Radhika+T+popular+music

__ED SHEERAN__

**__ Biography __**
Ed Sheeran is an English singer-songwriter and musician. Sheeran was born in Halifax, West Yorkshire before moving to Framlingham, Suffolk. In his time in Suffolk, he was known to have flourished as a hidden talent when it came to music. He learned guitar at a very young age, and began writing songs during his time at Thomas Mills High School in Framlingham. By the time Sheeran had left school, he was already certain that music was going to play a major part in his life, and therefore studied at Access To Music in Norwich before moving to London which improved his chances of getting gigs. Sheeran’s outpouring of creativity added up to several early EP’S and hundreds of live shows. Getting a lot of attention with his online performances, Sheeran hit No.1 on the iTunes chart before he ever signed a record label. **__ Song Analysis __** 1) Photograph  media type="youtube" key="psSbWxxNCNw" width="560" height="315" 1. What is the structure of the piece? Intro, Verse 1, Pre chorus, Chorus, Verse 2, Pre Chorus, Chorus, Bridge, Outro

2. What are the instruments that are playing in the piece? Acoustic guitar, Bass guitar, Electric guitar, Piano, Vocals, Backup vocals, Drums, Keyboard

3. How would you describe the tempo of the piece? The tempo of the piece is moderate, not too fast, not too slow. It remains the same throughout the song.

4. Describe the dynamics of the piece. Is it loud or soft? Is it always loud or soft or does it change? If it changes, does it change suddenly or gradually? The dynamics of the piece start off soft and gradually increase throughout thesong and then become soft again in the outro. The dynamics start to increase from the second verse and then immediately decrease in the outro.

5. Do all the instruments play all the time? Are there some sections that have more or less instruments that others? Not all the instruments play at the same time. There are more instruments playing in the second verse, second pre chorus, second chorus and in the bridge. 6. Does the singer have a distinctive sounding voice? Yes the singer does have a distinctive voice which can quickly and easily be indentified.

7. Are there backup vocals? Do they sing the whole way through or just in certain sections? Yes there are backup vocals in the piece. They only sing in the pre choruses and in the bridge.

8. Is there an instrumental solo? What instrument plays the solo? Yes there are two instrumental solos in the piece which occur as the intro and between the first chorus and second verse. In the intro, the instrumental solo is played by the guitar and piano. The instrumental solo between the first chorus and second verse is fairly brief. It goes for 1 bar and it is played by the guitar, drums and piano. 9. Can you identify how many beats per bar? There are 4 beats per bar

10. Would you say that the song is major (happy sounding) or minor (sad/angry sounding)...don't think about the lyrics, think about the music The song is minor as it isn’t very upbeat or energetic. The music of the song is soft, calming music. It is not upbeat, lively and rhythmic.

11. Can you make a comment on the texture (texture is all about the layers of sound)...are there many layers or only a few? Is the texture constant throughout or does it change? Throughout the song, the texture of the piece changes. At the start of the piece, the layers of sound are fairly thin. The layers of sound gradually start to increase and by the second chorus and bridge, the texture of the piece is at its thickest point. Then by the outro, the layers of sound decrease, resulting once again in a thin texture.

12. Are there any repeated patterns used in the piece? What instrument plays them? There are no repeated patterns used in the piece. 13. Think about where the piece reaches its high point? Which section is it? What happens to make you think that this is the high point of the song? The piece reaches its high point in the second chorus and carries on into the bridge. It is the highpoint of the song as that is where the dynamics are loudest and texture is thickest and where the most instruments are being played.

2) Kiss Me
 * __ Song Analysis __**

media type="youtube" key="kFfKb_WEkCE" width="420" height="315" 1. What is the structure of the piece? Intro, Verse 1, Pre Chorus, Chorus, Verse 2, Pre Chorus, Chorus, Instrumental break, Bridge, Chorus, Outro

2. What are the instruments that are playing in the piece? Acoustic guitar, Electric guitar, Bass guitar, Drum Kit, Vocals, Backup Vocals, Violin, Piano

3.How would you describe the tempo of the piece? The tempo of the piece is fairly fast.

4. Does the tempo change or is it the same throughout? The tempo is the same throughout the piece.

5. Describe the dynamics of the piece. Is it loud or soft? Is it always loud or soft or does it change? If it changes, does it change suddenly or gradually? <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #0000ff; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline;">The dynamics of the piece is soft and they remain the same throughout the song.

6. Do all the instruments play all the time? Are there some sections that have more or less instruments that others? <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #0000ff; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline;">Yes, all of the instruments play at the same time throughout the song.

7. Do any of the instruments have any effects? Maybe the guitars? <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #0000ff; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline;">Yes, in the intro and instrumental break before the outro, the electric guitars have effects on them.

8. Does the singer have a distinctive sound voice? <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #0000ff; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline;">Yes the singer does have distinctive sounding voice which can be quickly indentified.

9. Are there backup vocals? Do they sing the whole way through or just in certain sections? <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #0000ff; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline;">Yes there are backup vocals. They only sing in certain sections which is both the Pre Chorus’, all of the chorus’, Verse 2 and the bridge

10. Is there an instrumental solo? What instrument plays the solo? <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #0000ff; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline;">Yes there is an instrumental solo. It is played by the electric guitar but the drums and acoustic guitar play as well but only softly so that the main instrument being heard in the electric guitar.

11. Can you identify how many beats per bar? <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #0000ff; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline;">There are 4 beats per bar.

12. Would you say that the song is major (happy sounding) or minor (sad/angry sounding)...don't think about the lyrics, think about the music <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #0000ff; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline;">The song would be minor sounding as the music is soft and gentle and not very upbeat or loud.

13. Can you make a comment on the texture (texture is all about the layers of sound)...are there many layers or only a few? Is the texture constant throughout or does it change? <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #0000ff; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline;">There are only a few layers of texture in this song. It is constant throughout the song as most of the instruments play at the same time, making the texture of the song even and constant.

14. Are there any repeated patterns used in the piece? What instrument plays them? <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #0000ff; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline;">There is a repeated pattern in the background of the piece being played bythe drums and acoustic guitar.

15. Think about where the piece reaches its high point? Which section is it? What happens to make you think that this is the high point of the song <span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.3333px; vertical-align: baseline;">? The piece reaches its highpoint in the bridge and final chorus. It is the highpoint of the song as the vocals and instruments are louder.

__Style of music__
Ed Sheeran’s music is an eclectic blend of acoustic pop, folk, and hip hop. His music is a mixture of different genres. His predominant genre is pop. Pop music is extremely eclectic, often borrowing elements from other styles such as urban, dance, rock, latin and country. Throughout the years, the musical genre of pop has proved to be highly favored by many around the world. The immense popularity of pop music, in part, has to do with its musical characteristics of being catchy, short, simple and melodic. Pop songs tend to consist of a verse and a repeated chorus. They are generally between 2 ½ and 5 ½ minutes in length and use a combination of rhythms that are “dance oriented” and energetic aim to satisfy the “broadest-possible audience."