Killer Queen

Test yourself

Music Technology

Your second set work for Vocal Music is Queen: Killer Queen (from the album ‘Sheer Heart Attack’).

Genres

Written by the band Queen and released in 1974.
This set work is a well crafted and complex pop song combining the genres of glam rock and stadium rock (vaudeville) in a multi-tracked melting pot of theatre and rock.

Music technology

This set work uses a multi-tracking technique where parts are recorded and then overdubbed.
- This is a technique used where one part is recorded and another part recorded over it afterwards.

New effects

There were new effects used such as:
- Flanger -an effect creating a whooshing sound.
- Wah Wah -a filter effect giving the instrument a ‘wah wah’ sound.
- Distortion -a timbre effect that distorts a signal.

Word paint

The flanger is used on the word ‘Laser Beam’ to word paint that lyric.

Panning

Panning allowed the stereo field to become a 3-dimensional space.
The technology of the time allowed different parts to be placed into different spaces within the stereo field.

1Musical Elements

1.1Organisation of Pitch

1.1.1Melodic Pitch

1.1.2Melodic Devices

1.1.3Harmonic Pitch

1.1.4Harmonic Devices

1.1.5Harmonic Progressions

1.2Tonality

1.2.1Major & Minor Tonality

1.2.2End of Topic Test - Musical Elements

2Instrumental Music 1700–1820

2.1Bach: Brandenburg Concerto No. 5 in D Major

2.1.1Concerto No. 5 in D Major

2.1.2Structure & Melody

2.1.3Instrumentation & Texture

2.1.4Harmony

2.1.5Wider Listening

2.2Beethoven: Sonata ‘Pathétique’

2.2.1Piano Sonata No. 8

2.2.2Structure & Melody

2.2.3Other Features

2.2.4Wider Listening

2.2.5End of Topic Test - Instrumental Music 1700–1820

3Vocal Music

3.1Purcell: Music for a While

3.1.1Music for a While

3.1.2Other Features

3.1.3Wider Listening

3.2Queen: Killer Queen

3.2.1Killer Queen

3.2.2Other Features

3.2.3Wider Listening

3.2.4End of Topic Test - Vocal Music

4Music for Stage & Screen

4.1Schwartz: Defying Gravity

4.1.1Defying Gravity

4.1.2Other Features

4.1.3Wider Listening

4.2Williams: Star Wars Episode IV

4.2.1A New Hope

4.2.2Structure & Melody

4.2.3Other Features

4.2.4Wider Listening

4.2.5End of Topic Test - Music for Stage & Screen

5Fusions

5.1Afro Celt Sound System: Release

5.1.1Release

5.1.2Other Features

5.1.3Wider Listening

5.2Spalding: Samba Em Preludio

5.2.1Samba Em Preludio

5.2.2Structure & Melody

5.2.3Other Features

5.2.4Wider Listening

5.2.5End of Topic Test - Fusions

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