The song is journey. Corinne May sang it, and so did Angela Zhang (chinese singer)
the version i have is Angela Zhang's though...
The whole piece is in Bflat major.
Its verse is repeated several times, using Chords I and iv(64), and can sometimes be felt as “quite a boring song” with little variations. Subsequently towards the middle, the melody changes thus bringing new materials of notes and rhythmic patterns, catching the attention of the listener.
Initially I thought the verse would be an antecedent and consequent phrase structure over 8 bars. But after looking into it more carefully and also at the further bars, I think it’s more like a sentence structure, S-S-L through 16 bars.
I shall skip the first part where the verses keep repeating and will show a part which moves towards the bridge. starting from bar 21.
Red – antecedent and consequent phrases, consisting of 2 bars each
Blue – short-short-long phrases, consisting of 4 bars for short and 8 bars for long.
The short phrase consists of antecedent and consequent phrases which make up a period. And the second short phrase repeats the melody changing it a little by using rests to form rhythmic changes which feel like some kind of syncopation.
The first part of the long phrase surprisingly has similar chord progressions as the short phrases, I and iv, however, the melody is changed and we can distinctively hear the difference. The second part goes back to melodic and rhythmic materials used in the previous phrases, but ends with a perfect cadence.
I’ve added the bridge in also (sounds like the bridge to me… not sure if it is though, but I’m quite sure it’s not a chorus.)
This portion of the piece is played around F major, D major, to F major and back to Bflat major (home key).
Phrase structure would be short (F major: 2 bars) –short (D major: 2 bars) –long (F major to Bflat major: 5 bars)
The notes coloured pink are used for chromatic modulation, consisting of Eflat – E - Fsharp from F major to Bflat major. I can’t figure out what the chord for bar 43 is.
bars 41-43 sounds like pre dominant chords to me although the chords are V7-I-vi. Please help me decipher! I’d be taking it as predominant.
For the accompaniment of this piece it’s mostly alberti bass or broken chords, but there are instances where neighbour notes are used. This makes the broken chords sound more glued together, and not far apart.
It’s interesting to note that the long notes are on the words "long, long journey", like really emphasizing that this life is a LONG-LONG journey.
2 comments:
Geraldine, I have difficulty reading your uploaded scores. They need to be of higher resolution. From what I can make of, I'm not sure if your structural demarcations are correct: your three uploaded pages don't seem to represent complete structural units.
For your harmonic analysis, I would suggest that you factor in more the voice-leading connections. Be on a lookout for tonicizations too!
Geraldine, in the process of marking everyone's blog assignments, I came across Tannie's submitted hardcopy response to your posting (she had difficulty commenting on your blog due to her account problem). She spoke passionately of her admiration for Corrine May, and highlighting May's harmony: "her chords and lyrics are what make her special". I was much inspired to take a second look at the song, and hence are some responses (for you, for Tannie, and everyone else).
I can see very judicious control of the harmonic materials. In the opening, the harmony seems deliberately static--rocking slowly between the tonic chord and its neighbouring 6/4. In the middle section of the verse (which has an ABA structure), the harmony begins to move, but only within the diatonic orbit. It is not until the chorus that the harmony gets real interesting.
The chorus begins in an off-tonic manner in F major (ii-V6-I), intensifying the music as Corrine sings "sometimes it feels no one understands". "I don't even know why..." is propelled by a circle-of-fifth progression (A7-D7-Gm). Then we are back in F major but with the singer breaking off unexpectedly on a high E, and plunging down registrally to a G-G-A, reminiscient of the second bar of the chorus. This time tough, the bass moves chromatically (Eb-E-F#) as if about to hit G min again, only to surprise us by sinking down to F, which supports the dominant for the return to Bb major.
This is really fascinating and I hope you can reload a clearer (or enlargeable} score of at least the chorus portion for the rest to savour the harmonic manipulations.
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