Kate Bush - Under Ice

Melody

Melody

• Restricted melodic range

• Gets higher during the final phrase

• Made up of short melodic motifs

• Some use of pentatonic shapes (b15)

• Mainly stepwise

• Portamento on final note

Harmony

• Conventional harmonies (tonic, subdominant, mediant chords)

• No dominant chord (Emaj)

• Final chord ambiguous (ABE)

• Parallel 5ths

Rhythm/Metre/Tempo

• Obsessive quaver pulse

• Changes in metre (4/4 to 3/4)

• Rhythmic displacement - 3 note motif is gradually displaced to create a cross rhythm

• Scotch snaps and triplets

Texture

• dialogue between lead and backing vocals in coda

• open 5ths in bass ostinato thing

Tonality

A minor throughout

Instrumentation

• Synths/samples

• Fairlight CMI Strings

• Vocals - low tessitura

• Backing vocals - up to 3 part harmonies

• Syllabic

Dynamics/Articulation

starts pp, swells up to the “It’s me” at the end

Structure

• Through composed

• Based on motifs