opalite analysis
Key: G Major
Tempo: 125 BPM
Intro: Playing the chords CM7 - D (IV7 - V). She starts singing on the note D while the C chord is playing, and then it changes to the D chord. The D note doesn't fit in the C chord, so it anticipates the chord change, but sounds a bit weird to me. This whole part is a very reverb-y, soft guitar.
Note: the chords are changing a bit weird... C on 1, 2, 3, and the and of 4. Next measure: 1, 2 +, 3, then the chord changes to D Major on the and of 3!! So D Major: + 4 +. Which makes it feel like it goes to another time signature, in my opinion. Then on measure three, it goes back to C Major on the and of 1!
Verse 1: Then the band comes in. The verse continues a weird chord change rhythm pattern. We start with a IV chord, then on the next measure, the V chord changes on the fourth beat. Okay, it's not as weird as the intro... but still a little funny... because then it goes back to the IV chord on beat 2 of the following measure. Well pretty much on the and of one, actually. Okay, that's not too bad but... not sure about this. Sometimes there is an E minor which is the iv chord.
IV - V - IV - V - IV - V - vi - V
Drums are just playing quarter notes. 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 (bold accented). The orchestration is pretty simple. Mostly led by guitar and drums. (I don't even hear another instrument, but I'm not wearing headphones...)
The melody of the verse... this part is made up of ONLY two melodic figures that are repeating. The melodic figures are quite Taylor-Swift like. Pretty boring. It's constructed with a leap and stepwise movement. The second figure starts on the tonic, and is all stepwise. Back and forth with those two figures. Not anything too interesting happening.
Pre-Chorus: Same chord progression continues. You can hear it... there's not much of an energy change because the chords are the same. Most of this pre-chorus have the same notes of E-D-C-B-A-... very similar to the first figure of the verse, but starting on E instead of D. E actually fits better within the chords. So this melody sounds a little better, in my opinion, with this minor 7th starting off. But then she just keeps repeating it so it gets boring. Also, it's sitting very low in the voice. Which has an anticipatory feeling - allows the singer to hop up an octave and sing out. But for me, all of these notes so low sound a little uncomfortable - because she's not singing out, she's singing softly... When she sings "I was wrong" - and holds the note, I think it sounds horrible and weird. All breathy with "wrong" Bleh. Anyway, the notes are different there to end the section, but again, nothing special to see.
Chorus: Taylor jumps up a minor 7th to start singing the chorus... wow... high register. Stylistic singing which is a little bleh.. I don't know. She sings in a certain way. The chords here are V - I (finally the one chord for dramatic effect) - vi - ii
V - I - vi - ii
There's an extra guitar sound moving with her voice. Not much instrumental layers. Mostly vocal layers. The drums are playing more energetically. There's an + thrown in.
The melody of the chorus.... It starts with a lot of repeated notes on the tonic, which is fine because I think we were desiring to hear the tonic chord.... then she just repeats the melody with the root of the next chord which is E minor (the vi). Kind of a boring approach. Then....
We hear again the melody exactly from the verse of that D Major octave leap going down by steps to a few notes. In the context of the chorus, it actually could be nice... but why have the same exact melody earlier??? Why not make this a special moment? It could be really nice here. The surrounding melody parts also don't support it well to make it sound like the nice moment that it could be. This melody then repeats on the V chord. The first time it was on the ii.
Then, of course, the "oh, oh, oh" ruins it for me (I have a thing about "oh, oh, oh's" or that kind of filler lol), even though I get it leads back to the tonic... I don't like it.
A lot of vocal doubling here.
Then the energy dramatically disrupts and we go back to the low range of the verses. A little weird there.
Verse 2: Same as verse 1, the drums start off with a compressed lo-fi sound then come back to normal volume. And a high whooshing sound brings it back.
Chorus 2 sounds the same.
What I would do to improve this song: Literally just write a new melody. The instrumentation is fine. Kind of plain, but I could work with that.
Bridge: The chords of the bridge are I - vi - ii - V
Again, melody not too profound. There's a weird little glissando at the beginning. A lot of step wise notes. Repetitive. There's also a leap down a Perfect 5th that sounds a little awkward. Why do that? It was because she is singing chord notes.... boring choice and awkward result. There's a lot of vocal layering here. I think she's doubling at the octave, for example.
Then she sings "LOVE" stacking up notes of the D chord (V). Whatever, it's fine. Decent tension build to resolve on the I chord.
"Don't you sweat it baby" = pentatonic scale. Getting us back to the one.
Her melodic choices are kind of annoying because it sticks a lot to chord tones... in a way that it is confined. Not in a creative and harmonious way.
Ends with the chorus very harmonized and the song finalizes with some "oh, oh, oh". Fin.
composer's blog
the writing process in completion of an operatic aria.
Step 1: Planning
I will write down all of the “ingredients” to this song.
Genre/Style
– Soprano Aria
– Voice and Piano
Objectives
– Based on Bird Sounds
Text
– (wanted) St. Bernadette after the apparition of Mary to her or something with the phrase “I am the immaculate conception”
– End: “O Mary conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to Thee.”
Poem:
"In shadowed grotto, waters flow, a healing touch, a tender glow,
the stones embrace, a sacred space, where weary hearts find grace’s trace"
Motifs
(Rhythms Exact)
Possible Material
from her letter:
"I saw a lady wearing a lovely white dress with a bright belt. On top of each of her feet was a pale yellow rose, the same color as her rosary beads"
(I didn't end up using this hymn)
Step 2: Structure
Since I am not drawing from one set text, I’ll make a general structure to follow as I start writing:
Start: Recitative derived from: I saw a lady wearing a lovely white dress with a bright belt. On top of each of her feet was a pale yellow rose, the same color as her rosary beads. (Between piano sounds of birds)
Second: go into poem, melodic - drawn from bird motifs
End section with: I am the Immaculate Conception
Final: conclusion with the final prayer: “O Mary conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to Thee.”
Step 3: Listening
since this is written for a specific person, I will listen to her sing and find what works best with her voice.
“My Fach right now is Zwischen” - this is between soprano and mezzo
What I notice when I listen to some recordings:
– Soprano starts a piece on E5 and it sounds very clear and strong
– F4-A4 also sounds very strong and nice
– sings well within the staff, and those high staff notes sing out beautifully
– maybe keep the lowest note an E4
– G5 was also a nice goal, climactic note (delicate, elegant)
Step 4: Thoughts
have voice come in with bird sounds like it’s weaving through as another voice of nature
Step 5: Write things...
All one can do is start.
intro/recit thoughts
- the birds will weave through the voice, I want a nice chord motif to go with it. It’s having some minor sounds, but maybe go between a lose minor and some major - but make it colorful.
– do I want to make the melodic material emulate the voice more? Or just in the poetic section.
8 June
– I sketched out the melody for the intro recit, with questions above. I think it sounds very beautiful.
14 June
– I’m trying to figure out a harmonic sound environment for this intro part. I think I figure it out - I don’t want it to come in all at once, so I have these weaving, stacked notes, which also provide a rhythm (slightly). Even if it’s a little off... I’m wondering where to go harmonically. If I should keep it more simple or not... but I suppose the rhythm already has unique interest.
– Intro now finished. Harmony left untouched at end so I can decide where to go and how to glue it together. I think I’m happy with the chord choices overall - moving with the melody, and knowing where to insert brightness (I like how the D♭M7 ended up).
– don’t know if I said before, but this is the recit.
– I realize in previous notes that I had a chord motif plan... well it kind of came to be, but maybe it wasn’t like I previously imagined. But I didn’t write it down so how am I supposed to remember?
- That’s a funny statement becuase with this sort of thing, you can trust your creative foundation and sense to probably arrive to the same results that you could imagine previously. Does it work this way? Kind of trusting your self to be the same machine.
– I’m trying to see if there are any words that would fit with the bird motives (or at least fragments of them). Maybe they need to be augmented.
(Note: I can't remember if I derived more melody from the bird sounds, but I think at least this part is).
15 June
– I’m listening to the intro again and wondering if I should extend without left hand... maybe have a repeat of the bird calls without the accompaniment. I need to try on the piano. Maybe just some soft chords for sound environment. TBD.
– I’m roughly creating a melody in 6/8 time - (I like the movement) - based on the bird calls. I’m putting a melisma which I suspect could be a bit difficult vocally. I’m not sure. But it should sound nice! (I sing everything an octave lower to test it out)
(Note: I ended up transposing to this key).
– I got to a climactic moment on a high B♭ but I need to double check if that’s a good note for the singer. Is it too big of a note for this part of the song? Should I hold back until later? I actually want to check if general this is set well. I didn’t choose the key (the birds did).
– I mapped out the structure in my head. Questioning: is it long enough? I can’t continue until I figure out of this first line is suitable, becuase it’s an important part and I will return to it with embellishment. I just decided the movement of the piano. I know the piano chords for this part doesn’t have to move too much, but provide a rhythmic pulse.
23 June
– I moved around some notes so it’s more suitable for the voice - not really reaching that high B♭, flourishing more within the staff and making F and G♭ the climactic notes. I repeated the beginning of the aria section and adding some melisma and variety. Now where does it lead to?
– I did some of the ending prayer which will have a very light high A - except... it’s not on an important word. Does it matter in this case? It’s on “for”. I feel like “pray” or “us” will be a little awkward, but it might have to be “us”.
– sketched out whole melody. Next up: harmony!! Musical environment. Is this ending powerful enough though? “Recourse to thee” is a strong statement.
21 August
– It’s been a while... let’s blame the summer.
– If it’s been a while or you feel stuck, sometimes I like to start a new file because the old one becomes like a notepad - so I start new, organized.
– I copied the first section over, so I’m going to consider this part at the moment and also think about running water sound, if that can be added, since there in a water element in the Lourdes story.
– I extended the bird calls and put a running water motif with them, in the middle/high of treble clef, since the bird calls are so high, and we get more rhythm with the lower notes to come. One may also start the aria when the rhythm comes in. I am currently working in Burger King and there are smelly people near me. This is a problem.
– I posed myself a question of whether or not I should augment some of the rhythms of the bird sounds (therefore creating motif transformations/new motifs). I can’t consider until I look at what comes next, and how things will get glued together. We’re leading to an aria. Let's see how this will work...
– I started to get distracted by the aria and transpositions... okay, back to the “glue”. I can deal with the aria later. Fear: it has to be bloody good. Well, I think the melody is nice, but what is the piano going to offer? Anyway... we’ll get there. Also, when you get in the composition flow, time disappears quickly.
– Okay, I augmented one of the bird motifs to create the 6/8 pattern that presents a key change becuase our original bird sounds are giving B♭minor but I transposed to F♯ minor (I don’t know why I went there, it’s been a while... but it should sit well in the voice...).
– I’m thinking I can’t fully produce the transitional section without figuring out the accompaniment of the aria - becuase it will have some elements of that.
– I’m taking one of the bird themes to do this - slower (augmented).
– This is also based around F♯ minor, but I might add some major elements (D Major).
– I added this secondary line which makes it sound like a lullaby. I like it. I kept it long in some parts and then when there are holds in the voice, put some movement (balance). My concern at the moment: will it sound good with the piano in the highs/lows, and the voice situated in the middle? I need to find other tunes that do this.
– now I have the accompaniment vibe, so I need to consider all the harmony. I must consider, diatonic, borrowed chords... And that will be for next time. Might want to throw in a G Major. Don’t know. It must connect chromatically.
24 August
– I’m going to add to the accompaniment first, since i set the precedent.
– It helps to sing through this one and play some chords. It’s kind of leaning to D Major but oh well.
– I wrote a bit and now I’m going to nervously check my emails.
– Okay, I’m back.
– I need to figure out some line that got jacked up in the transposition.
– I’m slightly concerned about the vocal agility in the line “a healing touch, a tender glow”- but I’ll ask the vocalist. (Note: I don't think I asked but I probably changed it).
– I’m just chipping away. I need to consider the energy in the transition back to the repeat.
– I’m thinking... where are the grand notes going to be?
– Okay, I need to think about the grand notes, fill in the blanks with chords for the next two lines, get a repeat going of this section with those grand notes in mind, figure out the right transitional accompaniment, then write the final prayer.
– Oh, I already wrote the melody for the final prayer. Actually, some ideas to choose from. I think I need to consider the range.
– I’m feeling kind of weird tonight so I’m going to finish.
25 August
– I’m clocking in for a bit
– Considering the bird sounds in the accompaniment - which I know it’s adapted from the beginning section in the new key - I added a little tremolo for that bird sound lightness/flight.
– Composing in public: staring at walls and making weird faces. Same in private but more aware.
– Tip: if you are making an aria like this with a sort of repeated accompaniment pattern (I know there’s a term, I’m not in english right now I’m in notes). And you need to put little fills when the voice isn’t singing, make some motifs earlier that you can fill in there. I’m putting Biiird. BIRD! Bird.
– It’s crazy how the birds were all singing in B♭minor/D♭Major.
– Always feel the energy of the song - does it feel right going to the next section? Does it need one or two more measures? (I thought so before “the stones embrace”)
– sorting out harmonies. There’s a double sharp I must contend with.
– I was creating an energy build before “grace’s trace” and I was thinking it was going to explode there, but I remembered I wanted that part to be still and stripped down, so I ended up a V chord in F♯m, and then the accompaniment chord picks up with a V to continue the tension (even though the vocal part does hit that F♯, it doesn't feel concluded), so returning back to the repeat will be really satisfying!!! I like the acappella moment too.
– Resulting, it’s quite messy but the harmonies and plans are there.
– The repeat will have embellishments - wondering: should I give artistic freedom?
– I have a good mess for the day. My work process is messy. I can’t go left to right composing.
29 August
– Starting the day...
– Sometimes you have to start with the lazy option, so I’m going to copy over the melody and add embellishments.
– On melismatic “glow”, wondering if it works on that vowel. Maybe add another “glow”. Must ask vocalist.
– There’s a note I wrote after this line that says, “bird symphony”. I like the sound of that.
– How should I add variety to the accompaniment second run around? - later journey
– I put a little fermata and important high note on F which is “’’s” is that a bad moment? Maybe I change it to right on grace instead
– I changed it so the climax is on the word grace, and to easy any awkward, I repeated that word to complete the line.
– I had place holder chords around “space where weary hearts...” so I put some tremolo and bass.
– Added a R.H. motif before but idk if I like it.
– I think I’m at the stage where I hate everything.
– I reflected some changes from the last section. Wondering if final note needs to sound more conclusive. I’m tired. bye.
4 September
– going to try to fill in some blanks and form a first draft finish date
– Taking bits from the beginning. had to decide on what harmonies to use. Ended up with the E♭. Will go to A♭7. Maybe end up on a D♭with the prayer.
– mapped out harmonies and ending
– I don’t know if I love the transition. Might be a harmonic consideration.
– okay, it’s really messy but I’ll leave it for now. I just need to fill in some bits in the piano and glue some parts together. I’m wondering if the ending is strong.
6 September
– Hopefully today, first draft complete. I’m thinking not to be too touchy and send becuase then after my vocalist’s notes, and seeing it through other eyes, I might know exactly what to touch up. These are thoughts mainly of the accompaniment. Anyway, here I go.
– I found a way to glue together the recit and the aria, and I am really happy with the sound environment - soundscape, if you will, of the opening section with the birds and water imagery. But I need to sort out some chords to lead to the new key. It’s a little hard in this cafe... (okay, not a cafe, Burger King yet again). I’ll prob do some dotted half note chords to hear since I can’t use piano.
– Okay I found some chords. Subject to change.
– I did all the triplets with my chosen chords and I don’t know if I love all the triplets. Might add some variety later.
– Actually it’s not that bad but I feel like it doesn’t fully answer the question: what is the point? We know theoretically it is leading us to a new key, but to the listener, it needs more than that. It needs to set the contemplative scene. So it needs a little bit more. To come! (Note: I ended up adding a bit of melody there to make it have a point).
– Just need to work on the transition to the repeat and making the piano part for the ending prayer.
– Okay, I think it’s all roughly on the page. I need to go to the bathroom so time to end session.
7 September
– Time to a draft - start simple - copy bits on another Sibelius file and make sure it looks tidy.
– Question: leave key signature?
– Bit by bit. Sang through some.
– Back again... need to make it look presentable, send, get notes.
I’m happy.
Sending off.
Note:
I sent to soprano Sunday and waiting on response!
9 November
Sent off edited score. Contemplation about where to put the tempi marks. Changed to my preferred fonts. Tidied. All good.
RECORDING TO COME!
