Joni Mitchell Flashcards
Describe the musical genre of ‘Big Yellow Taxi’
Folk
Describe the tonality of ‘Big Yellow Taxi’ (key signature)
E Major
Describe the texture of ‘Big Yellow Taxi’
Verse 1 - guitar, drums and vocals, 1st half of chorus - guitar quiet, drums drop out, triangle added, second half - drums back in, guitar louder, backing vocals added, no triangle, Final two choruses sound softer because the strumming pattern is different. Different strumming pattern between verse and chorus to give different textural feel
Describe the rhythms used in Big Yellow Taxi
Syncopated rhythm created by the triangle in the first half of the chorus
Describe the overall structure of Big Yellow Taxi
Typical verse/chorus structure
Describe the structure of the introduction
Eight bars long consisting of strummed chords on the guitar
Describe the structure of the verses
Four verses, each are eight bars long
Describe the structure of the chorus
The chorus is divided into three clear sections - the first section features syncopated triangle, the guitar comes back in in the second section, and the shoo-wop vocals are introduced in the third
Give 3 melodic features
Range of just over an octave, Contrast in last chorus between high “They paved paradise” and low “Put up a parking lot”, and vocal style sometimes more spoken than melodic
Describe the harmonic ideas of the chorus
Slight change of harmony though the use of primary triads continues. Bare-5th chord is used at the start of the chorus then filled in to include the 3rd and dominant 7th of the chord.
Describe the harmonic ideas of the verses
The first two bars use A major and A6 chords. The next two bars use the tonic pedal with E, E7 and A chords over the top. In the second verse, more developed chord strumming patterns are used.
Describe the instrumentation of Big Yellow Taxi
The guitar is used throughout the song. Drums are also a constant except for the first half of the choruses when the triangle is used instead. Vocals are also used in the song.
