’ll be looking at:
- Harmonic and Functional (H&F) analysis of selected portions
- Overall Structure
- Modulations

The Beatles

The Beatles!

As you can see, I'll be working on The Beatles!! =) Been listening to Beatles for the past few weeks and found that their songs do have rather unique harmonies. However they mostly sound somewhat similar to me and gets less interesting after awhile. Nevertheless, they were able to capture the hearts and ears of people all over the world with their music throughout the 1960s. Which aspect of their music led to their resounding success? We'll find out.

ethnic or pop?

Helloo!! Glad to be back here again. =P School has resumed for 2 weeks already and once again I embark on my mini music analysis project.

Well, this time I'll be looking into either ethnic music or perhaps popular music.. Hmm I'll decide soon. So, look out!!