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Capercaillie 'Skye Waulking Song' (Instrumentation (The electric…
Capercaillie 'Skye Waulking Song'
Melody
The ‘Waulking’ song tradition can be heard in the use of vocables between each sung line and the repetition of each line of verse
The melodic lines are played in the ‘Folk Style’ with improvised notes around the melody
The vocal part is sung using the scale of E minor pentatonic (or G major pentatonic) throughout the song
There’s a use of nonsense syllables in the sung melody
Instruments generally play around their middle range
The vocal melody is mid-high ranged and mainly syllabic
Rhythm and Metre
The song is in 12/8 (Twelve quaver beats in each bar)
The 12/8 time signature makes the rhythm have a ‘triple’ feel, this is because it’s in compound time, so dotted crotchets are used which have the value of three quavers
Although this song is in 12/8, it is ambiguous in the intro and first verse
The vocal part has a ‘lilting’ rhythm
The shakers and hi hats play every two beats and the second and fifth beats of the bar are emphasised by the accordion in the instrumental section
The use of cross rhythms played at the beginning of the song are created by a hi-ha
Harmony/ Tonality
The song overall is in the key of G major, with three main chords that are used these are: C, G, and Em
The first section alternates between the chords of Em and G and the 2nd section uses chord progression C, G, Em, and G
The piece is entirely diatonic and has a modal feel, modal melody of C, Em and G
The vocals are sung in the E minor pentatonic scale or G minor pentatonic scale, throughout the piece
Texture
Capercaillie uses counter melodies to provide a thicker more interesting melody, where the accordion provides the counter melodies to the vocals
There is use of heterophonic texture; a played main melody but it's been somewhat decorated. In the outro, counterpoint is used; where instruments weave melodies together
A Capella is used to add effect as well as making the texture interesting and engaging
There also a use of chordal backing to accompany the vocals, for instance in verse 4 where the accordion and guitar accompany the vocals
In verse seven, all the instruments drop out in the last line, where they all come back in verse eight, and then the vocals just remain in the outro
Instrumentation
The electric piano and fiddle have tremolo effects at certain parts throughout the song, also the bass plays in staccato during the intro
The accordion joins in verse 4 with a strummed accompaniment by the bouzouki
Some older and less commonly used instruments such as the bouzouki, bodhrán and Uilleann pipes have been used as they are tradition folk instruments
One of the groups of instruments used are guitars, the types of guitars used are; Bouzouki, acoustic guitar, electric guitar and a bodhrán
The song also features drums and percussion
During the break, the fiddle is more prominent and it has solo parts in the instrumental with the Uilleann pipes
The accordion also provides counter melodies to the vocals in verse 5 and it also accompanies the fiddle and Uilleann pipes during the instrumental
Structure
The structure of the song goes; Intro, Verse 1, Break, Verse 2, Verse 3, Verse 4, Verse 5, Verse 6, Instrumental, Verse 7, Verse 8, Outro.