Capercaillie - The Skye Waulking Song (Section B)

Structure:

• Made up of 8 verses and an instrumental section

• Intro - verse 1 - break - verse 2 to 6 - Instrumental - Verses 7 and 8 - Outro

Texture:

• Occasionally heterophonic

• Most of the extract has a dense texture

• The texture stays consistent throughout until the very end when it thins out

• Ending is just vocal and drum kit

• The instruments interweave

• Contrapuntal

Instrumentation:

• Uses both rock and folk instruments

• Rock instruments are amplified, folk instruments are acoustic

• Fiddle, bouzouki, uilleann pipes, accordion, drum kit, acoustic guitar, bass guitar, electric guitar, Wurlitzer/electric piano, synthesiser

Melody and word setting:

• Melodic lines played in folk style

• Instruments improvise around melody lines simultaneously

• Instruments sometimes play a very similar melody in slightly different ways creating a heterophonic texture

• By doing this they sometimes weave a complex, improvised counterpoint around the scale of G major

• The vocal line is sung using the scale of Em pentatonic (Gmj pentatonic) throughout

Harmony:

• Harmony is less important than the melody and the rhythm

• Very simple throughout the song

• Song consists of only 4 chords

• Changes in the chord sequence are very infrequent

• Chord changes stand out when they occur

• Chord changes highlight change of section and mood

Mood:

• A work song

• Mood changes are highlighted by the chord changes