Here's the soundcloud link.
In the last week of the course, we were
asked to take our song from week 5 and revise it using front heavy (F) and
back heavy (B) bar phrasing. Front heavy
means there is a syllable on the downbeat.
It’s used for statements of fact or when stability is desired. Back heavy means coming in anytime after the
downbeat, and is usually used for statements of uncertainty or
instability. Both can be used to set up
an important line, like the title or a refrain. For example, there might be several front
heavy lines, creating the expectation of front heavy, and then the title line
comes in back heavy, adding a spotlight to it.
Weak bar phrasing was also explained. A group of 4, four bar phrases, can be sorted
as strong, weak, strong, weak, just like the four beats in a measure of 4/4
time. Using front heavy phrasing in the
strong bars is the most stable. Front
heavy phrasing on a weak bar lessens that stability. Similarly, back heavy phrasing on a strong
bar is the most unstable.
We learned how to do this by listening to several
iterations of the song “Pieces” co-written by Pat Pattison. It was really
instructive to feel the song change as the phrasing changed. I spent much of my
spare time this week looking at songs from my “dead file” to see how a good
idea might be reworked.
My phrasing of the assignment 5 song changed quite a
bit. The front and back heavy approaches
opened up the song for me and made it much easier to sing. I’m not finished with this song yet. I think the last verse needs to turn into a
bridge to provide more variety in musical direction, and there may still be
some tweaking with words. I love the
line “riders and rustlers and limping bronc busters” but I think it has to go
for this song – at least the “limping” part.
It adds too much comedy to what I’m hoping will be a serious, dramatic
feel. However, I’m holding the line
“riders and rustlers and limping bronc busters who sing a high falsetto” for a
novelty song.
Here’s my assignment. I have divided the lyric into
4 bar phrases and marked each phrase with F or B.
The Passion Rodeo
Verse 1.
She bounces in (F)
like a Texas tumbleweed (F)
Bright eyes (B)
champagne woman (F)
She doesn’t really (B) trust the city (F)
The air is grey (B)
and the trees are weak (B)
Chorus
She’s come to win
her (F) one of the best of the (F)
Passion rodeo (F)
Lookin’ to lose a
little (B) loneliness in this (F)
Passion (F) The Passion Rodeo (B)
Verse 2
Riders and rustlers (F) and
limping bronc busters (F)
Downing shooters (F)
with serious impatience (B)
Reptilian eyes (F)
paint her on the dance floor (F)
She’s that sugar
plum (B)
they’re all lookin’ for (B)
Chorus
Verse 3
She’s not proud of
the (B) life she’s led (F)
She doesn’t want to
die (B) in a cheap hotel (F)
She takes too many
chances (F) she knows it well but (F)
Like these cowboys
she’s got a (B) a taste for hazard (B)
Chorus
© 2013
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