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Felicia Soth
Graig Ferrin
Music 1010
Music Analysis Paper
Taylor Swift
I chose Taylor Swift because she is an amazing singer and she can write great songs. She
can do many styles of music but she is best at Country. She definitely relates to girls and
seeing as I am a girl I love her music because I feel like her music relates to my life.
Biography:
Taylor Swift was born on December 13, 1989 in Wyoming, Pennsylvania. She was
named after James Taylor (a famous singer/song-writer). She started writing songs at the age of
5 and released her first album when she was 16 years old. She lived with her family on a
Christmas tree farm. One of Swifts first hobbies was horseback riding. Her mother put her in
her first saddle at 9 months old. She later competed in horse shows. Swifts grandmother was a
famous opera singer and swift was soon to follow in her footsteps. At the age of 9 Swift found
an interest in musical theater. She performed at the Berks Youth Theater Academy. She
performed in grease, Annie, Bye Bye Birdie, and The Sound of Music. At the age of 10
Swift started singing at local events in her town. For example fairs and contests. At the age of
11 she sang the national anthem The Star Spangled Banner at the Philadelphia 76iers game.
She began learning guitar at the age of 12.
Taylor wanted to become a country singer. To pursue her dream she visited Nashville,
Tennessee (the country music capital) as often as possible. She tried to co-write and tried to get
a recording contract. Her parents saw how dedicated she was and they decided to move to
Hendersonville, Tennessee to help further Swifts career.
Taylor Swift started playing at cafs and doing small performances around Tennessee.
She did an amazing performance at the Bluebird Caf in Nashville. Scott Borchetta , from Big
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Machine Records, Saw her performance and loved everything about her. Swift signed a
contract with him.
Taylor Swift released her first single in 2006. It was called Tim McGraw. This song
became one of the top 10 on the country charts. She released her first Album Taylor Swift in
2006. It sold over 39,000 copies the first week of being out. In 2008 she released her second
album Fearless which contained her second single Love Story. It became the second best
selling country single of all time. It was number 4 on the Billboard hot 100 chart. 4 more
singles were released during 2008-2009. They were white horse, Fifteen, You Belong with
Me, Fearless. You Belong with Me was the highest charting single, It was number 2 on the
Billboard hot 100. The Fearless album was ranked number 1 on the Billboard Hot 200 Album
Chart and it brought Taylor Swift great success. In 2009 You Belong with Me was named the
best female video, making Swift the first country music artist to win an MTV music award. In
November of 2009 Swift became the youngest artist ever. She was 1 out of only 6 women to
ever be named Entertainer of the Year by the Country Music Association. Swift then released
her 3
rd
album Speak Now in October 2010. She wrote every song in the album herself. Swift
toured during 2011-2012 to support her latest album. She did 7 shows in Asia, 12 shows in
Europe, 80 shows in North America, and 12 shows in Australia. The shows were inspired by
Broadway musical theater. Swift released her 4
th
album Red in October 2012. She wrote 9 of
the songs all by herself. This album relates to drama filled relationships. Swift has even begun
to make an appearance in famous movies. She played Audrey in the animated film The Lorax.
She also appeared in Valentines Day and CSI: Crime scene Investigation. She even made 2
songs from the Hunger Games.
Taylor Swift still Continues writing, acting, and singing to this day.. She is extremely
talented and girls look at her as their role model. She was a simple cowgirl with a big dream.
She made her dreams come true and she is still continuing to amaze all of her fans. Taylor has
given an amazing gift and she definitely knows how to use it. One could say that she is taking
the world by storm.

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History of Songs:
Teardrops on my Guitar- Taylor Swift wrote this song. This song was based off of a true
experience that Taylor Swift had in high school, she had a crush on a boy who was one of her
friends. The problem was that he did not feel the same way because he already had a girlfriend
who was truly in love with. He used to brag about her all the time to Swift not knowing that
she liked him a lot. His name was Drew. About two years later after the album was released
Drew showed up on Swifts driveway explaining that he heard the song and he broke up with
his girlfriend. Swift told him he was too late and that he should have shown up right after the
song came out.
Our song- This song was also written by Taylor Swift. She wrote during her freshmen
year of high school for her talent show. She wanted to write an upbeat song that would relate
to everyone. She was dating a boy at the time and they didnt have a song that they could relate
their relationship to so she wrote a song. People would still talk to her about the song months
after she sang it at her talents show. Some would even sing parts of it to her. At that point she
thought she had something good going for her.
Love Story- Swift also wrote this song. Like the two above and almost all of her songs its
based off of a personal experience. When Swift was young her parents and she had an
argument over a boy she liked a lot. They though he was creepy and she though he was the
one. She did realize late that he was a creep. She worked on the song in her bedroom one her
bedroom floor.
Mean- Taylor wrote this song based off of all the people that have said negative things
to her throughout her life. When she became famous the critics became even harsher and
their comments became even more hurtful. It became harder to have a high self-esteem. There
are different types of criticisms that Taylor Swift can take well such as constructive criticism
but there is a fine line between constructive criticism and just being plain rude. This song is to
prove that people are just being mean but no matter how mean someone is to you, you just
need to brush it off because you still have so many other things to be happy about. Unlike most
of Swifts songs this song doesnt have anything to do with a boy.
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Listening Guide:
Teardrops on my Guitar
i. 0:00 Introduction, Melody is being played by a guitar and is conjunct. Rhythm is
nicely balanced and the beat is a 1,2,3,4 count and the beat is on every 2 and 4.
No words just guitar. Dynamics is ascending. Timbre is great, the guitar sounds
smooth.
ii. 0:14 Verse 1 begins. Dynamics is quite to medium volume. Timbre: voice sounds
full and no awkward sounds and guitar sounds smooth. The overall texture
sounds good together.
iii. 0:33 Chorus of voice starts to follow the rhythm of guitar. Texture of voice and
guitar sound good and follow the rhythm of each other.
iv. 0:42 Timbre: guitar plays a note with a unique sound. Adds style to music.
v. Verse 2 begins. Sounds the same as chorus 1. Both choruses are arched.
vi. 1:11 Chorus of voice starts again. Still following the rhythm of the guitar.
Texture: guitar and voice blend together really well.
vii. 1:26 Timbre: guitar makes a unique sound. It has an arched sound.
viii. 1:31 Verse 3 begins. It sounds the same as chorus 1 and 2.
ix. 1:59 Chorus of voice begins again. It is still following the rhythm of the guitar.
Texture: Guitar and voice sound very together.
x. 2:16 voice stops and guitar continues to play melody. Rhythm: beat is on every
other count. Guitar plays major notes that make the song light.
xi. 2:26 Melody: guitar makes notes in an inverted arch style.
xii. 2:37 Voice comes back in. verse 4 begins. It sounds the same as choruses 1, 2,
and 3.
xiii. 2:47 Chorus of voice begins again. Voice follows rhythm of guitar.
xiv. 3:16 Last verse starts. It sounds the same as choruses 1, 2, 3, and 4.
xv. 3:22 Dynamics descend. Melody and rhythm slow down. Timbre and texture
fade away. Voice slows down and slow fades away. Song ends.

Our Song
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i. 0:00 Introduction, Melody: violin begins to play and then guitar comes in. Rhythm:
Beat happens on every count. Timbre the violin makes a beautiful introduction.
Texture violin created an introduction that the guitar could follow in after. Good
layout.
ii. 0:12 Voice comes in. verse 1 begins. Dynamics: medium sound. Rhythm: two small
beats and one big beat. Melody: voice is upbeat and guitar plays major notes.
iii. 0:33 Drums are heard. Texture: Pause of voice and guitar. Chorus of voice begins.
Timbre: Guitar comes in strong. Texture: moments where violin plays.
iv. 0:52 melody of voice slows down.
v. 1:00 all music pauses and only voice continues. Music starts again.
vi. 1:08 verse 2 begins. It sounds the same as chorus 1.
vii. 1:13 Guitar makes a unique sound.
viii. 1:29 chorus of voice begins again.
ix. 1:57 Voice pauses and violin does a solo. Timbre: the violin plays major chords.
Dynamics: chords are descending. Then guitar come in for a solo and plays a
medium sound. Voice comes back for verse 3.
x. 2:21 Dynamics: guitar does some sort of fading out then comes back. Chorus starts
again.
xi. 2:50 Voices does a mixture of holding notes. Melody of guitar stays the same.
xii. 3:05 Last verse begins. Guitar starts playing deeper notes and drums back off slowly.
Voice slows and music fades. Voice fades. End of song.

Love Story
i. 0:00 Dynamics: Guitar comes in quite. Rhythm: beats are hard, soft, soft. Melody:
guitar starts to play then voice comes in.
ii. 0:17 Verse 1 begins. Voice is arched. Timbre: voice and guitar play high notes.
Texture: light and high pitch.
iii. 0:49 Chorus for voice begins. Rhythm: Drums are hitting on every other count.
Timbre: the sound of the drums helps keep the speed of the voice on track.
iv. 1:22 voice pauses: Guitar and drums continue. Verse 2 begins.
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v. 1:41 Chorus of voice begins again.
vi. 2:31 voice pauses and guitar takes a solo. The solo is the Melody the guitar played
throughout the whole song. Dynamics: Guitar volume ascended.
vii. 2:45 Verse 3 begins. Timbre: Guitar does slow strums and the Drums. Dynamics:
drums are played very soft. Harmony between voice and guitar were great. It flows
together really well.
viii. 3:18 Chorus begins again. Music slowly ends and voice holds out one long note.
Song ends.

Mean
i. 0:00 Introduction, voice automatically comes in with guitar. Texture: strong
entrance with voice and guitar together. Dynamics: volume is medium/ loud.
Rhythm: beat goes hard, soft, soft. Melody is smooth and upbeat. Verse 1 begins.
ii. 0:37 Chorus for voice begins. Dynamics: medium sound. Rhythm: Beats are dragged
out. Drums. Timbre: Clap noise in background.
iii. 1:06 verse 2 begins. Same as verse 1. Dynamics: guitar plays quietly. Beats from the
drums are well heard. Timbre: claps in background begin again. Texture: Claps and
guitar add unique welcoming to join in and clap or tap. Violin comes in.
iv. 1:44 Chorus voice begins again. Violin added some Timbre: unique sounds.
Clapping continues.
v. 2:10 voice pauses. Guitar does a solo. Guitar is played at medium/fast speed. Timbre:
guitar plays high chords. Verse 3 begins.
vi. 3:04 Chorus for voice begins. Clapping stops, guitar continues to play. Dynamics:
guitar Plays quietly. Rhythm: beats are soft, hard, soft, hard.
vii. Chorus is played 3 times then music fades out and last note of voice is held. End of
song.