Analyzing a Melody
We Can Work It Out (Beatles, 1965)
| Listen to Sections: |
FORM: AABABA
We have analyzed the form of "We Can Work It Out" and have determined that the record has two distinct sections (A and B). Each section is repeated a number of times in the record, giving the record a form we have diagrammed as "AABABA." This is an example of 32-bar Song Form.
PHRASE ANALYSIS (Section A - abab1cc1; Section B - defdef1)
As we have mentioned in class, notes are put together to make up (motives and) phrases; phrases are put together to make up sections; sections are put together to make up songs (or larger sections.) This is analagous to language where words make up phrases, phrases make up sentences, sentences make up paragraphs, etc.
| Listen to Phrases: |
In section A, listen to and compare phrases 1 and 3 (the 'a' phrases), phrases 2 and 4 (the 'b' phrases), and phrases 5 and 6 (the 'c' phrases). In Section B, compare phrases 1 and 4 (the 'd' phrases), 2 and 5 (the 'e' phrases), and 3 and 6 (the 'f' phrases). Can you hear that the melody in each of the comparisons is identical or nearly identical? |
After analyzing the "sections of the section," i.e. the phrases of the melody, we determined that section A has six phrases which we analyzed as "abab1cc1 and section B also has six phrases which we labeled defdef1 (Remember we use uppercase letters when analyzing form, lowercase letters when analyzing melody.)
Analyzing a record this way should give you a good idea how music, or more specifically, a popular song is constructed and how repetition, contrast and variation work together to form a cohesive piece of music.
Here's an audio version of this lesson. Podcast | MP3 version. [Experimental. Work-in-progress]