To get more comfortable with he structure of the songs I am performing I am going to be analysing the songs within my set list for the performance, doing this will make me confident with the structure of the songs and the arrangement of instruments within them. The songs I will be analysing will be the songs I am not confident with in terms of song structure and the general music knowledge surrounding them.
Love On The Brain
Love on the brain is written in the key of E minor, this scale only contains one sharp note (F#). The minor key of this song creates a longing and desperate tone to the music. The time signature to the music is 6/8, this is an unusual time signature for a pop song. The 6/8 time signature means that there is 6 quavers that fit into one bar, this time signature is very fast for a pop song with a BPM of 172. However in half time the BPM of this song is 86 beats per minuet. Throughout the song you can hear numerous instrument which include a: electrical guitar, lead vocals, backing vocals, drums, violins, organ and a jazzy whirly piano. The chord progression for the verse and chorus are all the same, the chords being played are: G major, A minor, E minor and D major. This chord progression is very popular in pop music and seen very often. The structure of this song is: verse, pre-chorus, chorus, verse, pre-chorus, chorus. This is a common song structure for pop music.
The song starts with an 8 bar intro, which is very thin in texture only containing few instruments. One of the instruments include an electric guitar which is just playing a 4 not arpeggio pattern that moving up and down the notes of the chords on every beat. The chords being played are G major, A minor, E minor and D major, the notes are being played in a legato articulation which creates a gentle flow in the music. The organ is playing the same chord progression but in triads, this creates a warm and thick coat of harmonic texture underneath the music. There is a vibrato effect on the organ which creates a wobbling effect which is commonly seen in jazz music, this effect creates a unique and interesting sound which can be heard through the song. In the intro the drums have a simple pattern that repeats over 2 bars, on the first bar they play the kick and floor tom together on the first beat which creates a strong and deep bass from the drums. In the second bar the drums play the same thing but on the 1st and 2nd beat, this reinforces the rhythm of the song with a powerful rhythm with drums warm and powerful bass. The dynamics of the intro are pianissimo to create space for the verse and bridge to get louder in dynamics.
The introduction arrangement loops onto the verse, however in the verse the lead vocals come in which sing the lyrics and main melody. The rhythm of the melody and the notes are catchy and repetitive, this allows the listener to be able to easily sing along. To harmonize with the lyrics the backing vocals come in, the backing vocals usually sing back the lyrics in the rests between the notes of the melody. The backing vocals are sang in a lower octave than the main melody to create contrast and provide a thick harmonic coat in the music. When the lyrics “don’t you stop loving me” are sang the violins come in where they initially gently play each note of the chords downwards in pitch, this creates a delicate falling effect. The strings harmonize create a beautiful harmony which falls down into playing the chords, to make the chord change in the strings sound more natural they use voice leading. This is a common technique used in string writing to make the chord changes sound more fluent and relaxing. In the verse the drum pattern also adds a high-hat being hit on the beats 1,2,3,5 and 6, on the fourth beat the drummer hits the snare drum. This drum pattern creates a strong and punchy rhythm in the music.
In the bridge the guitar stops playing an arpeggio and instead begins to strum whole chords on the first 4 beats of each bar. The chords played in the bridge are F major, C major, G major (x2), C major and D major twice before going into the chorus. In the bridge the drums play a similar beat to the verse, however the bass drum and floor tom are not played, meaning the hi- hat and snare are the only parts of the kit being played in the same rhythm as the verse. The melody of the lead vocals in the bridge moves in steps, it also sings in a darker tone in comparison to the verse. This dark tone of the bridge reflects on the darker side of what she would do for someone. Meaning the bridge has a heavy contrast with the verse that was played before it. When the lyrics sing “must be love” at the end of the bridge the organ comes back in by playing the notes within the key of the song in ascending pitch which creates a quick and short build up of tension within the music. The texture of the bridge is very thin as the only instruments playing are: the electric guitar, lead vocals and drums.
The chord progression for the chorus reverts back to the chords that were used in the intro and first verse, this means the electric guitar stops playing the strumming pattern and goes back to playing the 4 note arpeggios. However the drum pattern from the bridge carries over to the chorus with the snare drum being hit on the fourth beat which creates a powerful rhythmic stab in the music. The whirly organ creates a jazzy and uplifting tone to the music as it moves around with the rhythm of the lead vocals and plays harmonies that accompany the vocals and electric guitar. The constant movement in pitch on the organ fills the music with energy and a joyous feeling to reflect on the theme of love. The backing vocals harmonies with the main melody of the music and sing in the rests between the melody of the lead vocals, the backing singers mainly often sing back the lyrics to us in the chorus. In the second half of the chorus the backing vocals sing a staccato harmony that decreases in pitch and harmonizes with the melody which adds harmonic texture to the music. The vocals also sing a ‘ss’ sound which sounds like a high-hat close, this creates more depth to the percussion of the music and emphasises the beat of the music more.
During the second verse all instruments drop out except for the drums which play the same drum pattern as verse 1, which included the bass drum and floor tom. The electric guitar also continues playing the arpeggio pattern, on the third bar of the verse the violins come back into the music for a short while. They start off by rapidly playing all the notes in the scale downward in pitch until eventually falling into playing triad chords which change every two beats for 2 bars. To make the string chord transitions more smooth they use voice leading which means the next chord get’s inverted to have the closest notes possible to the notes on the previous chord. After this short string instrumental the strings once again fade out after sustaining the final chord for a bar. However the same violin chords appear a few bars later on the lyrics “what do I got to do” and once more right before the bridge. The melody of the second verse is different to the first verse as the notes are different, however the rhythm is the same. The pitch of the second verse’s melody is raised by an octave which gives the music a more delicate and fragile tone to it.
The bridge is mostly the same as last time however there is a slight difference on the last 2 bars which revolve around the chord of D major. Last time the guitar only got strummed on the first 4 beats of each bar, however on this bridge the guitar is being constantly strummed throughout the last two bars of the bridge. This builds up tension in the music in the lead up to the chorus. After that the chorus is exactly the same as last time, however at the end of the chorus the song finishes. The song ends of the chord of D major with no fade out, in the end all instruments drop out at the same time just before the lyric “brain”.
Transparent Soul
Transparent soul is a rock track written by Willow Smith with a very high BPM of 180 beats per minuet. This song is written in the key of B minor (Db and Gb), the minor key of this provides a grungy tone to the music. The song has a simple song structure of: intro, verse, chorus, verse, chorus, bridge, chorus, this is a very repetitive and predictable song structure. This song is written in 4/4 (common time) which is used in most rock and pop songs, the instrumental texture in this song is not very thick. This is because the only instruments used in this song are: 2 electric guitars, bass, backing vocals, lead vocals and drums.
The song begins with the drums playing a 4 bar intro, the drums in this song are very advanced and intense. In the intro the deep bass drum emphasises the fast paced rhythm of the rock song where the snare provides an aggressive punch to the music. On the fourth bar the Lead vocals count 1,2,3,4 each beat which acts as a count in for the other instruments. After the 4 bars the electric guitar comes in and plays a fast paced melodic riff which creates intensity in the music. After the count in a bass guitar also comes into the music which is playing the root note of each chord in quavers, the chord progression is (G major, E minor, F# minor and B minor). This means the bass guitar is playing G, E, F# and B for the whole introduction. This fast paced rhythm provides rhythmic foundation to the music and supports the tempo of the music. The use of cymbals and hi-hats in the intro add aggression to the music and fill the music with energy. Half way through the music a second guitar comes in the music which repeats a short and catchy lead instrumental for 6 bars, the last note of the guitar lead is ringed out for 2 bard until the song goes into it’s first verse. The dynamic level of the intro is moderato, as the instruments such as the drums are turned down to give the drums room to get more aggressive for the chorus.
In the first verse guitars drop out meaning the only instruments playing are the bass guitar, drums, vocals and lead vocals which come in later on in the verse. The bass guitar plays the same rhythm and notes that were used in the intro, meaning it just loops over into the verse. This allows the momentum of the music to keep flowing, creating a sense of fast paced movement in the music, this momentum of the music is also supported by the fast paced drums. Throughout the verse the drums play high-hats in the rhythm of quavers every beat, however the snare drum is hit on every 2nd beat. This delivers an aggressive punch which put emphasise on the beat of the music, the cymbals however help reinforce the rapid movement of the music. The main melody of the verse is very repetitive and catchy as it mainly uses doesn’t move much in terms of pitch. The melody also moves in step intervals and is sang in a argumentative tone, which makes the music sound even more aggressive. In the lyrics “flash” in the verse the backing vocals come in which deliver a gentle harmony which contrasts with the aggressive tone of the music, the vocals are also accompanied with heavy reverb which gives the harmony a magical and unrealistic tone.
Before the chorus starts the drums play a small fill which builds up the aggression of the music and delivers more energy to the rhythm of the music. In the chorus the electric guitars come back into the music to help to deliver a chaotic and energetic sound to the music. One of the guitars plays the same riff that they played in the intro once again in the chorus, this adds intensity to the music and fills the music with movement. The distortion on the guitar creates an aggressive tone in the music which reflects on the songs rock genre. The other electric guitar plays the chords for the music in a fast paced strumming pattern, the tone of the guitar has a warm bas which adds rich warm texture to the foundation of the music. The guitar plays 4 different chords on a rotation that changes chords every bar, with the high BPM of the song this also helps reinforce the movement of the music making it always feel like it’s going somewhere. The main melody of the chorus is very repetitive and simple as it only consists of 4 notes, these 4 notes repeated through the entirety of the chorus with the last note lasting 3 bars. The melody is harmonized with backing vocals which sing back the lyrics of the main melody with the same reverb which creates a contrasting magical effect on the music. The drums in the chorus use more toms and snare drums to create a powerful punch in the music which helps deliver an aggressive tone to the music.
After the chorus the music goes back into the verse which is almost exactly the same as last time, however the 4 chord guitar riff from the chorus loops throughout the 2nd verse. A side from this small change in the verse it is exactly the same, the song then continues as normal through the verse until it goes back into the 2nd chorus of the song. The second chorus is the same however it has twice as many harmonies involved than it did last time, with a harmony being played every 4 bars in the chorus. The first harmony is played on the first bar, where the backing vocals sing 3 notes that descend downwards in pitch throughout the scale, the slow rhythm of this harmony contrasts with the fast rhythm of the music. It also creates an element of rest within the music, the harmony does not sings the words (ah,ah,ah ,ah). The second harmony plays on the 4th bar of the music and sings the lyric ‘Know’ back to us. The harmony puts emphasise on the main melody by layering the notes of the melody with more vocals, this creates a cluster of tones which creates a chaotic tone within the music. One other thing that is different about the second melody is that the guitar that plays the melodic riff, instead plays the main melody of the song in semi-quavers. This is extremely fast and almost creates a vibrato in the instrument due to it’s speed, however the notes of the guitar follow the same 4 notes of the main melody during the verse changing the note at a similar timing.
After the second chorus the song goes into it’s bridge section, this acts as a rest from the intense music playing before it. In the bridge a synth comes into the music which adds more texture to the song by creating a environmental theme throughout the bridge, this synth plays the root note of each chord and changes notes every bar. Accompanying the synth is the electric guitar which plays the intro riff at a much lower octave, as well as being slowed down in tempo. The changes on this riff create reflective and familiar theme in the bridge, the guitar being slowed down also creates a more relaxed environment in the music. The dynamic of the bridge is also the quietest it has been throughout the song, it has a dynamic level of mezzo forte. The lead vocals in the bridge also have a lot of reverb applied to it, this creates a sense of space and transparency in the music as the noise fades away slowly. The bass from the first verse is also still playing the same instrumental throughout the bridge, this allows the song to still keep it’s momentum while also allowing the song to rest. In the bridge the drums also play the tom drums a lot more to create more aggression and impact in the music and emphasise the rhythm of the music more. In the lead up to the chorus a guitar solo comes in that builds up tension into the final chorus, in the last 2 bars of the solo the guitar plays a legato crescendo which builds up tension that is released in the chorus.
In the final chorus the harmonies from the second verse are still included, allowing the song to keep it’s texture. However the melodic guitar riff from the first verse comes back for the final chorus, giving the song more speed and aggression. Therefore the final chorus is basically the first chorus however it also includes the harmonies from the second chorus. Over the top of the final chorus there is a screaming effect that plays over the top, this adds more texture and space to the song as it includes heavy reverb on it which echoes through the music. The scream also adds more aggression to the music, this is why screams are often used in heavy metal tracks. The song end by all instruments dropping out on the second to last bar, only leaving the main and backing vocals to sing the word ‘know’ by themselves. The reverb from the backing vocals give the song a resolved and flowing ending as it gently fades into silence as the song ends. Before all the instruments fade the drums play the floor tom, 4 times in the rhythm of quavers which cues all the instruments to drop out. It also creates a sense of organisation as the ending does not seem abrupt or rushed as the drums have lead all the instruments out of the music.
Seven Nation Army
Seven nation army is written in the time signature of 4/4 with a average BPM of 120. It is also written in the key of E minor which only contains one sharp note, which is F#. The instrumental arrangement of the song is moderately thin in texture as it only contains a: bass guitar, vocals, drums and two electric guitars. Seven nation army also follows a simple song structure of: verse, chorus, verse, chorus, verse, chorus.
Seven nation army begins with the bass guitar playing the bass riff to the song, this riff plays throughout the whole song from start to finish. After the bass riff has been played the drums come in, the drum beat for seven nation army starts simple with a four to the floor drum beat. The drum beat greats a sense of momentum and resembles the pace of a march. Along with the bass drum, the hi-hat and mid time are also being hit on the same beat which adds more depth to the beat of the song. The riff then repeats with the accompaniment of the drums before going into the first verse of the music.
When we reach the first verse the song introduces to us the main vocals. The rhythm of the vocals follow the bass riff, this reinforces the rhythm of the music. So far in the verse the drums and bass are repeating while the singer is carrying the main melody to the rhythm of the bass riff. Half way through the verse when the lyrics “talking to myself at night” are sang, the drums begin to play the snare drum on every 2nd beat. This adds more emphasise on every 2nd beat of the verse by adding a punch to every other beat. The main melody for the verse is very catchy due to it’s repetition, the interval of the notes in the melody also move in steps. In the build up to the chorus the electric guitar comes into the song, this plays the main harmony of the music by playing chords on the guitar. The strumming pattern of the guitar in the lead up to the chorus is strummed in the rhythm of quaver notes, this builds up tension in the lead up to the chorus where it is released.
In the chorus the electric guitar plays the bass riff in the form of chords, meaning it adds harmony to the riff while still keeping the rhythm which is very important to this song. The drums also release the tension by playing the crash cymbal, which delivers aggression and impact to the music. Along with the crash the snare drum is also played, which also helps deliver the impact in the chorus. The crash is played on every 1st and 3rd beat, whereas the snare drum is played on the 2nd and 4th beats of the chorus. On the second playthrough of the riff during the chorus the crash cymbal is hit to the rhythm of the riff, the supports the rhythm of the chorus and builds up energy in the music. In the chorus of seven nation army there is no vocals, this means 100 percent of the focus in the chorus is directed towards the instruments. In the outro for the chorus the electric guitar plays a strumming pattern that is played in the rhythm of quavers for 2 bars, the drums accompany this with a crash cymbal at the start of every bar that it is playing and a hi-hat on every beat. After the outro the song goes into it’s second verse.
The 2nd verse is the exact same as the first from a music perspective, however the only thing that is different are the lyrics. Therefore I will skip ahead and begin to talk about the 2nd chorus. During the 2nd chorus the drums and electric guitar are the exactly the same as before, however this time around a second guitar enters the mix. The second electric guitar plays the same riff as the bass but 2 octaves above, this guitar is equipped with aggressive distortion which can be heard clearly in the music. The riff is played twice before it plays again in the octave above it, playing the same instrumental one octave above is a great and simple way to build up tension in music.
Seven nation Army’s 3rd verse begins with the bass playing the riff as usual, however this time it get’s accompanied by the electric guitar for 2 bars. It plays the note E at the start of every bar, this happens to be the same note the riff starts on. The E note on the guitar rings out to play a semi-breathe which lasts 4 bars until the next note in played, The notes used in the riff are ‘E, E, G, E, D, C, B’ and on the second play through of the riff it is ‘ E, E, G, E, D, C, D, C, B’ (learnt by ear on virtual piano). Therefore the guitar is just playing the same note as the beginning of the riff to emphasise the start of the riff. On the second ‘E’ the guitar plays. On the second ‘E’ which is played it has a feedback effect which creates a harsh metallic tone in the music, when the feedback fades into silence the verse the plays as usual with the drums, vocals and bass. Just like last time everything in the verse is the same except from the lyrics.
In the final chorus the second guitar which played the high pitch melody is gone, meaning is is played exactly the same as the first chorus. However the song finishes in this chorus after the riff is played 4 times. The song finishes on the ‘E’ of the fifth riff playthrough and is sustained until is fades into silence, the drums play the crash cymbal along side the guitars final note. This allows the natural reverb of the drums to bring a natural end to the music as the sound fades into silence.
Source List
2003. Seven Nation Army. [Online] London: Third Man Records. Available at: <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0J2QdDbelmY> [Accessed 24 October 2021].
2016. Love on the brain. [Online] Santa Monica, California: Westbury Road Roc Nation. Available at: <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0RyInjfgNc4> [Accessed 24 October 2021].
ChordZone, 2021. Transparent Soul Piano Notes. Available at: <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mONmfFwzcUw> [Accessed 24 October 2021].
Notediscover.com. n.d. Key & BPM/Tempo of Seven Nation Army by The White Stripes | Note Discover. [online] Available at: <https://www.notediscover.com/song/the-white-stripes-seven-nation-army> [Accessed 24 October 2021].
Onlinepianist.com. n.d. Virtual Piano – Online Piano Keyboard | OnlinePianist. [online] Available at: <https://www.onlinepianist.com/virtual-piano> [Accessed 24 October 2021].
Smith, W., 2021. Transparent Soul. [Online] N.A: MSFTSMusic. Available at: <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eG9KzyVO638> [Accessed 24 October 2021].
Song BPM. n.d. BPM and key for Love On The Brain by Rihanna | Tempo for Love On The Brain. [online] Available at: <https://songbpm.com/@rihanna/love-on-the-brain-0398de6a-bbfd-4dcd-8566-d4c2a3e73a65> [Accessed 24 October 2021].