=Causeway Performing Arts=

GCSE Music AoS 2: Shared Music (Vol. 2)POP BALLADin conjunction with www.musicdepartment.info

Intro

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Cod

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The earliest form of the popular ballad was a folk song with a simple story. These folk songs were passed down orally, from generation to generation, during the Middle Ages. By the 19th century the term ʻBalladʼ was being used for any sentimental popular song. Since then the use of the term has not changed: today pop ballads are defined as slow songs that usually have sentimental or romantic lyrics. Although pop ballads are now often performed on stage to huge audiences, they still manage to maintain the intimacy of a performer telling a moving story through music.

We will look at three different pop ballads, some of which you may be familiar with.

THE BEATLES: YESTERDAY

Yesterday was written in 1965 by Paul McCartney. It is one of the Beatlesʼ most famous songs. The lyrics tell of a romantic break up, and how the singer wishes he could turn back the clock to a time before his girl friend left him.

The structure of Yesterday is as follows:

The song begins with an introduction on acoustic guitar, after which the singer enters with melody. At the start of the second verse a string section is added to the accompaniment. If you listen to the song in headphones (it is available on www.musicdepartment.info) you will notice that the acoustic guitar is heard in the right ear, the voice is in the centre and the strings are in the left. Listen to the separate parts by focusing on either the left headphone or the right one. Notice that the acoustic guitar has a steady quaver rhythm while the strings are creating a more sorrowful, sustained sound. The acoustic guitar gives a rhythmic drive to the accompaniment,

while the strings fill out the harmony and intensify the mood of the song. The music played by the strings also differs slightly in each verse, helping to sustain the listenerʼs interest throughout.

POP BALLAD

Intro is short for introduction

A bridge is a contrasting section that links the verses together

A coda is the section that ends a piece of music.

Things to doOn a keyboard play a chord of F major in the left hand. On top of this, play a G followed by an F in the right hand.

A non-chord note (the G) that moved down by step to a chord note (the F) is called an appogiatura. You hear an appogiatura everytime the word ʻyesterdayʼ is sung.

Things to do

Listen to Your Song and write down the instruments that you hear in each section. The structure of the song is as follows:

Intro Verse 1 Verse 2 Chorus 1 Bridge Verse 3 Verse 4 Chorus

2 Coda

ELTON JOHN: YOUR SONG

Your Song was written by Elton John and Bernie Taupin in 1969. You might recognise it from the film Moulin Rouge. Like Yesterday, this song incorporates strings and acoustic guitar, but also uses piano along with other instruments. The instrumentation slowly increases as the song progresses.

Can you hear any similarities between the accompaniment here and the accompaniment in Yesterday? You might have noticed that the guitar and strings have the same role in each piece. In Your Song the guitar and piano have a steady quaver movement that gives a strong rhythmic drive to the accompaniment. In contrast the string section has a more sustained sound, helping to give a warm, romantic feel to the song.

Another similarity with Yesterday is that in Your Song the accompaniment changes as the song progresses. Each section adds something new. For example, strings enter in the second verse and percussion in the third verse. The texture expands and the accompaniment becomes increasingly busy. As with Brahmsʼ Therese, the variation in the accompaniment sustains the musicʼs interest, which means that the melody can be simple and catchy.

In contrast to the steady quaver movement in the accompaniment, Elton John has a relaxed improvised approach to the melody. He pulls the rhythm of the words around, sometimes veering towards speech rather than song. The constant beat provided by the accompaniment gives Elton John the freedom to sing with rhythmic flexibility, allowing him to put as much expression as he wants into the lyrics.

Notice how the strings become more prominent in the first chorus, as if to heighten the meaning of the words. The only place in the whole song where the quaver movement in the accompaniment stops for a moment is just before and during the last line of the chorus. This sudden pause in the rhythmic activity really helps to emphasis the importance of the words, which carry the main message of the song.

GERRY RAFFERTY: BAKER STREET

Baker Street (released in 1978) is Gerry Raffertyʼs best known song. This is largely due to the saxophone solo it includes, which is only eight bars long but has become more famous than the song itself. The solo was originally written for guitar, and only taken up by the saxophonist Raphael Ravenscroft when they were recording the song and discovered that the guitarist couldnʼt make it to the session.

The song begins with an introduction that leads straight into the saxophone solo. The solo is made up up of four two-bar phrases. Each phrase starts with an octave leap upwards followed by a descending pattern of notes. The first three phrases all end with a long note that lasts for a bar.

One of the most distinctive sounds in this song is the strong, falling guitar slide. You can hear this at the start of the first three phrases in the saxophone solo. The guitar slide gives an extra weight and drive to the syncopated chords that it falls onto. These chords (played by keyboard and guitar) are heard at the ends of the first two phrases of the solo, when the saxophone is sustained on a long note. The power that the chords have helps to drive the music forward: as the momentum is lost from the saxophone part (held on one note), it is taken over by the accompaniment.

This strong, rhythmic baking that supports the powerful saxophone solo dies away as Rafferty begins to sing. The accompaniment becomes much simpler and quieter. A basic drum pattern and a few guitar chords provide Rafferty with rhythmic and harmonic support, but they also clearly allow his voice to be heard.

The difference in the accompaniment between the saxophone solo and the first verse gives a clear example of how the accompaniment can change to support a soloistʼs needs. During the solo, the power and drive in the accompaniment heighten the intensity of the saxophone solo. During the verse the simple, quiet nature of the accompaniment allows Raffertyʼs words to stand out.

Listening ideas

Listen to some more pop ballads and think about how the accompaniment supports the singer. You might like to start with the song Hero by Mariah Carey, who is well known for her ballad singing. As you listen to this song you will hear that the orchestral backing keeps a steady pulse throughout, apart from at the ends of certain phrases where there re subtle ritardandos (pulling back on the tempo) in the accompaniment that allows Mariah Carey to fit in her vocal acrobatics. She sometimes draws a word out by singing one syllable to a number of notes (this is known as melisma). Rubato is used in such a way by many ballad singers, to emphasise certain words and to achieve a more emotional performance. Other well-known pop ballads include:

• Bridge Over Troubled Water by Simon and Garfunkel• I Will Always Love You by Whitney Houston• Unchained Melody by The Righteous Brothers• You Donʼt Have To Say You Love Me by Dusty Springfield• Alive by Jennifer Lopez• Dangerously In Love by Beyonce• Hero by Nickelback.

Composing ideas

To compose your own pop ballad, use these steps below as a guide.

As composing is a very personal activity you might want to follow these step in a completely different order. For example, Paul McCartney wrote the melody for Yesterday a long time before he came up with the lyrics.

1. Decide what you want your song to be about. Pop ballads often have a romantic theme: you might wan tot sing about a lost love, a cheating partner, a difficult break up or a happy relationship. Pop ballads donʼt just have to be about love though, as Raffertyʼs Baker Street shows.

2. Write the lyrics for the first verse. Four to six lines is a good length for a verse, although you can make it longer if you wish. See if you can include any rhymes at the ends of your sentences.

3. Write the lyrics for the chorus. This is the most important part in writing a pop ballad. You want your chorus to be catchy and heartfelt. The chorus should emphasise the main theme of the song.

4. Write the lyrics for the second verse. Here you might want to resolve any tensions created in the first verse; for example if you fell out of love in the first verse then you could find love again in the second verse.

Test yourself

1. What is a Pop Ballad?2. Name three famous singers of Pop Ballads.3. Give an example of how a steady rhythm in an accompaniment can allow the

singer to perform with rhythmic flexibility.4. How does the accompaniment change from the saxophone solo to the verse in

Baker Street, and why?

5. Write the lyrics for the bridge. The bridge acts as a link between the verse and chorus. This could be another section for voice (as in Yesterday), or you might want to create an instrumental bridge instead.

6. Read through the whole song. Does the story make sense? Have you managed to include any rhymes? Is your chorus short, simple and to the point, but still catchy?

7. Decide on the structure of your song. Do you want and intro? Are you going to include an instrumental solo? If so, which instrument?

8. Decide what key you want to start in, and think about the chords you would like to use. You might use one or two chords for each line.

9. Work on the rhythm of the words, perhaps playing them to the same note or chord to start with. Make sure the strong syllables are also stressed rhythmically. Then try to create a melody based on your chord progression. Donʼt be afraid to repeat the same note - the first five words of Your Song are sung to the note G. Some of the best pop ballads have very simple melodies.

10. Create an instrumental introduction and/or bridge, if you want your song to nclude them. Make sure all the different sections of your song flow into each other and fit together well.

11. Finally, give your song a title!