The elements of music to consider in The Cave
Instrumentation, timbre and sonority
In The Cave, Mumford & Sons combine traditional Traditional music from a particular country.聽 instruments with those most commonly found in rock music. The line-up includes lead and backing vocals, electric guitar, acoustic guitar, bass guitar, keyboard/piano/An electronic keyboard that allows the player to change the sound., banjo and double bass.
Structure
The Cave has a verse-chorus form, which is a common structure for Music which has general appeal and is often linked to styles of the 1950s. Driven by a strong rhythmic element..
Melody and lyrics
The song opens with Notes of the chord played separately.聽 on the guitar which alternate between C鈾 minor and E major. Notes added to decorate a melody. and Note played as quickly as possible before the聽note that follows. are used to decorate the melody. The guitar enters on the upbeat, half-way through the bar on beat 3.
In the chorus, the melody is elongated and there is Several notes sung to one syllable. on the lyrics 'I' and 'I鈥檒l'. The accompaniment is more prominent and each beat is accentuated by Note played with a stronger attack. guitar chords.
Rhythm, tempo and metre
Repeated rhythmic patterns and A recurring pattern, often on guitar. are present in many of Mumford & Sons鈥 songs. This is a feature of their folk style.
The tempo is lively and marked crotchet = 144 Beats per minute. and the time signature is 4/4. The melody contains A dot after the note increases its value by half again. in the verse and Accents in unexpected places, creating rhythmic interest. Common in pop and jazz music. in chorus.
Texture
The Cave opens with the guitar playing on its own. When the lead vocal enters, the texture is A type of texture where there is only one clear melody and an accompaniment that plays different notes and rhythms but is supporting the melody.. After the chorus, the banjo instrumental builds up in The number of layers in a piece of music. and in Refers to the softness or loudness of a piece of music..
Harmony and tonality
The song is in the key of E major. The verse alternates from C鈾 minor and E major, and in the chorus on E major and a second inversion A major, ie the lowest note of the chord is E, and the occaisional C鈾 minor chord.