I have noticed that most of the phrase structures are similar and they tend to repeat. For example in page 3, we can see one short-short-long phrase. But after that, the phrases repeat themselves (2 by 2). However, this does not make the song boring. I guess it's just for emphasis sake.
Oh yes, another last point would be the omission of 3rds. For instance, in page 1 bar 2, there's only Eb-Bb-Eb, the 3rd which is the G, is missing. And also, in bar 3, the Bb is missing for chord vi. I then recalled Dr. Chong mentioning that the omission of 3rds in composition are relatively acceptable and that it does not spoil the chords' sounds too.
This piece starts off with Bb major. It starts off with its theme with I-IV-vi-V and repeats and after which it comes off to the part where the singing starts. The progression is as follows: I-vi-IV-IV65-I-vi-IV-IV65-ii-V-V6-V/ii-ii-iii....
If you can see, the progression of the singing part is actually the opposite from the theme where it goes from IV-vi but instead it goes from vi-IV.
Jay kinds of delay the dominant after tonic by using 1st inversion chords and chord ii.
The only tonicized key was at the second bar of page 2, where he tonicized to C major. This could be the anticipation or rather a hint that he wants to go into the C major key later.
At the part where the song goes into its peak, C major key comes in and it's not surprising at all due to the hint earlier on. The peak is also established using different time signatures like 2/4 and 3/4.
At page 7, the pre-dominant chord (chord vi) goes into C major and starts off with chord V. After which, I notice that there's I in its root position, 1st inversion of I and 2nd inversion of I, all in the preceding bar.
And at the end of page 7, there's a chromatic neighbour note F# being used.
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I have noticed that the melody from the start is rather restricted to the range from D to B. But in page 2, highlighted in purple, the use of D and E helps to open up the melody and gives more space for it to go higher.
The are also alot of leaps used in this song. They are all highlighted in purple too. This is especially different from normal classical songs where leaps are seldom used. I guess in modern compositions, these leaps not only provide new forms, but also help make the composition more interesting.
TaDa!! And so this is the song I'm gonna analyze - Silence (安靜).
"This song is about the sorrow of silently playing a piano alone. This is a slow and classical song with the main instrument being the piano. Jay writes the words and they are quite touching. .......... This is bit of a sad song and you should probably listen to it when you are feeling sorrow." This is an editor's review taken from jaychoustudio.com.
I agree with him that this song is rather sad. It's melancholy touched me and I felt like crying at times whenever I hear this song.
Hello! The second song I'm going to touch on is last song from Jay Chou's second album launched on 19 September 2001. This album is called Fantasy (范特西). I think this album is the album which brought Jay into the starlight and thus making the audience look at him from his talent's side instead of his looks. Once again he worked with Vincent Fang and Vivian Hsu in the lyrics of this album. Fantasy lives up to its name with songs centered around strange and wonderful themes. Some of his tracks has brought in the combination of Chinese music and Hip Hop, which I thought was something interesting. So if you guys have the time, you all can go check out other songs of this album. =)
The song started off with theme and then goes on to the verse and chorus. After which he then repeats both the verse and chorus again.
I find that songs starting with the theme is especially common in Jay's compositions. This makes a striking feature so as to capture listeners' attention.
Unlike the principles of repetition in musical forms that we learnt in class, this song is structured in a way which is sort of similar to traditional Chinese poetry writing. I remembered my Chinese teacher telling me that the most basic form of poetry writing is using 5 words to form one phrase. We can see this in the start of the song and after which he moves on to 7 words in one phrase. This is perhaps another way to make listeners have a greater impression of his song and that it's easier to remember too.
One of the interesting features in this song is the use of accidentals as anticipations. As seen in bar 5 and 41.
因爲我不想太快走完这幸福 yin wei wo bu xiang tai kuai zou wan zhe xing fu
很可惜没有祝福 hen ke xi mei you zhu fu
当爱你并不孤独 dang ai ni bing bu gu du
不会再让你哭 bu hui zai rang ni ku
我背你走到最後 wo bei ni zou dao zui hou
能不能不要回头 neng bu neng bu yao hui tou
你紧紧的抱住我 ni jin jin de bao zhu wo
说你不需要承诺 shuo ni bu xu yao cheng nuo
你说我若一个人会比较自由 ni shuo wo ruo yi ge ren hui bi jiao zi you
我不懂你说什麽 wo bu dong ni shuo shen me
反正不会松手
fan zheng bu hui song shou
我背你走到最後 wo bei ni zou dao zui hou
能不能别想太多 neng bu neng bie xiang tai duo
会不会手牵着手 hui bu hui shou qian zhe shou
晚一点才到尽头 wan yi dian cai dao jin tou
你说不该再相见只爲了瞬间
ni shuo bu gai zai xiang jian zhi wei le shun jian
谢谢你让我听见
xie xie ni rang wo ting jian
因爲我在等待永远
yin wei wo zai deng dai yong yuan
The piece started out in F major. As usual, it starts out with a dominant chord (chord I) to chord vii in bar 8. I think that from bar 1 to 10, it's an expansion of the dominant chord due to frequent use of tonic chords. After which at bar 11, it's a chord V. At bar 22, there's a change in key signature to when the song goes into the chorus at "我背你走到最後...". It then proceeds from chord I - I6 - I6/4 - ii6/4 - iii - V - I6 - I6/4 - vi6/4 - I6/4 - V - I - vi - vi6/5 - iv - V7 - V - I6/5 - iio7 - ii4/2 - V7 - I.
As expected, it goes from a tonic to a dominant and after which it returns to tonic at the end.
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