Teacher Feedback

Name Sidratul Muntaha

Marking Date 23/05/18
Unit/Criteria Listening to Music (209) 1.3
Assessor Zoe Green

Task 3/1.3

Illustrate the differences in the responses to the music between

yourself and two friends

Explain why those differences might occur in relation to a

combination of musical elements, including: Pass
 Tonality
 Tempo
 Instrumentation
 Lyrics
 Production techniques

As above with clarity, detail and accuracy Merit

As above with clarity, detail accuracy and insight Distinction

Strengths
 For Blackstar you have analysed with detail and accuracy the tonality, tempo,
instrumentation, lyrics and production techniques.
 You’ve noticed that the musical elements creating conflicting emotions in the music which is
why you and your two friends reacted differently. This analysis is insightful.
 Your writing is clear throughout.
 For Living for the City you have analysed with detail and accuracy the tonality, tempo,
instrumentation, lyrics and production techniques.
 You have insightfully used the musical elements to explain why you and your two friends
reacted differently to Living for the City.

Improvements
Current Grade Fail Pass Merit Distinction

Student Comments

Blackstar

After noting my initial reaction to the music, I analysed the song Blackstar in
more detail. I found many emotional triggers in the music. The tonality is a
major tonality but has some minor chords here and there that sound really
dissonant. The tonality also shifts in the middle of the song, where it becomes
more consonant. There are four beats in a bar and the tempo was at 108
BPM. Although the tempo remained constant throughout the song, in the last
few seconds it slowed down a lot, maybe to signify the “Blackstar” finally
dying. I think the rhythm is really weird because it’s not predictable but it’s still
quite steady at the same time. It changes quite a lot. The first ten seconds is a
layer of synths and triplets that make the music seem really mysterious, but
then at around 4 minutes, the rhythm changes by the sense of pulse
changing and fading (creating an empty and hollow mood, possibly
reflecting on the topic of the song). Then, at 7 minutes, it resumes its former
rhythm. The shape of the melody is quite weird because at around 4 min 22
seconds, the melody changes, and does so again at around 7 minutes. I also
think that the structure was a sort of ‘ABA’ and even under the ‘B’ sections
(Ternary form), the pattern was ‘ABA’. This isn’t common in Rock music
because usually it uses verse and chorus form. The instrumentation (as
explained before) consists of a rather prominent percussion and a subtle
synthesizer in the background and I think this is because the percussion
reflects a heart beat/pulse (this is most prominent when the drum beat that
reemerges at 5:02 is significantly slower than that of the previous five minutes.
Also, at 9:30, the percussion becomes even slower and continues to do so
until the end of the song, giving off the imagery of a slowly dying heart). The
vocals were heavily emphasised and there was a brass instrument that came
in and out of the song as well. The song was heavily layered Like I mentioned
above, the song followed a ternary pattern and under the A section, the
instruments were more electronic and distorted, whereas under the B section,
they were rather clear and unplugged. There is a conjunctly moving
descending bass line in the B section accompanied by muted brass held
notes. There is a bigger sense of optimism in this section, with a blues style call
and response between the lead vocals and a distorted chant of ‘I’m a
blackstar’. At 6:59, the change of sections is shown when there is an increase
in vocals chanting. Furthermore, between 7:23 and 7:42, a woodwind
instrument is added which created a really mysterious feel to the song. The
lyrics were about him dying in the future but you couldn’t really understand
them because the vocals were distorted on purpose. The album of which this
song comes under was the final one David Bowie released before his death,
so the lyrics could be a parting gift for his fans. In terms of production
technique, the voice is distorted quite a bit and this makes the song very
confusing and artistic in a weird way. It also gives it a psychedelic feel. I think
it suits the song because if the song was sung without effects, I think the
purpose would completely be wiped away (the purpose being to inform his
audience of David Bowie’s upcoming death). I think this because sometimes,
when people are in pain, they cannot think straight and their trail of thoughts
is confused and diverted, which is what the distortions to the music does -
make the listeners feel distorted and confused. This adds to the sense of pain
that is created by this song.

Make the link (Blackstar)

The contrasts within this song included the drum beat and the seriousness of
the lyrics, though you could hardly understand them. The percussion was
really fast in comparison to the tempo of the vocals, which I found,
personally, to become confused as to what part of the music to focus on. The
contrast in that the beat made me think of marching and the vocals and
music really caused me to believe that the song was rather depressing,
however, I think Sandy and Imaan focused more on the percussion and
hence thought it was an upbeat song. The may have done this because their
musical background consists mainly of exposure to electronic pop music
which usually have faster tempos and emphasis on percussion and beats,
subsequently causing them to focus more on the drums rather than the
whole song.

Living for the City

After noting my initial reaction to the music, I analysed the song Living for The
City by Stevie Wonder in more detail. I found many emotional triggers in the
music. The tonality of the song was in a major key which made it sound so
relaxing and upbeat. The Tempo is a little faster than 100 BPM and remains
constant, which makes the beat quite fun to listen to. The rhythm, I think it
sounds like a simple rhythm, which makes it really easy to listen to and you
can just relax, but it’s actually a little more complex. There are two different
riffs going on in the background (like the keyboard, bass and BG vocals). The
shape of the melody is also quite constant. the shape in the verses are similar
to one another, however, there is a really big climax towards the end of the
chorus, at around 1minute 10 seconds, that sounds really triumphant (Thanks
to the brass instruments). This song has a very simple structure, with the texture
building up alongside it, specifically the drum beat coming in at 40 seconds
and the brass instruments at 1 min 10 seconds. The instrumentation starts off
with just a keyboard/ synthesiser and a bass playing and then the drums are
added at 40 seconds. This sort of builds up the song and gives the effect of
the emotions and possible anger rising as the lyrics get towards the main
message of the song. The duration of the chorus has brass instruments playing
as well. This echoed the tune of the lyrics and gave a slight feeling of
triumphing (maybe because the song can be taken in a positive way;
despite the hardships imposed, these people are still living). The lyrics of the
song are about the struggle of coloured people trying to earn a living, where
there barely “living enough for the city”. The lyrics actually contradict the
mood as they’re speaking of a topic that still holds stereotypes and insults
today, but the music is so lively and upbeat. When it comes to production
technique, this is a piece of music created when electrical music was
unheard of and if it was to be electrical, I don’t think the song would be fun
to listen to - it would probably just sound annoying, but that is my opinion,
and, as I’ve learnt, people will react differently.

Make the link (Living For The City)

The main contrast would be the seriousness of the lyrics in comparison to the
cheery music. The song is sending a politically serious message, however most
people would never realise that because they’d be too busy enjoying the
happy music. Similarly, the way the three of us reacted was also affected by
these contrasts. All three of us thought that the song was upbeat and happy
due to the music, and we didn’t really realise the message behind the lyrics
because of the contrast mentioned above. Also, the three of us were quite
drained due to school, so this piece was very relaxing because of the
cheeriness of the music. For Sandy, I think he thought the song was “simple”
because it wasn’t electronic - the fact that his exposure to unplugged and
non-electronic music is limited to modern mainstream rock music maybe the
reason as most post-2011 tracks are heavily layered. Similarly, Imaan didn’t
like the song as she prefered music with a faster tempo which could be
because of her musical background. Also, Imaan didn’t like the way the
mood shifted as the vocals changed their pitch towards the end of the song
(around 5:18) becoming more serious. The vocals did sound a little rough at
that point and due to the fact that Imaan, like me and Sandy, was tired, she
may have disliked the change in mood (although I quite liked the ending
voice).