Under Pressure
We created a cover of an incredible song by Queen and David Bowie called 'Under Pressure'.
1.
The song chosen was Under Pressure by Queen and David Bowie. I was going to do the guitar chord part, which consisted of chords that weren't too hard and easy to play.
We then started on deciding the structure and how we were going to change the song.
3.
We now had all the parts completely sorted out and together so we could start properly practising. I had got my part pretty much sorted out and well and truly done. All we now needed to do was to bring it together better so it sounds more complete and whole, which would entail more practise and work. We would do this getting more in time with each other and making sure it sounds good.
5.
This time we when we played the song it sounded really good and together. All the parts sounded good. This time we practised more during lunchtime and integrated the drums part properly. We also sorted the ending out by sorting out when we were going to end. We ended by playing the riff on the bass guitar twice then ending on 'Under Pressure' with an A chord then a D chord.
2.
We made the structure different by taking out a verse and some very high parts that Freddie Mercury. We practised the song and made some progress in that department. My guitar part was going on very well and coming together. We then worked on Intro and the riff and worked out when we would come in and out of each verse and the bridges.
4.
This time we practised more and the song was sounding pretty good as a whole. We changed the structure slightly by adding a small bridge near the end, between the 4th verse and the final verse. We also cut some lines from the section prior to that to make it flow better and easier to play.
We now had pretty much finished, we just needed to do some slight tweeking here and there.
6.
This week we performed first thing on the Monday. We rehearsed 4 times until we got the right one, which we then performed. It sounded really good as all the parts were very good especially the guitar and we were very happy to finally finish.
Comparitive Analysis
Duration
In the original, the song was played at allegro, 120 beats per minute. This is the same as our cover which was also played at 120 beats per minute. Our cover feels faster at the start due to the drums coming in at beginning.
Pitch
The pitch of the original song is relatively low when David Bowie is singing as he has a male voice. That doesn't stay consistant as when Freddie Mercury sings it is slightly higher, often in the bridges very high. In our cover the pitch is higher as the singer has a female voice. What is also interesting is that Freddie Mercury often gets even higher than any point in our version of the song.
Structure
The original song has a structure of : Intro, Verse 1, Bridge, Verse 2, Bridge, Verse3, Verse 4, Verse 5, Verse 6, Verse 7 then an outro. Our version has a structure of:
Intro, Verse 1, Bridge, Verse 2, Verse 3, verse 4, Bridge, Verse 5 then our outro. We took out the end of verse 4 from the original and added another bridge to better suit ourselves when playing.
Tone Colour
The tone colour of the original is very resonant, bright and very powerful. For the cover that we did, the tone colour associated with it would be, more mellow and still bright but lighter than the original.
Texture
The texture of the original is homophonic and is reasonably thick. It includes a bassline played by the bass guitar as well as the main riff used throughout the song including the intro. The electric guitar is used as accompaniment and piano as the same role too. The lead vocals are sung by Bowie and Freddie Mercury who also does some of the backing vocals. There is also the addition of various percussive instuments like the drums and some body percussion like clapping, clicking and finger snaps.Our version has a thinner texture, still having a homophonic texuture. There is only one vocalist and one drummer doing the rhythm. There are three people doing the accompaniment, two electric guitarists and one pianist. There are also two bass guitars doing the bassline as well as one doing the riff in the intro.
Dynamics & Expressive Techniques
In the original, the song starts off piano and soft with the vocals. It then suddenly gets a bit louder once the first verse starts. The song then gets quiter once it arrives at the brifges. It then crescendos largely at the end of verse 4 into the last couple of verses. In the cover the dynamics stay mostly similar until it gets to the last verse in which it gets much more quiter. It them gives a sudden crescendo at the end to very loud as we end.