In my heart there rings a harmony..

First Reflections on Teaching and Learning

2010-11-08T16:29:00.001+08:00

I finally started school again sometime in July this year and it's been 3 months plus at a wonderful secondary school. :) The academic year has officially ended so here are some of my experiences and thoughts.

Ever since I started teaching proper, I have been plagued with countless questions on ‘teaching’ in general – how to keep my students in order, what to say when students misbehave, how to deliver a lesson effectively, how to engage them such that they become excited and motivated to learn, how to develop a positive classroom culture, when to use the hard or soft approach, and the list goes on and on. With that amount of inexperience and uncertainty, I cannot bear to imagine what my first three months as a beginning teacher would have been like without the sincere care, generous support and guidance from my teacher mentor. I have learnt very much and am still learning from his dedication and integrity as a musician and music teacher, his meticulous and disciplined work habits, as well as his respect and care for students, colleagues, superiors and other members of the PRCS community in the way he interacts with them. For this, I am extremely grateful for my teacher mentor, Marvin.

Sometime towards the end of August, with Marvin’s recommendation, I had the opportunity to sit in one of June’s classes (Sec 1/7) in a bid to figure out the various aspects of ‘teaching’ I have mentioned above which I find so difficult to grasp. I was immediately drawn towards how comfortable and relaxed her classroom atmosphere and the pace of her lesson was. With some prodding, students were able to respond freely and orderly and not surprisingly manage to cover much lesson content. It was clear that she was in complete control of the lesson/class and that gave students the sense of security, hence the comfortable pace and willingness to respond and learn. After class, I posed her the million-dollar question, “how do you achieve that??” Her response was simple and said that I first need to have a strong grasp of the subject/lesson content in order to be in control.

Immediately it struck a chord. I mentally scanned through my teaching experiences thus far and could identify specific lessons that were more successful because of my familiarity with the lesson content, as well as unsuccessful lessons because of the lack of it.

An example of the more successful lesson was the one for the O Level Music class on Chinese music traditions as part of the world music component. I was familiar with it mostly because I learnt it as a student myself previously. As a result I was able to scaffold their learning process in terms of meaningful activities and handouts that gave them the ability to think and listen for themselves as opposed to me simply presenting them with the information. To introduce cipher notation, I first gave them the score of the well-known song Spirited Away but written in cipher notation. I explained several rules about the notation and then they had to figure out the score themselves and play it in three-parts on the Orff xylophones. Listening activities followed after. They certainly learnt as I assessed them at the end of the lesson and they also had fun with the ensemble playing. Familiarity with the content allowed the freedom and confidence to answer students’ queries and for organized learning to take place.

An example of an unsuccessful lesson was the one for the GMP class on community songs in preparation for National Day. I did have lesson materials such as the video clips for those songs as well as PowerPoint slides in the style of the game show Don’t forget the Lyrics! for the activity. Like most typical students, they enjoyed the videos but were not very keen on singing these songs. Forced repetition was worse as it made them become slightly rebellious as they wanted fun and began to make fun of the songs. In that state, the game show activity did not work well either. I remember looking at the clock and desperately wondering what to do with the class for the remaining 20min. Resorting to playing videos would have been the easy way out just to keep them entertained but then the students would not have learnt anything musical and I would have wasted the music lesson. As much as I wanted to, I was simply unable to carry on with the singing and activity. I was terribly lost. On hindsight, this boils down to familiarity with the subject content as June advised. Being able to sing the songs was just barely scraping the surface, I should have asked myself questions such as ‘Why do we celebrate National Day? Why do we sing community songs? And why were these songs written in the first place?’ I learnt the lesson when Marvin admonished students (from another class but similar lesson) on their complacency and ungratefulness to their forefathers who toiled hard to give them what Singapore is today. He also showed them clips on what Singapore was like in the past to give them insight. As a result, the students sang with enthusiasm because they understood the meaning behind those songs and it gave them a real reason to sing praise and be grateful. I was so enlightened.

In addition to having a strong grasp of the lesson content, the lesson/unit structure is no less important. This refers to the need for perspective when formulating the unit plan, time frame, type of assessment, down to preempting the necessary details for each lesson. I’m still in the midst of trying to figure this out so I’m unable to pen my thoughts on this for now. I’ve had glimpses of it though. Here’s an example with my Sec 1/7 music keyboard lessons. 1/7 has indeed been challenging for me most of the time. Week after week I observed a pattern in their behaviour that they are usually more cooperative and on task at the start of the lesson, and then gradually become chaotic towards the last 15-20 minutes. Initially I didn’t know why. I resisted having to ask Marvin if he could sit in because I wanted to try again and was hoping that I would manage the class better the following week. Well, things got quite out of hand so in the end I had Marvin drop by to take a look and to troubleshoot. After that session, his response came as a slew of questions, “Did you identify and separate those students who already have music/piano background? Did you give them more challenging or the same piece of music to work on as the others? Did you have extra pieces of music for students who have completed their task ahead of the rest? Were there special seating arrangements? Clear and challenging targets for students to meet at the end of each lesson?” My response was a series of sheepish ‘no’ and ‘half-yes’. These questions seem quite obvious now but definitely not at that time. From that perspective, a well-structured lesson would have eliminated a large amount of the negative behavioural responses that were displayed each week. Not only that, I was also made aware of real classroom applications of differentiated learning for students of varying abilities from this experience.

Several of such learning experiences the past few months have certainly served to show me the reality of teaching. ‘I feel like I’m finally back on earth,’ I shared one afternoon. I’ve always wanted to teach from a young age but had in mind lofty and cotton-candy ideas of being a carefree and wonderful teacher with eager students. Far from that, I realized wanting to be a good teacher is an arduous task and a formidable skill to acquire that requires much determination, time, effort and love. I came to recognize this reality after a bout of discouragement during the first two months when I compared the lessons Marvin and I conducted. Marvin and I would conduct the exact same lesson for certain classes and I observed that in his class, the students are generally bubbling over with excitement and eagerness to complete their tasks/assignments. However in my class, using the same resources, students were at times reluctant to do any work and some were even confused with what they were supposed to do. At that time I wondered what was wrong because I had thought that having ‘transferred’ all the necessary resources/materials/information from Marvin would put me in good stead. Indeed it has in a way (and I am heavily indebted to him for his generosity) but there’s so much more I need to learn for myself in order to be a good music teacher. Perhaps I could start with developing an ability to be firm, decisive, give clear/concise instructions and build relationships with the students.

I learnt that making a conscious effort to consistently build caring and trusting relationships with students is crucial and indispensible. Again, taking an example from my experience with dear Sec 1/7, throughout the semester I was very fierce with them, scolding and punishing individuals each week because I simply didn’t know what else to do when they started getting mischievous/defiant/disruptive. (The worst was when one of them fired off the fire extinguisher!!) The negative reinforcements certainly didn’t work well and did not create any positive impact at all. In fact on two occasions, the students commented that I needed to ‘relax’ and ‘learn to have a sense of humour’. (Perhaps I do need to learn these as well.) Despite all these seemingly bad experiences, I really appreciate having to teach 1/7. Yes, I really do and that was what I told the class on the last day of school as they were all busy discussing about their report cards they received from their teacher earlier on. As usual, I had to raise my voice over their huge din to speak to them. But something really interesting and never seen before happened after my first declaration. Many students went “Shhh! Shhh!” and started to settle down. I repeated myself again since it seemed to work and just in case some didn’t hear it the first time, “I honestly and sincerely appreciate having to teach your class the last semester”. I went on to explain amongst several other things that I had only wanted them to learn and take away with them useful lessons and skills, but that could not take place if everyone was not cooperative and hence the frequent punishment and scolding. I appreciate them for their liveliness and transparentness because their behavioural responses helped to reveal many loopholes in my teaching and planning and thus makes good learning experiences for me. It is amazing how ready and willing they are to listen and respond positively when they know that I do in fact like them and care about them. If only I had been able to express it to them during the semester and not only scoldings. Their responses became more supportive and positive as I ended by telling them that I still look forward to seeing them the following year if I get to teach them again.

Jon Schmidt - Love Story Meets Viva La Vida

2010-02-03T15:24:00.003+08:00

I love this arrangement so very much.. right from the moment they start walking in with their expressions so full of joy and positive vibes. I liked how they arranged the two songs together so seamlessly and how they made such good use of Viva la Vida's rhythmic motif to achieve that seamlessness.

Love Her More and Love Her Less

2009-10-20T17:59:00.001+08:00

By John Piper May 29, 1995

For Karsten Luke Piper
At His Wedding to
Rochelle Ann Orvis
May 29, 1995

The God whom we have loved, and in
Whom we have lived, and who has been
Our Rock these twenty-two good years
With you, now bids us, with sweet tears,
To let you go: "A man shall leave
His father and his mother, cleave
Henceforth unto his wife, and be
One unashaméd flesh and free."
This is the word of God today,
And we are happy to obey.
For God has given you a bride
Who answers every prayer we've cried
For over twenty years, our claim
For you, before we knew her name.

And now you ask that I should write
A poem - a risky thing, in light
Of what you know: that I am more
The preacher than the poet or
The artist. I am honored by
Your bravery, and I comply.
I do not grudge these sweet confines
Of rhyming pairs and metered lines.
They are old friends. They like it when
I bid them help me once again
To gather feelings into form
And keep them durable and warm.

And so we met in recent days,
And made the flood of love and praise
And counsel from a father's heart
To flow within the banks of art.
Here is a portion of the stream,
My son: a sermon poem. It's theme:
A double rule of love that shocks;
A doctrine in a paradox:

If you now aim your wife to bless,
Then love her more and love her less.

If in the coming years, by some
Strange providence of God, you come
To have the riches of this age,
And, painless, stride across the stage
Beside your wife, be sure in health
To love her, love her more than wealth.

And if your life is woven in
A hundred friendships, and you spin
A festal fabric out of all
Your sweet affections, great and small,
Be sure, no matter how it rends,
To love her, love her more than friends.

And if there comes a point when you
Are tired, and pity whispers, "Do
Yourself a favor. Come, be free;
Embrace the comforts here with me."
Know this! Your wife surpasses these:
So love her, love her, more than ease.

And when your marriage bed is pure,
And there is not the slightest lure
Of lust for any but your wife,
And all is ecstasy in life,
A secret all of this protects:
Go love her, love her, more than sex.

And if your taste becomes refined,
And you are moved by what the mind
Of man can make, and dazzled by
His craft, remember that the "why"
Of all this work is in the heart;
So love her, love her more than art.

And if your own should someday be
The craft that critics all agree
Is worthy of a great esteem,
And sales exceed your wildest dream,
Beware the dangers of a name.
And love her, love her more than fame.

And if, to your surprise, not mine,
God calls you by some strange design
To risk your life for some great cause,
Let neither fear nor love give pause,
And when you face the gate of death,
Then love her, love her more than breath.

Yes, love her, love her, more than life;
O, love the woman called your wife.
Go love her as your earthly best.

Beyond this venture not. But, lest
Your love become a fool's facade,
Be sure to love her less than God.

It is not wise or kind to call
An idol by sweet names, and fall,
As in humility, before
A likeness of your God. Adore
Above your best beloved on earth
The God alone who gives her worth.
And she will know in second place
That your great love is also grace,
And that your high affections now
Are flowing freely from a vow
Beneath these promises, first made
To you by God. Nor will they fade
For being rooted by the stream
Of Heaven's Joy, which you esteem
And cherish more than breath and life,
That you may give it to your wife.

The greatest gift you give your wife
Is loving God above her life.
And thus I bid you now to bless:
Go love her more by loving less.

youtube: Mr. Nichols

2009-06-15T17:25:00.005+08:00

How important is corporate success/work to you? What about God, family or health? Take a step back and think for a moment.

Be careful cos the thing you're striving so hard for might just be the thing that would take your life - just like Mr. Nichols'.

Musician's 1 Corinthians 13

2009-04-08T15:14:00.004+08:00

1 Corinthians 13 paraphrased just for musicians. (Click to enlarge)

"Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres."

John Cage - Renga

2009-04-02T22:49:00.006+08:00

Check out Cage's work Renga!! First the 'prepared piano' and now the 'underprepared score'..

Nah, certainly not underprepared at all.. just that so much of the musical decisions is left to the performers!! Perhaps I think this work is super cool cos it is very structured and well-planned for a piece of Aleatory Music and at the same time there's so much space for improv/interpretation for each individual in the orchestra.

It's so exciting it makes me feel so ticklish all over.. can't wait to hear YTSO's performance of this piece. :)

PS. Wonder what are some other great works catagorised under Aleatory Music?

TED Prize Winner: Maestro Jose Antonio Abreru

2009-03-02T00:29:00.000+08:00

Maestro Jose Antonio Abreru on music education as a form of social rescue and means of life-transformation for vulnerable and lower/middle-class kids. A courageous and inspiring role model for all music educators. :)

Teresa Carreño Youth Orchestra. I rated this jaw-dropping, fascinating and inspiring. One of the bestest orchestras i've came across ever. It's incredible the amount of determination, sincerity and connection they have and put in their music.

The King's Singers - Masterpiece

2009-02-26T19:51:00.002+08:00

The King's Singers singing Masterpiece by Paul Drayton.

Really top class singers, fit for the king.

End of Learning Journey with Babbitt (yet another stepping stone)

2008-11-09T23:02:00.002+08:00

Funny that my ears are actually getting accustomed to listening to Babbitt’s music, or other avant-garde compositions for that matter. Why am I surprised? This is simply the result of a small attempt to immerse myself into the world of previously unfamiliar 20thC music for the last 3 months.

Out of all the different domains and aspects of 20thC music we’ve covered, Minimalism still appeals to me the most. (This has always been the case actually.) Somehow I can identify with it without much difficulty and it captures my attention. Don’t know how else to put it. argh. Really wonder if it’s the same for others or is it just my ears? Is it true for most people that in general, Minimalism is more accessible (aurally) than other forms of 20thC music?

Looking back, I’ve realized that I’ve come quite a long way in a short 3-month time frame. Reason being that previously I found 20thC pieces completely unintelligible. Also, I’m ashamed to admit that I was even mocking at such form of “music” and questioning the musical ability of their respective “composers”. (absolutely rude and obnoxious of me.) :-S This was because I was still listening to them through my tonal and biased ears! I just simply need to put on another fresh pair of listening ears.

I must say that I have been humbled by my newfound respect for the 20thC composers. (Well, it’s ‘newfound’ from my perspective – they have always been great and respectable.) Another reason is that I tried my hand at writing a piece of music in the 20thC style (quite vague, I know). And it’s really really difficult/tedious (but rewarding) despite it only being a short 1.5min piece with superficial features. Imagine the massive amount of mind-boggling compositional decisions that Babbitt had to grapple with. Respect.

So, yep.. I’m sure Babbitt would be pleased with my learning-journey. :-)

“.. in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself.”

Notes on Babbitt's Electronic Music

2008-10-31T01:12:00.005+08:00

Just jotting some notes on electronic music..

Interview with Babbitt (1968)
Babbitt says that there are three ways to produce electronic music:
- the tape studio
- the synthesizer
- the computer

finding this article is very timely and i'm very thankful for it! :) especially this is directly from Babbitt describing his works.

i was just getting so confused over one other reading which makes the distinction between ‘computer music’ and ‘tape music’ in the domain of ‘electronic music’. however it does not explain it clearly. most other readings also do not make the distinction even though it is significant.

Other interesting quotations/points raised in this article but not directly relevant to this research:

- pitch is the most impt aspect of musical structure? hmm..

Babbitt says, "As a composer, I still feel that pitch is the single most important aspect of musical structure."

- Babbitt's opinion of electronic music in music education, back in 1968.

"Fowler. In your opinion, what would an eighth- or ninth-grade music teacher have to know in order to introduce electronic music to his students in an interesting way?

Babbitt. The significant issue here is how to develop a child's musicality from every conceivable point of view. The question of the particular medium would just be a question of being able to inform the child in a rudimentary way. I would think that the music educator who is competent to make decisions about a child's musical training could easily acquire the slight amount of information that would be necessary. There's no music educator who couldn't learn to do that in a very, very short time. The information is available. In fact, this issue of the Journal should provide enough such information. There's no reason in the world why the music educator should have to be a technological expert. Very few composers are. I don't have to know how to build an oboe to write for it, and I don't have to know how to build a synthesizer to write for it. The educator doesn't need this technological information either. The educator simply has to be able to describe in very general but accurate terms how these media operate, just enough to arouse the child's interest and avoid misunderstanding."

"It is entirely up to the music educator to decide the complexity of the music appropriate to the development of a child. Whether it be electronic or not, I would insist, is irrelevant."

These are excerpts taken from:
An Interview with Milton Babbitt (1968) from the Music Educators Journal, Vol. 55, No. 3

Structure/Outline of Research on Babbitt

2008-10-25T11:32:00.004+08:00

Core focus:
- An introduction to Babbitt and his music
- How to approach Babbitt’s music

History of Babbitt
- Most known for his works in Serialism and Electronic music
- Very strong background in mathematics (has an impact on how he conceives music)
- Influenced by Schoenberg and Webern. He first encountered their works when he was studying in New York University and carried on to develop his 12-tone technique.
- He was part of the faculty at Princeton which was at the forefront of electronic music (Griffiths, 1981). This complemented Babbitt in his musical pursuit.

Serialism
- Babbitt’s development of Serialism (different from other serial composers – both his predecessors and contemporaries)

- Pieces to focus on:
Semi-Simple Variations (1956)
Minute Waltz (1977)
- Analysis by Morgan (1992), Wintle (1976), Blaustein and Brody (1986)
- Other interesting ideas identified such as its surface features

Electronic Music
- Babbitt’s purpose of exploring this medium is to achieve precision which is not possible with humans
- There is a need for the electronic medium
Examples of Relata I (1965) and Post-Partitions (1966)

- A piece to focus on:
Composition for Synthesizer (1961)
- Analysis by Morris (1997)

Listening to Babbitt
- Straus’ (1986) opinion on listening to Babbitt’s music is by appreciating the surface features: (a) contours; (b) dynamics; (c) register.
Example of String Quartet No. 2 (1954)

- However, I do have some reservations about Straus’ article.
(i) He focuses all his attention on surface features and relationships and does not agree with an in-depth exploration of Babbitt’s works. I disagree because Babbitt’s music is so much more meaningful and valuable below its surface.
(ii) Using String Quartet No. 2 as a sole example in this article is not a fair representation of all of Babbitt’s works, especially when Straus uses this to prove his point that ‘Babbitt’s music should be appreciated by listening to surface features’. This piece of music is one of Babbitt's simplest in terms of prominence of surface features.

- There is a need to understand the structure and underlying compositional strategies in order to fully appreciate Babbitt’s music.

Reply to Jean - programmatic titles?

2008-10-24T09:08:00.003+08:00

Hello Jeanette, :)

My response to your comment is quite long so I’ll post it here instead of the small box in the Comments page. Thanks for dropping by!

(Programmatic title – Titles which evoke a scene/image/mood in the mind.)

A few of Babbitt’s music does indeed have programmatic titles, while most have neutral sounding ones which simply describes the form or compositional technique used. Let me give you a few examples:

Programmatic titles:
An Elizabethan Sextette - 1'When I Was Fair And Young' (1979)
An Elizabethan Sextette - 3'Your Face, Your Tongue, Your Wit' (1979)
Lagniappe (1985) (meaning: a small present/gift)
The Widow’s Lament in Springtime (1950)

‘Neutral-sounding’ titles:
Duet (1956)
Partitions (1957)
Preludes, Interludes, And Postlude (1991)
Three Compositions (1947)

Just to add on if you were wondering if the music itself is programmatic, my answer would be ‘no’. This is quite tricky. Take Minute Waltz for example – analysts discovered that Babbitt exploits all possible types of ‘oom-pah’ patterns in this “waltz”. Hence by right the listener should be able to have the waltz feel and perhaps imagine a ballroom where people are waltzing. However when I listen to this piece of music, it does not even remotely resemble a conventional waltz like we know it to be. This – as I understand – is due to the nature of Serial music. Therefore Babbitt’s music is not programmatic even though the descriptions used might seem like it.

"Listening to Babbitt" by J. Straus

2008-10-10T03:50:00.001+08:00

Just browsed through the first few pages of Straus' article on Listening to Babbitt. :) It seems great. What a refreshing perspective - he takes a listener-oriented approach. This is as opposed to the few other articles I’ve seen that gives micro-detailed analyses of how musical notes are structured in a piece. I'm sure this reading would be useful and would yield interesting insights.

Careless of me to have put aside this article all these while and instead pore over complicated impossible-to-comprehend analyses of Babbitt's music. **Perhaps my focus should be more on what I 'hear' instead of all the detailed analyses which I feel are slightly beyond me. Then again, not sure if I'm doing justice to Babbitt if I take this superficial approach..

Learning to appreciate Babbitt's music (or 20thC music as well)

2008-10-02T18:54:00.005+08:00

I’ve been wondering..
All those pieces of 20thC music we’ve explored so far (eg. Babbitt, Berg, Ravel, Messiaen, Schoenberg, etc.), they seem to be crafted in such an intellectual and mathematical way and it is really quite exciting when we discover these compositional strategies. Does it mean that the way we appreciate these pieces of music should also be from an intellectual perspective as well? The reason why I say this is also because these pieces of music are not those that our ears are accustomed to listening or the conventional sit-back-relax-and-enjoy type (like FM92.4 would say it).

Referring specifically to Babbitt’s music, Andrew Mead (1994) says that we must be able to follow the music’s structure in order to fully appreciate it. This is because “the strong emotional and expressive charge of his music is deeply rooted in the ways notes and rhythms work together to create webs of association and connection over ever-larger spans of time.” I was quite pleasantly surprised that Mead or anyone else would describe these music with phrases like ‘strongly emotional’ and ‘sensuous beauty’. Previously, I only thought that music by Chopin, Liszt or their contemporaries could be described as such, but not anymore. This new perspective opened up for me another set of ears when listening to 20thC music.

The Glossary

2008-09-06T18:31:00.006+08:00

Terms used in analysing Babbitt's Semi-Simple Variations:

Aggregate

Hexachord
A collection of 6 chromatic pitches. (Hence each twelve-tone set would contain two hexachords.)

Hexachordal Combinatoriality
This refers to a specific type of tone row that is obtained from the combination of a hexachord with a transposition of its inversion.

Derived Set
This refers to a very specific type of tone row. It requires a segment - trichord, tetrachord or hexachord - to be subjected to transposition, inversion or retrograde in order to derive the entire set of twelve tones.

First posting on Milton Babbitt

2008-09-03T08:38:00.006+08:00

Milton Babbitt (b. 1916) is an American composer most known for his twelve-tone theory and works as well as his electronic music. He is very well-read and knowledgeable in other disciplines other than music, especially in mathematics. He formalized many of the most important aspects of twelve-tone compositional techniques using terms from other areas of study. One of these terms is “set” in response to Schoenberg’s use of the term “row”, where the latter has certain biasness which suggests a certain idea progressing from the left to right. Speaking of Schoenberg, Babbitt’s work and musical thinking mostly stem from the Second Viennese School (ie. Schoenberg, Webern and Berg).

His view of the twelve-tone system is that it is different in kind, not simply in degree, from the tonal system: “The tonal motive assumes functional meaning within a context, and becomes, in turn, a vehicle of movement within this context; the twelve-tone set, however, is the instigator of movement, and defines the functional context.” Babbitt is by no means rigidly confined by the rules and regulations of the twelve-tone technique. Within these constraints, he uses a wide range of expressive possibilities and structures.

Babbitt is also very well-known for his article “Who Cares If You Listen?”, unfortunately. This title was given by journalists without his knowledge or permission. This is most unfortunate because Babbitt in his own words says that “I care a great deal who listened, but above all how they listened” (Gagne & Caras, 1982). He also gets very annoyed at other professionals who would become irritated when Babbitt insists that his music be taken seriously. Most of the other people simply feel that music should only provide them with entertainment or relaxation from their more important pursuits.

Reading Babbitt’s lectures and a transcript of an interview with him, it is clear that he is very passionate about what he does. So much so that it becomes infectious and compels me to take a closer look at his works. Personally I used to question if this kind of music is really music cos it really really doesn’t seem to make any cow sense! I want to make sense of it but it’s highly annoying that I’m not able to. My aim for the next few months or so would be to immerse myself in the world of Babbitt’s music, learn to make sense of it and know how to approach it. Hopefully in time to come my attitude towards Serial practice would progress like this:
know -> understand -> appreciate -> accept -> embrace! (heh)

Having found out more about Babbitt and the twelve-tone system, I find that it can be related to what we have learnt in class about Set Theory. They both free us from having tonal hierarchy in music. This is possible in Set Theory using 4 assumptions and they are:
- Octave equivalence
- Enharmonic equivalence
- Transpositional equivalence
- Inversional equivalence

What has been researched so far:
To date, many of Babbitt’s works have been analysed by theorists. A few major ones that I have come across include Three Compositions for Piano (1947), Composition for Twelve Instruments (1948,54), Semi-Simple Variations for Piano (1956) and Partitions for Piano (1957).

I’ll most probably start with Semi-Simple Variations for Piano. :)

Revival!

2008-08-09T12:32:00.005+08:00

Hello. :) Happy National Day.

ahh. Time to revive my blog!! Last post was..
20 June 2007
Gasp.

Just a few months back I was doing an analysis of the theme song from Secret. It's the one starring and directed by Jay Chou. Yeah, a bit too common, I know.. everyone's playing it especially the secondary school kids.

The most interesting finding was that as the piece progresses, it moves through different eras as reflected in the characteristics and style of the music. This coincides with the scene that is showing the player going back in time as the piece is played. cool.
i'll post the details IF i have the spare time. heh.

For now, i'm into Milton Babbitt.
Babbitt = Bad Rabbit??

We'll find out soon. :)

Final Assessment Qn1

2007-06-20T00:24:00.000+08:00

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

2007-06-20T00:23:00.001+08:00

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

2007-06-20T00:01:00.000+08:00

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

2007-03-31T11:30:00.000+08:00

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

2007-03-31T11:06:00.001+08:00

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

2007-03-31T11:03:00.000+08:00

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

2007-03-31T11:00:00.001+08:00

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

2007-02-22T12:54:00.000+08:00

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

2007-02-21T16:05:00.000+08:00

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

2007-02-21T15:22:00.000+08:00

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

2007-02-21T15:00:00.000+08:00

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

2007-02-17T16:15:00.000+08:00

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

2007-02-17T15:14:00.000+08:00

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

2007-02-17T15:08:00.000+08:00

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?

2007-01-18T16:27:00.000+08:00

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!!

Analysis 2

2006-11-14T13:52:00.000+08:00

Analysis 2
Since time immemorial, songs from Disney cartoons have been my all-time favourite. They are always easily recognisable with their distinct and special tone colour which sounds almost magical, and at the same time the melodies are very simple, memorable and easy to sing. This fascinating "Disney sound" prompted me to take a closer look into the musical details of Disney songs. Hence, I have selected Walt Disney’s very first sing-a-long classic "Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf" for analysis.

Background
This song is taken from Walt Disney's Three Little Pigs which was released in 1933. Just like most Disney cartoons, they have 3 different dimensions, viz. Words, Music, and Animation/Story. They are arranged in increasing order of importance. This is illustrated in this case where the story of the Three Little Pigs was written first, then Frank Churchill wrote the music in 1930, and the words were added much later by Ann Ronell. This is unlike most other films and musicals in those days where the music dimension took precedence.

Form
The structure of this song is generally A B B' A. Although there are no repeats for A, it is still in the simple ternary form. The reprise is an exact repeat of A as indicated by the Da Capo direction at the end of B' with no changes in key, texture or melody. The middle section takes on a different theme and key from A, like all simple ternary forms where the middle section does not develop the ideas in A, but has a totally different scheme to show contrast.

Harmony and Tonality
This song starts in Gmaj and modulates to its dominant Dmaj in the middle section.

Fig 3a

In bar 2, instead of a simple D7(V7) chord as suggested by the writer, more than that is going on in the harmony (see Fig 3a above). A slight touch of minor chord iii is used followed by tonicization of V. This progression is one example which accentuates the fairytale-like "Disney sound" which I mentioned earlier.

Fig. 3b

For the transition of B to B' and B' to the reprise, Churchill makes use of a short passage of descending and ascending chromatic harmony (see Fig. 3b above)

Melody and Phrasing
Fig. 3c

Fig. 3d

There are two main melodic ideas in this song. These can be seen in blue in Fig. 3c and 3d. The melody is built mainly on repetitions. The phrasing of the melody in this piece is quite interesting.

As seen in Fig. 3c, it has a 'l' 's' 's' sentence structure instead of the 's' 's' 'l' structure we commonly see. It seems as if this is done to accommodate the three-word motif "big bad wolf", but we have to remember that the music was written first before the words.

In the second sentence of Fig. 3d, we see an asymmetrical sentence of approximately 1 bar followed by 3 bars. Aurally we would expect it to be 1+1+2 but it turned out 1+3.

Accompaniment
The LH of the accompaniment in sections A and B differs. In A, the LH uses the alberti bass figuration for the bass (see Fig. 3c). Whereas for B, only 5ths and 8ves of the chord are played on each downbeat (see Fig. 3d). This further shows the contrast between A and B.

Re-look at I Dreamed a Dream

2006-10-15T01:56:00.000+08:00

RE-LOOK AT I Dreamed a Dream

Fig 2a

As said earlier, the descending chromatic progression in bars 37-38 is used as a transition from EbMajor to FMajor. The style of this chromatic descent is similar to the ground bass progression, except that octave leaps are used to add interest. A secondary dominant chord is also used to ensure the smooth transition, and it is a lament bass. (refer fig.2a)

Fig 2b

In the final bars, the descending base line takes up more of a chordal structure rather than just a single descending line as seen throughout the piece. It is more stable and allows the cadence at the end to sound out more. This gives a strong sense of closure. (refer fig.2b)

Fig 2c

Here's the analysis of the opening phrase using secondary dominants. Can it be analysed this way too even though they are passing in function? (refer fig.2c)

Fig 2d

About the phrase structure, this piece is made up of symmetrical and double periods. (refer fig 2d)

Analysis 1(Score+Harmonic analysis)

2006-09-05T04:02:00.000+08:00

ANALYSIS 1
I DREAMED A DREAM

Friends, may I know what you have to say about the bridge section from bars 20-29? I find it quite tricky because more than one key is involved in this little section, and also those keys are not closely related to the primary key of Ebmajor. Hmm.. Abrupt modulation?

Analysis 1

2006-09-03T20:16:00.001+08:00

I Dreamed a Dream
by Michel Schonberg and Alain Boublil from the musical Les Miserables(pronounce as Le-Miz-er-rahb)

Verse 1
I dreamed a dream in time gone by
When hope was high and life worth living
I dreamed that love would never die
I dreamed that God would be forgiving

Verse 2
Then I was young and unafraid
And dreams were made and used and wasted
There was no ransom to be paid
No song unsung, no wine untasted

Bridge
But the tigers come at night
With their voices soft as thunder
As they tear your hope apart
And they turn your dream to shame

Verse 3
He slept a summer by my side
He filled my days with endless wonder
He took my childhood in his stride
But he was gone when autumn came

Verse 4
And still I dream he'll come to me
That we will live the years together
But there are dreams that cannot be
And there are storms we cannot weather

Coda
I had a dream my life would be
So different from this hell I'm living
So different now from what it seemed
Now life has killed the dream I dreamed.

Analysis:
Form
The form of this piece is generally A A B A 'A C. It is strophic with the melody repeating for the 4 verses, but with different words each time. It also has a bridge which links V2 and V3. The piece then ends with a Coda.

Tonality
The piece starts in EbMajor. However in bars 38-39(V4), the music heightens as the key modulates 2 semitones up to FMajor. This modulation is achieved by a gradual descending chromatic progression as seen in the bass line; D to Db to C, where C is the dominant of the new key FMajor. Along with the modulation, performance direction is given in bar 37 and 39 to increase the speed and gradually become louder. This helps to bring the music to a higher level.

Metre
In class we established that the metre of the music give its feel and melodic shape, and it is neither the pulse nor rhythm. This piece has steady 4/4 metre almost throughout, and only at bar 29 the metre changes to 2/4 time. The Purpose of this is to create fluidity and blur the phrasal structure to push the music forward. The last note B from the 5 ascending notes is therefore cut short to a dotted crotchet. Since time is cut short in this bar, it moves more quickly and feels more hurried into bar 30 (verse3) after the bridge. This causes emotions to build up as the song becomes more exciting.

Rhythm
To create rhythmic interest in the verses, dotted quavers are also used instead of only even quaver beats. On top of that, triplets are also used in V4. This is one of the reasons why listeners will not get bored listening to the same melody 4 times in this song. Secondly, it is interesting to note that every single phrase in this piece starts on an off-beat.

Harmony
There is a ground bass, which in this piece is a descending melodic line in the bass, and it persists almost throughout the whole piece, except in the bridge. It is in the lowest register and it acts as a support for the rest of the music in the higher register as well as the voice part. Secondly, there is a tonic pedal(Eb) in the bass which spans bars 27 to 28. This makes it seem as if the outermost parts are moving in oblique motion.

Others
Marked out in green on the score are the function regions. The phrases are mostly repetitive, so I only marked out the 2 main phrases.

T- Tonic
PD- Predominant
D- Dominant
DS- Dominant Substitution

It is interesting to note there is a Dominant Substitution(DS) in bar 15. Initially I analyzed that chord as a V7 with an added 6. But thanks to Dr Chong's enlightenment, I can now share with you all that it is actually a chord iii in 1st inversion acting as a DS.

2006-08-26T19:39:00.000+08:00

First Post

2006-08-20T02:36:00.000+08:00

The 3 pieces of music I will be analysing will come from contemporary music, film music, musicals, or popular music. I am still exploring my different options.
Here's my top 5 choices and I'll select my 3 pieces from this list:

The Music Man-- Till There Was You
ABBA-- Thank you for the music
-- Mama mia
My Fair Lady-- Wouldn't It Be Loverly
Daniel Powter-- Bad Day

Comments of the following nature would be very much appreciated:
- You agree or beg to differ from my opinion
- Certain parts of the pieces you are interested to know more about or wish to clarify
- Any additional ideas for more discussion and analysis

I hope to understand this area of music to a deeper level, and also that this blog site would serve as a useful and convenient reference for those who are interested about this area of music as well!