Ushti Baba: Merry Go Round
The song starts of with a pizzicato tune (which is repeated throughout the song) on violin. To this is added an accordion in a layer of accompaniment while the dynamics go from pianissimo to fortissimo in a crescendo. The violin and accordion are then joined by the rest of the band to produce a klezmer style piece. Through out the piece they use many musical techniques including: much repetition, solo's (manly on the trumpet but there's some on violin as well), tremolo/vibrato, pauses, rallentando etc. The piece is made up of three main sections: a first section in 4/4, followed by a second section with a different repeated tune in 3/4, which is then followed by a recapitulation of the first section again in 4/4. The musicians have at their disposal many different instruments to use which include: guitars (acoustics attached to amps), violin, accordion, banjo, trumpet, cello and a beat boxer (instead of a drum, though they do seem to use an African style drum as well). Needless to say they also use their voices to sing. They play the piece at a sprightly allegro tempo which does of course vary occasionally.
Dire Straits: Walk of Life
This piece has a build up beginning starting with repeated tune on the synthesizer which is then layered up with drums and Guitar (both rhythm and lead). The complexity and builds up at the same time as the dynamics which start around mezzoforte, goes to forte and finally to fortissimo which is upheld through out the rest of the piece. Through out the piece they have repeated riffs which work alongside the verses-courus format it's in. The style in which they play the piece is disco/pop in common time. Towards the end of the song they use a fade out to bring the piece to a finish.
Johann Pachelbell: Pachelbell's Canon in D major
It has a build up beginning which starts with harpsichord and pizzicato violin. These are then joined by two other violins playing in an arco style and a cello playing the famous ground bass. The intro features block chords followed by broken chords on the harpsichord, and arpeggios on the pizzicato violin. the complexity of the lead violins playing slowly increases until we have the beautiful melody over the ground bass in a canonic style. It is played in D major with a polyphonic texture and has two movements. Pretty much all the way through the piece it is mezzoforte. In the second movement the violins and cello fall away or go down to pianissimo leaving the harpsichord playing arpeggiated scales. The second movement also introduces some call and response alongside the unison of the two lead violins. The piece is in 4/4 and is around 90 beats per minute (andante). To finish off it has a rallentando which finishes on a chord of the root D major.
Sea Shanty: Rolling Down to Old Maui
Sea shanties like this often, in fact nearly always are comprised of a solo singer who is joined by a group of men in the chorus as a call and response. In this version the rest of the group also provide a hummed harmony in the second part of the verse in a slight a-cappella style. However traditionally it would have been more raw than this. This particular sea shanty has a two part verse followed by a chorus; this is different because of the tune. The tune in the first part of the verse is low but then precedes into a higher register for the second part of the verse. This higher part is the repeated in the chorus making it an ABB format. The dynamics of the peace are fairly simple. It wavers up and down all the way through as if on a ship or in reference to what is depicted in the verse. However most of the way through it follows the basic format of being around mf for the first part of the verse, f for the second part of the verse (when the harmony comes in) and ff for the chorus with them all singing. The piece is in 4/4 and is around allegro.
Bach: Toccata and Fugue in D minor
Bach's Toccata and Fugue is one of those famous pieces that every one will know as it's become such a part of our history. Because its such a long piece it uses many many different techniques throughout it, but i've noted down a few. It uses a lot of repetistion (often in different octaves) and development and as you'd expect from a piece of the period it uses a lot of triadic, scalic and arpeggiated movement. There's also use of drones and block chords. Being an organ it allows for a great range in pitch and also several parts to be performed as you can play with your feet. The piece is in 4/4 though i have a feeling some of it is in 2/4. It's also around presto (180 bpm) though, it again, does vary. Bach uses a lot of harmony, and texturally the piece is mainly homophonic with a bit of polyphonic and monophonic mixed in along with a lot of unison. Dynamically the piece has few sudden or major changes and seems to manly hand around f. When the dynamics do change it's often quickly from f to p or visa versa.