music104

|  | Lecture notes 6 Anatomy of a good tune The things that may make songs memorable Sometimes accompaniment is (almost) all We Float Sometimes harmony is (almost) all Man and a Woman Sometimes words are (almost) all Rocky Racoon Sometimes production is (almost) all Sanctified Sometimes they all combine Embraceable You Qualities of a good tune logic there is an internal structure that exhibits a kind of reason consistent patterns of repetition and contrast simplicity the tune is easy to remember muscle memory when you sing a good tune your voice remembers where you've been enfolded spaces leaps create spaces to be filled in meaningful registers high notes and low notes have significance by virtue of their register lines made by non-adjacent notes clear relation to harmonic progression contrasting sections relations between words and all of the above analyze Silent Night for all these qualities no great tune (except maybe Embraceable You) does all of the above Some great tunes Bewitched, bothered and bewildered Embraceable you Tenderly Somewhere over the rainbow. Contrast between A and B sections, or between different phrases We float We can work it out Fast as you Can tears in heaven Lots of tunes have consistent intra-phrase structures A,A,B Embraceable you slip sliding away, A,B Tears in Heaven Greenman Sometimes tunes are very simple The mess we're in (PJ Harvey, Thom Yorke) Nina in Ecstasy (PJ Harvey) Tracy Chapman Sorry Fast Car Promise Folksongs Motherless Child Van Morrison Lansky Dylan, Blowin in the wind |