Chord Progression(see score)
The song is in C major and uses lots of block chords. I have indicated the chord progressions on the score in pencil. By and large, the chords used in this piece are I,ii & V chord. There are lots of chord expansion, for example at bar 4 which is the tonic I expansion and at bar 19 (V expansion).
Harmonic Function(see score)
The harmonic function typically follows a T-PD-D-T pattern in each of the 8 bars.
Phrase structure
A simple period consists of an antecedent phrase and a consequent phrase. Each phrase is 8 bars. So, the antecedent phrase are bars 1-4 as it ends on an imperfect cadence. This is followed by the consequent phrase from bars 5-8 which ends on a perfect cadence. Similarly bars 9-12 are the antecedent phrases followed by the consequent phrase in bars 13-16.
2 sentences can form a simple period. The sentence structure is a short short long(2+2+4) (see score).
Form
I feel that the song is in a rounded binary form. This is because it features a return of the initial material from reprise 1 in the second section of reprise 2. The opening section of reprise 1 returns as the closing section of reprise 2. This thus follows:
Reprise 1 starts from bars 1-16 (the first 8 bars are repetitive).
Reprise 2 starts from bars 17-24 and it sounds like a development of the main thematic material as it is something new that we have not heard. It is on the dominant.
After that, we hear reprise 1 (bars 9-16) appearing again from bars 25-32 in which it is back in the tonic key of C.
Hypermeasure and hypermetre
The hypermeasure for the song is the typical four bars with a stress pattern similar to that of quadruple time.
This means that the hypermetric beat is a typical bar 1-strong, bar 2-weak, bar 3-medium and bar 4-weak.
At Reprise 2, instead of the standard crotchet beats in the bass, we hear quaver beats in the bass at bar 20 which helps to move the music faster when playing the sequence 1 tone higher (sequence at bars 19-20 vs 21-22).
Interesting Features
The texture is generally chordal.
There is a voice exchange at bar 3 where the right hand plays B-A-G and the left hand plays G-A-B.
There is an incomplete neighbour note at bar 4 (G-F#-G).
In the song, there are plently use of chromatic passing notes in the inner voices. One example is at bar 19 (A Bb B) and in the melody line, all the passing notes are similar to that of the decreasing D Dorian scale in bars 5-6, 13-14, 29-30.
There is a sequence between bars 19-20 and 21-22.
There is also the use of an augmented chord at bar 24 and is something unique as it signals the reprise 1. The chromatic notes (B-A-Ab-G) also helps to signal the repeat of the thematic material R1.
Finally, I feel that the form is rather interesting. Essentially, this 32-bar piece is very symmetrical, in that it can be split nicely into 8-bar periods and it is fascinating to note that the 1st, 2nd and 4th periods are identical. Perhaps this is because it is a popular music and by doing so, the producers hope to drill and get the tune stuck in consumers' heads so that they would want to buy the song.
Chords:
ReplyDeleteI think you've missed out the use of chord vi in the piece at all instances
of bar 1 3rd beat. There's qt a lot of voice leading in the harmony which I
feel could've been notated like the 3rd-4th beat of bar 1 has a 6-5 voice-
leading and the 1st-2nd beat of bar 2 has a #7-8 voice-leading. There're
also chromatic passing (at instances like bar 5 3rd beat) and neighbour (at
bars 19 and 21) chords. Having noted these would allow more interesting
features to be added.
I think you can take the entire chord at bar 23 to be based on an F, making
it a ii65. In addition, that chord ii is a half-diminished chord, not a
minor chord. The chord at bar 22 is a chord II, a major chord, not a minor
chord.
Also, bars 21-24 end with a perfect cadence in G major, so, the chords in
those bars can be written in G major. This ties in nicely with the fact
that bars 17-24 is the B section of a binary form, as the B section
normally ends in the dominant to lead back to the home key.
Hypermeter:
I feel that at bars 17-24, the hypermeter takes only a stress at bars 17
and 23, giving it an abnormal stretch (of 6 bars) in the hypermeter,
resulting in a climax/tension of sorts, and then resolving this tension
with a short hypermeter (of 2 bars). The lack of hypermetric stress is due
the lack of a note played/sung on the 1st beat of bars 19 and 21, which
would otherwise give those 8 bars a typical 4-bar hypermetric stress
pattern.
Interesting features:
Yes, I do agree with you that the use of such a form is very common in popular music. As for the contrasting 3rd period, I believe it follows the Golden Mean, which normally has the climax at 3/4 mark, and the deviance in hypermeter accentuates this climax/tension too.
hi xun wei, thanks for your insightful comments!
ReplyDeleteya i realised that i overlooked the chord vi (thanks 4 highlighting that to me!) and i do agree with you that there are many other instances of chromatic passing notes and neighbour notes in the song just that I did not mention all. Also I was careless by writing ii instead of II as I just assumed that chord two in the C major key would be a minor key. So careless, haha.
Thanks also for reconfirming my suspicion that this song is indeed in binary form bcos of the dominant key of G major in section B and your interesting hypermetre analysis!
Hi Isaac,
ReplyDeleteCompared to Wei Xun’s case, yours is more legitimately a rounded binary structure except that in the context of pop songs, it is more appropriate to label it as song form (AABA). Your identification of the sentence structure (2+2+4 in this case) is correct, but why then speak of 4+4 antecedent and consequent phrases?!
The chord II at b. 22 that Wei Xun corrected is actually an applied dominant, V7/V. It is not so obvious because of the intervening half-dim 7th supertonic chord in b. 23, delaying the arrival of the expected V till b. 24.
When speaking of passing notes, be careful not to imply that a whole scalic segment is a series of p-n. Your so-called D-Dorian scale actually alternates between chord tones and p-n. At b. 19, the p-n are A & Bb linking G (implied) to B. At b. 4, the n-n is a complete one.
Finally, please note that Wei Xun’s comment about the hypermetric organization at bs. 17-24 is misguided. He is basing his hypermetric hearing solely on the melody when actually the downbeat stresses at bs. 19 & 21 are effected by the bass. As such, the hypermeter here is a regular one.