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Title of Song: SAY YES
Music: Ryo Aska
Artistes: Chage & Aska
Arranged: Steven Lai
Key: C Major
(NOTE: The score image is quite small and you may want to right-click and save the picture to have a bigger view instead)
This is a wonderful piece of music although it’s quite an old song. I chose this song not just because of its nice melodic line but also some of the nice chromatic harmonies and “surprises” happening in the music. Attached is the beginning extract that I have analyzed, and a YOUTUBE recording of it - enjoy!
I will first look at the phrase structure and by enlarge it is characterized by “L-S-S” feature. Notice at bar 16, I did not include it as part of the phrase structure as that portion itself is not sung.
The bass line in the beginning is quite interesting, in that it is literally “moving up the scale” (i.e., C-D-E-F). Bar 5 involves a secondary mixture harmony - chord III. It involves a change of mode of the chord with the diatonic root. Also the G# that is involved has a tendency to go to A the following bar, and indeed, it is proceeded by an A-minor chord (vi) which is expected.
At bar 8, although the chords are similar to the beginning, there is more harmonic rhythm in the bass line as compared to those in the first few bars. The use of quavers increases the momentum of the music a little as heard. I also notice the use of intervallic “3rds” at bar 9 (marked in the score) which is a common cliché that we encounter. This is similar to bar 14 to 15 in the RH-part – the 3-6 cliché is being used here as marked in the score.
At bar 11, the tonicization of F major can be seen as indicated in the Roman numeral. I would expect another tonicization to occur at bar 12 by looking at the score and also the expectation created by every chord in the bar; however it did not really happen. This is also where I have problems doing the Roman numeral analysis for this particular bar. For example at bar 12, I would expect a sort of sequence similar to the previous bar. However there is a surprise created when the D half-dim 7th chord occurred, when I’m expecting just a D-dim chord for example. Also when the C-major chord occurred – I would expect an Eb chord instead. This will be a good case whereby the composer surprises the listener by playing around with the expectation of the listener.
Tonicization also occurs at bars 12-13 and another at bars15-16. There seem to be another surprise created from bars 16-17. The chord V6/V will tend to lead to V (with G in the bass – root position), but it did not happen. It went on to V4-2 instead, with F in the bass. This expectation would be quite strong as the leading tone, F# is quite heavily doubled. However from another point of view, that F# can be treated as a chromatic passing note leading from G to F. Perhaps the surprise wouldn’t be as great if I were to double the G in the bass!
I hope you've enjoyed the music and please feel free to comment on it.
Regards,
Benji
5 comments:
Hi Ben,
This is indeed a wonderful song both for listening and analyzing.
I'd like you to consider more closely the phrase organization. In one sense, you are right that the opening is L-S-S (3+2+2 to be specific), but notice that in terms of a harmonic phrase, it actually extends 7 bars before cadencing? At the same time, note that the vocal phrases are not subdivided as 3+2+2.
Concerning bar 16, whilst it is true that it is not part of the vocal line, it is actually very important for phrasal balance. Can you figure out why? (Note that, curiously, at first glance, bs. 8-15 constitute 8 bars yet it does not feel balanced).
Other aspects....
b. 5: can you reconcile your claim that the chord is a mixture III and yet the G# tends towards A?
bs. 8-10: the harmonic rhythm is the same as the opening (i.e. one chord per bar), what kind of rhythm are you then referring to?
bs. 11-12: write out the exact sequence and compare with what is in the song, what do you then realize? Still expect Eb? Consider also the link between the seq, how does this affect the way you then hear the V/iii?
Finally, having correctly identified the V4/2 at the end of your excerpt, don't you want to tell us whether it resolves in a conventional manner?
hi dr chong n benji.. with regards to bars 5 onwards.. i see the chord III that benji has labelled as a tonicization to A minor.. with the the E minor chord as V/vi to vi. establishing the key of A minor.. but the cadence ends in C major somehow...
Bar 5:
The existence of the G# is important as a leading tone to the A (bass line) in the next bar. Perhaps it will be more appropriate to label it as V7/vi which means to tonicise the A.
Bars 8-10:
I'm referring to a more "flouried" bass line, more rhthmic movement in the bass line rhythm, that is.
The V4/2 at the end resolve to chord I6, which is conventional.
Hi Benji,
This music has brought a lot of good old memory. This song was extremely popular in 1994 when it first launched it album,at that period of time i was in primary 6. It was played in radio almost everyday, they even had advertisments of this music album on the SBS double decker buses.ok back to the main points,other than the good verses you had analyzed, what made me fall in love with this song was the introduction section which you did not include in your analysis. The introduction of this music start off with syncopation of a repeated not then it followed by an ascending and descending C major scale C D E F E D C)after this scalic element,is a series of appegios and follow by your opening verse. I feel that the introduction is another factor which made this song unique maybe you can take a look at the introduction. =)
JinXing: Interesting observation of the rising and falling bassline in the intro. I would add that the descending E-D-C portion is actually part of a circle-of-fifths progression E-A-D-G-C.
Following your observation, I then noticed that the verse actually expands on the introduction harmonic progression by inserting the sequence at bs. 11-12 and evading the otherwise strong G-C cadence at bs. 16-18 (Benji informed us that it is a V-V6/V-V4/2-I6).
Benji, the word you want to describe the bass line is "florid".
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