Stand By Me - Analysis (Part 1)

Background Information

The above is from the piano score for an original popular Korean song called “Stand By Me”. This is one of the theme songs in the popular Korean drama serial called “Boys Over Flower”.

Here is a link to a recording-cum-video featuring the song:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7oUDrWTWpJs


Harmonic Analysis

The song is in the key of C major. Bar 1 is outlined with a tonic C major chord. The harmony in bar 2 is very unique. It consists of an F major chord with an added G in the upper part, played over a C tonic octave pedal in the lower part. I analysed the overall chord in bar 2 to be that of IVc.

The music in bar 3 goes through chords IV and V, which are chords F and G in the key of C major. In bar 4, the harmony goes through chords iii and vi, which are chords E minor and A minor respectively. The whole of bar 5 is in chord ii7, which is the seventh D minor chord in the key of C major. This is followed by a D major chord V in bar 6. Together, the chord ii7 in bar 5 and the chrod V in bar 6 form what appears to be an imperfect cadence.

Bars 7 to 9 go through a similar chord progression as bars 3 to 6. The harmony is largely the same. For instance, both the music in bars 3 and 7 go through chords IV followed by V. In fact, not only is the harmony the same, the notes in bars 3 and 7 are actually exactly the same.

Similarly, bars 4 and 8 go through the same harmony - both progress through chord iii followed by chord vi. The harmony in bar 5 is same as that of the first half of bar 9. In the second half of this bar, the music then progresses to a very unique harmony – an F major chord in the upper part over a G major chord in the lower part. I analysed the overall chord to be an eleventh dominant chord, or V11. The music then moves to a seventh C major chord, or I7 chord. These last 3 chords, ii7, V and I7, make up a cadential progression which gives the music a sense of closure.

In the music that follows after, we once again see the use of similar chord progressions as the sections before. For example, bars 11 to 14 goes through the same harmony as that of bars 3 to 6. In comparison, bars 15 to 18 have the same harmonic progression as bars 7 to 10, with the only difference being that the second half of bar 17 is in an ordinary chord V in G major, unlike the more decorated V11 in the second half of bar 9.


Functional Analysis

The harmony in bar 1 appears to have a tonic function. This tonic function goes through an expansion in bar 2, as can be seen from the continued C bass. Thereafter the music seems to have a largely predominant function, until the presence of the dominant V chord in bar 6.

The music from bar 7 onwards has a predominant function. This continues till the V11 chord in bar 9, which clearly has a dominant function. This is followed by a tonic chord with a tonic function in bar 10.

What we see in bars 11 to 14 is similar to that of bars 3 to 6. The chord progression in both instances are the same, and thus we can say that the functional harmony should generally be the same as well.

This is also the case for bars 15 to 18, which have the same harmonic progression as bars 7 to 10. The functional analysis in both instances are largely the same as well.


Phrase Structure and/or Sentence Analysis

The song opens with a 2-bar phrase, something I would call an Introductory Phrase. What we see after this appears to be a simple period. We see an Antecedent Phrase which spans 4 bars, from bar 3 to 6. This is followed by a Consequent Phrase which is outlined in the next 4 bars, from bars 7 to 10. Together, these two 4-bar phrases form a simple period.

The 4-bar phrase structure of this song appears to be quite regular. This can be seen from the second Antecedent Phrase which, like the first Antecedent Phrase in bars 3 to 6, occurs over a span of 4 bars, from bars 11 to 14.

However, we can see a distinct difference in this second Antecedent Phrase. It is sort of linked to the second Consequent Phrase, as can be seen from how the music continues seamlessly to bar 15, which marks the start of the second occurrence of the Consequent Phrase. The second Consequent Phrase is outlined in bars 15 to 18, and together with the previous Antecedent Phrase, these make up the second simple period.