Formal Analysis Of An Instrumental Introduction

The instrumental introduction includes both violins and cellos. The violins are playing the higher pitched melody, that resembles that of the singing that enters at the 6 second mark, and the cellos are playing a simple bass accompaniment. The cellos help provide the beat to the introduction. The texture of this introduction is homophonic because of the accompaniment the cellos provide to the violins. Although the violins are all playing the same melody at the same pitch, the harmonic support from the cellos gives the piece a defined beat which shows that it is homophonic. Also, it is not polyphonic because the cellos do not catch the attention of the listener. The ear is drawn to the violins because they are the most important part of

The violin fills cease and it appears that everyone is playing together more. There is harmonic accompaniment but no more individual fills during the singers’ pauses. The tambre also changes at the 24 second mark. The male voices overtake the female voices and this gives the music a more soothing feel, not one that is getting shot right at your ears. Also, the bass percussion kicks in at the 30 second mark and this alters the tambre once more. With the accompanying percussion, the music becomes serious once again. It feels more dissonant and keeps me on the edge of my seat when the percussion kicks

They are singing different lyrics in each of the two sections, but the way that they are sung is much more important when comparing the two sections. The first section has more interval range leading up to the hallelujahs. The singers jump up and down and don't hold the notes as long as the singers do in the second section. The second section singers do not use that high of a vocal range leading up to the hallelujahs. They sing about the same pitch and hold their notes for a much longer time than the singers in the first section. Other than the differences leading up to the hallelujahs, the hallelujahs themselves are quite similar. They have large intervals and are sung quite fast. In terms of the instruments, they are used very similar in both of the sections. The instruments are playing the same melodies as the singers and are there to provide harmonic accompaniment. Reacting back to the second sections lyrics leading up to the hallelujahs (“king of kings and lord or lords”), there is definitely tension when listening those sections. The tension is created because the singers are singing in a dissonant key and holding those dissonant notes for a long period of time. The listener is put on the edge of their seat because they are waiting for the music to return to home base. The bulk of the tension begins at 2:19 when just the female voices are singing “king