Chapter 14 Flashcards
Melody Intervals Motifs and Phrasing
It’s an interesting quirk of music that, while interval dissonance is something that can be mathematically measured and ranked, it has nevertheless been subject to fashion.
‘Blue Jay ‘Way
We have already described the Lydian flavour of ‘Blue Jay Way’, while these other two songs emerge as essentially Mixolydian in terms of their overall collection of notes. As we prepare to delve deeper into our exploration of the structure of Beatles ‘ tunes’ , the real songwriting lesson here is that it is not the scale itself that matters - it’s what you do with it.
As we know, critical to the use of dissonance in pop is resolution, something that the tritones of ‘Blue Jay Way’ and ‘Within You Without You’ lack, leaving these songs to meander through prolonged dissonance - thereby distancing themselves from conventional notions of pop music.
b) Motifs as melodlc sequences
c) Disguising and developing motifs
d) ‘Call and response’ and complementary’ motifs
e) ‘Story’ type melodies
A crucial point here relates to the harmony. Compare these blatantly ‘flagged’ phrases, which repeat over the same chord progression, with those motifs whose repetition is disguised by a shift in the underlying harmony.
listen to ‘Mean Mr Mustard’. The lyrics may have changed , but the bite-size motif appears three times, with the first repeat appearing a minor third higher, creating a ‘sandwich’ effect. As in ‘Bungalow Bill’ this has the profound effect of highlighting the
motif as a definite hook with its own momentum.
The repeated unit could be anything from a three -note figure (‘Little Child’) to one - and two- bar motifs (‘No Reply’). In both these cases the motifs are developed to form a complete sentence with this ‘tailing’ approach.
The repeated unit could be anything from a three -note figure (‘Little Child’) to one - and two- bar motifs (‘No Reply’). In both these cases the motifs are developed to form a complete sentence with this ‘tailing’ approach.
Repeating a motif, perhaps once, twice - or even three times - is a great way of establishing a melodic foothold, but at some point the idea must be developed or resolved. Dozens of Beatles melodies demonstrate how this can be achieved by briefly tweaking the initial fragment. ‘No Reply’ shows another common Beatle approach - the thematic development of a given motif where, on its second (or even third) appearance it is restated with subtle variations.
You can see it in songs of all eras, including ‘From Me To You ‘, ‘I Wanna Be Your Man’, ‘And I Love Her’, ‘Glass Onion’ and ‘Her Majesty’.
d) Complementary motifs
Developing from this are melodies that abandon any element of repetition in favour of new material, but which still complement the original motif (perhaps being based on a similar rhythmic pattern). This approach to melody in pop originates from the blues concept of ‘call and response’, whereby an opening ‘cry’ is answered by a new melodlc idea.
Middleton highlights The Who’s ‘My
Generation’ as a classic example in rock where an opening cry is answered by the masses (as represented by a two- part backing)
d) Complementary motifs
Developing from this are melodies that abandon any element of repetition in favour of new material, but which still complement the original motif (perhaps being based on a similar rhythmic pattern). This approach to melody in pop originates from the blues concept of ‘call and response’, whereby an opening ‘cry’ is answered by a new melodlc idea.
Many variations on this have developed, with ‘Hey Bulldog’ seeing a twin vocal ‘call’ phrase , answered by an elaborating ‘response’ from a single party
d) Complementary motifs
Developing from this are melodies that abandon any element of repetition in favour of new material, but which still complement the original motif (perhaps being based on a similar rhythmic pattern). This approach to melody in pop originates from the blues concept of ‘call and response’, whereby an opening ‘cry’ is answered by a new melodlc idea.
But the general principle of two, complementary melodic ideas can be seen in settings as varied as the hard rock of ‘Back In The USSR’ and the gentle ballad of’ A Day In The Life’. Both open with melodies that consist of an initial 2- bar motif that is turned into a 4- bar phrase in precisely this way.
d) Complementary motifs
Developing from this are melodies that abandon any element of repetition in favour of new material, but which still complement the original motif (perhaps being based on a similar rhythmic pattern). This approach to melody in pop originates from the blues concept of ‘call and response’, whereby an opening ‘cry’ is answered by a new melodlc idea.
But the general principle of two, complementary melodic ideas can be seen in settings as varied as the hard rock of ‘Back In The USSR’ and the gentle ballad of’ A Day In The Life’. Both open with melodies that consist of an initial 2- bar motif that is turned into a 4- bar phrase in precisely this way.
d) Complementary motifs
Developing from this are melodies that abandon any element of repetition in favour of new material, but which still complement the original motif (perhaps being based on a similar rhythmic pattern). This approach to melody in pop originates from the blues concept of ‘call and response’, whereby an opening ‘cry’ is answered by a new melodlc idea.
Even George Harrison’s ‘Something’, which might appear to be merely repeating its opening motif at a higher pitch (given the
reappearance of the title lyric), in fact introduces new intervallic relationships which complement the original motif with similar rhythmic phrasing.
e) ‘Story’ type melodies
Our gradual move away from repetition illustrates that melodic construction exists on a continuum. At one extreme are ‘Good Day Sunshine’ -style repeated phrases and at the other are those melodies that dispense with both repetition and direct development of a motif and display more of a pure ‘sentence’, or ‘story’, construction, with new directions in every phrase.
These are melodies
involving more of a ‘stream of consciousness’ as seen in another vast category of songs including ‘Yesterday’, ‘Here There And Everywhere’, ‘Sexy’ Sadie’, ‘Penny Lane’ and ‘Hey Jude’ (excepting the coda, obviously!). Each of these verses unfolds far less predictably than those structured on repeated motifs, bringing in new material that leads the listener in the antithesis of a sing-a-long melody.
