Building a pop ballad to a climax

Welcome to today's lesson entitled, "Building a Pop Ballad to a Climax." My name's Mr. Norris, and today we're gonna be looking at how we can take our composition of a pop ballad through a journey to come to a big climax at the end, as is really typical for the style. Let's get started. Our outcome for today is, I can develop a musical climax in my pop ballad through the use of countermelody and modulation. Some key words. Climax, and a musical climax is the emotional and expressive high point of a piece of music. Countermelody, a countermelody is a second melody that plays at the same time as the main melody. Modulation, and modulation is when the key changes partway through a piece of music. So we're gonna be exploring those concepts through the lesson. The first part of today's lesson is focused on creating a pop ballad climax. Creating contrast in pop songs can include creating contrast between sections as well as building to a musical climax towards the end. In verse-chorus form, the intensity often builds like this. We start with the intro and the verse that are not very intense, then a slightly more intense chorus, back to a less intense verse, then a more intense section that includes the chorus and the middleight. Then the most intense section is often the final chorus before we have a less intense outro to finish. So the final chorus is the musical climax of the song, the high point. The intro, the verse and the outro are the least intense sections. Now that model there doesn't apply to every pop ballad, but it's a very common structure that is used. Why does the musical climax of this famous ballad feel emotionally intense? I'd like to think about the vocals, the texture, the strings and brass, and what happens into the final chorus. So you can pause my video, have a listen. What is it that makes this feel emotionally intense? So you might have said that the vocals are powerful and expressive. They use vibrato and rubato, which add expression and intensity to the singing. The strings play sustained sounds and a different melody, a countermelody, and there are loud, bright brass chords as well. So all of these create quite a thick texture with lots going on, lots of energy and intensity. The music feels like it stops before it changes key, which we call modulation, into the final chorus. So that brief pause makes it even more intense when it does modulate. Common techniques then for building a musical climax include, thickening the texture, adding extra expression in the vocals. So things like vibrato, melisma, rubato, and decorating the melody. And adding countermelody. Modulation is also a common technique for building a climax and sometimes even just making the parts more complex, for example, using a more powerful drum beat, can help to add to that intensity. Thickening the texture creates a sense of energy and power in the music. How does the vocal texture and the change of instruments thicken the texture in this song? So listen to both clips, and see if you can answer that question. You can pause my video now. You might have picked up then that the verse has a lead singer with backing vocals singing sustained 'ooo's'. In the final chorus, the backing singers harmonise the melody and the lead singer sings a countermelody. Sustained strings are also added to the final chorus. So there's a few ways there that that texture is developed between the verse and the final chorus. The melody is often more expressive in the musical climax of the song as well. Singers use certain techniques to add expression. In this case, how is the final chorus made more emotional through the expression in the melody? You can pause my video and have a listen. You might have picked up then that the singer uses more vibrato and melisma in the final chorus. Remember, melisma is where more than one note is used for a syllable. They are new phrases to repeat and emphasise words, and they sing in a higher range. So overall it sounds more intense and more expressive. And a lot of those features there are really common in building a musical climax in a pop ballad. The drum part can develop to add to the musical climax as well. How are the drum crews different in this song between an earlier chorus and the climax chorus towards the end, in particular, listen for the hi-hat snare and the kick drum parts. You can pause my video and have a listen now. So in that case, the first clip used a rim shot instead of a snare, and the hi-hat is less prominent. It sounds more like a shaker in that example. It also has simple hi-hat and kick patterns, whereas in the climax chorus, the second one, it has a more powerful backbeat on the snare, it has more fills and the hi-hat and kick patterns are more complex. So there's a few ways there that drum beat is developed to add to the complexity. Let's see now how we can build a climax by thickening the texture. I'm gonna start to develop a climax chorus for my composition. The first thing I need to do is arrange the structure so that I create the opportunity to have a climax chorus. So what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna arrange the structure verse, chorus, verse, chorus, chorus before I do anything else. I've got my verse here and I've got my chorus here. So what I can do is I can copy it all, copy a verse and chorus, right click, copy, and then we're gonna paste. So now I've got verse chorus, verse, chorus, and I want one more chorus at the end. So I'm gonna copy that, and paste that. So now I've got verse, chorus, verse, chorus, chorus. Now this isn't quite true verse-chorus forms. We don't have a bridge, we don't have an intro or an outro, but it will allow us to be able to build the climax a little bit. And the climax is gonna come in this third chorus here. So the third chorus that we've got is gonna be the real climax of the song. The first thing I'm gonna do is develop the texture of that third chorus a little bit in a few different ways. The first thing I'm gonna do is I'm gonna add some additional instruments playing the chords, so that I can thicken the texture up. So I'll put this up here. This is my chord track here. It's currently on synthesiser, so I can copy that, paste it into this new track, and I'm gonna choose a different instrument to play those chords at the same time as my other parts. So really good ones are things like a choir might work quite well, some strings, maybe a synth pad, maybe some orchestral brass or woodwind. I'm gonna go for a choir, see what this one sounds like here. ♪ In the silence of the night ♪ ♪ I hear whispers of your name ♪ ♪ Every ♪ I quite like that, it's a nice thick texture now, so I can feel that this has the potential to develop into a really effective climax. And I could do two or three examples of that if I wanted. So it doesn't have to just be adding one track, I could add another track. I could copy the broken chords into an additional track as well to have a really thick texture going on. But whatever I do, I want to make sure that that final chorus has a thicker texture than the one before it. Now let's look at how we can build a climax by developing the drum beat. Something else I can do to help develop the climax chorus is to develop the drum beat. At the moment my drum beat sounds like this in the chorus. (instrumental music) We got right cymbal, kick and snare. There's a few ways I could develop that. One of them is to add in a short fill after four bars. So rather than wait until the end of the section, I could add a fill halfway through the section. That's quite an effective thing. And the other thing you could do is add in some more interesting rhythms. So I could add some extra snare, I could use some open hi-hats. I could experiment a little bit to create a more varied drum beat. So I'm gonna do that now. I'm gonna play from here, and I'm gonna record in a slightly different drum beat that's a little bit more excited and energetic for my climax chorus. ♪ Every shadow in the light ♪ ♪ Just reminds me of the flame ♪ Here we go then. ♪ In the silence of the night ♪ ♪ I hear whispers of your name ♪ ♪ Every shadow ♪ ♪ In the light ♪ ♪ Just reminds me of the flame ♪ So as you can see, there's a slightly more complex drum beat there. Add some more complex patterns on the snare and the kick. And I was using crash cymbals much more often as well. I used one after two bars, after four bars, after six bars and eight bars. That gives it a really a energetic, powerful feeling. The other thing I did was put in a short fill after four bars. So if my section started at the start bar 33, if we just listen to this bar here, we'll hear a slight fill at the end of the bar. (instrumental music) So that's partway through the section, it's four bars out of eight through the section. And again, that helps keep the energy levels really high and build a climax really effectively. Let's review those steps. So copy and paste your verse and chorus sections to create the structure. Verse, chorus, verse, chorus, chorus. Thicken the texture in your third chorus by adding additional instruments playing chords, or changing the instruments to different timbres. And then develop the drum beat by changing rhythms slightly, using different timbres. For example, using the ride instead of the hi-hat and adding short fills at the end of phrases. Let's check your understanding. Which three of these are common ways of creating a musical climax? Thickening texture, making the drum groove more complex, playing the bass part an octave lower, or adding melisma and vibrato in the vocals. I'd like you to choose three, and you can pause my video while you do that. And the three most common ways then would be, thickening the texture, making the drum groove more complex, and adding melisma and vibrato in the vocals. Suggest three ways a thick texture can be created. Pause my video while you do that. So a few things you could have said, adding more instruments, adding sustained chords with, for example, a choir, or a sustained string sound, adding a countermelody, and developing the drum part. For example, more complex kick and hi-hat patterns, or a heavier snare on the backbeat using fills or using ride instead of hi-hat. It's well done if you picked up on any of those. There would be a few other things you could have said there as well. For Task A, develop a climax chorus in your composition. Some success criteria. You have a verse, chorus, verse, chorus, chorus structure. The final chorus uses some of the following to create a climax. So you might thicken the texture, change the timbre of some of the instruments, change the rhythm, the chords, for example, using sustained chords. And then finally, the drum beat develops through use of more complex rhythms in the kick and hi-hat, different timbres, for example, ride instead the hi-hat, and added fills. You can pause my video and have a go at building a climax chorus. For the second part of this task, I'd like you to identify what has changed in the second chorus that helps to build a climax. Here is chorus one. ♪ In the silence of the night ♪ ♪ I hear whispers of your name ♪ ♪ Every shadow ♪ ♪ In the light ♪ ♪ Just reminds me of the flame ♪ Now let's hear chorus two, and what has changed that helps it to build a climax. ♪ In the silence of the night ♪ ♪ I hear whispers of your name ♪ ♪ Every shadow ♪ ♪ In the light ♪ ♪ Just reminds me of the flame ♪ Just when you're finishing your answer, if you need to, you can pause my video. Here are some of the things you might've picked up on. The texture thickens with a synthesiser playing chords. Well done if you spotted that. And the drum beat becomes more complex, with extra notes, fills, crash cymbals and open hi-hats. So there's two ways there that that texture is developed to help build a climax. Well done if you spotted those. The second part of today's lesson is focused on writing a countermelody. Adding a countermelody can add interest and build the texture at a musical climax. Countermelodies should contrast with the main melody. I'd like you to listen to this example and identify how does the string countermelody contrast the melody here. You can pause my video and have a listen. You might have picked up then that the countermelody is busy when the main melody isn't. For example, it plays long notes when the melody has interesting rhythms, and it plays faster rhythms when the melody has long notes. So rhythmically, it's trying to contrast and fit in the spaces in the countermelody. In this song, there are two countermelodies, in the backing vocals and in the strings. How did they contrast with the melody? Pause my video now and have a listen. So the string countermelody contrasts because it plays mainly long notes and it moves in step with ascending movement. Generally, the string countermelody is higher pitched than the melody as well. Backing vocals sing a repeated phrase, which is more complex when the melody sings longer notes. So the backing melody rhythmically contrasts a lot with the main melody as well. An effective countermelody can contrast with the melody by using a different timbre, for example, using strings or a synthesiser, using a different octave, playing higher or lower than the main melody. Using different rhythms, using more complex patterns in spaces in the main melody. So where there is a gap or a rest in the main melody, playing there more complex parts there. Using a different melodic shape. For example, if the melody is ascending, using a descending countermelody. We can create an effective countermelody firstly, by choosing a suitable timbre and octave. Let's have a look at how we do that. The first step to creating an effective countermelody is to choose a suitable instrument. I need to find a timbre that contrasts with my voice and an octave that is different from my voice as well. I'm gonna create a new track. And I'm gonna try and find an instrument that contrasts with my voice. Now my singing voice is relatively low pitched, so I'm gonna be going for an instrument that is quite high pitched. I'm gonna be going for a higher octave for my countermelody. And typical instruments for countermelodies include orchestral strings, sometimes orchestral wind instruments, and synthesisers. Those are probably the most common ones. So I might go for, I might go for some orchestral strings. I don't have any in at the moment, so it might work quite nicely. (orchestral music) And I've then moved it up into a higher octave. So I'm gonna be playing in quite a high octave here, (orchestral music) because that will really contrast with my singing voice. Again, you might choose an orchestra instrument, you might choose a synthesiser, but find something that's gonna contrast with the voice. Another technique we can use is to find spaces in the main melody. Let's have a look at that. Now that I've chosen a suitable instrument, we need to try and identify the space in my main melody. What I mean by this is, what we don't want is for the countermelody and the main melody to be doing their interesting parts at the same time. If I have a listen to this vocal melody here, I'll put the drum kit with it so we can hear it. ♪ In the silence of the night ♪ ♪ I hear whispers of your name ♪ We can hear in both of those phrases that there's a busy part of the melody, and then a long sustained note. So my countermelody is gonna fit best when the singer's doing the long sustained note, both in the first phrase and in the second phrase. So we have the vocals doing something and then the countermelody, and the vocals doing something then the countermelody, rather than playing at the same time. I'm gonna listen to the last section of my melody now and see if I can find the spaces in that. ♪ Every shadow ♪ ♪ In the light ♪ ♪ Just reminds me of the flame ♪ So it's not as obvious in this second half, but I would say that at the start of this third phrase, we have a long sustained note. ♪ Every ♪ And we could have a bit of a countermelody over there. And at the end of the last phrase, ♪ The flame ♪ we have quite a long sustained note as well. So what I'm going to be looking to do is to try and create my countermelody so that the interesting parts of the countermelody are where there is the least interesting things going on in the main melody. And finally, we need to consider the shape and the rhythm of our countermelody. Let's see how we do that. Something else that works effectively with a countermelody is to try to contrast the melodic shape and the rhythm with the main melody. In my first phrase of the main melody, for example, it goes up and then down. ♪ In the silence of the night ♪ It ascends and descends. So what will work effectively for my countermelody is to do the opposite, to go down and then up. That way we have real contrast and balance between the two. So now that I've thought about a few of these things, I've chosen a suitable instrument in octave, I've found the spaces in my melody and I've thought about the melodic shape. I'm gonna have a go at improvising some ideas and I'm coming up with some ideas and then we're gonna record them in. I'm gonna put all my tracks on there, and I'm ready to go. ♪ In the silence of the night ♪ ♪ I hear whispers of your name ♪ ♪ Every shadow ♪ So I've got a couple ideas there that I quite like actually. The first one just fits in the space after the first phrase, I'm gonna record it in. ♪ The flame ♪ ♪ In the silence of the night ♪ ♪ I hear whispers of your name ♪ So I've got those countermelodic phrases sitting in the spaces. I've got the vocal phrase, then my countermelody, my vocal phrase, then my little bit of countermelody. And as we talked about, I've changed the shape so that it contrasts with the melodic shape of the main melody. The main melody goes up and down. My countermelody phrase just goes up, and it repeats that phrase. So there's a bit of contrast there as well. Now I'm gonna have a go at improvising some ideas. for the second half of my countermelody. ♪ Name ♪ ♪ Every shadow ♪ ♪ In the light ♪ ♪ Just reminds me of the flame ♪ I've got a couple ideas, I'm gonna record something in. ♪ Name ♪ ♪ Every shadow in the light ♪ ♪ Just reminds me of the flame ♪ Let's have a listen then to that whole section with my countermelody alongside my main melody. ♪ In the silence of the night ♪ ♪ I hear whispers of your name ♪ ♪ Every shadow ♪ ♪ In the light ♪ ♪ Just reminds me of the flame ♪ So that countermelody there really thickens the texture, it creates a really effective climax. And throughout all of that, I was thinking about making sure I was using the notes from my keys. So in C Major, and I was basing all my improvisations on the notes of C Major. So make sure when you are improvising your ideas, you stick to that, and you'll find that you get more effective ideas coming out of it. Here are some steps to consider when we're writing a countermelody then. Firstly, choose a timbre that contrasts with the vocals. Find the rest or the spaces in the main melody, improvise countermelodies in the space using the notes of the C major scale, because that's the key that we're in. Use a contrasting rhythm, melodic shape and octave. And then record the countermelody into the final chorus. There's a few there that we should be considering. Let's check your understanding. True or false. Countermelodies always work best on string instruments. And of course the correct answer is, false. They do often sound effective on string instruments, but they can be on any instrument and are particularly effective on an instrument that is different from the main melodic instrument. So they have to contrast with the main melody. That's the main thing. Which two are features of an effective countermelody? It has a similar timbre to the main melody. It has a different melodic shape to the main melody. It is louder than the main melody. Or it's played in a different octave to the main melody. You can pause my video while you choose your two. And the correct answers here are that it has a different melodic shape to the main melody, a contrasting shape. And it's played in a different octave to the main melody. They really help contrast it with the main melody. For Task B, develop your final chorus by adding countermelody. Some success criteria, that you've recorded a countermelody into your final chorus. It mostly plays in the space in the melody where the rests are. It uses a contrasting timbre, melodic shape, rhythm and octave to the main melody. And it uses notes just from the C major scale, 'cause that is the key that we're working in. So you can pause my video now and have a go at creating a countermelody for your final chorus. Good luck. For the second part of this task, we're gonna listen to two countermelodies, which is most effective and why. Here we go. ♪ In the silence of the night ♪ ♪ I hear whispers of your name ♪ ♪ Every shadow ♪ ♪ In the light ♪ ♪ Just reminds me of the flame ♪ Now let's hear the second example, which is most effective and why? ♪ In the silence of the night ♪ ♪ I hear whispers of your name ♪ ♪ Every shadow ♪ ♪ In the light ♪ ♪ Just reminds me of the flame ♪ Pause my video while you're finishing your answer. Let's review that then. The first is more effective, and that's because it's easier to hear because the octave is different from the vocal melody, and it uses the spaces in the melody better. So they aren't both playing their interesting rhythms at the same time. So that's the key point there is it looks for those spaces and exploits those, instead of playing at the same time as the interesting vocal phrases. Well done if you identified that. The final part of today's lesson is focused on using modulation to build energy. Modulation is often used at the climax of a pop ballad. Both of these two examples we're gonna look at build a motion and energy to an even greater level through modulation. In this one, the modulation happens near the end of the clip on the word 'close. ' And in the second one, the modulation happens during the long sustained note in the vocals. I'd like you to pause my video and see if you can spot both of those modulations. In this song, the music modulates twice, increasing the emotional intensity every time. I'd like you to identify, is each new key higher or lower pitched than the previous key? So is it modulating up in a key or down in key? You can pause my video and see if you can identify that. Well done then if you spotted that each key is higher than the previous key. So it is changing key and moving up in key. Modulating up a tone, which is two semitones, is a very effective and common modulation. If the key is C major, we'd modulate to D major. So if that's our original key, we take two steps up, one C sharp, and two to D, and that is our tone modulation or two semitones. Let's take another example. If we were originally in A minor, what might be a good choice for a key to modulate to? If you need to, you can pause my video while you work that one out. So a tone higher than A would be B, so we'd modulate up to B minor. There's A, one step to A sharp, and then one up to B. So that'd be a really effective modulation. To modulate, we have to move all of the notes and chords into the new key, not just some of them. Let's look at how we modulate instrumental tracks up a tone in a pop ballad. Let's look at how we modulate instrumental tracks to change their key. This is a really powerful tool for creating a big climax, particularly in a pop ballad. And in our one, we're gonna do it in our final chorus. This is our big climax, so we're gonna move everything up two semitones. We're gonna modulate the key up two semitones. There are a couple ways of doing this and depending on which software you're using, it might look slightly different, but the principle will be the same. The first way we can do it, and this works well in GarageBand, is to select the region. So that's the box that you want to transpose or modulate. And if you click a region at the side here, then you can then drag this transpose slider to two, and you'll see there now in that region it says plus two semitones. So all of those notes now sound two semitones higher. I don't want to transpose my drum kit, that'll change that in a way that we don't want, but I could do the same on my bass track for that region, making sure it's just that final chorus. I can do the same for my chords and so on. I won't be able to do my vocals yet. I have to do that in a slightly different way. There is another way of doing it. So if you don't have that transposed button at the side, what you can do is select all of the notes in this section, and you can literally physically drag them up two steps. So that's been moved everything up two semitones. So that's doing the same as what that transpose button does. Either of those will work. Drag it up two steps. I'm gonna mute my vocals now and we should hear that between these two sections, the key now changes at bar 33. (gentle instrumental music) (vocalising) (gentle instrumental music) We can feel that really real big lift there. It feels like a brilliant climax for my song. Now let's take a look at rerecording your vocal melody in the new key. The one problem that we have left is that my vocal melody is in the original key, whereas I've modulated everything else up two semitones. So that now means we have two different keys playing at the same time in this final chorus. Have a quick listen. It should sound absolutely horrendous. ♪ In the silence of the night ♪ ♪ I hear whispers of your name ♪ As we can hear, that sounds really bad. We've got these two different keys going on at the same time, because we've not been able to modulate our vocal track. So the way we're gonna have to address this is to rerecord in this melody in the vocals in the new key. I'm gonna delete that one. What we know is that I've modulated everything up two semitones, so I'm gonna have to sing everything two semitones higher than I did previously. Now if I'm not sure what my starting note is gonna be, I can use a little bit of trial and error to find it. ♪ In the silence ♪ So my first note is ♪ In ♪ that's my first note there. I can try and find that on my instrument. I've actually found it first time there. That's an E that I'm starting on. ♪ In the silence of the night ♪ So if I've got my E and I know that I need to sing it two semitones higher, I'm just gonna move up two semitones. That's one. That's two. So my starting note now is gonna be F sharp. ♪ In the silence of the night ♪ ♪ In ♪ That's my starting note. Finding that starting note is the most important thing. 'Cause once you've found that, you'll probably find that the rest of the melody you can naturally recreate. So I'm gonna start recording some of my phrases. Here we go. ♪ In the silence of the night ♪ ♪ I hear whispers of your name ♪ ♪ Every shadow ♪ ♪ In the light ♪ ♪ Just reminds me of the flame ♪ So that's now in the correct key because I've recorded all two semitones higher. I did it all in one there once I found my first note. But you could break it into phrases if you find it easier to record it in that way. Let's just have a quick listen back, see how that now sounds in the new key. ♪ Just reminds me ♪ So this is the old key. ♪ Of the flame ♪ ♪ In the silence of the night ♪ ♪ I hear whispers of your name ♪ ♪ Every shadow in the light ♪ ♪ Just reminds me of the flame ♪ So that's our big climax completed. We've modulated everything up two semitones and now we've rerecorded the melody two semitones higher, so that's also in the correct key and that's our big climax of our pop ballad. Really emotional, really intense, and a big sort of ending for our song. Let's go through those steps. Start by editing each instrumental track in the final chorus by highlighting all of the notes, and either clicking transpose plus two, that means up two semitones, or dragging them up by a tone, or two semitones. Leave the drum track unchanged. If you modulate that, if you move that it'll change all the drum sounds and it won't sound effective. Rerecord your vocal melody one tone higher so that it fits with the new key. Let's check your understanding. In what direction do modulations usually move in pop ballads? Is it up, down, or either? I'll give you a few seconds. And the correct answer is it usually moves up because that lifts the energy and increases the energy, makes it more uplifting. Which of these is a particularly effective interval to modulate by? A semitone, two semitone or a tone? Four semitone or two tones? Give you a few seconds. And the correct answer is two semitones or one tone. You can also modulate by semitone, but the two semitone or a tone one is the most effective. For Task C, complete the final chorus with a modulation. Some success criteria. All parts except the drums have moved up a tone and the rerecorded vocal melody fits with the new key. You can pause my video now and give that task your best shot. We're gonna finish today's lesson by having a look at these three versions of the rerecorded vocal melody. Which one fits correctly with the key? So which one has the vocal melody being rerecorded correctly? Here is the first one. ♪ In the silence of the night ♪ ♪ I hear whispers of your name ♪ The second one. ♪ In the silence of the night ♪ ♪ I hear whispers of your name ♪ ♪ Every ♪ And the third one. ♪ In the silence of the night ♪ ♪ I hear whispers of your name ♪ ♪ Every ♪ So quickly finishing your answer. And the correct answer here then is example two. That's where the melody is being recorded in the correct key. In the others, it sounds horrendous, and that's because the vocal melody hasn't been rerecorded in the correct key that everything else has been transposed and modulated to. So well done if you've got that one. Let's review today's lesson. Pop ballads typically build to an emotional climax in the final chorus. They do this through developing a texture, adding countermelodies and modulation. A countermelody should compliment the main melody, and both melodies should be easy to hear. And a typical modulation for a pop ballad is to modulate up a tone. That's two semitones. That brings us to the end of today's lesson then, hopefully that's giving you some good tools to work with for building a climax in your composition. Modulation and countermelodies aren't only used in pop ballads, they're used across many genres and are really effective tools for building that energy and intensity. So hopefully you'll find some ways to use them in your composition more broadly as well. Thanks for taking part in today's lesson and I'll see you in another one.