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DOI: https://doi.org/10.34069/AI/2023.68.08.24
How to Cite:
Giga, S., & Oparyk, L. (2023). Aspects of style attribution arrangement of cover version of pop-vocal composition. Amazonia
Investiga, 12(68), 258-268. https://doi.org/10.34069/AI/2023.68.08.24
Aspects of style attribution arrangement of cover version of pop-vocal
composition
Аспекти стильової атрибуції аранжування кавер-версії естрадно-вокальної
композиції
Received: June 25, 2023 Accepted: August 25, 2023
Written by:
Stepan Giga1
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7262-1282
Larysa Oparyk2
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3905-7253
Abstract
The purpose of the research is to theoretically
develop methods of characterisation and attribution
of the style of arranging a pop-vocal composition.
The algorithm of analytical actions in the process of
auditory examination of the specifics of the musical
language of the arrangement aimed at identifying
the genesis of the style profile of a pop-vocal
composition is determined. In this regard, the
parameters of tempo rhythm and phonism are
defined as the basic criteria for recognising the
stylistic dominant of the instrumental component of
a song genre composition. The research
methodology is based on a comprehensive study of
the creative specifics of pop-song arrangements
using a systematic typological approaches,
inductive and structural-functional methods of
analysing musical compositions, and also includes
a descriptive auditory method and a method of
comparative stylistic characterisation of
arrangements, carried out on the principle of
contrasting comparisons or comparisons based on
the similarity of creative methods of
instrumentation, form formation, tempo rhythmic,
melodic and thematic and harmonic organisation of
the musical material of instrumental
accompaniments, is a method of identifying the
stylistic dominant (genesis) of a song genre work
with a particular direction of popular, jazz, folk or
academic music. The research resulted in the
theoretical development of a methodology for style
attribution of arrangements of cover versions of
works of popular song genres.
Keywords: arrangement, pop-vocal composition,
song genre, cover version, style, style attribution,
sound image.
1
Vasyl Stefanyk Precarpathian National University, Ivano-Frankivsk, Ukraine.
2
Vasyl Stefanyk Precarpathian National University, Ivano-Frankivsk, Ukraine.
Giga, S., Oparyk. / Volume 12 - Issue 68: 258-268 / August, 2023
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Introduction
Modern pop-vocal culture is a creative sphere of
the search for progressive forms of aesthetic
communication with the public by constantly
updating musical and expressive means of
artistic influence on listeners. In the production
of a new musical product, which is ultimately the
result of the collective work of a composer,
performer, sound engineer, recording engineer,
and many other specialists, one of the leading
roles belongs to the arranger as the creator of the
original musical and instrumental design of a
pop-vocal composition at various stages of its
preparation.
The art of arranging pop-vocal compositions
involves a wide range of professional and
technical functions of the musician, which
includes experience working with acoustic and
electronic instruments, as well as a variety of
modern equipment using computer technologies
and advanced software to perform creative tasks,
such as structuring, orchestration, harmonisation,
timbre design, tempo-rhythmic and spatial-
dynamic organisation of musical material and its
stylisation considering the features of the
composer's style, individual performing style of
the singer, and current musical trends of his time.
The main purpose of the arranger is to give the
pop-vocal work the most favourable and best
form of display, sometimes qualitatively
surpassing its compositional version. This, in
turn, explains the considerable increase in the
professional status of the arranger's speciality in
the qualified environment of the modern music
community.
The creative potential of the arrangement is
especially clearly manifested in modern
reinterpretations (cover versions) of well-known
songs, as well as when creating a detailed
instrumental accompaniment of vocal parts,
which carries the features of synthesising various
styles, trends, and genres of both popular and
academic music. The range of stylistic
transformations of the original author's text
largely determines the criteria for evaluating the
degree of the artistic and creative component in
the work of the arranger in the process of creating
a new musical product, which, as a result of
processing, can be a fundamentally different
musical sample from the original, which has the
significance and value of an independent artistic
phenomenon for a modern audience. Therefore,
mainly in the style evaluation plane, arguments
are searched for resolving controversial issues
and legal conflicts over copyright and related
rights to an arranged musical composition.
Such an argument requires a proper scientific
basis, which provides for the terminological
concretisation of the concept of "arrangement"
with appropriate stylistic attribution of the
structural components of this type of musical
creativity and, in general, the development of the
theory of pop-vocal arrangement as an
independent type of modern musical and
professional activity. This determines the
relevance of the development of a number of
system approaches to solving such a problem in
this paper since the specific features of the
creative process of arrangement and samples of
pop-vocal genre in particular does not have
sufficient theoretical substantiation nowadays
and is considered in modern scientific literature
mainly in practical and educational aspects.
Literature review
The range of scientific publications of
methodical content demonstrates a wide range of
applications of arrangement skills in various
areas of modern musical creativity. In in the
scientific publication "Arrangements for an
instrumental group of folk collectives",
D.V. Kuchenov highlights the main algorithm
when working on creating an electronic version
of the score of a composition based on a folklore
primary source (Kuchenov, 2019). Relying on a
comprehensive method of research, the author of
the article substantiates the criteria for
correlating the concepts of "instrumentation",
"orchestrumentation" and "arrangement",
recognising the latter as the highest level of
rethinking and processing of the original source.
Arranging, according to D. Kuchenev, is a
complex task that involves the construction of a
composition in the chosen style based on a
folklore source, and therefore requires a
combination of thorough theoretical and practical
knowledge to expand the range of creative
searches in this area of musical activity.
Although the criterion of style is mentioned as an
important creative task of a musician, theoretical
and practical issues of arrangement stylisation
are not considered in the article. The scientific
publication by I.A. Gaidenko "Experience of
orchestration in the Steinberg Dorico software
package" systematised the latest methods of
creating and improving orchestral texture using
computer tools and considered the practice of
instrumentation of the clavier for voice and piano
in the Steinberg Dorico software package
(Gaidenko, 2018). The author considers
computer technologies as the basis for a new type
of creative thinking, since a modern composer
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uses appropriate hardware and software at all
stages of creative activity, including the
generation of musical ideas, recording of
material, its development and graphic or sound
realisation. An additional factor that affects the
final result is a computer model of performance
interpretation, thanks to which an arranged piece
can be performed in a variety of styles. In
general, however, style issues are not specifically
addressed in the article, being more of a general
advisory nature. The scientific publication
"Creating music in Cakewalk SONAR Platinum"
by V.Y. Kozlin & V.I. Grishchenko is devoted to
the coverage of new tools and methods of using
computer technology in modern music practice
(Kozlin & Grishchenko, 2018). The
methodology of the research is aimed at
optimising the practical methods of work of
modern composers, arrangers, sound engineers
and novice musicians when creating music with
the help of one of the modern music editors. The
article contains methodologically valuable
recommendations and a detailed description of
the algorithms of working with the computer
programme, but does not go beyond the solution
of purely technological problems that do not
cover the style problems of creating a musical
product.
Methodology
This research delves into the expansion of the
scientific and methodological foundation
concerning the technological prowess in the
endeavors of contemporary arrangers,
composers, and sound engineers. There's a
notable gap in the current Ukrainian
musicological discourse on pop arrangements.
Central to our research are the tenets of B.M.
Luttrell's dissertation, "A cultural semantics of
string arrangements for recorded Popular music:
A model for analysis and practice" (Luttrell,
2017). Luttrell formulated methodological,
theoretical, and empirical strategies to introduce
the Inter-Dimensional Aural Analysis (IDAA).
This model facilitates the study of popular song
arrangements, enabling the identification of
sonic, cultural, and intertextual patterns as style
indicators. By emphasizing the intricate features
of intertextual patterns, which act as standard
sound structures in string arrangements spanning
various historical epochs, Luttrell succeeded in
categorizing extensive pop arrangement types.
These were then classified into specific genres
and styles of RPM (recorded popular music) after
a thorough auditory analysis of composition
elements, performance, production, and semantic
aspects of sound. Luttrell's research outcomes
have practical applications; he produced his
arrangements to showcase the significance of
genre and style analysis in RPM (Briony
Margaret Luttrell is a woman), emphasizing its
relevance to contemporary arrangement
procedures. Consequently, a prime objective of
the musical arrangement style methodology is to
describe the linguistic constructs of music and
compare the observed phenomena, a process vital
for pinpointing style nuances.
However, Luttrell's IDAA approach, while
insightful for popular music recording samples,
doesn't fully encompass the intricacies of pop and
vocal compositions. Its primary focus on string
instruments limits a holistic appreciation of a
composition's sound image. Such challenges are
addressed in this study. The aim is to craft
theoretical methods to define and ascribe the
arrangement style of pop-vocal pieces.
Achieving this requires a systematic approach to
deeply understand pop-song arrangements. We'll
employ inductive and structural-functional
methods for musical composition analysis,
merge descriptive auditory techniques with
auditory examination, and use comparative
stylistic characterization. The latter will be based
on contrasting comparisons or evaluating
similarities in creative methods—spanning
instrumentation, formation, tempo-rhythmic,
melodic-thematic, and ladotonal structuring of
instrumental backings. A technique to determine
a song genre's stylistic dominant, aligning with
genres like pop, jazz, folk, or classical music, is
also integrated. To discern the standout elements
representing a pop-vocal piece's style, a
comprehensive view, considering the musical
and artistic entirety, is essential—one exemplary
model being the composition's sound image.
Results
Analysis of the stylistic parameters of the
instrumental components of an arranged work in
the pop-vocal genre involves clarifying the
concept of "arrangement" as a specific form of
modification of the original musical sample
presented in the form of the author's text. The
material result of the arranger's creative activity
is a special type of musical composition,
recorded in the form of a musical text (score) or
sound recording. The existing scientific
definitions of the concept of "arrangement",
which vary slightly in musical encyclopedias and
modern explanatory dictionaries, establish the
etymology of the word "arrangement (from
German аrrangieren, French аrranger, literally –
to organize, arrange)" (Keldysh, 1973) and
outline the content field of this concept, covering
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various types of creative activity of the musician,
namely:
1. Transforming a piece of music to be
performed by a different set of instruments
(voices).
2. Processing a melody for performing on a
musical instrument or for a voice with
accompaniment.
3. Lightweight presentation of a piece of music
to be performed on the same instrument.
4. In pop music – harmonisation and
instrumentation of a new or well-known
melody.
5. In jazz, it is a way of consolidating the
overall idea of ensemble and orchestral
interpretation and the main carrier of
stylistic qualities (Busel, 2005).
An article by I. Yampolsky in the Musical
encyclopedia contains a more detailed
description of the jazz arrangement as "various
kinds of changes (harmonic, textured) made
during the performance and related to the
improvisational style of playing. They are
especially widely used in bi-bop and so-called
Modern Jazz, in small compositions" (Keldysh,
1973). The position on the improvisational style
of jazz music-making is also relevant for pop and
vocal creativity, in which, unlike academic art,
the priority is not the accuracy of the author's text
reproduction but direct communication with the
public through a song, which makes its
adjustments to the interaction of vocal and
instrumental improvisation and a fixed arranged
composition in a live performance.
Comparing artistic editing, arrangement,
processing, and fantasy on a theme as
hierarchical levels of the general principle of a
technical approach to modifying a musical text in
the field of academic art, S. Shyp, guided by the
criteria of the degree of originality of the artistic
work and the nature of the author's (or different
authors') participation in its creation, recognises
arrangement as a more creative and significant
way of transforming musical material, as it
involves changes in the timbre and register
palette of sound, texture, and, in certain cases,
rhythm and melody of the original text (Shyp,
1998). At the same time, the prevailing opinion
of many academic musicians is that arrangement
in pop culture is a purely technical act. The
categorical nature of this statement raises doubts
when correlating the structural components of an
arrangement of a pop-vocal composition with the
attributive parameters of a musical style.
From an extremely wide range of modern
musicological interpretations of style as a multi-
level and multi-faceted phenomenon, the authors
choose two approaches to determining the style
of arrangement in the field of pop-vocal
creativity – a) from the standpoint of the
involvement of style factors in the creative
thinking of a musician and b) from the standpoint
of evaluating the musical and style phenomenon.
Stylistic attribution of a musical phenomenon
involves, first of all, the identification of such
properties or qualities of musical matter – voiced,
recorded in notes or sound recordings, or
reproduced in the imagination, which provides
the effect of stylistic certainty of the phenomenon
being evaluated. An essential, central criterion
for style quality E. Nazaykinsky considers a
genetic link to a source that generates a unique
style of work or its performance: "Style is the
quality that allows hearing, guessing,
determining who creates or reproduces it in
music, that is, the quality is excellent, which
allows judging the genesis" (Nazaykinsky,
2003). In addition to the musical requirement,
that is, one that is captured directly by ear, the
expression of the style and the indication of its
genesis must be determined the totality of "all the
properties of perceived music, without exception,
united in an integral system around a complex of
distinctive characteristics" (Nazaykinsky, 2003).
The latter requirement is no longer derived from
the genetic but from the logical essence of the
musical style, that is, from the systematic
organisation of internally connected and
interacting elements of the musical language. In
this guise, "musical style is a psychologically
determined specificity of musical thinking,
which is expressed by the appropriate systematic
organisation of musical speech resources in the
process of creating, interpreting, and performing
a musical work" (Moskalenko, 1998). This
understanding of the musical style gives grounds
to relate various components of the creative
activity of an arrangement to this category that
combines compositional and performing
functions in the process of reinterpretation, that
is, interpretation of the original musical material.
Based on this, it can also be stated that the art of
arrangement in the music of a non-academic (as
well as academic) tradition represents a special
type of interpretive style (a term by
B. Medushevsky), in which one can feel the
orientation to a different style or its overcoming
by innovative reinterpretation and artistic
modification of the product of primary artistic
creativity.
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Features of the process of arranging a given
musical material, which unfolds at the
intersection of genetic and logical style factors,
determines the nature of the direction of
arranger's creative attitude to the implementation
of certain aspects of the musical style –
composer, performer, listener, as well as a certain
or synthesised style of popular, folk, or academic
music. The priority of audience orientations in
the field of pop-vocal creativity, aimed at
interactive communication with the public and
therefore largely dependent on their tastes and
requirements of the fleeting musical fashion of
their time, affects the specific features of the
genre, in which the factor of novelty of artistic
utterance becomes decisive. Therewith, the
creation of an arrangement with pronounced
features of stylistic novelty is likened to the
process of literary translation, which, unlike
simple translation (from an instrument to another
instrument), becomes a kind of phenomenon of
author's creativity and involves quite
considerable changes in the original musical
material.
The concept of "artistic translation in music" was
introduced into the musicological circulation of
A. M. Zharkov and is interpreted by him as "a
new version of the work, in which this work
becomes a certain intonation-semantic model,
and its components, losing their primary value,
are re-intoned to varying degrees and in a new
incarnation receive a new integrity, which is
created by the choice, selection of material,
methods and techniques of re-intonation, new
development, artistic goals and objectives of the
creator of the new version" (Zharkov, 1994).
Therefore, the principles of figurative novelty,
artistic integrity, and selectivity of musical and
expressive means, which are mandatory
attributes of an individual style in music are signs
of the author's type of arrangement, which goes
beyond purely technical functions, becoming an
original style concept with characteristic
elements of composer's creativity.
Focusing on the high level of creative tasks that
the arranger faces when creating instrumental
accompaniment for a pop-vocal composition
requires him to master the basics of
compositional technique. First of all, he needs a
good knowledge of the design features of all
musical instruments that are part of an ensemble
or orchestra, their technical and expressive
capabilities, and the specific colour of the sound
of each of them. When preparing a song for a
particular artist or ensemble (group), "an
arrangement must take into account the song
itself (melody, rhythm, harmony), the abilities of
the singer or group (style, voice quality, range,
etc.), and also the way in which the music is to be
heard (unamplified, amplified, recorded, on a
television broadcast, etc.)" (Ammer, 2004).
Based on this, the arranger determines the
instrumental composition and chooses the texture
of the presentation of musical accompaniment,
which should correspond to the style, genre
features, nature, and content of the literary text of
the song and contribute to the disclosure of its
figurative idea. Important points in the
preparation of instrumental accompaniment of a
vocal part are the choice of a key that would in
terms of tessitura contribute to the real
capabilities of singers, and the creation of so-
called free zones and the most favourable
conditions for the sound of the voice by diluting
the instrumental texture, phrasing and
articulation, as well as predicting the optimal
dynamic ratio between the accompaniment and
the vocal part throughout their overall sound.
At the level of forming the instrumental
component of a song composition, stylistic
means of compositional technique in the work of
an arranger can cover a wide range of creative
tasks: in the design or creation of instrumental
introduction, interludes (connection) between
vocal performances, episodes based on
instrumental processing of vocal material,
completion of instrumental constructions, etc.
One of the techniques used in arrangements of
vocal and instrumental compositions is "creating
a second-plan form, when while maintaining the
verse form, it is possible to design it at a higher
level in a three-part, rondo, variational, etc. <...>
Stylistic transformations of the song are also
possible, when only key aspects of the work
remain, while harmony can break the pre-
established logic of development, bringing the
work closer to the Jazz sound" (Kuchenov,
2019).
Harmonisation of instrumental texture remains
for the arranger one of the freest areas of creative
search and stylistic experimentation with
ladogarmonic functions of consonance,
modulation logic, alternating keys, and sudden
changes in harmonic movement, which act as
triggers for the deployment of variational
constructions or improvisational inserts.
Therewith, the global trend in the development of
popular music indicates a gradual loss of
artistically valuable diversity and emotional
meaning of melody and harmony, which are
inferior in the hierarchy of modern musical and
expressive means to the priorities of metro- and
tempo-rhythm with their motor, body symbols.
This leads to the fact that "the activity of the
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melody and harmony instruments—including the
vocals—became progressively more focused on
rhythm and meter, the guitar took on more of the
timekeeping role and timbral characteristics of a
percussion instrument, and the bass and drums
became much more prominent in the
arrangements" (Hughes, 2003).
Tempo-rhythm as a representative criterion for
the basic differentiation of dance and lyric-song
genres of popular music carries information
about the genesis of a particular style or its
branches, which are the basis of a particular vocal
and instrumental composition. To a greater
extent than the vocal part, the tempo- and
metrorhythmic features of the instrumental
accompaniment allow establishing the belonging
of a song that sounds to a certain style group or
area of popular music, which from the standpoint
of musicological analysis presents certain
difficulties due to the extreme blurring of stylistic
boundaries in this area of creativity, prone to
constant updating of the musical language and its
adaptation to the fashion trends of its time by
mixing elements of different styles of popular
music, as well as their synthesis with elements of
jazz, music of national folklore, and a huge
number of dance and song genres of European
and world origin. In addition, the features of the
metrorhythmic organisation of musical and
expressive means of the instrumental component
of works of pop-vocal genre also allow
identifying the level of artistic claims of the
evaluated composition, for example, through the
analysis of the interaction of the bass line and
counterpoint voices, meter and rhythm, the
flexibility and movement of which characterise,
in particular, the degree of emancipation of
musical expression from the mechanistic setting
of metric formulas.
Rhythmic freedom, far from capricious
arbitrariness and chaos, as the prerogative of the
first performing layer of a song composition, can
manifest itself exclusively in the conditions of a
sound space structured through an arrangement,
within which such performing means of
expression as the nature of vocal and
instrumental sound extraction, timbre, agogics,
articulation, phrasing, dynamics, etc are realised.
These performing tools, especially in song and
lyrical genres, take over the functions of stylistic
individualisation of musical expression to a
greater extent than tempo, which remains a
primary factor for stylistic recognition in the field
of popular dance music. To determine which of
these means are the most vivid representatives of
the style of pop-vocal composition, it is
necessary to consider them in the context of its
musical and artistic whole, one of the models of
which is the sound image of the composition.
Modelling of the sound image in the process of
creating an arrangement of a vocal and
instrumental work occurs at all levels of the
structural and semantic organisation of a musical
composition (according to E. Nazaykinsky) –
phonetic (texture), intonation (syntax), and
compositional (plot). The implementation of the
sound idea by the arranger is specified in the
original techniques of organising the
instrumental and sound space – texture, through
the disclosure of new timbre qualities of
phonism, which, according to M. Mikhailov, is
one of the main attributes of the musical style.
"Phonism, as a stylistic feature, is characterised
by a complex integrating character: its features
are largely determined by the performing means
used in a particular era... <...> In this case, this
refers to a certain sound quality (a certain general
colour of sound) of music formed by the
interaction of a number of elements. Not just
timbre, register and dynamic properties. A well-
known role is played by the lado-harmonic
structure, as well as the features of shaping,
which determine what can be called the dynamic
curve of the process of unfolding musical
material" (Mikhailov, 1990).
At the syntactic level of building the sound image
of the instrumental component of pop-vocal
composition, the timbre role of various
instruments (acoustic and electronic) comes to
the fore as a stylistic color of sound, as well as as
a factor of formation, which is manifested in the
coordination of changes in timbres and sections
of the composition, the ratio of dynamic tension
of musical development with timbre,
ladogarmonic and metrhythmic elements of
musical speech. The compositional level of the
arrangement of a vocal-instrumental work
demonstrates not only the design features of its
form, melodic-thematic and event plans for its
construction but also the drama and logic of the
development of the sound image, which can
become an expression of musician's conceptual
thinking because "semantic re-accentuation in
the conceptual space of the musical work and
awareness of the principles of sound-like
thinking limitations of the past determine the
transformation of the sound ideal, which is
reflected in the artistic concept of sound"
(Riabukha, 2015).
From this standpoint, the phenomenon of the
sound image has become the subject of
theoretical research in the scientific field of
modern sound engineering, where it is proposed
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to distinguish between two fundamental types of
sound image that currently exist in the field of
sound recording. Based on the study of such
parameters of the sound image as spatial
impression, acoustic, dynamic, and musical
balances, characteristics of the sound source or
sources (timbre), transparency of sound, etc., the
author of the study identifies traditional
(classical) and non-traditional (dramatic) types of
sound image of a musical phonogram, reflecting
different principles of creative thinking of the
sound engineer. Comparing the traditional and
non-traditional principles of building a sound
image in the process of working as a sound
engineer, V.A. Shlykov points at the creative
limitations of the first principle due to its strict
binding to the genre and specific conditions of
music performance. However, in the definition of
an untraditional (dramatic) type of sound image,
the researcher laid down a system of criteria for
"such a sound image, all (or some) parameters of
which serve to disclose the drama of the work
(author's idea) and subject only the dramatic
logic of this work" (Shlykov, 2010).
The idea of typological differentiation of the
sound image of musical phonograms seems
favourable in the sense of its projection on the
specific features of the creative activity of the
arranger and the inclusion of a typological
approach in the methodological apparatus of
stylistic attribution of samples of arrangements
of pop-vocal compositions. Based on the fact that
the concepts of traditional and non-traditional
types of the sound image seem to be too general
characteristics of musical phenomena in the field
of popular genres, and therefore not effective
enough to perform the tasks of practical analysis
of these phenomena, the authors propose to
distinguish between constant and aconstant types
of the sound image by analogy with the specific
features of visual perception in the art of
painting, where the psychological concept of
aconstant perception characterises a change in
artistic vision depending on changes in the
lighting conditions of the image object.
Accordingly, constant is a type of arrangement
sound image, the construction of which is based
on the principle of repetition of elements of a
musical language and the cyclical development
of a sound idea, and aconstant is a type of
arrangement sound image, the construction of
which is based on the principle of transformation
of elements of a musical language and the end-
to-end dramatic development of a sound idea in
the transmission of the meaningful content of a
work of a song genre.
Differentiation of types of the sound image of an
arrangement of a pop-vocal composition can be
considered as one of the components of style
analysis method, which, according to the
definition of E. Nazaykinsky, "includes a
description of the language (artistic means of
music) and the artistic method, as well as a
comparison of the studied phenomena with
others, without which it is impossible to identify
style specifics" (Nazaykinsky, 2003). Raising the
issue of the methodology of stylistic attribution
of musical works, E. Nazaykinsky emphasises
the need to comply with research priorities
during this procedure, aimed at identifying active
stylistic means that are unique properties of
music since "rare artistic means have a stronger
and brighter effect on the listener" (Nazaykinsky,
2003). This does not negate the feasibility of
simply describing, listing, and statistically
reviewing the means of musical language as a
preliminary stage in the study of style. However,
the study of the phenomena of musical style
requires a comprehensive approach, so it should
be remembered that "comparing the concepts of
style and language, it can be said that style is the
identification of music in relation to the style
background, to the style environment, and
language is a system of internal means that make
up the whole" (Nazaykinsky, 2003).
Guided by this, the authors will try to carry out
the procedure of stylistic attribution of
arrangements of pop-vocal compositions based
on a comparative auditory analysis of sound
recordings of two versions of the same song – the
original and its cover version. The original is an
author's performance of the song "I will go to
distant mountains" based on the words and music
of the outstanding Ukrainian composer, multi-
instrumentalist, songwriter, author of many hits
that are considered classics of Ukrainian pop
music, Volodymyr Ivasyuk. Among the
numerous reinterpretations of this song, the
authors choose for comparison one of its most
interesting cover versions performed by the well-
known talented American singer of Ukrainian
origin Kvitka Cisyk.
The song "I will go to distant mountains" was
created by V. Ivasyuk in 1968 and at the same
time was performed by him in one of the popular
TV shows. The sound recording of those years
records the author's performance of the song
(vocals) accompanied by an instrumental
ensemble consisting of two electric guitars, a
bass guitar, a drum kit, and an electric piano. The
poetic lyrics of the song convey the sincere
monologue of the lyrical character, addressed to
the elements of wind and the forces of nature,
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which are designed to connect him with his
beloved. The refrain of the song is the character's
appeal to his beloved, her beautiful image,
integral to the beauty of the nature of the
Carpathian Mountains.
The composition of a song is a type of verse-
chorus form, consisting of an introduction, two
stanzas with choruses, an instrumental interlude
between them, and a coda. The letter scheme of
the composition looks like this: i1–A–B–A1–i2–
B-C..., where i1 and i2 – instrumental themes of
introduction and interlude, A and B – themes of
verse and chorus, C – theme codas. Thematic
changes in A1 only apply to the word text and do
not apply to the musical material of the vocal part
and accompaniment.
A short instrumental introduction (eight bars)
based on the repetition of the standard rhythmic
formula of Big Beat with an emphasis on the bass
line in unison holding two guitars and drums in
tempo ♩=150, which clearly determines whether
the song's music belongs to the dance genre. On
the last four bars, the electric piano part is
connected, creating a parallel quint along with
the bass line. The moves of empty quints in a
combination of bass and high register, timbrally
close to the sound of a pipe, give the theme of the
introduction a touch of folk archaic.
The verse form is a square period of two
sentences (8+8) of repeated structure with an
exposition type of presentation of the topic,
represented in the vocal part by an ascending
melody that modulates into a dominant key (a-
moll – E-dur) and contains alternating jumps on
a quart and a sexta up with a descending smooth
filling of intervals and chanting of tertz and
quintal tones. The chorus also consists of two
sentences (8+8) of repeated and unique structure
with the middle type of presentation and
sequential development of motifs in the second
sentence, which modulates the dominant key in
the same way as in the verse. Thus, the thematic
development of the characteristic motifs of the
verse and chorus is based on the principles of
repetition and comparison.
Instrumental accompaniment is mainly assigned
an accompanying role, which at the same time
provides a form-developing function of the
metric framework, the nodal points of which
connect the contours of a rhythmic pattern close
to the samba rhythm in the bass guitar part.
Before the second chorus, the lead guitar
performs a 16-stroke improvisational interlude
(8+8), thematically unrelated to the musical
material of the previous parts of the composition
and based on the motivational development and
tonal comparison of short episodes that convey
the general nature of the movement characteristic
of folk dance music. Melodic neutral interlude
sets off the last bright performance of the chorus,
which, in turn, is the transition to the culminating
part of the entire composition – coda. The
beginning of the climax is marked by the
appearance of a new theme in parallel major (a-
moll – C-dur) with a quart-up movement
characteristic of the solemn music of the anthem
and breadth of melodic breathing. Held twice in
the vocal part, the final theme gradually dissolves
into silence.
The composition creates a holistic sense of the
end-to-end development of musical thought,
which is achieved through the tonal opening of
parts of the song form, where each period plays
the role of a prediction that requires its functional
solution in the subsequent musical construction.
Therewith, the instrumental arrangement with its
functions of ladotonal organisation of musical
material fills the song composition with internal
dynamics, accumulating the rhythm along with
the energy of harmonious movement and
overcoming the constancy of the sound image of
the accompaniment, set by the limited resources
of the instrumental composition and the stylistic
framework of Big Beat. In addition, the static of
the metric scheme is opposed by the dynamics of
the lively movement of the melody, saturated
with the energy of musical intonations of hutsul
folklore.
Thus, the style profile of the author's version of
the song "I will go to distant mountains" and,
accordingly, its original arrangement determines
the organic combination of musical vocabulary
and rhythm of Big Beat with a bright melody and
musical thematicism of local and national origin.
The song of the dance genre in the interpretation
of Kvitka Cisyk is radically transformed, turning
into an epic vocal poem, included in the second
Ukrainian album of the singer «Two Colors»
(1989). The arrangement for the orchestral
accompaniment of songs from this album was
created by the famous New York-based
composer and arranger Jack Courtner, who also
conducted the orchestra while recording music in
the studio. About forty well-known studio
musicians from the United States were involved
in the recording, which primarily affected the
degree of creative freedom of the arranger in both
technical and figurative dimensions. Despite this,
Jack Courtner, according to the singer, was
extremely responsible for each work, tried to be
imbued with its poetic content, "so as not to
change the authentic original, not to Americanise
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but to preserve the unique Ukrainian melos"
(Hornostay, 1992). The orchestra's instruments
include classical and acoustic guitars, acoustic
bass guitar, piano, harp, celeste, drums,
percussion, keyboards, as well as groups of
stringed instruments – violin (thirteen
musicians), viola (four musicians), cello (three
musicians).
In addition to the texture of the instrumental
accompaniment of the vocal part, the creators of
the cover version reinterpret the sequence of
parts of the original composition of the song,
which in the new arrangement takes the
following form: i1–A–B–A1–B1–C–A2–A3–A4...,
where i1 - instrumental introduction based on the
C-Dur theme of the code in the author's version
of the song, A and B – the themes of the verse
and chorus, which in all repeated performances
appear each time with variable changes in the
orchestral presentation, C and A4 are
vocalisations performed with orchestral
accompaniment, based on the themes of the code
and verse, which in the last performances of A3–
A4... performs the function of a reprise.
The first bars of the introduction, unfolded in
tempo ♩=82, indicate the transfer of the original
musical material with its attraction to the dance
genre to the opposite genre space of song lyrics,
while almost completely preserving the melodic
and rhythmic patterns of the vocal part of the
work. The lyrical-epic character of the entire
composition is set by the major theme of the
introduction in the form of a square period of two
sentences (8+8) with an exposition type of
presentation of thematic material, representing
two phases of development of one topic on the
principle of contrasting its first and second
shows. The initial implementation of the theme
by unison groups of violins and cellos is a duet
of two voices imitating the techniques of
heterophony characteristic of Ukrainian folk
music-making. The thoughtful and narrative
nature of the first presentation of the theme is
changed when it is repeated in a new majestic
image in the tutti sound of the orchestra, which
enters on the wave of glissando in the piano and
harp parts. In the dramatic, narrative-event
unfolding of the theme of the introduction,
rhapsodic features of the folk epic appear, which
discloses the originality of the embodiment of
folklore principle in the musical language of the
arrangement.
Discussion
The method of dynamic development of the
sound image of the vocal part accompaniment by
comparing orchestral textures of different
densities is used by Jack Courtner in different
parts of the composition. However, this method
does not turn into a stamp due to the inventive
filling of the orchestral part with various musical
events. Thus, the instrumental representative of
the initial implementation of the theme in the first
verse is the piano, the lone accompaniment of
which emphasises the chamber genre of the
soloist's lyrical statement, her performing
position aimed at trusting communication with
the audience. The smooth introduction of
orchestral sound in the last bars of both sentences
enhances the expressiveness of the final chants of
the quintal tone in the melody. These chants
bring new colours to the harmonious fabric of the
song due to the use of an increased fourth degree
(in contrast to the author's version of the melody
with a natural sound order), which is one of the
main features of the hutsul system, also known in
the English-speaking environment as "Ukrainian
minor". This seemingly insignificant detail is
actually one of the important points of "style
generalisation" (a term by E. Nazaykinsky)
musical and linguistic means of the composition,
the super-idea of which goes beyond the musical
imagery of purely love lyrics and becomes an
expression of the general concept of the album
"two colours", which the singer herself in the
comments to it defined with these words: "this
collection of songs is the desire of my Ukrainian
heart to weave joyful threads into the life-torn
canvas, on which the destiny of our people is
embroidered" (Kvitka Cisyk, 1989).
Choruses in the performing interpretation of
Kvitka Cisyk become the centre of a particularly
heartfelt, confessional intonation, the meaningful
shades of which are supplemented by means of
orchestral accompaniment. It is the orchestral
part that gives the listener an idea of the subtext
of the vocal utterance, which is rather addressed
to own inner world in the pristine silence of the
surrounding nature. These associations evoke a
variety of onomatopoeic effects in the orchestra's
part, which are achieved, in particular, in the first
chorus, by the iridescence of warm harp sounds
against the background of pianissimo flageolets
of violins, conveying the mysterious rustles of
the forest. In the second chorus, the rising waves
of pizzicato strings that freeze in silence are
picked up by the retaliatory replicas of the harp
solo. This generally creates a sense of
transparent, free-breathing sound space, which
gradually expands after the spectacular glissando
harp before the start of the second sentence and
is dynamically saturated with active violin
figurations until the climax of the entire
composition.
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The climax, unlike the original song, takes place
in the conventional "golden ratio point" of the
composition and covers sixteen bars of interlude
(8+8) in the form of vocalisation with expanded
orchestral accompaniment. The C-dur theme of
the original code appears here in a new shining
image in the sound of the triumphant tutti
orchestra, which enters the wave of the general
orchestral crescendo and glissando in the harp
part. The next orchestral wave in the second
sentence raises the sound image of the theme of
the coda to a new level of emotional expression,
which gives the sound of the melody a super-
individual character of the anthem to the majestic
nature of the Carpathians. Thus, the orchestral
part has an important function of the meaningful
subtext of the entire composition, in which the
intimate confession of the lyrical hero of the song
takes on a new meaning in the perspective of his
pantheistic sense of native nature.
The reprise returns the original narrative
character to the musical presentation. The
emotional apogees experienced in the interlude
echo in the orchestral version of the reprise with
more lively improvisational replicas of the piano
compared to the beginning of the composition
(section A3), as well as an actively developed
solo of cellos, which, in a duet with a vocal part,
complete the musical idea that the distant echo of
a beautiful girl's voice dissolves for the last time
in silence (section A4...).
Thus, the arrangement of the song "I will go to
distant mountains", created by Jack Cortner,
contains all the signs of the end-to-end dramatic
development of the sound image of pop-vocal
composition, which is achieved by applying
classical techniques of form development and
techniques of compositional writing, comparing
orchestral textures of different densities, using
the sound and colouristic capabilities of
symphonic musical instruments, a considerable
expansion in comparison with the original song
of the sphere of harmony and its form developing
potential, as well as in general a powerful
expansion of the spatial localisation of the sound
image to open new meaningful facets of the
content of song's literary text.
The combination of high professionalism and
aesthetics of academic composer's and
performing creativity with the parameters of a
popular song genre gives grounds to consider this
composition in general and its arrangement in
particular as an early example of the classical
crossover style that has developed today. Thus,
the style profile of the cover version of the song
"I will go to distant mountains" arranged by Jack
Courtner determines the artistic synthesis of the
musical vocabulary of classical crossover with
elements of Ukrainian folk-song culture.
The outcome of a deep artistic reinterpretation by
the creators of the cover version of the author's
text of the song, transformed by means of solo
vocals and subordinate means of arrangement in
style, form, musical language, and meaning of
the literary text, was the appearance of an
original musical phenomenon of the pop-vocal
genre with pronounced stylistic features of an
individualised concept, unique from the
standpoint of aesthetic and axiological criteria of
musical art.
The result of the study is the theoretical
development of a methodology for stylistic
attribution of arrangement of a cover version of a
song genre composition, which meets the goal.
Comprehensive methods of stylistic analysis of
the arrangement of a cover version of a pop-vocal
composition allow us to comprehend the logic of
the arranger's creative process, and thus open the
way to learning the secrets of the skill of a bright
artistic individuality.
Conclusion
The procedure of style attribution of an
arrangement of a pop-vocal composition
involves identifying such qualities of musical
matter – voiced, recorded in notes or sound
recordings, which provide the effect of stylistic
certainty of the phenomenon being evaluated.
The most suitable stylistic features of the
instrumental component of a vocal work are
texture, tempo, melodic-thematic, and
ladoharmonic organisation of musical material,
which are directly related to the characteristic
aspects of the sound.
A consistent description of the listed musical and
expressive means determines the algorithm of
analytical actions in the process of auditory
expertise of the specific features of the musical
language of the arrangement and the features of
the composition formation, based on which its
integral sound image is built. Therewith, the
procedure for differentiating the constant and
aconstant types of the arrangement sound image
as operational criteria for the stylistic
identification of repeated-cyclical and end-to-
end dramatic principles of sound idea
development is considered as one of the
components of the methodology for stylistic
analysis of a song genre work.
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The inclusion of a typological approach in the
methodological apparatus of stylistic attribution
of arrangements of pop-vocal compositions, the
musical language of which is, as a rule, a carrier
of genre synthesis of various musical trends, is
aimed at identifying active expressive means of
music that help to determine the genesis of the
stylistic development of the studied musical
phenomenon by comparison. In the sphere of
mass genres, such means are, first of all, the
characteristic parameters of tempo-rhythm and
phonism, which allow identifying the stylistic
dominant of a song genre work with a particular
area of popular, jazz, folk, or academic music.
When comparing the style characteristics of the
original song and its cover version, which is
carried out on the principle of contrasting
comparisons or comparisons on the similarity of
creative methods of instrumentation, formation,
tempo-rhythmic, melodic-thematic, and
ladotonal organisation of musical material of
pop-vocal composition, it is necessary to
consider the criteria of musical novelty and
aesthetic value of the results of stylistic
rethinking by the arranger of the author's text of
the song, which in the new version can appear as
a unique individualised concept that has actual
artistic importance for the modern audience.
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