A look at how composers can create musical unity in compositions that are wide-ranging in terms of musical material, mood and style.
The single Steel + Honey sprang from the simple concept of doing something fundamentally industrial that also had elements of sweetness, combining gritty, metallic sounds and textures with melodic material that is major mode, and all while leveraging added harmonies that are unusual for the genre. I also wanted there to be a dramatic turn from sweetness to darkness.
As I started toying with non-traditional harmonies against a traditional tonal background, I began to realize that a key challenge would be the creation and maintenance of musical unity and a cogent musical structure.
What follows is an explanation of how I accomplished that.
Musical Form: Strophic and/or Sonata?
The composition can be understood as traditionally strophic, with passages that seem to function as “verse” and “chorus”, though there are no lyrics. However, Steel + Honey is also easily understood as classical sonata form, with an exposition section laying out primary themes or motifs, a development section where those ideas are elaborated, then a final recapitulation restating the original thematic material.
The “verse” and “chorus” introduce two melodic motifs. The verse-chorus combo is repeated, with the introduction of a third melodic motif, before the music modulates to a new key area. In this central section there is new elaboration on those musical motifs. As the central section comes to a climax, the music modulates back to the original key and repeats the verse-chorus combo. However, contrary to traditional sonata form, the piece ends on a V chord which rings out with other dissonant tones creeping in.
Traditional Harmony, Quartal Harmony and a little Bitonality
Steel + Honey begins in the key of Db major with a rhythmic synth pulse on the tonic. But the music quickly takes a step outside the norm with a staccato rhythmic gesture constructed of stacked fourths: C-F-Bb-Eb (quartal harmony). This is immediately followed by a melodic expression of those same four notes, which is the primary melodic motif. The harmonic effect is a strongly implied F tonality sitting atop the Db tonality, with an inflection from scale degree 1 (F) to flat scale degree 7 (Eb). This combined gesture is then repeated, inflecting the F scale degree 7 back to 1. This section (see below) can be interpreted as the “verse”.
We’ll hear a reference to that F tonality a little later in the composition.
We then go into a new passage of music with a secondary melodic motif that is pure Db major (see below) . The movement from an implied F tonality to Db feels like mediant motion, a gesture that we'll hear again in the central section of the piece. The note of F is still emphasized on the downbeat of the melody, but here clearly functioning as scale degree 3 in Db.
As it develops, the second motif continues to rely heavily on the interval of a fourth, both harmonically and melodically. The melody ends on the note Eb, functioning as the 5th of a cadential V chord. This chord is elongated dramatically with the synth pulse now carrying the leading tone of C, taking us back to a I chord on Db. This section can be interpreted as the “chorus”. An essential aspect of this verse-chorus combo is the repeated emphasis on Eb in the melody, which comes to fruition later in the piece.
In the second statement of the verse-chorus combo, a third melodic motif (see below) is introduced. Fundamentally an arpeggiation of the F chord, this motif serves not only as a counterpoint to the second motif, but also a reminder of the F tonality implied in the prior verse section.
We now come to the central section of the composition with a modulation to Eb minor, with the importance of Eb having been “foreshadowed” in the verse-chorus melodies. We hear a fourth melody (see below) that is a synthesis of aspects of the first and third melodic motifs. This new melody is centered strongly on the tonic which, in addition to the driving rhythm of this section, creates a strong sense of focus and momentum compared to the prior sections. The melody is also quite chromatic and produces fairly strong dissonances. The overall effect is a manic or even diabolic intent. Another important aspect of the melody is that it is sort of inverts the first melodic motif by starting with the note Eb and ending with the note F. (Refer to the first illustration of the structure/form of the piece.)
This melody gets repeated a second time with a harmonizing line that adds to the dissonance and ultimately helps prepare for a modulation as the central section climaxes. The modulation is to the relative submediant in strong and repeated statements of a C chord. This recalls the motion from implied F to Db in the “verses”. The C eventually becomes understood as a extended leading tone taking us back to Db, a gesture we've heard before at the end of the “choruses”.
We now enter the final recapitulation of the original melodic material with a return to the original key of Db major. The difference here is the introduction of harmonic-rich tones that seem out of tune.
Other Important Musical and Sound Motifs
Steel + Honey opens with a rhythmic motif of triplet quarter notes voiced in an industrial kind of sonority. This rhythmic motif is heard again during the second verse-chorus statement and returns as an emphatic motif in the cacophonous climax of the central development section.
During the second statement of the verse-chorus combo, we begin to hear a distorted and unintelligible voice in the triplet quarter note rhythm. In the central development section this voice becomes much more prominent, in a higher register and now in straight 8th and 16th notes.
In addition to these key sonic and rhythmic motifs, a variety of other sounds and effects are repeated throughout the composition, creating familiarity and unity.
Summary
Steel + Honey is a true chimera, combining sweetness with hardness, lightness with heaviness, traditional with non-traditional, and industrial with classical. Its structure is highly suggestive of familiar forms, while its occasional bitonality, quartal harmonies and dissonance place it squarely in 20th century musical practice. However, the rigorous intent throughout the composition helps it to remain unified, cohesive and compelling. In my own opinion.
And lastly, the point of this exercise is not how to show amazing this music is; the melodic motifs in themselves are pretty simple. The point is merely to illustrate how an intentional approach can give a subtle but essential unity and cohesion to a wide-ranging composition.
The proof, of course, is in the hearing, and I invite you to give it a listen:
Streaming on Apple Music, Spotify, YouTube and other platforms.
Written by Brian Tibbs