Buckley

When was Grace released?

1994

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Describe the instrumentation and the texture of the piece

Buckley (vocals) accompanied by guitars, bass guitar, synth, strings and drums. The guitars used drop d tuning. Drums and guitars play throughout most of song. The synth and strings are less prominent, dropping in and out(usedtoadd effect to vary tex

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Continued...

Texture thickens towards end of song, especially in the coda

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Describe the use of technology in this piece

Modulation on synth at start. Distorting and flanger on guitar intensifies sound in coda. Overdubbing on guitar, creates thicker sound. Extra vocal parts in bridge also made by overdubbing. EQ in final verse used to remove lower frequencies fro voice

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Describe the structure of the piece

Verse-Chorus. With a Bridge and a Coda

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Describe the Tonality and Harmony of the piece

In E minor, however tonality often ambiguous e.g. intro focuses on chord of D. Harmony unusual for rock song, standard 1, 4, 5 chord progressions of rock music not used. Instead, many chords chromatic and move in parallel motion(by semitone steps).

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Continued...

Some of the harmonies are very dissonant, particularly in the chorus

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Describe the melody of the piece

Vocal part has an improvised quality and a very range of over two octaves. Most of vocal phrases are falling, reflecting the melancholy mood of song. There is frequent ornamentation in the melody line, with glissandos between various notes.

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Describe the word-setting in the piece

Most of the word-setting is syllabic (although there are some long melismas to emphasise certain words such as 'love' in verse 1 and 'fire' in the chords. In the bridge there is vocalisation, where Buckley uses falsetto.

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Describe the use of word painting in the piece

Verse 1: 'cries' is set to a falling 5th, which sound like crying. Bridge: 'pain' and 'leave' are in a very high register and sound fraught. Verse 3: 'slow' is set to a long note. Coda: a very thick texture is built up for 'drown my name'.

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Describe the rhythm, metre, and tempo of the piece

12/8. The bass drum plays on beats 1 & 3, and the snare drum accents the backbeats (beats 2 & 4). There is frequent syncopation in the vocal melody and bass line. Cross rhythms are created through use of two-against-three rhythms

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Buckley

Other cards in this set

Card 2

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Card 3

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Card 4

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Card 5

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