Hello and welcome to today's music lesson.

I'm Miss Mansell, and I'm gonna be your teacher for today.

Let's get started!

Today's lesson outcome is, "I can analyze how a composition creates contrast between sections, and can apply these principles to my own composition.

" Let's look at some keywords for today's lesson.

Harmony.

The way that notes combine to create chords, and the way that these chords are used.

Melodic shape.

The overall shape of a melody, including where it ascends or descends, and whether it is conjunct or disjunct.

Timbre.

The specific quality of a sound, for example shrill or mellow.

This is often used to refer to instrument choice as well.

Today's lesson on creating contrasting sections is in two parts.

Part one is analyzing contrast in a composition, and part two is developing contrast in your own composition.

Let's get started with part one, "Analyzing contrast in a composition".

Creating contrast between different sections of composition is important.

It helps create a more interesting and satisfying musical journey for the listener, and it allows a balance between unity and variety.

Let's analyze an example of a pop ballad to explore a few ways that we can create contrasting sections.

Have a listen to the short clip of the first verse and chorus from a pop ballad.

How is contrast created between these sections?

Have a listen to the first verse.

♪ I found my heartache ♪ ♪ As you step away ♪ ♪ From your love ♪ ♪ Try to stop it ♪ ♪ Holding onto your ♪ ♪ Memory ♪ And then have a listen to the chorus.

♪ 'Cause I'm still ♪ ♪ Learning to love ♪ ♪ How to hold on ♪ ♪ And not give up ♪ ♪ I'm still trying ♪ ♪ To rise above ♪ ♪ And learn how to love ♪ Each section uses contrasting harmony, so that's called choice and cadences.

Uses contrasting textures.

Has different melodic shapes.

Uses different rhythms in the accompaniment and melody.

Uses some different timbres.

Let's have a look at the harmony.

The song is in the key of C major, but the chord choices in the verse and chorus are quite different.

What differences do you notice?

You can see below the chords for the verse and the chorus.

Have a look and see what differences you see.

The chord sequence in the verse is based around chord four.

That's F.

And doesn't use the tonic chord, which is C in this case.

It starts on the secondary chord, chord three, which is E minor, and uses this chord four times.

Together, these two features make the harmony feel unresolved.

Have a listen to the verse again.

Can you hear the unresolved harmony?

♪ I found my heartache ♪ ♪ As you step away ♪ ♪ From your love ♪ ♪ Try to stop it ♪ ♪ Holding onto your ♪ ♪ Memory ♪ The chord sequence in the chorus starts and finishes on the tonic chord, C, so it feels more grounded in the key and more resolved.

It uses almost entirely chords one, four, and five.

Those are the primary chords.

Have a listen to this again for how the harmony creates a more resolved, complete feeling.

♪ 'Cause I'm still learning to love ♪ ♪ How to hold on ♪ ♪ And not give up ♪ ♪ I'm still trying ♪ ♪ To rise above ♪ ♪ And learn how to love ♪ The verse and chorus also contrast in texture.

The overall texture of the verse is thin, which is common with verses in pop ballads.

It has a simple accompaniment, consisting of chords, bass, and drum kit.

Chord and bass tracks with long, sustained notes and rests, a simple drum kit part, using mostly ride cymbal, with limited snare and kick drums.

And a vocal melody with long rests, creating a sense of space.

How is the texture different in the chorus?

Have a listen to that.

♪ 'Cause I'm still learning to love ♪ ♪ How to hold on ♪ ♪ And not give up ♪ ♪ I'm still trying to rise above ♪ ♪ And learn how to love ♪ In the chorus, the texture is thicker, so it has fewer rests in the vocal melody, backing vocals, a broken chord pattern, in addition to the main chord track.

Busier bass and drum kit parts.

Faster repeated rhythms in the accompaniment, with fewer long sustained notes and rests.

The timbre contrasts because of the use of backing vocals, the additional synthesizer playing broken chords, and different use of the drum kit.

The melodies also contrast.

The verse melody has a small range, and uses conjunct movement, so it moves by step.

It uses short phrases, separated by long rests.

The chorus melody has a larger range, and has some disjunct movement, so it moves by leap.

It doesn't use long rests like the verse melody.

Have a listen to the difference in melodic shape and rhythm.

So listen to the first verse.

♪ I found my heartache ♪ ♪ As you step away ♪ ♪ From your love ♪ ♪ Try to stop it ♪ ♪ Holding onto your ♪ ♪ Memory ♪ And then listen to the chorus.

♪ 'Cause I'm still learning to love ♪ ♪ How to hold on ♪ ♪ And not give up ♪ ♪ I'm still trying to rise above ♪ ♪ And learn how to love ♪ The rhythms in the accompaniment contrast in the verse and chorus.

The bass guitar plays more long, sustained notes in the verse.

The drum kit plays semiquavers on the ride cymbal, with a sparse kick and snare pattern.

How does this contrast with the chorus?

Have a listen again to the first verse.

♪ I found my heartache ♪ ♪ As you step away ♪ ♪ From your love ♪ ♪ Try to stop it ♪ ♪ Holding onto your ♪ ♪ Memory ♪ And then the chorus.

♪ 'Cause I'm still learning to love ♪ ♪ How to hold on ♪ ♪ And not give up ♪ ♪ I'm still trying to rise above ♪ ♪ And learn how to love ♪ The bass plays a consistent, repeated rhythm, with the quaver in the middle giving more drive to the music.

The kit plays a more typical groove, with a kick on beats one and three, a snare on the back beat, and consistent hi-hat quavers.

The same contrast applies to the other accompanying parts, which use rests and sustained notes much more in the verse, with more consistent, faster, and repeated rhythms in the chorus.

Together, this rhythmic contrast and the accompanying parts completely changes the mood in the chorus, and helps it to feel more uplifting.

Let's do a check for understanding.

Describe three ways that this composition creates contrast between the verse and chorus.

Have a think.

Did you get three of these?

So you could have said using contrasting harmony, melodic shapes and rhythms, accompanying rhythms and patterns, timbres, or contrasting textures.

It's important that contrast is used carefully.

If sections contrast too much, the piece will lose a sense of unity and coherence.

Have a listen to the whole song, listening for the consistency between sections.

What features of the song remain consistent throughout?

Have a listen.

♪ I found my heartache ♪ ♪ As you step away ♪ ♪ From your love ♪ ♪ Try to stop it ♪ ♪ Holding onto your ♪ ♪ Memory ♪ ♪ Every tear was just a cold ♪ ♪ Hard lesson ♪ ♪ Pointing me in your direction ♪ ♪ Every mistake made me learn from you ♪ ♪ So now I can see clearly now ♪ ♪ 'Cause I'm still learning to love ♪ ♪ How to hold on ♪ ♪ And not give up ♪ ♪ I'm still trying to rise above ♪ ♪ And learn how to love ♪ ♪ I feel so lonely ♪ ♪ Far away from your ♪ ♪ Open heart ♪ ♪ I try to fix it ♪ ♪ Dreaming of your warm ♪ ♪ Embrace ♪ ♪ Every tear was just a cold hard lesson ♪ ♪ Pointing me in your direction ♪ ♪ Every mistake made me learn from you ♪ ♪ So now I can see clearly now ♪ ♪ 'Cause I'm still learning to love ♪ ♪ How to hold on ♪ ♪ And not give up ♪ ♪ I'm still trying to rise above ♪ ♪ And learn how to love ♪ ♪ 'Cause I'm still learning to love ♪ ♪ How to hold on ♪ ♪ And not give up ♪ ♪ I'm still trying to rise above ♪ ♪ And learn how to love ♪ There is consistency between the sections through instrumentation.

There were different timbres used, but many instruments stayed the same, for example, vocals, bass, drum kit, electric piano.

The tempo and meter.

The key.

The chords change, but the key doesn't, apart from the idiomatic modulation for the final chorus.

Some melodic ideas remain consistent.

The phrase "I found my heartache" and "I'm still trying" are similar in shape and rhythm.

Describe one aspect of this composition that does not create contrast between sections.

Pause and have a think.

What did you get?

You could have said tempo, meter, instrumentation, or key, even though there's a contrasting modulation in the final section.

Let's move on to task A.

So we want you to compare the verse and pre-chorus from the second half of the pop ballad.

Identify five ways that the songwriter has created contrast between these two sections.

Have a think about timbre, rhythm, harmony, melody, and texture.

So have a listen to the second verse.

♪ I feel so lonely ♪ ♪ Far away from your ♪ ♪ Open heart ♪ ♪ I try to fix it ♪ ♪ Dreaming of your warm ♪ ♪ Embrace ♪ And have a listen to the pre-chorus.

♪ Every tear was just a cold hard lesson ♪ ♪ Pointing me in your direction ♪ ♪ Every mistake made me learn from you ♪ ♪ So now I can see clearly now ♪ How did you get on?

So we asked you to compare the verse and pre-chorus from the second half of the pop ballad, and identify five ways that the songwriter has created contrast.

Your answers may have included, for timbre, the pre-chorus includes added synthesizers and backing vocals.

It also uses different parts of the drum kit, so it uses open hi-hats.

For rhythm, you might have said the drum kit plays repeated semiquavers in the pre-chorus, but quavers in the verse.

The bass line uses faster rhythms.

For harmony, you could have said, the pre-chorus is based in a minor key, the relative minor, while the verse is in a major key, based around chord four.

For melody, the verse melody uses shorter phrases with long rests in between, while the pre-chorus has longer phrases with shorter rests in between.

The melody ascends through the pre-chorus, whereas in the verse, each phrase descends back to its starting note.

For texture, the texture in both sections starts quite thin, although this verse has a thicker texture than the earlier verse.

In the pre-chorus, the texture gets thicker towards the end, when more parts join in, while the verse has a consistent texture throughout.

Let's move on to part two of our lesson, "Developing contrast in your own composition".

The composition we've been looking at shows us how we can create contrast between sections of a piece.

To create contrast, consider using contrasting harmony, so the same key, different chords, including relative major or minor.

Using contrasting melodic shapes and rhythms.

Using contrasting accompanying rhythms and patterns.

Using contrasting timbres.

Creating contrasting textures.

Too much contrast can affect the feeling of coherence in a composition.

Keep some fundamental aspects consistent between sections.

These could include the key, tempo, meter, instrumentation.

Some melodic and rhythmic elements.

These can vary between different styles and context.

It is important to listen back to the contrasts, and identify if it sounds like a part of the same piece, or something completely different.

Let's do a check for understanding.

Identify one aspect that is generally effective to keep consistent throughout a composition.

Have a think.

You might have said key, tempo, meter, instrumentation, or some melodic or rhythmic ideas.

Remember, there are always exceptions to this.

You should always listen to ideas to check they have the intended character.

So let's get going with task B.

Reflect on your composition.

Identify where you want to create contrast between sections.

Identify three ways that you can create more contrast between the different sections of your composition, while still maintaining a sense of unity and coherence.

Then develop your composition, focusing on those steps to create greater contrast between sections.

So pause the lesson video now, and have a go at developing your composition.

How did you get on?

Reflect on the changes you have made to your composition.

Use these questions to help you consider your next steps.

Do the different sections of your composition contrast with each other?

What elements have you used to create that contrast?

Are there any sections that sound like they contrast too much, affecting the coherence of the composition?

Which sections do you think need to contrast more than they currently do?

What aspect have you kept consistent throughout to ensure that the composition has coherence?

Let's summarize today's lesson on creating contrasting sections.

Creating contrast between sections is key to creating an effective composition.

Typical methods include using contrasting harmony, melodic shapes, rhythm, textures, and timbre.

It is important to keep some aspects consistent between sections to maintain the coherence of the composition.

These often include using a consistent key, tempo, meter, instrumentation, and some melodic and rhythmic elements.

Thank you for joining me for today's lesson.