Tupelo Honey Flashcards
Tupelo Honey
Why would we say that this song is mostly improvised?
(4 things?)
- The piano and organ improvise an accompaniment based on the changes (‘comping’) - they also improvise fills
- Although Van Morisson has a number of key vocal ‘licks’ that are the same in each performance (he sings roughly the same sort of thing each time), different performances can and do vary quite a lot - check out youtube for some live versions
- guitars improvise fills in the vocal gaps and also their solos.
- The bass guitar and drums have a number of ‘licks’ that they use, but are still mostly improvising.
Which elements of Tupelo Honey are not improvised?
(3 main things)
chord sequence
structure
flute solo
How would you describe the structue of this version of Tupelo Honey?
strophic
verse-chorus form with an intro, middle 8, insrumental and outro
more detailed:
intro - v1 - ch1 - v2 - ch2 - instrumental
v3 (=v2) - ch3 - middle 8
v4 (=v1) - ch4 - ch5 - outro
There are two very similar chord sequences that run through Tupelo Honey
1)
I - iiib - IV - I (a 2-bar pattern)
2)
I - iiib - IV - I
I - iiib - IV - V
I - iiib - IV - I
I - iiib - IV - I (an 8-bar pattern)
Which chord sequence is used in each of: intro, verse, chorus, instrumental, middle 8, outro?
Intro, middle 8 and outro use the 2-bar pattern:
I - iiib - IV - I
Verses, choruses and instrumental use the 8-bar pattern:
I - iiib - IV - I
I - iiib - IV - V
I - iiib - IV - I
I - iiib - IV - I
In which sections of Tupelo Honey do we hear the flute solo?
intro
second half of instrumental
outro
What can you say about the tonality of Tupelo Honey?
B-flat major
no modulations
What can you say about the harmony in Tupelo Honey?
Diatonic
functional? not strictly, but the end of each 2-bar phrase feels like a plagal or an imperfect cadence
only four chords used: I, iii, IV, V
very little chromatic ornamentation (a few blue notes in the sax solo)
occasional passing e-natural in bass guitar part
What can you say about Van Morissons vocal melody in Tupelo Honey?
rhythmically free and complex
often does not start on downbeat
improvised variations on basic shapes
major pentatonic
fairly high tessitura
mainly syllabic word setting, some expressive slurs
If you had to talk about texture in Tupelo Honey, what could you say?
Completely homophonic (melody plus accompaniment)
but…
‘call and response’ (antiphony) between vocals and other instruments who proveds ‘fills’ in the vocal gaps.
Instrumental section can tolerably be said to have a ‘polyphonic aspect’ because the sax and the two guitars all improvise a solo simultanteously
What were the earlier musical genres that influenced Tupelo Honey?
Pop ballads
Gospel
Folk (Celtic)
Blues
Tupelo Honey
What are the notes on a B-flat major pentatonic scale?
B-flat - C - D - F - G
Which instrument in the recording of Tupelo Honey is more associated with folk music?
Which two instruments in the recording of Tupelo Honey are more associated with jazz?
Which instrument in the recording of Tupelo Honey is more associated with Gospel music?
Which instruments in the recording of Tupelo Honey are more associated with pop ballads?
folk - flute
jazz - sax, vibes
Gospel - organ
Pop ballad - guitars, bass, drums, piano
The drummer in Tupelo Honey uses which drums?
mostly just kick, snare and hihat
one chorus use ride cymbal
very occasional tom fills
There are 2 types of guitar in the recording of Tupelo Honey (althought for much of the transcription they are labelled the wrong way round…)
What are they (according to Edexcel) and from which speaker will we hear them (left or right)?
Acoustic guitar (Left speaker)
Electric Guitar (Right speaker)
When talking about the structure of Tupelo Honey we talk about verses and choruses.
‘chorus’ here is used to mean something different than in I’m Leavin’ You. Explain.
In a blues or jazz song a ‘chorus’ is one round of changes.
In a pop song, the ‘chorus’ is an extended ‘refrain’. Each ‘verse’ will have different words set to the same music whereas in each ‘pop-chorus-refrain’ the words and music are the same each time (and of course different from the verse)
