GCSE Music: Grace

By Gordon Yam (Notes Contributor)

Its time to dig into one of my favourite pieces of the GCSE anthology Grace! Lets
begin by outlining the general context:

Grace comes from the album Grace, sung by Jeff Buckley

Other tracks from the album include Hallelujah and Last Goodbye

The album is released in 1994

It is a rock ballad, or folk rock (Folk music is traditional music of a country that is
often learned and performed by ear, passing down the music through the
generations)

STRUCTURE

The structure of Grace is rather complex, though generally a verse and chorus
pattern is used throughout the song. Before each verse, an instrumental section of
the introduction is included to lead the music.

The verses and pre-choruses are 14 bars long, where the choruses have flexible
lengths in different parts of the song. All of the instrumental intros are 14 bars
long.

After the second chorus, the song progresses to a 22 bars bridge where the climax
is built. It then plunges back into the instrumental intro, followed by an altered
section of the original verses. The song finishes with repetitions of Buckleys
improvisation based on a chromatically falling chord pattern.

HARMONY AND TONALITY

The harmony of the song is quite discordant and complex, as Buckley

experiments on different chord patterns. The song contains multiple key changes
and unusual chords, particularly towards the end of the song in the choruses and
bridge.

Ascending pattern of minor chords is used in the introduction, creating a slight

confusion in the key of the song. The key of E minor cannot be confirmed until
the first verse.

A lot of chromatic movement is used in the chord pattern throughout the song,
and this is comparatively unusual for pop and rock music. One example of
chromatic chords is the verse, with the pattern Em F Em Eb.

Quite often there is a blend of two chords at the same time, creating a deliberate
sense of dissonance. The chromatic scales and semitone progressions in the
harmony makes a polytonal effect throughout the song.

MELODY

The instrumental sections are mostly based on chord accompaniment, other than

the guitar riffs that play a melody in the introductions.

In the verses, the vocal melody moves largely in steps and sequences, beginning
in a relatively lower vocal range. Buckleys voice moves to a higher range in the
pre-chorus, and continues to ascend throughout the song. The bridge incorporates
his use of high falsetto range.

Grace is based on the key of E minor, though Buckley was extremely

experimental in blending different modes and scale systems together. The prechorus is written in E minor mode, with the Dorian mode present in times (E F#
G A B C# D E).

GUITAR TECHNIQUES AND DIGITAL EFFECTS

Buckley was largely influenced by folk music, which he incorporated in the piece
with the use of the acoustic guitar. A folk theme is also created through the
electric guitar riffs in the introduction, where it uses a clean guitar to reflect folk
rock sounds.

Power chords are used quite often in the song, including the first verse, where the
chord played only consists of root notes and fifths.

Distortion is used on the electric guitars to create an overload feedback in the

sound, making it amplified and fuzzy. It is also known as overdrive, and is
commonly used in rock songs.

Flanger is frequently used in the electric guitars, especially towards the end of the
song. It is an effect that doubles the sound, changing its pitch and strength to
create a sweeping effect. This is also extremely common in rock music,
particularly in electric instruments and sometimes vocals.

Delay is also used, where a sound is repeated after a set time interval at a lower
volume. Equalisation (EQ) is often applied to the guitar, where certain frequencies
of the sound are boosted or reduced.

RHYTHM, METRE, TEMPO

The track is recorded in 12/8 compound quadruple metre, though some versions
may notate it in 6/8 time. This is a popular metre used in folk music, and is quite
unusual for pop music to use. It has a moderate tempo, though the quickly moving
guitar rhythms cause the music to seem fast.

The vocals generally move slowly in a steady pace. It often incorporates crush
notes and syncopated rhythms, meaning beats are stressed occasionally to lie on
the offbeat. There is an example of syncopation in the melody line of the first
verse.

The drum kit is the main rhythmic force in the track, though occasionally the
acoustic guitar works together with the hi-hat rhythmically.

In most of the track, the drums carry a steady compound rhythm with the bass
drum, snare, hi-hat, as well as the use of cymbal clashes. As the music progresses,
the drum kit develops by using more cross rhythms, complex fills, and cymbal

clashes.
INSTRUMENTATION

There were four musicians who played in the track, though the song sounds a lot
thicker because the instruments were often multi-tracked, thickening the texture
of the music.

Guitar, Vocals Jeff Buckley

Guitar Gary Lucas

Drums Matt Johnson drums

Bass Mick Grondahl

The drum kit drove the rhythmic force of the track, keeping a steady compound
rhythm in the song. More cymbals are used in the climax to intensify the rhythmic
features of the track.

The bass mostly played the root notes of the chord accompaniment, occasionally
using ascending scalar patterns. Syncopated rhythms are also found in the bass
line.

The lead guitar plays an ascending pattern of broken minor chords, followed by a
repeating riff using a clean guitar sound in the introduction. It then becomes part
of the accompaniment with long, slow moving notes that contribute as the
backing of the track.

The electric guitar mainly plays a chord accompaniment using various techniques
such as chromatic movement and power chords. The flanger effect is used in the
track, giving the electric guitar a doubled whooshing effect. The two guitars play
with open strings to create an intentional dissonance.

The acoustic guitar sometimes works with the hi-hat from the drum kit
rhythmically. In different introductions, various effects are applied such as the
Mandolin and percussion effects.

The leading melody is in Buckleys vocal parts. It uses a lot of techniques such as
chromatic movements, falsetto and melisma throughout the song. Buckleys
vocals are often multi-tracked to thicken the vocalisation texture and to create
harmony. In the final section of the song, the vocals improvise elaborately over a
falling chromatic chord pattern, with the words centring on the hook of the song,
Wait In The Fire. The track ends with Buckley wailing in a pure voice, imitating
a religious chant.

Strings synths are added after the first chorus to thicken the overall texture, where
the track begins to build up to its climax. It occasionally plays with slides and
trills, as well as pizzicato, where the strings are plucked on a string instrument.
The strings become more prominent towards the end in the climax.

Practice Examination Question

Listen to the following extract four times and answer the following questions.

Grace (Extract)
At the beginning of the extract, which of the following statements best describes the
role of the bass?

Ascending octave jumps

Descending octave jumps

Ascending scalic pattern

Descending scalic pattern

Here is the melody for the first line of the extract. Complete the four missing notes
(the rhythm is shown above the stave).

Name the two sections heard in this extract.

Identify the two ways that the guitars are played during the extract.
Complete the following sentence: The three chords used in the chorus are F maj 9,
__________, and Eb major.