Stevie Wonder

Question 1

Superstition main points:

Answer 1

• Released in the album ‘Talking Book’ in October 1972
• Combination of strong rhythmic grooves using the hohner clavinet keyboards with soulful melodic contours makes the piece funk in genre (Clavinet keyboards is an electrically amplified clavichord which produces a bright and staccato timbre and used in funk and soul music)
• More focus on rhythmic electric bass groves rather than harmonic changes
• Piece based around a verse-chorus form with intro, bridge and fade outro with a short linking section to return to the verse
• N.C bars - (No Chord) a bar or more where no chord is played and the accompanying instrument are silent which affects the texture of the piece

Question 2

Superstition main points continued:

Answer 2

• Opens with a short rhythm on the snare, starting on the third beat of the bar
• ^This is based on crotchet-quaver-two semiquavers which essentially propels the music forward to the 1st beat of the next bar where the groove starts again with bass drum and hi hat cymballs
• Hi hat has an intricate and changeable rhythm using quavers and semiquavers, where the bass and snare just play on the beat
• Variety in the verse is achieved by changing the various ostinato figures that make up the overall texture
• ‘Thirteen year old baby’ - Semiquaver ascent in the bass creates the effect of briefly being in double time giving greater rhythmic drive to the section

Question 3

Superstition: HARMONY

Answer 3

• The electric bass adds short syncopated fills at the end of each second pair of bars
• The electric bass and first clavinet part is based around an Eb minor pentatonic scale, 2nd clavinet outlines Eb major chord, thus providing the harmonic palette with an Eb-b7-#9 chord which enharmonically employs both the major and minor thirds of the chord - hence the G naturals and Gb’s in the same bars
• Context - a pentatonic scale is made up of 5 notes which commonly include the root, 3rd, 4th, 5th and flattened 7th
• Often use of extended chords and enharmonic

Question 4

Superstition: MELODY and TONALITY

Answer 4

(MELODY)
-Prominent Gbs given to both the clavinet ostinato of the intro and the vocal line
-Melody line moves very conjunctly, phrases often not ranging further than a 3rd of 4th
(TONALITY)
-Eb minor tonic - heavy use of Eb minor pentatonic scale
-Large use of enharmonic chords - false relation
-Large use of altered and extended chord making overall tonality ambiguous

Question 5

Superstition: TEMPO, TEXTURE, METRE, RHYTHM

Answer 5

• 3 distinct layers in texture:
• The rhythmic anchor provided by bass drum, snare and electric bass
• The syncopated rhythmic ostinato of the 1st clavinet part and hi-hat
• Chordal filling from the second clavinet part
• Bar placement - verse starts on the third beat of the bar to allow the 1st beat to be given greater emphasis
• Clavinet riff is rhythmically freer than the rest, starting the bar with 4 constant quavers, concluding with a dotted rhythm centred on a Gb
• Use of quavers at the entry of the vocal line and synocpation provided by tied semiquaver Gb’s at the end of the bar