The Elements Of Music Essay Example

Over the Rainbow

Harold Arlene’s song, ‘Over the Rainbow’ takes the nature of a poem in the essence that most of its elements are poetic. Melody, rhythm, harmony and texture are all evident in the song. Through the manner that Arlene arranged his verses and stanzas, he is able to clearly bring out melody and rhythm. For the purposes of this assignment, the paper will analyze how the song uses melody and rhyme, and the effect of these elements in the enjoyment of the musical piece.
In general terms, rhyme occurs when the author uses words that begin with different sounds but end with sounds that are alike. In most cases, this is done towards the end of the sentences. In the song ‘over the rainbow’, Arlene uses this tactic in many cases. For instance, line three of stanza one ends with the word ‘blue’. Line four of the same stanza ends with the word ‘true’. These words have similar sounds when pronounced. In stanza 2, line three ends with the word ‘drops’, while line four ends with the word ‘tops’. These words rhyme. This shows that the author has effectively used rhyme in this case. In most cases, the role of rhyme in music is to make the song interesting, enjoyable and memorable. When rhyme is used in a song effectively, memorizing it becomes easy (Straus, 2008). One only needs to remember one word and they will automatically remember the next one because of rhyming nature of the sentences. Songs without rhyme are always difficult to memorize because one may miss the clue or something to remind them of certain lines in the song. Similarly, the song becomes interesting as people will get to pay attention so as to understand whatever is being rhymed about. This way, Arlene managed to create a positive mood for the song.
In the song, Arlene has also effectively used rhythm. In most cases, the public is seldom conscious of rhythm in a song. The organizations of patterns of voice patterns in terms of stress, frequency and repetition in a verse always plays the role of creating rhythm. Meter is the common aspect of rhythm, more so in the context of songs as opposed to poems. Dividing each line to ‘feet’ ensures both weak and strong stresses. Scansion also plays a major role in creating rhythm. In Arlene’s song, all these are evident. Repetition is one aspect he has constantly used to bring about rhythm. For instance, all stanzas of the song have the phrase ‘somewhere over the rainbow’. By repeating this line over and over, rhythm is promoted. To add up on this, Arlene uses similar stress marks when going over the repeated lines. The effect of this is to give the song a general tone which can be predicted by the listener. Similar to rhyme, the purpose of rhythm in a song is to make a song more memorable and enjoyable. Without this, there is doubt as to whether the song would be received well. The combination of rhyme and rhythm in this song gives it the right and cool mood, necessary for the listeners. To add up to this, Arlene uses the tactic of switching the pitches to catch the attention of the listener. At times, he raises the pitches and lowers them systematically. This makes the son more enjoyable.

References

Straus, J. N. (2008). Elements of music. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall.