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.
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A phrase group is not defined by the harmonic non-closure at the end; in this case, you can't label the antecedent and consequent phrases, then call that a phrase group.
ReplyDeleteThe intro's phrase structure is indeed not so straightforward. I think the clue lies in the full version (somewhat obscured by the piano transcription).
Re the phrase overlaps, consider whether hypermetric overlap occurs too or it results in shortening of hypermeasures.
Note the implication of the 2/4 bars for hypermetric analysis.
For the intro:
ReplyDeleteIf we're to take the first 4 notes as a descending motif, we can see that it repeats across bars 3-6 as the first note of each bar. The final note of the motif is then repeated and held at bars 7-8.
This intro’s very interesting as the melodic, harmonic and hypermetric phrases don’t align with one another.
Melodic-wise, on a micro level, we can split it into 2 phrases – bars 1-3, bars 4-8 – with a gesture of a sentence structure at bars 4-8. On a macro level, we can see bars 3-6 as a rhythmically-augmented repetition of bars 1-2, with an extension at bars 7-8.
Hypermetric-wise, bars 1-3 belong to a phrase and bars 5-8 belong to the next phrase.
For the verse sections:
ReplyDeleteI'll say that they follow a double period phrase structure but do not end on a perfect cadence.