The elements of music to consider
Melody
A melody is a significant phrase of pitched notes with a rhythm that is repeated in different sections. Dylan includes these devices when writing the melody for Make You Feel My Love:
- two bar short and balanced phraseA short section of music, normally a melody, that could be thought of as a musical sentence. Phrases are like building blocks in music.
- syllabicSinging one note per syllable. text setting for some of the lyrics
- stepwise movement
- larger descending intervalDistance between two notes. at the end of phrases
Metre, tempo and rhythm
The time signature, tempo and rhythmic devices include:
- a simple timeMusical rhythm where each beat in a bar is a crochet and each beat can be divided in two, four or eight. metre of 4/4
- a tempo marked andanteAt a walking pace. of the score
- a ritenutoAn immediate reduction in speed in music.(rit) in the very final bar with a pauseA symbol that tells the performer to hold on to a note for an undefined period of time until the conductor or composer decides to move. Sometimes called a fermata. on the last note
- all phrases start after the downbeatThe first beat of the bar - a reference to the conductor's baton movement going down. of the bar. Notice that each two-bar phrase commences on the second beat of the bar after a crotchet rest on the first beat
Structure
The song is written in a verse-chorus structure:
- verse 1
- verse 2
- chorus 1
- verse 3
- instrumental interlude
- chorus 2
- verse 4
- instrumental outro Concluding section of music.
Instrumentation
Excluding Bob Dylan singing, the ensembleA group of instruments playing together.includes these instruments:
- drum kit
- guitars
- piano
- organ
Dynamics
Make You Feel My Love is performed without many changes to its dynamicsThe volume of the music. level. However, there are mechanisms put in place to increase the intensity of the song, such as:
- a crescendoA gradual increase in loudness in a piece of music. into the first chorus to help build the momentum of the song
- a diminuendoThe music gradually gets quieter. after the second chorus
Texture
Important features of the song's texture are:
- the texture comprises of melody and accompanimentA type of texture where there is only one clear melody and an accompaniment that plays different notes and rhythms but is supporting the melody.
- the lead guitar will sometimes add fillA short musical phrase or flourish used to hold the listener's interest during a gap between parts of a melody in the rests of the vocal phrases with a small answering phrase
Tonality and harmony
The essential devices to note are:
- the song is in the key of Bb major
- the phrase 'to make you feel my love' is a plagal cadence A type of cadence where chords IV to I are played. Makes the phrase sound finished, but is softer than a perfect cadence.聽In the key of Bb major, a plagal cadence is the sub-dominant third (Eb) leading to the tonic chord (Bb). (the chords change from the sub-dominant (Eb major) to the tonic (Bb major)