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Comparative Analysis
Under Pressure - Year 9 Music Cover
Under Pressure - Queen
Structure
In the beginning of our cover we start off with the bass guitar playing a riff 4 times with drums follwed by the keyboard joing on the second time the riff is played followed by all the other instruments after the fourth time the riff is played. On the eighth time the riff is played the finally the vocals join. In the original song the riff is played 10 times before the other instruments start to come in and then the vocals join. A similarity in this is the order the instruments come in except our band had a few more instruments joining. We cut out a few verses and bridges of the song. The original structure of the song is Intro,Verse 1, Bridge 1, Re - Intro, Verse 2, Bridge 1, Bridge 2 and then Outro. Our structure of the song is Intro, Verse 1, Bridge 1, Verse 2, Bridge 1, Verse 3, Bridge 1, Verse 4 Outro.
Tone Colour
In the original the whole band is made up of males. Obviously Frankie is a female and her voice is not as powerful. Since there was two singers in the original and due to Covid - 19 we were not allowed more than one singer. It changed how our cover sounded. The original is is strong, loud and powerful. Our cover is more warm, quiet and accosutic. Our cover contains 1 vocalist, 1 accoustic guitars, 1 Rhythm guitar, 2 bass guitars, keyboard and drums, compared to the original with 2 vocalists, synth, drums, bass and an electric guitar.
Duration
Our cover is slower than the original version. We slowed it down a fraction intentially due what we thought sounded best with the vocalist. Both version are in regular meter 4/4 .
Dynamics
The original version is definetly loud and used a variety of technology to adjust the sound of the instruments to make it more exciting. Our cover was obvioulsy quieter and due to this only being a school assignment we do not have access to that type of equipment/technology.
Texture
The texture of both songs can be described as polyphonic. Other instruments start joining in as the song goes on making the song homophonic, with the vocals taking over the melody. The instruments accompany the vocals all the way throughout the song. Neither song is complicated. Our cover is definetly more simple though.
Pitch
The key is D major in both songs. The bass guitar stood out in the beginning and seemed to be deeper. The vocal range was obviously very different because two rock male vocalists were singing the original and in our cover we had a quiet soft pop female vocalist.
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