A level Music Revision - Shankar

Question 1

Melody

Answer 1

Burn:
Sitar solo (Alap)
Includes trills and grace notes
Lead vocal line: decsending sequentially
Sarangi melody
Verse extension idea
Syncopated string idea

BUW:
Sitar line
Melodic paraphrase
Variation
Anacrusic phrases

Easy:
Mixolydian mode (Rag Khamaj)
Sitar opening
Vocal line
Middle 8 vocal line includes downward movement with phrases spanning up an octave.

Question 2

Harmony

Answer 2

Burn:
Cadential harmony
Static harmony
Imperfect cadences

BUW:
Db’s, unembelleshed chords
Opening section oscillates between Bbm7 and Ab chords (VI-V)
Middle is modally inflected in A

Easy:
Transposed Mixolydian mode
Subtonic as a substitute dominant
Sus4 chords
Creating a dissonance
Stepwise bassline

Question 3

Rhythm + Metre

Answer 3

Burn:
Medium tempo
Abstract sitar phrases
Against periodic string accompaniment
Demisemiquaver hihat in chorus
Syncopated vocal lines

BUW:
Fast medium tempo throughout
Sitar line rhythmically flexible
Anacrusic
The accompaniment moves in semibreves and minims on the beat supporting the free sitar line.

Easy:
Medium tempo
Last four bars slow down
Syncopated accompaniment
Flexible and complex sitar line

Question 4

Tonality

Answer 4

Burn:
In C♯ minor – not quite strict, in diatonic terms, but with enough use of the raised seventh (B♯)
to approach the feeling of a true minor key.
The articulated bass anchors the piece to C♯ until the final bars.
Coda slips through A minor and F major chords to come to rest on an inconclusive D5 chord – one lacking a third.

BUW:
D♭ major for the majority of the piece.
A tertiary modulation D♭ (=C♯) to a Lydian-inflected A major (bars 18–34).

Easy:
In a transposed Mixolydian mode (white notes from G to G) on Db.
The Indian equivalent of this is Rag Khamaj.
Consistently flattened seventh (C♭).
No key changes.

Question 5

Texture

Answer 5

Burn:
The most complex song in textural terms.
Bars 1–21 is essentially homophonic, but there is just enough melodic interest and
independence in the string parts to question who is accompanying whom, given the improvised
nature of the sitar line and the carefully composed string parts.
Synth bass articulated tonic pedal begins in bar 22 and is used extensively.
Chorus section (bar 38) combines melodic elements, polyphonically (vocal hook and lead synth
semiquaver line with the continued bass pedal).
The sarangi line creates a more contrapuntal texture with the continuing accompaniment
textures (bar 46).
Verse 2 has more polyphonic elements that interact (vocals in thirds, dialogue with sitar and
string material from the introduction.
‘Breakdown’ section at bar 86 reduces texture to sitar and strings only, in dialogue.
Final chorus has many layers combined (interlocking vocal lines, sitar figures, one-bar string
countermelody and drone bass and percussion).
Gentle close with homophonically accompanied flute and cello solos

BUW:
Bars 1–33 sitar accompanied by (mostly) homorhythmic block chords.
Bars 34–38 short polyphonic dialogue between vocals and sitar.
Bars 53–67 voice provides descant in polyphony with the sitar line.

Easy:
The focus is very much on the vocal line here.
Guitar accompaniment plays the same sort of material throughout (syncopated bass/tenor
range textures with an ostinato-like rhythm).
Piano chords and synth bass lines are added to the guitar as the piece progresses.
Homophonic textures feature strongly.
More complex textures include vocal harmonies in dialogue with sitar lines (bars 21–33) and
polyphonic dialogue between sitar and vocals in the middle 8. (bar 42)

Question 6

Sonority

Answer 6

Burn:
Uses a mix of instruments/voices in quite an involved soundscape:
English vocals (New York vocalist Noa Lembersky)
Orchestral strings (arranged by Bollywood composer/arranger Salim Merchant)
Sitar and sarangi
Dance beats mixed with Indian percussion (manjira – finger-cymbals)
Synthesised bass and analog-style read synthesiser lines.

BUW:
Strings, sitar, wordless vocals and keyboards.
Sitar is the solo instrument here, playing a line based on the vocal line of ‘Sea Dreamer’:
Melodic line is decorated by ornaments (alankara)
meend (slides)
kan (grace notes)
andolan (vibrato)
gamak (mordents/trills).
The melody is paraphrased three times, twice in the upper register (tar saphak) and
once in the lower register (mandra saphak).

Easy:
The sitar plays solo in introduction, then an articulated pedal D♭ during the first part of V1/2. Later it
works in dialogue with the vocal ‘I know’ (bars 21–33). It takes the solo line in the instrumental (bars 32–
41) until it returns in dialogue with the vocals until the end of the song.
The guitar provides plucked accompaniment with ostinato-like patterns.
The piano is subtle and understated throughout, adding high chords to verse 2 (repeat of bar 9), an
inverted pedal D♭ in octaves at bars 27–28 and an arpeggio figure in the last two bars.
The vocals, sung by Norah Jones’ are relaxed in R&B style. They sit in a mid- to low tessitura with a range
of a tenth (A♭–C). They are mainly syllabic, but with some melismas (e.g. ‘real’ bar 13, V2).
Other sounds used are a synth bass, to emphasise the guitar ostinato lines from verse 2 onwards and electronic drum patterns.

Question 7

Structure

Answer 7

Burn:
Intro 1
Intro 2
VCBVBLVLVCO

BUW:
VRMiddle8LVRVRO

Easy:
IVVLIMVO