A Level Music: 'Yellow Bird' by the Red Stripe Ebony Steel Band
- Created by: ChloeGerrard
- Created on: 07-06-14 15:29
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- Yellow Bird by Red Stripe Ebony Steel Band
- Tonal
- G Major
- Recurring C# is chromatic, lower auxiliary note
- Harmony
- 3 diatonic primary chords of G Major: G, C and D
- Occasional added 7ths e.g. G7 and D7
- Harmonic rhythm: 1/2 chords per bar
- Dominant 9th chord: bar 15
- Metre
- 4/4 - feels more duple
- Fast tempo
- Rhythm
- Syncopation: derives from Latin American, Samba and Caribbean Calypso
- Claves rhythm: Latin American, in lower drums and melodic rhythm: 2 dotted crotchets and crotchet
- Habanera rhythm: repeated bass rhythm (Cuban music)
- Texture
- Melody dominated homophony
- 4/5 part textures
- Melody
- Yellow Bird Melody: first 4 bars, limited in pitch range (only uses B, C, C# and D)
- Link from Yellow Bird to 2nd Idea: 3 note chromatic figure: bar 8.
- 2nd Idea: Sequential (bars 9 & 10). Based on repeated, syncopated rhythms. Upward arpeggio figures (uplifting mood) followed by drop of 7th, 8th or 9th.
- Link from Yellow Bird to 2nd Idea: 3 note chromatic figure: bar 8.
- B Section: triadic, syncopated and arpeggios
- A&B sections have similar endings - descent in 3rds on tenor pan and double second
- Yellow Bird Melody: first 4 bars, limited in pitch range (only uses B, C, C# and D)
- Resources
- Steel pans
- Originally made from oil barrels
- Pitch determined by size of oval shape
- Tenor pan, double second, double tenor, four-pan cello and bass
- Top two parts carry melody (mostly in unison, but occasionally in 3rds: bar 15, and a brief descant line: bars 27-33.
- Double tenor: 1st half of A: syncopated ostinato-like figure, then semibreve harmonic filling for rest of piece.
- Four-pan cello: tenor part, minims and semibreves
- Bass pans: triadic shapes, 'habanera' rhythm
- Tenor pan, double second, double tenor, four-pan cello and bass
- Mellow sound: wooden sticks with rubber heads
- Pitch determined by size of oval shape
- Chromatic Instruments: 16 notes
- Tremolo effect for sustained notes
- Originally made from oil barrels
- Drum Kit - maintains beat and features use of hi-hat, cymbals lower tom-toms and bass drum.
- Steel pans
- Structure
- AABAvAvB
- Section A: 16 bars long
- Features 2 ideas
- 1) Yellow Bird Motive: 4 bars long, repeated
- Defines structure
- 2) based on repeated, syncopated, upwards arepggio-like figures
- 1) Yellow Bird Motive: 4 bars long, repeated
- Features 2 ideas
- Section B: 9 bars long, with three 2-bar phrases and one 3 bars in length. Based on arpeggio and syncopation
- No musical contrast
- Background
- Traditional calypso melody
- Originates from Haiti in Creole dialect
- Original title: 'Choucoune'
- Written in 1893. Original subject matter: woman from the island.
- English version popularised in 1950s by Jamaican singer Harry Belafonte (many presume it's Jamaican)
- Steel bands developed in caribbean Islands of Trinidad and Tobago.
- Composer
- Appears on compilation album, The Best of Latin America, released in 2000
- Tonal
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