Stray - Original Song (@Isaria) - Theoric analysis and transcription.

Hello Steemit!

Some time ago my crypto mom @Isaria posted this purty song of hers as an open mic submission and tagged me saying if I could figure out what was going on. This was some composition done after an assignment and she was trying some techniques around it , after listening to it I thought it would be too long to actually explain it over chat.. so.. I am making this a post and doing the best in my ability to break it down as much as possible. ( a promise is a promise )

First , let's listen to the original song:

Stray - Original Song (@Isaria)

Now that you love the purty guitar playing and song .. I asked Simba if he could help me with the analysis... so... here we go!

Simba needs some concentration to figure out the music elements going on... let him work...

Intro:

This song is in the regular 4/4 but revolves around a progression of chords that cycle every 3 measures , giving it a bit more of an interesting anchor point for melodic development , also .. this song is in D major but strongly resolves on the Em9 chord making this on a first listen a modal song .. It's built upon the E Dorian mode. We'll see what the melody dictates..

Simplified intro chord progression

Main melody:

So yes , the melody starts on a C# which would be the major sixth of the Em9 chord.. so.. yes.. definitely Dorian sound is implied heavily , also the melody seems to enter with suspensions and resolving after the first beat , thought on the last chord of the phrase there is a 9th left unresolved (The A note over the G chord) .. so.. it leaves expectation to enter the next phrase.

Melody re exposition:

So , the main motif comes again but this time it moves a little further and targets the same suspension on the ''last'' chord , this time an F# note over the Em9 chord.. which is also a 9th.. this note is sustained until the D chord comes in , making it a third and resolving the phrase.

''A'' section ending:

So , this part seems to be some sort of suspension exercise since there is a repeated attack on the 4th ( or eleventh) on most of the chords , also all of them are properly prepared and resolved , so definitely this was the intention around this particular section.

''B'' Section Chord Progression:

So , we move to a more standard chord progression for the ''B'' part of the song , also, the cycling of chords happen every four bars , breaking it away from the previous section.

''B'' Section Melody:

This melody is pretty straight forward , the only thing to notice is the strong accentuation on the up beats , giving it a bit of a syncopated rhythm against the guitar , helping the theme go forward a little better.

''A2'' Section melody:

We are back to the 3 bar chord cycle but keeping some syncopation from the ''B'' section going , my transcription here are note value approximations as the phrasing is a little more floaty but you get the general idea , this does have an interesting point to end , on the D chord but stressing the b7 in the melody , making this a strong dominant sound.

Outro:

So , after a little melody ending phrase the song comes to this chord cycle , the chord voicings make it a little ambiguous , the Em7b13 could be interpreted as a C/E or an Am/E but since there is no melody it is open to intepretation , also de Dmaj6 could also be a Bm/D but same thing .. Ambiguity .. I like it .. hahahaha . It does depart from the Dorian sound the song was implying until now and goes to the realm of the natural minor , giving it a bit more darkness to wrap it up.

And that's it! This wraps up some of the key parts that I could find around the song but.. of course.. I transcribed it entirely.. if you would like to check the full part... TADA! :

Full transcription:

• https://drive.google.com/file/d/1tOno8ORQ_b_LboB9FkDcfs9MM7FvkZPR/view?usp=sharing

That concludes my geekyness for the day , also , since this is not my song and if I sent some rewards towards Isaria she would probably yell at me ( as she usually does in the radio shows) .. I'm going to donate 50% of this post to whoever she ( or Snibbles ) picks up :)

Thanks for reading... and... vote @steemcreative for Witness.. I have heard they give away Pop Tarts :D!