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Friday, September 26, 2008

Pop Music Analysis - Forbidden Love



The song I have chosen is "Forbidden Love", the theme for the Japanese drama, "Love 2000".

The piece is in the key of C major.


By and large, this piece is in 2nd species counterpoint. The song is mainly repetitive. The accompaniment is in an arpeggic style.

The part which I have chose to analyze contains a double period (namely antecedent period and consequent period), each period containing an antecedent phrase and a consequent phrase. The consequent period is similar to the antecedent period as it contains some repeating phrases with some modifications. The melody of the consequent period has a thickened texture as compared to the antecedent period as there is playing of notes an octave apart together.

Apart from the phrases in the 2 periods, I have labelled another phrase(bars 58-60) on the score towards the ending. I believe that this phrase is an additional phrase (or "finale") to make the ending of the song sound more complete.


The antecedent and consequent phrases in the piece are also considered sentences because of the S-S-L phrasing involved. The phrase structure is mainly 1+1+2.


Bars 40-43: vi, vi7(T) - IV(PD) - V(D) - I(T) - V6(D)

This phrase ends with an imperfect cadence, this creates a suspending atmosphere before it moves on to the consequent phrase which comes in like a surprise.


Bars 44-47: vi7(I) - V6/5/V(D) - V - vi(T)

This phrase ends with an imperfect cadence to introduce the consequent period that comes in later. Tonicization occurs in bar 45 due to the change of key to G major.


Bars 48-51: vi(T) - vi7(T) - IV(PD) - V(D) - I(T) - V6(D)

This phrase is a repetition of bars 40-43 with only thickening of the texture in the melody.


Bars 52-60(end): vi(T) - V6/5/V(D) - I(T) - V(D) - I(T)

The piece ends with a perfect cadence. Bars 52-57 is the consequent phrase of the consequent period, while bars 58-60 is the "finale". Bars 54- 60 contain mainly chordal expansion in an arpeggic style and the accompaniment is not present anymore. The ascending motion of the arppegios brings the piece to an end with a chord in the higher register.


I have also identified neighbour notes, suspension, passing note and escape tones, and have labelled them on the score.


forbidden love