'Grace' - All you need to know

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  • Created by: esumner
  • Created on: 29-03-15 19:25

Background:

- Folk Rock

- Rock ballad

- From album 'Grace'

- 1994

- Another song from album is Hallelujah

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Forces and Instrumentation:

- Guitars, Bass Guitar, Synth, Strings, Drum kit, all accompany singer

- Guitars use drop D tuning

- String parts only feature for some of the time

- Guitar effects: vibrato, whispers, reverb, delay, flanger

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Structure:

- Intro

- Verse

- Chorus 

- Intro

- Verse

- Chorus

- Bridge

- Intro

- Verse

- Coda

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Melody and Word Setting:

- Vocal part is sometimes improvised

- Melody is mainly syllabic with short melisma's on 'fire' and 'love'

- Most vocal phrases are falling, reflecting the sad mood of the song

- Ornamentation on melody line with glissandos between some notes

- Vocalisation on the bridgem, Buckley uses falsetto to sing the high notes

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Rhythm, Metre, and Tempo:

- 12/8 - compound metre

- Lots of syncopation on vocal lines

- Bass drum plays on beats 1 and 3, snare accents beats 2 and 4

- Cross rhythms are created by use of two beats against 3

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Harmony and Tonality:

- E minor, but, key is ambiguous due to focuse on chord D in intro

- Chords often move chromatically and in parallel motions 

- Dissonance, often in chorus

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Texture:

- Melody dominated homophony

- Texture thickens towards the end because of overdubbing of vocal parts and guitar parts 

- Synthesiser and strings are less prominent

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Use of Technology:

- Modulation on synth at start

- Distortion and flanging on guitars, intensifies sound in coda

- EQ in final verse removes lower frequencies of Buckley's voice

- Overdubbing on guitar parts and vocals creates a thicker sound

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