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The Beatles - OCRThe elements of music to consider

The Beatles were heavily influenced by rock 'n' roll artists such as Elvis Presley and Chuck Berry. The genre rock 'n' roll was developed in North America in the 1950s through combining the features of gospel, jazz and rhythm 'n' blues music.

Part of MusicConventions of pop

The elements of music to consider

Melody

The points that refer to the melody include:

  • lines are sung
  • high-pitched male solo vocals
  • the vocalist will flatten the seventh note of the scale
  • a technique is deployed as shown in the lyric 'mine'

Rhythm, metre and tempo

Particular rhythmic and and tempo identities include:

  • the metre is 4/4
  • the drum kit plays a
  • the song has a fast tempo to make it appropriate to dance to

Structure

The song has a common structure:

  • introduction - 4 bars long
  • verse - 8 bars long
  • chorus - 8 bars long with added backing vocals
  • the verse and chorus are repeated
  • section - 8 bars long with a contrasting chord sequence and melody
  • verse and chorus are repeated
  • section - 16 bars long with an improvised electric guitar solo
  • the bridge section is repeated
  • the verse and chorus are repeated
  • - 4 bars long

Instrumentation and timbre

The members of The Beatles and the instruments heard on the record are:

  • Paul McCartney sings the lead vocals and plays the bass guitar
  • John Lennon sings the backing vocals and plays the rhythm guitar
  • George Harrison plays the lead guitar
  • Ringo Starr plays the drums
  • handclaps were added by multi-tracking

Texture and dynamics

If asked to discuss, remember

  • is featured
  • the lead guitar part takes over the melody between lines of the song
  • the dynamics are loud, but louder in the chorus.

Tonality and harmony

The tonality and harmony features of I Saw Her Standing There include:

  • a key signature of E major
  • there is a mix of primary chords and dominant 7th chords
  • simple and repeated chord sequences - only four chords are played in the song