Centre Number: 22321 Calvin Weston: Sleeve notes Candidate number: 1313

Composition Sleeve Notes

1. Explain and comment on form and structure, indicating in particular how repetition and
contrast are balanced.

My composition, being a Pop/Ballad style song has typical repeating themes of: verse,
chorus, middle eight, and Outro.
My structure consists of:
Intro (bar 1 – 8),
Verse 1 (8 – 20),
Chorus 1 (21 – 32),
Verse 2 (33– 40),
Chorus 2 (41 – 50),
A short 1 bar piano key change transition (51),
Bridge (52 – 60),
Chorus 3/Vocal Outro (Modulated Version) (61 to 66)

The form of my piece is A, B, A, B, D, B2. My song consists of a ‘main theme’ which is known
to be the intro that repeats as a chorus; which is typically the main theme in most popular
songs. The lyrics are inspired by the poem “The Perfect First Date” By Jeff Weiner, which tells
the story of two adolescents meeting for the first time with romantic intentions.

The 8-bar introduction is made up of two sections: The first four bars consist of four chord
sequence. Each chord has a broken chord motif with bare fifths in the bass. Bars 5 to 8
continue with the chordal motif in the left hand however this time includes and added ninth
to each broken chord, whilst the right hand foreshadow the vocal melody that appears in
the chorus (Bars 21 to 32).
The first verse introduces a melody for the vocal part. The left hand of the piano
accompaniment mirrors the introduction’s broken chord pattern however it’s an octave
higher. The right hand compliments it with a scalic ostinato.
The vocals have a strong, syllabic setting based around the lead piano accompaniment.
There are some variations of this main theme. The bridge of my piece is the contrasting
section, which is varied in a number of ways. Firstly, there is a key change from(Key to Key)..
Plus, the dynamics are vital in this section to reducing the overall texture; reducing to
(expression) differentiating to the main section, the chorus.

2. Mention four other features of interest. You can refer to any two of the following: rhythm,
melodic development, texture, handling of instruments, harmony.

3. Refer to pieces from the New Anthology of Music and/or elsewhere, to explain how other
pieces of music have influenced you in your composition.
Centre Number: 22321 Calvin Weston: Sleeve notes Candidate number: 1313

- “All of Me” by John Legend has influenced me by the wide range of vocal
ability as the lowest note in All of Me is middle Eb and the highest being a
high Ab and my piece being () it’s lowest and () it’s highest. Also the
modulation in the bridge however after my bridge the key stay’s the same
whereas in All of Me it changed back to it’s original key for the repetition for
the chorus.

- “The Power of Love” originally by Frankie goes to Hollywood however my

inspiration is from the 2012 cover by Gabrielle Aplin. The main use is the
triad-chord structure in the right hand, where the first note is played and
then the other two are played together then the first note again.

- Also I use a turn-like motif in the right hand of bar 3 of my piece similar to
Aplin’s introduction to “The Power Of Love”. See Figure 2

Fig. 2

- In the Left hand of Gabrielle Aplin’s “The Power Of Love” she only plays a B
octave (Fig. 3). I have taken this idea of the left hand accompaniment but
instead of just those two notes in the octave I have used bare fifths in my left
hand accompaniment: bar 1 left hand is just an example of the many times I
have incorporated it into my accompaniment.
Fig. 3

- ‘‘Der Doppelganger’ by Franz Schubert from the New Anthology of Music has
influenced me in using a poem for the lyrics in my piece. Despite ‘Der Doppelganger’
being very different musically, I have adopted the idea of using a poem to be based
on the headline I am writing the pop-rock song about. The poems I have found have
been used in a syllabic way, just like in Schubert’s ‘Der Doppelganger’.