Analysis of Music through the Decades.

1950’s Music:

Music in the 50’s was very limited in the way of technology. Microphones were used to amplify the voices making them sound richer and of a different tone colour to when they are normally singing. The instruments included electric guitars making the sound very dry and rich and twangy. Pianos were widley used in songs along with double bases with main accompaniments being voices for larger ensembles making the texture thicker. The more popular songs in the 50’s had a fast tempo (allegro) and used alot of syncopation learned from Jazz styles. Elvis Presley was the breaking point for this evolution of rock. People started following this in the very earily 50’s and music developed conceptually from there by using more dynamic contrast and the texture of music built up.

1960’s Music:

Jazz was very popular in the 60’s along with the rubarto and stretch of most songs. Solo singers became more popular than the trios and quads that were formed in the 50’s to create a more rich sound quality and create a thick texture. Although Trios and quads still were popular throughout the early 60’s. Instruments including more developed electric guitars and electric keyboards. Slower music was used later in this decade creating a more of classic rock sound with the electric guitars. The use of harmonies used in this between guitars and voices was used as the psychedelic music started coming in at the end of the 60’s. This created a more airy atmosphere and prepared Australia for the music of the 70’s.

1970’s Music:

 Majority of music in the 70’s had a classic rock band ensemble. The bands used Guitar, Bass Guitars, Drum Kits and Lead and backup Vocals. They were played with a slow-moderate speed and few were particularly fast. The vocalist usually had the melody, with the guitars playing catchy riffs. 70’s music started using advanced technology to distort their sound.

1980’s music:

80’s music was a harder style than the 70’s popular rock bands from this era are still popular today. This hard style came from the use of two main guitars and backup singers with a rough, strong tonal quality this is where Rock n Roll became more predominant and took its stand. The rubarto used in these songs was excessive especially in the guitar solos, the guitar and singers would create an atmosphere more spacey and outer world than years before.  The tempo played was slow-moderate with a strong beat behind the song. This was the year that the “Get Physical” slogan came out so most of the music was that you could exercise to (in the late 80’s).

1990’s Music:

90’s music introduced a huge variety in musical styles and taste. Everything from pop, alternative, grunge, rap, punk, electronic, and one-hit-wonders were popular along with the start of female musicians taking a part in the music industry. The music of this century was more upbeat music; gay bands became a hit in the 90’s and a lot more music styles were accepted. The tempo was almost always moderately fast to fast (allegro) and had a thicker texture as the use of advanced computer and synthesiser systems came in. The Structure of the music was more the same as it is nowadays with a basic song structure being (intro, Verse, Chorus, Verse, Chorus, Verse, Bridge, Chorus, Outro) with slight variations.  

2000’s Music:

During this century music has become a main part of our daily life, music has become more diverse and accepted. The tempo of songs range dramatically as well as the Dynamics and Expressive techniques although there are similarities between most Australian pop songs including the fact that most choruses’ dynamics are louder than the verses and the accents and contrast between different sections of the song. The texture of songs are also similar they often get thick during the chorus and are thin during the verse, the texture varies in different styles pop compared to harder styles differs greatly. Most pop has vocals as a melody and will have backing instruments where as harder styles such as techno has one melody and are backed by one standard beat. Electronic devices have reached their peak and so distortion of voices and sounds have become a part of the “natural” music.

Crowded House – Dont dream its over analysis

 

Select on piece of music to discuss in detail refering to the concepts.

The Piece of music has a rate of harmonic change is one chord per bar. The song uses chromatic harmony. The Song is played in a major key giving a feeling of happiness. Throughout the song the texture is dense.

Pitch

This piece of music starts with an instrumental that is very thin in texture making it polyphonic, as just the guitar plays the main melody. As the bass comes in and the verse starts the texture gets thicker and becomes homophonic, The voice has the main melody and is being accompanied by the drums , guitar, bass guitar. This becomes thicker as backing vocals are added in the chorus. The Melody in the verse is conjunct, the notes move using steps. The only disjunct parts are when the chords change. The keyboard also moves in leaps during the instrumental at 1:47-2:21. The verse then starts again and the guitar is accompanying the melody at 2:25, the range of melody is narrow-medium. It doesn’t require the singer to have wide coval range and most of the melody sigs on a medium pitch that most people can sing easily. This is common characteristic of popular music and allows the audience to be able to remember and sing the song easily. The use of melodic repetition in the verse repeats “There is freedom within, there is freedom without ... there’s a battle ahead, many battles are lost.. “ The whole song is very repetitive when it comes to the melody. The melody stays the same in all of the choruses and a different repeated melody is played in the verses. The Chorus repeats “ Hey now, Hey now, Dont tream its over.. hey now hey now when the world comes in...” This has the same repetitive melody and also repeats in the other chorus’s throughout the song. 

Texture

The Texture during the song stays the same but changes in the instrumental solo. The vocalist stops singing and the accompanying instruments take the spotlight for a few bars. The song stays homophonic. The guitar, bass and drums accompany the keyboard solo. The same happens in the guitar solo. The texture remains dense throughout the whole piece.

Duration

The Song is played moderately slow with a time signature of 4 4 which is a simple time signature. All of the instruments have very repetitive rhythms throughout the song. Eg the drums play the same simple rock beat throughout the piece. The verse also has a very repetitive rhythm, for the lead singer and the rest of the band. The melody is syncopated in areas throughout the song. Not all of it is syncopated though. The accompaniment is straight, providing contrast to the “off the bead” parts of the melody. This piece of music consists of 5 rhythmic layers, no necessarily playing at the same time. The Drum kid is playing the same rhythmic ostinato of a basic rock beat throughout the song. The bass guitar and guitar also play a few continuous ostinatos and riffs throughout the piece.

Tone Colour

The instruments or voices playing include the solo vocalist, the backup vocalists, the drum kid, bass guitar, the guitar and the keyboard.

 The Drums are played using a hitting motion with drum sticks. The Drums are making a sound that sounds rich and deep. This is used in quarrel to what the guitars sound like.

The Bass and guitars are played using a strumming and plucking motion with either fingers/nails or a pectoral. The guitar is playing in a twangy type of sound that quarrels to the way the drums sound, making contrast inside the accompaniment of the piece.

The voices are using their voice box with the help of their diaphragm to create the style in which they are singing. The vocals have a soft, yet powerful sound. Which also contrasts to the accompaniment which is rich and deep. The Vocalists use accents to emphasize the words “HEY now HEY now” in the chorus. This gives his voice a more powerful and energetic tone colour on the emphasized words in relation to the rest of the song.

The tone colour changes in the instrumental as the keyboard comes in. The Keyboard sound quality is like that of a church organ, giving a unique and attention grabbing contrast to the rest of the song.

Dynamic and Expressive techniques

The piece is moderately soft (mp) during the verses but becomes louder (f) in the chorus. The instrumental solo gives the keyboard and guitar a chance to be louder (f) that what they have been playing for the rest of the song (p).

The vocalists uses accents on “HEY now HEY now” during the chorus. The chorus is the climax of the song, so he puts emphasis on these words to show the power and strength of it .The piece uses lots of slurs joining multiple words at a time during the verse. The chorus is more individual notes. The last words of the sentences the main singer uses vibrato on his voice to create a more relaxed and intense pause. In the instrumental the piano is using some mute or sound setting on the keyboard to create the eairy sound.

Structure

There are 9 different sections in this piece

Intro, Verse1, Chorus, Verse 2, Chorus, instrumental, Verse 3, Chorus, Variation of the Chorus.