Grace - Jeff Buckley

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When was Grace released?
1994
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What are some other tracks on the album?
Hallelujah, lilac wine, so real, eternal life
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What style of music is the song?
Folk Rock
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Who was Jeff Buckley's dad, and when did he die?
Tim Buckley died of a drug overdose in 1975, when Jeff was 5
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Who co-wrote Grace with Jeff Buckley?
Gary Lucas, who also plays guitar on the track
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What were his musical influences?
reggae, jazz, folk, funk and Pakistani devotional 'Quawwali" music
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What is the song about?
A dream Buckley had about a girl crying on her boyfriend's arm, not wanting him to leave (but is also clearly about death)
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When and how did Jeff Buckley die?
1997 at age 31, he drowned swimming in the Wolf River
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What is the tempo?
64 bpm
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What is the metre?
12/8 (compound time-counted in groups of 3)
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What is the instrumentation?
Vocals, bass guitar, synth, strings, drum kit, 3 electric guitars, and acoustic guitar (in drop D)
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What are power chords? (used in the main chord sequence but the guitar)
chords made of only root note and 5th
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What is the harmony of the guitar chords, and why?
It is a chromatic progression, as the power chords are slid up and down 3 guitar frets, with the open strings as drones to create harmonic richness
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What is drop D tuning?
The high low and E strings not he guitar are tuned to D
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What is 'slide' guitar, a technique used by the electric guitar?
a metal or plastic device is used to slide from one note to another
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What is a guitar whisper? (also used by the electric guitar)
A note/chord is played with the volume turned down, then the volume is turned up quickly
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What is Vibrato? (used by guitar and voice)
'wobbly' notes
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Which other guitar technique is used?
Scoops on the tremolo arm-the metal bridge is pressed and released
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What is the structure?
Intro, Verse 1, pre-chorus, chorus, link (same as intro), verse 2, pre-chorus, chorus, middle 8, link, Verse 3 (half as long,octave higher), link
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What are the dynamics of the piece?
It starts 'piano', but the guitar plays 'forte' chords in the chorus
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What is the rhythm?
There is lots of syncopation in the vocal melody and baseline, Cross-Rhythms are used, drum kit plays 'rock beat' (beats 2 and 4 emphasised), vocal rhythms are very free (grace notes, triplets etc)
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What is the harmony of the chords used in the verse and chorus
Modal-with E as the tonic note, The bass follows the root of the power chord
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When are more complex chords used?
The pre-chorus and the middle 8
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What is the tonality of the intro?
ambiguous bars 1-3, then D major at the end of the intro (and links)
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What is the tonality of the verse, pre-chorus and chorus?
Modal, in em (but not using any conventional em cadences)
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How would you describe the texture?
Mostly Homophonic but Polyphonic in Coda, the texture thickens throughout the piece (thickest in coda), parts fade out from time to time for textural contrast (no guitar riff in verse)
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What is the range of the melody?
2 octaves, verse has a limited pitch range, which gets higher in pre-chorus and chorus
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What are the other features of the melody
falling vocal phrases - reflect sadness of song , steps and leaps used (inc. falling 5ths), Very high vocal improvs in the outro, uses melisma (more than one note per syllable)
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What is falsetto? (a vocal technique used in grace)
The highest part of the range
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Which other vocal techniques are used?
Vibrato, slides/ 'portamento' (used on 'die'), 'whispering' backing vocal used in middle 8 (sounds with no words)
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Name the studio effects/ technology used
modulation (synth at start), overdubbing (2 recordings played over each other to thicken sound), multi-tracking, distortion, EQ (boosts certain frequencies, e.g high freqs in vocals), flanger ('swirly' sound on guitar), Delay (gives echo effect)
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Other cards in this set

Card 2

Front

What are some other tracks on the album?

Back

Hallelujah, lilac wine, so real, eternal life

Card 3

Front

What style of music is the song?

Back

Preview of the front of card 3

Card 4

Front

Who was Jeff Buckley's dad, and when did he die?

Back

Preview of the front of card 4

Card 5

Front

Who co-wrote Grace with Jeff Buckley?

Back

Preview of the front of card 5
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