孙燕姿 - 我要的幸福

I believe it's my sister who first piqued my interest in this piece. I remember she asking me to "try keeping count of the beats".


Unlike most pop songs, this piece uses a quintuple meter. The other pieces which do so that come to mind’re Adam Clayton & Larry Mullen, Jr.’s (Theme from) Mission: Impossible and Dave Brubeck’s Take Five by. In fact, the accompaniment for this piece’s the same as that of Take Five.

In addition to the quintuple meter, this piece occasionally uses a duple meter. This makes it pretty tricky to keep count as we're used to counting in 4s and suddenly we're faced with 5s instead. Then when it alternates to 2s, which we're more comfortable with, it quickly reverts back to 5s again. Unless you're fond of counting in 5s, a bit of concentration's required if you wish to keep track of the when the 1st beat comes in.

孙燕姿 - 我要的幸福 (Score)

Please pardon me for the poor quality of the score.

孙燕姿 - 我要的幸福 (Form)

Before going into the hypermetric analysis, here’s the form for this piece:

Intro
Verse
Verse
Chorus
Verse
Verse
Chorus
Bridge
Chorus
Outro

孙燕姿 - 我要的幸福 (Analysis of Verse Section)

Verse

Here’s the meter within the hypermetric phrase structure of the 2 verses:

5-6-5-5
5-6-5-5
5-6-5-5
5-6-5-6

5-6-5-5
5-6-5-5
5-6-5-5
5-6-5-5

(The numbers denotes the crotchet beats per bar.)

The "extra 6th crotchet" in each hypermetric phrase throws off your counting. It is pretty prominent to the ear as it's heard in the bass as well as the melody. As a result, there's a slight stretch in the middle of each hypermetric phrase. Other than that, the hypermetric beats’re pretty even.

I feel that the “extra 6th crotchet” is deliberate as the melody’s still functional and tuneful even without it. I.e. the 3 crotchets in the 2nd bar of each phrase is brought forward by 1 crotchet beat, resulting in an even quintuple meter throughout. I think this’s also the composer’s way of emphasising the 3-crotchet-note groups in the melody.

Each time you see/hear 3 consecutive crotchets in the piece, the meter’ll change to duple. I hear these 3 notes as an “anacrusis” to the subsequent long melodic note. It isn’t an anacrusis per se as it all takes place within the same melodic/hypermetric phrase. However, if we’re to break the phrase down, we can hear it in 2 fragments, with the 2nd fragment starting with the 3 crotchets. Having that, we get 2 asymmetrical melodic fragments, which can explain for the hypermetric bulge (i.e. the “extra 6th crotchet”) near the middle of each phrase. This phenomenon seems to be further supported by the fact that this extra 6th crotchet is also present in the last bar of the 1st verse but not in that of the 2nd verse. The reason’s probably because the last bar of the 1st verse has a 3-crotchet-note group while that of the 2nd verse doesn’t.

孙燕姿 - 我要的幸福 (Analysis of Chorus Section)

Chorus

Here’s the meter within the hypermetric phrase structure of the chorus:

5-6-5-5
5-6-5-5
5-6-5-5
6-6-5-5

(The numbers denotes the crotchet beats per bar.)

The main difference between the verse and chorus sections is in the 4th hypermetric phrase which starts with a duple meter that lasts for 2 bars. The effect created with this is that it intensifies the ending of the chorus by creating additional hypermetric beats (on the 2nd and 3rd last bars of the chorus).

Bridge

Here’s the meter within the hypermetric phrase structure of the bridge:

5-5-5-5-6-6

(The numbers denotes the crotchet beats per bar.)

Though only six bars in length, the music intensifies before the chorus is repeated for the last time. This is done so through repetition and diminution of rhythm. Bars 3-4 are a repeat of bars 1-2 with the same rhythm. Bars 5-6beat1 are also a repeat of bars 1-2 but at half the rhythmic value. In addition, the descending major-2nd motif in the melody is repeated one more time than in bars 3-4, further intensifying this segment. The bridge connects nicely to the chorus with the use of the 3-crotchet-note group seen prevalently in the verse sections.

Hypermetrically, this section is increasingly intensifying as the beats get shortened with the diminution of the rhythm with each repetition.

张惠妹 - 我无所谓 (Prelude)

(Blog) analysis assignment 2 for Dr. Chong. On hindsight, perhaps I should've used the piece in the first blog assignment for this instead...haha.

I'd trouble settling on which song to analyze as certain criteria (e.g. common-tone modulations) should preferably be met. Had wanted to do another Final Fantasy piece, Liberi Fatali, but I couldn't make sense of the harmony.

And so began the rummaging through of scores my sister and I have at home. After a quick-analysis of a few scores, a certain algorithm'd been formulated mentally:

1. Look out for unexpected accidentals. If there's a change in key signature, good. If new key is in the Neapolitan key, even better.

2. Analyse the chords used for the modulation.

3. If unable to explain, go on to next score.

This went on to no avail until I happened to hear 那英 - 相见不如怀念 played on the radio while I was driving home one night. The underlying harmony sounded "promising" but upon closer inspection, it wasn't what I was looking for. I then decided to go through some of my Chinese songs. Was about to settle on 孙燕姿 - 我要的幸福 as it'd a quintuple meter in general. I'd the score too but it didn't have the harmonic interests which I was looking out for.

I decided to listen through even more Chinese songs and realized that many of them feature a modulation to the Neapolitan key at the last reprise of the chorus. Then I settled on 2 songs:

1. 成龙, 李宗盛, 周华健 & 黄耀明 - 真心英雄

2. 张惠妹 - 我无所谓

Both'd the Neapolitan modulation that I was looking for. The first song's pretty straightforward but it's the second one with more harmonic intricacies.

The next problem was the score. It's really tough to find scores for Chinese pop songs! (Or at least I was incredibly bad at doing so.) Stumbled upon PoPiano in the midst of searching but the scores were full of errors! The score I'd downloaded actually had the Neapolitan modulation transcribed as a supertonic modulation. Hence began the tedious job of transcribing.

张惠妹 - 我无所谓 (MV)

Here's the music video of the song:



And for some of you who find it familiar-sounding, it may be due to the fact that this's the theme song to one of Channel 8's blockbuster drama back in 1997, 《长河》 (Rising Expectations). This should bring back memories:



Here's my attempt at transcribing the piece:

Here's also the URL to the accompaniment for the piece.

张惠妹 - 我无所谓 (Chord Analysis)

Common tones

Interestingly, this piece modulates entirely through the use of common tones. Modulation occurs only in the introduction, the bridge and the last phrase of the final chorus.

In the introduction and the bridge, the piece modulates between C major and A-flat major but the pivot notes for the common-tone modulation differs in both sections. In the introduction, the tonic of C major (C-note) acts as the pivot note while in the bridge, the leading note of A-flat major (G-note) acts as the pivot note instead. The composer does it very effectively and seemlessly, making these sections sound tonally fluid. More will be discussed in the harmonic analysis.

For the last phrase of the final chorus, the piece modulates to its Neapolitan (flattened supertonic) key. This is done using a common-tone Ger

6
5 . The augmented 6th chord can enharmonically respelt as a V7 of D-flat major, thus acting a pivot chord for this modulation.

Such a modulation usually occurs during the final chorus of Chinese pop songs. As such, it also signifies that the music is coming to an end. This is a common phenomenon in Chinese pop songs, especially those with rock elements, as it literally ramps up the intensity of the music.

Some songs go to the extent of modulating twice in this manner at the end. For example, in the song 《真心英雄》 (translated as “True Heroes”), a song sung by 成龙 (Jackie Chan), 李宗盛 (Jonathan Lee) , 周华健 (Emil Chau) and 黄耀明 (Anthony Wong) in a charity show, such a move is justified as it effectively roused the (live and television) audience, in attempt to garner more telephone donations.

Dissonances

As with most pop songs, this piece makes use of extended tertian chords. The 9th-chord is used more frequently. It appears in every section except the bridge.

The dissonances are always prepared (either by syncopation or approached by step) though the preparation may occur is a different voice. Furthermore, dissonances do not always resolve (e.g. bar 26³ and the final bar).

Bassline

The piece generally has a very smooth bassline. This is achieved through the use of chromatic harmonies (e.g. #iv° in bar 19³) , passing

6
4 s or

4
2 s.

张惠妹 - 我无所谓 (Harmonic Phrase Analysis)

Harmonically open

As illustrated in the analysis, we will notice that the music is harmonically open most of the time. We almost never hear a perfect cadence. The tonic is almost never used at the end of each harmonic phrase. The closest we get is a tonic substitute. The composer seems to deliberately avoid using a perfect cadence. The only time we hear the tonic at the end of a harmonic phrase, is right at the end. Even then, we do not get a perfect cadence but a plagal cadence. Furthermore, the wavering of the 9-8 in the last bar does tickle the listeners’ heart as it reminds us of the harmonically-open nature of the music.

Tonal fluidity

As mentioned earlier in the chord analysis, the music sounds tonally fluid in the introduction and bridge sections. Personally, this piece fills me with uncertainty and anticipation as I never will be sure where the music is heading to. The composer establishes this fluidity right at the beginning, setting the sombre mood of the music which describes the melancholy of a broken heart.

The harmony at the opening of a piece usually establishes the tonic of a key but we do not see that in the introduction of this piece. It starts with a predominant in C major and just as we are expecting the dominant, it modulates to A-flat major and cadences in the new tonic. However, this new tonic does not get established but immediately modulates back to C major instead. We still do not hear a tonic in C major but we do have a strong imperfect cadence (with the dominant 7th) in C major, which leads us to the tonic at the start of the next section.

We see a similar situation in the bridge section. The dominant in A-flat major can be heard as an accented incomplete neighbour due to unstable nature of the
4
2 chord. We expect a tonic (I6) after that but instead, we get a substitute, which modulates back to C major.

Plagal nature

Another reason for the tonal uncertainty in the music is due to the prominent use of the subdominant chord (of C major):

1. The piece starts off with the subdominant – an uncommon trait.

2. The verse starts with a plagal expansion and ends with the subdominant.

3. The final chord of the chorus is usually the subdominant.

4. The piece ends off with a plagal cadence.

张惠妹 - 我无所谓 (Melodic Phrase Structure)

Regularities

The verse, pre-chorus and chorus sections have a more regular phrase structure.

The pre-chorus section has a sentence structure, with a sequence in the first 2 “short” phrases.

A double period phrase structure outlines the verse sections but the consequent period does not end in a perfect cadence. Hence, I have labelled them as phrase groups instead.

The phrase structure for the chorus section is an amalgamation of the verse and pre-chorus sections. It seems to follow a simple period structure, with a sentence structure embedded within each phrase. There also seems to be another layer of sentence structure embedded within the second “short” phrase of each sentence within the simple period. However, like the verse section, the consequent phrase does not end in a perfect cadence. Hence, I have labelled it as a phrase group too.

Irregularities

The introduction and bridge sections are quite abnormal in terms of conventional phrase structures.

The introduction has an asymmetrical phrase structure. The antecedent phrase is 3-bars long while the consequent phrase is 5-bars long. A sentence structure is embedded within the consequent phrase but the “long” phrase is extended by a bar by stretching the length of the suspension in the harmony. On the whole, this seem to suggest a simple period structure too but the consequent phrase does not end in a perfect cadence. Hence, I have labelled it as a phrase group too.

Another phrase extension occurs in the second phrase of the final chorus section. The phrase extension is to accommodate the common-tone augmented-6th chord.

The final chorus section has its consequent phrase repeated, hence creating a 3-phrase long phrase group.

On top of phrase extensions, there are a number of phrase overlaps in this piece. Some of these overlaps cause some irregularities in terms of the length of each phrase:

1. The final bar of the chorus section overlaps with the first bar of the bridge section.

2. Similarly, the final bar of the final chorus section overlaps with the first bar of the outro.

3. The bridge section has a phrase overlap in the 3rd bar of the section.

The bridge section, like the introduction, has an assymetrical phrase structure but with a phrase overlap. Both phrases do not have a antecedent-consequent relationship and thus, I have labelled them as a phrase group.

Hypermeter

The hypermeter of the piece is generally regular. However, there are some anomalies:

1. In the introduction, due to the assymetric phrase structure, the hypermetric down beats land on bars 1 and 4.

2. The hypermetric phrase is shortened at places where phrase overlap occurs, such as the final phrase of all chorus sections.

On the whole, the piece does not follow the conventional 8-hypermetric-phrase (32-bars) structure for its verse sections. Instead, the verse is 2-hypermetric-phrase long and the pre-chorus is 1-hypermetric-phrase long, making it a total of 3 hypermetric phrases in length. However, the chorus sections generally follow that structure, but with a shortening of the final phrase.

The piece I've chosen to analyze is Nobuo Uematsu's Descendant of the Shinobi. It is found in the soundtrack of the game Final Fantasy VII, so for those of you who've played it, this might sound vaguely familiar.

Anyway, here's the YouTube video of the clip. (Can't upload the mp3 here so if you wish to obtain the mp3 file, you can request from me personally.)



And here's the score to go with it. (Please open the pictures in a new tab/window as the thumbnails're rather blur.) I'll only be analyzing the 1st 33 bars of the piece.

(Pages 1-2)

(Pages 3-4)

This below is the harmonic analysis of the 1st 33 bars.

I'll touch on the phrase structure of the piece first.

I've broken these 1st 33 bars into a binary form structure with an introduction and a bridge in between both sections. The "A"-section follows a double period structure, with each (antecedent and consequent ) phrase (in each period) lasting for 4 bars. Each phrase starts with an anacrusis of 3 quavers, so it may feels as though each phrase ends before the end of a bar. The "B"-section also follows a double period phrase structure. Unlike the "A"-section, each phrase within each period is only 2 bars long in the "B "-section. However, there is an extension to the consequent phrase of the consequent period, making it 4-bars long. Each phrase also starts with an anacrusis of 3 quavers like that of the "A"-section.

In short, it should look something like this in chronological order:

• Introduction (bars 1-4)
  
• A (bars 5-20): double period
  
• Bridge (bars 21-22)
  
• B (bars 23-33)
  

If we were to examine the hypermetric structure, we would realize that the hypermetric beat quickens at the "B"-section. In fact, the hypermetric beat at the "B"-section seems to've diminished by half as the "short" phrases there are half the length of those in the "A"-section.With the entrance of the "long" phrase in the "B"-section, the hypermetric beat seems to resume to that of the "A"-section. Possibly signalling that the next section will follow the hypermetric beat and phrase length of the "A"-section. Taking a closer look at the "bridge" section, we could take it that it's acting as a precursor to the diminution of the hypermetric beat and phrase length by comparing it with the "introduction" section. The bridge section is exactly half in length in terms of hypermetric beat and phrase length. As both the "introduction" and "bridge" sections act as a very short introductory passage to both the "A" and "B" sections, we can assume that each of them will also set the phrase structure and hypermetric beat of the proceeding section.

Having discussed the phrase structure and the hypermeter, we can now discuss a little on the harmonic structure of the 1st 33 bars:

• T -> PD -> D in the antecedent period of the "A"-section
• PD -> D -> T in the consequent period of the "A"-section
• PD -> D -> T in the "B"-section
• PD comprises of circle of 5ths e.g. vi7 -> ii7 -> V7
• jazz elements e.g. the use of extended 9ths, 11ths, 13ths
• smooth bass-line with the use of passing and neighbour chords (sometimes chromatic)
• "colourful" chords and ambiguity in keys at times
  

Taking a closer look at the harmonic phrases in both sections, we can see that it follows a "short-short-long (SSL)" phrase structure. Bars 5-6, 7-8, 13-14, 15-16, 23-24, 25-26 are all consecutive "short" phrases. The proceeding 4 (sometimes slightly more) bars to each of these "short-short" phrases form a "long" phrase. Coupled with the melodic phrase structure, and the use of a swing beat, the piece is very catchy.

In terms of the chords used, we can see that there is a wide usage of extended 9ths and sometimes 11ths one occurence of a 13th. These add to the jazz feel of the piece along with the swing beat. A smooth bass-line is achieved by the use of passing and neighbour chords, sometimes chromatic in nature (e.g. bars 12 and 22).

"Colourful" chords are used too, like the German 6th at bar 18 and the flattened submediant chord at bar 32, which add an element of surprise to balance the predictability of the melodic and harmonic phrase structures. There is some ambiguity in terms of key at bars 11-12 and 32 if you look at these 2 places out of context. Bars 11-12 seem to suggest a modulation to G minor. In fact, the last 3 quavers of the melody in bar 12 fit nicely to the harmonization of a G-minor tonic triad. However, the proceeding bar (13) firmly brings the tonality back to that of the home key (B-flat major) with the use of the subdominant triad of B-flat major.

Similarly, at bar 32, the unexpected use of the flattened submediant chord of B-flat major (subdominant chord of D-flat major), followed by the dominant of D-flat major, seem to suggest a modulation to D-flat major. However, the proceeding bar (33) sees an interrupted cadence, using a major submediant chord of D-flat major. We probably wouldn't realize the interrupted cadence as it usually would be a minor chord. Furthermore, this major submediant chord is also the tonic triad of the home-key, thus, it's only natural for us to think that the piece has rooted itself back to B-flat major.

As you've noticed, I've included jazz notation of the chords to so that it is easier to see the presence of the extended 9ths, 11ths and 13ths, and the bass-line. For those unfamiliar with jazz notation, here's a little summary of my own:

• a chord with only a note-name denotes a major triad built on that note e.g. C denotes a C-major triad
  
• a chord with a note-name followed by "m" denotes a minor triad built on that note e.g. Cm denotes a C-minor triad
• a chord with a note-name followed by a "dim" denotes a diminished triad built on that note
  
• a chord with a note-name and a "+" in superscript denotes an augmented triad built on that note
• a "maj7" in superscript indicates that the chord carries a diatonic 7th while a "7" in superscript indicates a flattened 7th (i.e. a secondary dominant 7th)
• numbers "9", "11", "13" in superscript indicate that the chord carries the respective
  diatonic notes with respect to the tonic (where the note-name of the chord is the tonic) e.g. C9 denotes a C-major triad with an added "D"
• an "add" followed by a number in superscript indicates that the chord carries an added diatonic note (corresponding to the number) of the scale (where the note-name of the chord is the tonic)
• a second number (usually having an accidental preceding it) in superscript denotes that that particular note in the chord (where 1 is the tonic) is altered according to the accidental
• the note-name after a "/" indicates the bass note of the chord (where the bass note may not be found in the chord some times) e.g. C/E denotes a C-major triad with E as the bass-note, or in its 1st inversion