Kelly clarkson breakaway meaning

Bonus Paper Specifications Due Saturday, June 8, 11:59 pm Purpose • With this paper you will practice analyzing music. You will also work on your writing skills, specifically on transferring what you hear into accurate, descriptive prose. Instructions • Copy/paste the portion of this document entitled Template and Example (below) into your own new, blank document and delete everything that is not in bold print. • Choose a song you would like to analyze (you will provide a Youtube link in your paper). • Review the relevant sections of the Terminological Starter. • Write a 500-word paper broken into five sections as indicated below. (Note: the template itself does not contribute to the word count.) Grading • Paper 1 is worth 100 points, broken down as follows: o Sections 1-5 are each worth 20 points: ü 0-8 points: the terms in question are clearly understood (the key to scoring highly is not restating definitions, but rather using them in such a way that it is clear you have grasped their meaning). ü 0-8 points: you cite specific moments in the song in support of your analytical observations, and, at least once in each section, link those observations to the expressive goals of the song (or explain that there are no expressive connections to be made in a given case). ü 0-2 points: I can hear what you describe. ü 0-2 points: your English is up to the task. • Deductions: o Papers under the 500-word minimum will lose 15 points. (Why a standard deduction here rather than a sliding one? Because the shorter the paper, the more likely it will also lose points in the other categories described above.) Template and Example 3 Important notes: • Remember to remove everything that is not in bold print. • The example I have provided adds up to considerably more than 500 words; I simply wanted to give you lots of guidance. • While you’re writing less than what I have below, you should nevertheless strive for specificity. Good papers don’t simply name traits, but argue (briefly) for their presence in the music. Name: Song Title, Group, and Youtube Link: Example: “Marcie,” by Joni Mitchell: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PVxZSp1QN9I Section 1: Duple or Triple Meter (or both or something else): explain which you hear and how/where you can hear it. Locate at least one syncopation and one instance of dotted rhythms, or state unequivocally that there are no such instances. Example: This song is clearly in duple meter. I hear one measure of duple meter for each line of the lyrics. In the first line the word “Marcie” comes just after beat one and “coats” lands on beat three; then in the second line, “stops” comes just after beat one, “candy” on beat three. Having said that, the vocal part is so fluid that it is sometimes hard to hear the meter there; it is the very regular guitar part that provides the accents necessary to identify the meter. I hear the guitar play the lowest note of the harmony on every first beat of the measure. There is constant syncopation in the vocal part as a result of the metrical fluidity mentioned earlier. For one example of many, listen to Mitchell’s delivery of “PEA-ches” at 1:27; “Pea” arrives just before the third beat, and is thus by definition syncopated. While the song contains no extended passages in dotted rhythms, isolated cases of the latter are scattered throughout. At :23, Joni Mitchell sings “Greens are sour” to the rhythm of long-short-long (plus another long), and in so doing repeats the guitar-melody first heard at :03. Meter does not always function expressively in a song, but in the case of “Marcie” it is not hard to hear how it plays a role in advancing the meaning: the regularity of the beat as established by the guitar allows Joni Mitchell great freedom to declaim her poetry in the fluid style already mentioned. This fluidity in turn becomes her chief means of prioritizing the syllables of the text. Sometimes she rushes, whereas other times she lingers, always according to the meaning. Once again, the expressive effect is dependent on the regularity of the meter. Section 2: Major and/or Minor Harmonies: explain which you think you hear, where in the song, and why. Be sure to clarify if you’re labeling the entire song as major and minor or simply a specific moment. Identify moments of consonance and dissonance. Example: Despite the fact that this is a very sad song, it is usually in major harmonies. (We have learned that on rare occasions, major can be even sadder than minor; in this song the major harmonies create a bittersweet quality.) Every second line ends on the major tonic, in my opinion. An exception to this “major” orientation is the B section that begins “And summer goes...” Here Mitchell shifts briefly into minor, which seems to reveal most directly the sadness underlying the song. If the song ultimately defines a major key, it is nevertheless ambiguous in its major/minor orientation; while lines end in a clear key, they seldom begin there. And then there is this B section with its different (and minor) key altogether. The song is about Marcie’s uncertain waiting, and it seems to me that the way Mitchell hints at keys without firmly committing to them helps to express this uncertainty.