I transcribed all music used in this post. The characteristic heavy distortion of heavy metal can be a big obstacle during the transcribing process. I apologize in advance if there are any errors.
DEVELOPMENT OF RHYTHMIC UNITS
While the key remains the same throughout the song, it's interesting to follow how the bass riffs develop over time. There are two rhythmic ideas which I have labeled A and B below. "A" contains two dotted eighth-notes and an eighth-note. "B" contains three dotted eighth-notes, followed by a quarter-note and a single eighth-note at the end.
There are 5 riffs based on the rhythmic unit A. They are labeled according to the order they appear starting with the opening riff as A1. A2, A3, and A3' are variants of A1. Two additional pitches are added to A2 (Eb, Db), and an E is added to A3 and A3'. From A2 to A3, the very first note of the riff is moved up to a Db resulting in an appoggiatura and the E adds chromaticism to the riff. A5 contains an augmentation of rhythmic unit A. When the sixteenth-notes are organized in groups of 6 and 4, you will get two dotted quarters followed by a quarter, which is the double length of unit A.
The second rhythm unit used in this song is B, and the first riff is B1 which appears in the video above at 1:52. It consists of three dotted eight-th notes, a quarter note, and a dotted eighth-note at the end. B2 appears at 2:09, B3 at 2:11, B3' at 2:21. The four variants on the rhythm unit B all consist of four dotted eighth-notes and a quarter. The order of these five elements change.
Band & Album: Death's The Sound of Perseverance (1998)
Sheet Music: My transcriptions
I ran across this band when I was browsing Wikipedia looking for information on the death metal genre. Death is a band that falls under the subgenre "technical death metal," which is a subgenre of heavy metal music (heavy metal >death metal > technical death metal). Technical death metal is described as a music that "focuses on complex rhythms, riffs and song structures." (Wiki entry here).
While there may be a Satanic image associated with death metal, founding member Chuck Schuldiner has expressed in interviews how he felt that religion was personal and wished to exclude it from his music. Schuldiner focuses on writing about everyday realities that his listeners can connect with.
LYRICS
I told you once but I will say it again
When you live the flesh it is the beginning of the end
It will take you in, it will spit you out
Behold the flesh and the power it holds
Passion is a poison laced with pleasure bitter sweet
One of many faces that hide deep beneath
[Verse 2]
Touch, taste, breathe, consumed
Deja-vu. already knew from the first encounter
But know I know to let go of words to speak no more
Like a wind upon your face you can't see it but you know it's there,
When beauty shows its ugly face, just be prepared.
[Guitar Solo]
Passion burns like fire carried by the wind
The end of a time, a time to begin
[Verse 2]
It builds you up one way and tears you right back down,
A time to begin the end of a time.
[Verse 5]
[Verse 6]
[Verse 7]
FORM
The form, or song structure, of "Flesh and the Power It Holds" is not so complex, but has a total of ten sections which include an introduction, two interludes, a solo, and three episodes:
Instrumental Introduction
Episode A — verses 1,2,3,2
Episode B — verse 5
Episode C — verses 6,7
Instrumental Interlude (1)
Schuldiner's Guitar Solo
Instrumental Interlude (2)
Episode A — verses 8,2,10,8,2
Episode B — verse 5
Episode C — verse 6, 7
KEY SCHEME
I did not find any significant tonic-dominant relationships throughout the song. However, each section clearly has a tonal section, and I have indicated them in the illustration above. Although the song starts in G and ends on F, there is a departure and arrival of D that occurs twice: D-F#-F-D & D-E-Eb-D (grouped by brackets above).
INTRODUCTION
The most striking interval in this section is the tritone A-Eb found in the electric guitars and bass guitar. The tritone appears in several episodes throughout the song, making it a key element of the work. The main melody is made of a series of perfect fourth intervals, giving it a unique modern sound. Below is a reworking of the fourth bar above. The regrouping of notes notes will clarify how there is a 6+6+4/16 feel in this bar.
The opening 4/4's tempo is quarter note = 120, and this is followed by a 3/4 starting at 0:32 in the YouTube video above (I will not post my tran-scription to save space). The 3/4 section establishes a G minor-feel because of the power chords in the bass (G & D).
At 1:05 we go back to 4/4, this time at a faster tempo (quarter = 120). It is followed by the next episode's riff and tempo at 1:18 (quarter note = 184).What fascinates me about the song's tempos are that they occur abruptly without any preparation or a compo-sitional device such as metric modulation.
EPISODE A
A significant feature is this episode is the augmentation of the Bb-A / Eb-D figure, colored in blue and red, respectively. The bass is playing an ostinato on the tonal center D, while the electric guitars play neighboring tones.
EPISODE B
Episode B starts at the end of verse 4 before 'holds'. The guitars play together three melodic tritones at the same time (Db-Abb, Gb-C, C-Gb, each notated in red, blue, and green). The words Touch/taste/breathe/consumed are interjected between the guitar ostinatos in the following manner:
There is so much more I would like to write about this week, but I'm afraid I don't have time to complete this post right now. I spent much of my time transcribing the song. I will be returning to this post throughout the week to finish up my work.
In the meantime, if there are any viewers reading my entries, I would love to hear from you! Please comment on anything you like and please send me requests!
Music by Andrew Wyatt, Claude Kelly, Ari Levine, Bruno Mars, Philip Lawrence, and Brody Brown
Sheet music purchased from musicnotes.com (published under EMI Music Publishing)
Key: D minor (however, the use of b7 scale degrees in Am and C major chords creates a modal sound)
Time Signature: 4/4
Tempo: Moderately (quarter note = 108)
Chord Progressions
V7 chords are mainly used in cadences that mark the ending of the main sections of this song (i.e. before the chorus starts). Replacing the V chord, the bVII is used in most cadences. There is brief tonicization of the relative major, F major (III), starting at "I would go through all this pain..." The BbM7 and C chords serve as the pivot chords (BbM7 = VI7 in Dm, IV7 in F / C = V in F, bVII in Dm). The chords Dm-C-Bb-A in the last three bars of the chorus are in a descending parallel motion.
Counterpoint
So I thought it would be fun to do something different today. I simplified the vocal line by selecting one note per chord (with one exception notated by quarter notes above), and I added the interval of the vocal and bass lines in the staff. I treated it somewhat like a first species counterpoint exercise, note-against-note.
There are some counterpoint "errors", like parallel fifths and octaves (two M5s or M8s in a row), but there are also some interesting non-chord tones. For example, the first G in the second bar doesn't fit the F major chord. Instead, it serves as an anticipation tone (the red notes above), anticipating the following G in the C major chord. Another example is the A over the C in the bass, in the fourth bar. This A is also an anticipation tone.
When you simplify the vocal line and find its basic structure, many wide melodic leaps are noticed. However, Bruno's actual singing includes many melodic non-chord tones, ending up creating a very smooth vocal line in the recording.
Piano Arrangement by Tom Roed from musicnotes.com was used for analysis.
FORM
INTRO-ABABCBB-CODA (Verse = A, Chorus = B, Bridge = C)
KEY
The song is in D major, but the introduction is in E mixolydian.
INTRODUCTION
As I said earlier, this eight bar introduction is modal, not tonal. There is no dominant harmonies and no leading tone C# that establishes D as a tonal center. Instead, we have a bass movement resolving to E. Also, all pitches of E mixolydian are present -- E, F#, G, A, B, C#, D [b7]. Chords on the 2nd, 4th, 6th, and 8th bar are interesting because A, E, and B are sustained. A/E, E/B are perfect fifths from each other and create what is called a quintal harmony.
SECTION A (Verses)
There are a couple of odd things going on here. The ii7 (Em7), a predominant harmony, usually moves to the dominant. In this case it moves back to I. Also the 4-3 suspension in the Asus chord (V4) doesn't resolve. But a kind of cool spot is when the ii7 moves to iii7, creating a ii7-iii7-IV7 parallel chord progression, also described as harmonic parallelism. A unique feature about the bass throughout this song is it's stepwise movement. Using inversions of chords allows the bass to move minimally, creating a smooth line.
CHORUS
Here, again, a ii7 interrupts the resolution of the V6 chord, but also creates a kind of deceptive-cadence-like effect. Em7 contains B and D that are also in a vi chord which is usually used in a deceptive cadence. The same stepwise bass movement (except the leap to E) is seen here as well.
BRIDGE
At first, just like in the Beatles' You're gonna lose that girl, I thought there was a tonicization of bVII in the bridge. It sounded as if we modulated to C major, but I was confused because there were no strong cadences establishing C major, and no pivot chords preparing the modulation. Below is my initial Roman numeral analysis.
I soon realized that labeling the Dm7 as a ii7 didn't make sense. Dm7 is ii7 in the key of C major but i7 in D major. I've never seen a i7 chord act as a pivot. Also, while it would not be surprising since we saw this before, the V6 chords do not resolve properly. Below is my second Roman numeral analysis where I used secondary chords instead of showing a tonicization.
While this creates a III6 chord, I think it makes much more sense. The III6 is a result of a descending fifths sequence, explaining the odd label (diagram below, I changed first inversion chords to root position for clarification). Following the descending fifths is an ascending fifths (also notated below).
So hold und schön und rein; So lovely, fair and pure;
Ich schau' dich an und Wehmut I gaze at you and wistful
Schleicht mir ins Herz hinein. Melancholy slips into my heart.
Mir ist, als ob ich die Hände It's as though I ought to place
Aufs Haupt dir liegen sollt', My hands upon your head
Betend, daß Gott dich erhalte And pray God to ever keep you
So rein und schön und hold. So lovely, fair, and pure.
(Text and lyrics from www.nuspel.org)
Instead of presenting an analysis of a pop song, I will to write about Schumann's "Du bist wie eine Blume." I've been caught up with analyzing the last three bars of this song.
Last three bars with pickup. Melody in blue and bass in red.
In order to provide Roman numerals for this section simply looking at chords vertically will not work. We have to understand how the notes are related horizontally. Below is a diagram showing the voice leading of this section. By following the destination of the green notes, we can find out the basic chord progression.
Simplification of last three bars.
Chord 2 is a V4/3 in the key of Ab. Schumann interrupts the resolution of this chord by visiting a G half diminished chord and C major chord. I did not label these chords because it would not really make sense here (especially the C major chord...this would be a V/V/ii). Figuring out the destination of the green notes shows us that the basic chord structure here is V4/3-ii-vi-ii6-V7-I. Another interesting section is Chords 5,6,7. There is a voice exchange in the upper and lower voices, which I illustrate in the diagram below.
Voice exchange in chords 5,6,7.
This postlude sounds a little odd and the main question is why Schumann did not resolve the V4/3 (Chord 2). I think Schumann wanted to express his fear of losing the love of his life, Clara Schumann. Schumann lost close family members and friends at an early age and it seems like the idea of losing loved ones has always haunted him. I think that the postlude has a direct connection with the lyrics "And pray God to ever keep you" and illustrates the uncertainty of having his precious Clara for ever.
