Let Me Be Your Star | w. 6 p. 2

Katharine McPhee & Megan Hilty- Let Me Be Your Star

I've always held a soft spot for musicals and when you combine that and a TV show along with the tragic beauty of Marilyn Monroe with that's a hit. Well what do you know they did that with Smash and the original songs of the show quickly found their ways into my music library, with this song coming in on my overall top 25. Both Katharine McPhee and Megan Hilty alone have fantastic powerful voices and are different in their own rights. Katharine's holding a sort of more 'Pop' like soft quality while Megan's is very 'broadway' strong and powerful with the glutteral push and this song shows that. The song alone is one that gives off that power of bringing down the house that big songs in musicals have (Defying Gravity) but it still gives that repetitiveness and contrast that makes it easy to sing along to.

Payphone | w. 6 p. 1

Maroon 5 - Payphone

Form Breakdown of the song (ABABACA)

• Introduction (The chorus simplified with only piano accompaniment) (AA)
• Verse 1 (drums come in with the singing and piano. Also the song holds a pretty repetitive pattern then changes half way through into another beat) (AB)
• Chorus (The full band comes in with a faster tempo) (AA)
• Verse 2 (Follows the same form as the first verse) 
• Chorus (Same form with the addition of another line of lyrics "I'm at a payphone) 
• Bridge (Different vocalist -Wiz Khalifa- and a different form but it has the same sort of beat underneath the rapping)
• Chorus with Outro being the "i'm at a payphone" line fading out

Angel With A Shotgun | w. 5 p. 2

The Cab is another band that combines abnormal instruments with the typical band. Unlike Globus they only have a sample of it in the beginning and in places of the song but it gives that feeling of purity that comes with the vision of a church choir. Which makes sense with the lyrics of the song. Otherwise the song is a somewhat typical alternative rock song with DeLeon's smooth and crisp voice, that gives off the sense of empowerment that makes you just want to stand up and pledge your stance, and the choir only helps this.

Take Me Away| w. 5 p.1

Take Me Away- Globus

This week we learned about instrumentation and timbre in music appreciation and what would you know I would find a song that showcases both these topic on Friday afternoon. I had never even heard about Globus before but YouTube is a amazing thing and I just happened to stumble upon the group while looking for another song. They blend not only the typical instruments of a band: drum kit, electric guitars, bass guitar, but they also pull in strings and even a choir. Most of their songs, especially Take Me Away, give off this amazing feeling of something building, you imagine this huge battle building and then it reaches this climax as the choir joins in and there's just this swell of feeling. I have to say that this is one of the better finds on YouTube, so much better than the cat playing piano.

Somewhere Over The Rainbow | w. 4 p. 2

Katharine McPhee- Somewhere Over the Rainbow

The classic song starts out with a great rubato setting the tone for the whole song. It sets up with a monophonic texture also up until about 30 seconds in. Then it switches into a soothing homophonic texture. The tempo for the song hold pretty steady in a slow moving beat, but the variations in the disjunct melodic contour gives it that exciting awe inspiring feel that gives you goosebumps.

Bittersweet Symphony | w. 4 p. 1

Bittersweet Symphony- The Verve

The song if pretty simply a homophony type of texture with Richard Ashcroft's voice being the main melody and the strings and beats being the accompaniment. There are some slight dissonant notes slid in there but mostly it very constant. The really interesting part is at the end at about 5 minutes when I think it his a Polyphonic texture with overlapping of voices and melodies along with the backing of the violins and drums. As for the melodic contouring it's a pretty conjunct song with a bit of disjunct through into some parts in the motives.

TTYLXOX | w. 3 p. 2

Bella Thorne- TTYLXOX

The song has a somewhat moderate tempo with a quadruple beat. The second beat has a small accent along with the fourth which scoops into the first beat. As for the melody it's very conjunct and close to even monotone with little variation between the notes. The phrasing is very predictable with solid cadences but even with it the song is very catchy with a tunefulness that's easy to follow.